FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles
Day 3: Breck

02.13.04 - Breckenridge has four peaks labeled peak 7, 8, 9, and 10. Its very spread out and offers variable difficulty levels on its 2,208 acres of terrain. Ed, Stacy, and myself arrived at the mountain around 9am, and had to proceed by instinct since we had little knowledge of the mountain.

The three of us took a lift up peak 8 and did a fast run down northstar enjoying the soft corderoy, high speeds, and rolling terrain. We did another cruiser down duke's run which pleased us with much of the same. Being a tuesday, we shared the mountain with a small crowd and easily avoided any sort of delay.

We then headed over to chair 6 which accesses some expert terrain off the side of peak 8 towards peak 9. After strapping in, Ed lead the way down the flat and open top section traversing skier's right from the lift. Peaking at the entrances of a few trails while cruising by, he then decided to drop into solitude since some soft snow caught his eye. Following his lead, I cruised down the right side of the top section enjoying the snow, and then slowed in preparation of the soft bumps ahead in my vision. I paused to take a breather since the altitude made me wease every so often, and took notice of Ed's smooth and quick carves between moguls. Looking up the hill I could see Stacy smirking at the steep bumps thinking something along the lines of "this isn't my kind of party." Rather than add to her nervousness by waiting and staring at her, I skied straight down the fall line between bumps for about ten or twelve turns then stopped on the left side of the trail to let Stacy (and some oxygen) catch up. She made some slow progress while shouting phrases (mostly at Ed), and made a few good turns. Trying to give encouragement I hollered up to her as she made her way down to us and finished with some nice turns.

Once the three of us all exited solitude, we flew down the low angled, flat, and pow infested bottom section. Immersed with weeds and an occasional bush or small tree it created some fun turns all the way to the lift. After several more solid runs off of chair 6, we took a gatorade break for a late lunch and decided to head over to peak 10 to see if it could offer us some quality runs. A run down four o'clock pleasantly surprised us with some great snow along both sides during our traverse over to take the E chair up peak 9. After some more hi-speed traversing, we arrived at the base of peak 10, hopped on the falcon superchair, and rode to the summit.

We started our decent hoping to fly down cimarron which is sometimes used as a race course, but found it closed. Left with little options, we headed down doublejack which had been skied pretty heavily leaving little snow. Ed and I quickly spotted a chute off to the right with a warning sign because of thin cover, and joked that it really was warning us about the barely tracked snow. I followed Ed down the left side of bronc which treated us with some mid-boot high soft snow. About halfway down he discovered an uncovered rocky section and headed to the right side to finish the steeper half of the run on soft big bumps. Seeing some good snow just below the rocky section, I attempted to ski around it, and into the fresh snow. Much to my dismay I heard and felt the chattering of my skis on snow covered rocks and immediately aborted my mission quickly traversing to the right side. Both Ed and myself rode through the bumps and down near the bottom of the trail where we turned to check on Stacy's progress. Stacy took her time since the steepness and largeness of the bumps created a difficult challenge. Persevering, she met us at the bottom and was proud of the turns she got in on the difficult run. After a long and even longer run-out, the three of us decided to finish our day off chair 6 where our favorite runs remained.

Conclusion

After skiing three out of four days with good to great conditions I looked forward to the second half of the week. A few things were on the radar including a possible big storm, a scheduled two day trip to crested butte, and a finale at vail skiing some of the local's powder stashes. Crushing any concerns I had coming into the ski week including knee problems, lack of stamina, and altitude sickness, I could just feel the week picking up momentum each day.

~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

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!

A.P.B. - Jay Needs Snow

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.

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

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

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