FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles
Day 2: A-Basin
02.12.04 - After a full day enjoying vail's terrain our agenda lead us to keystone to pick up Barber's friend Justin. A couple of beers and enormous burritos later, our two truck, 4 person, and 2 dog party headed to arapahoe basin. We spent the cold wintery night in the back of the two trucks knowing we would wake up mountain side and ready to rip the little bit of fresh trickling down the night sky.
When I awakened and managed to stumble out of the truck, I looked up to see Ed and Stacy pulling into the spot adjacent to me. Our party of six now came complete in the early morning before lifts were running and many people arrived. Needing some early morning preparation, Ed and myself began to walk across the parking lot towards the lodge. Suddenly I noticed that the beautiful scene of a-basin includes 360 degrees of peaks. Even better was that the early morning sunshine backlights the resort mountains creating an amazing panoramic display.
After warming up, dressing in the lodge, eating a delicious breakfast burrito, and purchasing a lift ticket I entered the lift line with our group. Once again I realized I was the only alpine skier since we now added 3 snowboarders in Ed, Stacy and Justin; our group comprised of 4 snowboarders, one tele-marker, and one alpine skier. Pretty amazing for a sport that in the past has been dominated by alpine skiing.
The six of us hopped on the exhibition lift followed by the lenewee mountain lift which took us to the highest point open. (The east wall had not received enough snow to open.) Visible from the lift, a fresh two to three inches went on top of a previous 4 inches of snow to ensure some nice soft runs for us. After a good day at vail and now another ski day followed by a patriot superbowl, I couldn't control my excitement when we reached the peak. Since a-basin's top section is above tree line, there were almost a million different routes down, but I had scoped out a particular line and hit it with confidence. My XXX's floated and plowed down through some mid-boot pow on powerline's wide open intermediate slope, till I hopped into a short, steep, and pillowy mogul field and then ran out to the lift.
On the next lift ride up, Stacy, Ed and myself took notice of the cloudy sky which appeared ready to turn bluebird in the afternoon. According to the locals, a-basin's skies generally shine bright blue unless they precipitate some happily accepted snow. After reaching the top of the lift, the six of us traversed farther over towards the west wall, scoped out a line and headed down. Ed, Justin, and myself proceeded one at a time down a nice boot deep section with some tracks on it from the previous day.
Snow covered most of a-basin allowing for some outstanding wide open runs, as well as some tight bumped up sections off of the palli lift. A-basin also houses some cliffs in tight technical areas. As I stood near the top of a four or five footer, a local came out of the trees, and went off it in stride as if to say "what are you waiting for." I followed in an unimpressive but at least I did it style.
Taking breaks at a-basin becomes part of the day's beauty. Our group parked mountain side and had all of the amenities including chairs, beers, a couple of dogs, and some makers mark. I could feel that depending on the ski conditions the focus could shift to hanging out, catching some rays, and having a couple of beers; a-basin's atmosphere could not be beaten. It wasn't long before one of these breaks became permanent, so we packed up and headed back to denver early to prepare for the superbowl. How could this weekend get any better?
~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.
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
01.12.04
- 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!
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.
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
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.
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