FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles
Day 1: Vail

02.11.04 - I booked my flight to denver, colorado months in advance with the brash assumption that mother nature would generously dump light fluffy powder during my vacation. However, the lack of precipitation in the approaching weeks made me nervously second guess my decision: did I pick the wrong week? month? destination? I felt like a sports gambler watching my team lose and realizing that I was never in control of the outcome. Regardless of the gloomy forecast, I squashed my ski equipment, clothes, and doubts into three bags and headed to the airport; somehow I knew that this trip to colorado would be worth every bruise, core shot, and sleep deprived night when it was all skied and done.

The first stop on my colorado ski trip was the most famous I-70 corridor resort: vail. Vail's often highly affluent crowds over the years have given the mountain a bad rap among hard core skiers. However, those who have taken the opportunity to ski on its 5,289 acres of terrain with a vertical rise of 3,450 feet quickly realize its worthy of recognition as a true skier's mountain.

When Barber, Jarret, and myself trekked through vail village we could see the fresh 3 to 4 inches while the snow flakes continued to fall. My predictions for snowfall during my week no longer seemed asinine, and I prepared to take credit as the savior for the regions precipitation drought. When we reached the lift line, I realized the three of us embarked on this mission differently: Jarrett had his trusty never summer snowboard, barber had his tele-mark setup with black diamond cross bows, and I had my rossignol XXX's with an alpine setup.

jarrett

We took the vista bahn express lift to mid vail, then jumped on the wildwood express en-route to an elevation of 11,250 feet. Riding up on these lifts made the vastness of vail's terrain apparent. The aspect surprising me the most was not the vertical gain, but the amount of horizontal territory as the lifts sometimes went down the backside of ridges and across valleys; in every direction there seemed to be limitless skiing as far as the eye could see.
We finally reached the peak and prepared to cruise through some chewed up pow. Thanks to a fresh tune from Centre Ski and Bike in watertown, massachussetts, I officially began my colorado ski vacation with a fast and furious descent. The trail contained a mix of semi-steep and flatter terrain allowing for high speed GS turns through the slightly filled in crud. A couple of times the bumpy terrain forced me to straight line till I could lay down another GS turn. Who said I was out of control?

We headed over to the blue sky basin area where we hoped to tear through some good snow. Surprisingly there were no people to be found on the mountain as we took our second run down skree field, a small open bowl with a couple of intermittent rocks. Telleing through some soft snow, Barber hopped off a rock uninhbited because of the wide open area below. Meanwhile Jarrett took another route between some rocks enjoying some mid-boot high snow.

barber

Our routine for the rest of the day focused primarily on runs off the skyline lift with a couple off pete's express. One time we skied a trail called in the wuides, where I jumped off a 6 or 7 foot cliff into some deep and light pow. Several times we tore through some glades off of cloud 9 which had great snow and a low angle pitch. The best part of the afternoon was that the snow conditions got better as the day went on because of the continued precipitation and small crowds. Towards the end of the day we lapped a snowy run that had three phases: first a gladed section, second a wide open bumped up bowl, and thirdly a river banked speed racer section leading to the lift. Everything from ski companions, snow conditions, small crowds, to great terrain, made my first day skiing in colorado a complete success.

~CG

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Part Two:
Champagne on New Years Eve,
Utah Style

01.27.04 - Now that we had settled into the groove, and slowly began coming to grips with our powder situation: 17” at Park City followed by a foot or so at the Canyons in two glorious days, it was time to ring in the New Year, Utah styles. Which turned out to be, well, a minor letdown given the high we were coming off of from the skiing. We cruised Main St in Old Town, Park City, and met up with the drunkards, shared our New Year’s hats with some ladies, and then crashed out after giving a hollah out to our New York City brethren who had just watched the ball drop.

Freedom

1.20.04 - Snow is an incredibly pleasing component of the winter season. It whitens our Christmas morning, closes school for hopeful youngsters, and opens the doors of a winter sports world that flourishes in its existence. Jay Peak 2003/2004 has taught me something else about snow. It seldom comes alone. There exists an evil so great that even Billy S, the leader of the Northeast Kingdom, has no weapon powerful enough to combat this force. Not a triple, nor a quad (not even a high-speed one), nor the almighty tram, could overcome this great threat to skiing...

Champagne On New Year's Eve - Utah Style

Chapagne On New Years01.12.04 - One of the first indications that we had made the best decision for being in the right place for New YearԳ since the ӹ5 MSG show was when we were on Park CityԳ 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 heardǠnothing. 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!

A.P.B. - Jay Needs Snow

APB01.05.04 - 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.

Big Jay

Equipment up at Big Jay 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”.

6th Chair, 1st Chair, 1st Tram...
A Great Day

The Face of Jay12.27.03 - 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.

Older Archives

12.08.03 - Big Monday
12.07.03 - Anticipation
12.05.03 - Opening Day
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

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Article printed from First Chair Online Magazine @ http://www.firstchairmag.com