Champagne on New Years Eve,
Utah Style
01.12.04 - One of the first indications that we had made the best decision for being in the right place for New Year’s since the ’95 MSG show was when we were on Park City’s Town lift, heading up the Western side of this classic Utah Ski Resort, and my brother and I looked down beneath our freshly waxed dangling skis and heard… nothing. Below us, hotshots floated down the black diamond trail, Widowmaker, kicking up nothing but the purest champagne powder I had ever laid eyes on and they were not making a sound. The snow was too deep! I remember thinking that this was only the beginning – how was I going to make it for a week of shredding in what would become the snowiest week in the Wasatch mountains in over a decade?
It began snowing on our drive out from Salt Lake, and stopped only once during our seven-day re-introduction to this mecca for powder and balls-out skiing. Every day freshies were to be had up until the hour of lift closing, and this guaranteed a comatose sleep so we were well rested for the following day. It didn’t matter where we were shredding: Park City, The Canyons, Snowbird, Alta, or Solitude – each offered killer terrain and metric loads of powder, triggering a ridiculous sensory overload that would result in ecstatic guffaws and childlike giggling that could only be contained by flopping down in an explosive ball of pure, white, soft, fluffy snow. This is pure snow! It's everywhere! Have you any idea of what the street value of this mountain is?
Sure, we had caught dumps where Mother Nature had deposited a foot or two here and there, thus making the West live up to my expectations. From Mammoth to Tahoe to The Canyons – definitely one of the overlooked gems during such a blanketing – the sheer massiveness and vertical rise of the mountains magnifies her benevolence. However, there was something different about her disposition this time around. Something strange was going on. It was as if Old Man Winter had gotten his way with her and together their wrath would be orders of magnitude more fierce than what this mysterious Lady was capable of on her own. And it was with my Head Cross Ti’s, now woefully out of style and far too thin (even at 108/66/98) for the onslaught of powder I was to encounter, that I confronted this fear and thrashed her in return. It was the only way I knew how to repay such a kind gesture. Shred mo’ bettah.
The week began at Park City. Prior to our arrival, a fat base of about 50” awaited our turns (1/8/04 – Snowfall to date: 278” – 20 yr record). We wasted no time finding a personal favorite for this resort: McConkey’s bowl. Instantly I never wanted to ski the East again. As the thrill of McConkey’s wore down, it was over to the Jupiter lift and into the trees. If only they could talk. We bounced back and forth between the Western and Eastern portions, hitting the Pioneer, Thaynes and Silverlode lifts. Many answered the siren song of the conditions, and this made for some waiting at the main junctions like Silverlode, but such trivium would not interfere with our high. Besides, where we were shredding, the only thing I had to worry about was perhaps losing a ski or my brother in the snow. It’s alive!
The following day was an epic Canyons adventure (10+ ft of snow since Dec 24th). Although we would have to wait till another time to ski the Condor chutes, Snow Canyon and the Ninety Nine 90 Express Chair would provide for many enjoyable hours of knee deep to waist deep fluff. My legs began to lash back at my incessant desire for more. Was I going to hard? Was burnout imminent? All I knew was that New Year’s Eve was upon us, and the ball would soon drop. I had to give it my all, or forever question my inner manhood. I didn’t want to end up looking like a girlie man.
To be continued...
Watch the Utah Video on the Video Page
~Rob Damus
FC Contributor
01.05.04
- The FC staff (equipped with new digital cameras, wide-angle lenses,
printers, snowboards, two-way radios, etc.) charged up to Jay Peak to
ring in the New Year. We had everything from Grandma’s Lasagna to
Theo’s Spanakopita and enough beer to wash down anything in between.
Only one problem: no snow. The warming trend over the last week saw periods
of fog, rain, and freezing rain effectively ruining the mountain for any
off-piste travelers.
6th Chair, 1st
Chair, 1st Tram...
A Great Day
12.27.03
- Kamm, Stu, and I loaded onto the Jay Peak Jet Triple at 8:00am under
clear blue skies. We spent the next ten minutes debating whether the new
6”-12” beneath the chair was deep fluffy powder or frozen
hard pack ice. It snowed heavily two days earlier and the lifts had been
shut down ever since due to high winds. As we entered the trees of Timbuktu,
I was elated to see the formerly bumped-out glade had been wiped clean.
The intense wind from the day before had left a perfectly flat surface
on which a marble would likely have rolled back to the chairlift had I
dropped it from the top.
12.28.03 - It was 9pm Saturday night when Chaz first brought up the idea
of an unprecedented December Big Jay run. But with 200” of snowfall
this season and the best December in Jay Peak history, the quintessential
back-country experience in the Jay area at least warranted an investigation.
By 10am Sunday morning we were in line for the tram and highly enthusiastic
about the adventure ahead. Temperatures in the mid to high 30’s,
gear on our backs, and thoughts of previous Big Jay mistakes and triumphs
clouded our minds while the tram brought us to “Elevation 4000”.
12.05.03
- The day finally arrived. After months of patiently waiting for the snow
to fall, weeks of being jerked around by the ever-changing opening day,
and days of weather forecasts calling for anything from 0”-6,”
Jay Peak opened. It was a humble beginning with lifts opening to a ‘hurrah’
from the crowd assembled at the Jet Triple at 9am Friday morning. The
day appeared like any other from the base of the mountain. A dull cloud
loomed overhead, excitement was in the air, and two FC staffers, Chris
and James, were riding their first chair of the season.
12.08.03 - I was awake long before my alarm clock buzzed Monday morning.
You don’t sleep too well knowing the biggest storm to hit Jay Peak
in years had departed Vermont leaving a blanket of mother nature’s
finest. 20”-30” had fallen according to the Jay website and
the chairlift had not opened the day before due to high winds. All five
of us loaded into my Explorer giddy with excitement and wondering what
exactly we were in for at the mountain. I was blinded by sunlight as I
turned onto Rt. 105. Reaching for my sunglasses for the first time in
months it finally dawned on me that bluebird skies would be the backdrop
for this epic powder day.
Older Archives
12.07.03 - Anticipation
11.22.03 - 10 Ideas to Kick the Pre-Season Blues
11.01.03 - Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
10.04.03 - Tenney Mountain Opens – October
4th
09.01.03 - FC Magazine Launches Online Winter Home