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.
Three turns into the trees the powder vs. hard pack debate was over. Instead of the two extremes, we were treated to severely wind-buffed snow. The 12 inches of fresh was compacted into 2 inches. The tails of our skis barely broke through the surface as we made wide open giant slalom turns through trees better suited for a much shorter carving radius. Kamm and I questioned our decision to bring the fat skis today, however, we pressed on as our Powder Plus’s and Big Kahunas curiously investigated the bizarre snow-pack beneath.
Two runs later we caught our first ‘first chair’ of the season on the Bonaventure Quad and headed straight for Staircase, a steep glade on the tram side of the mountain with a different exposure than Timbuktu. This popular tree network exemplified a second great quality of the new snow. Not only were all the glades re-flattened, but also the density of the top layer allowed for long sweeping turns with which speed control became effortless. My turns resembled a cross between a rail-slide and a perfect carve: 7 feet wide, 40 feet long, and a ton of fun.
Saturday was one of those days that got better as time went on. As the world only Jay Peak skiers and riders know was ripped apart, the crud left behind looked and skied like it was the product of a fluffy powder morning. First Tram up to Valhalla, a few trips through Canyonland, Kitz and Hells Woods, and back to Timbuktu produced more of these incredible wind-induced surfaces. However, the true powder party was still to come.
Our group of three was reinforced with Reichert, and locals Jim and Heidi for the best turns of the day. With the Jet Triple now broken down and our cars parked at the bottom of the Dip, we were forced to hike. The payoff for our 15 minutes of work: boot deep powder. It seemed as if the majority of snow that had blown around Jay Peak the day before all landed in the Dip. And with the broken-down chair, we had the entire run to ourselves. Smooth, deep turns and pillow drop landings were the recipe for one of the most epic Dip days of the year; although I say that every time. We took the Bonny quad ride to Jet triple hike to 242 run one more time and called it a day. In fact, we called it a great day.
~BP
12.07.03 - Over the past 24 hours, the NOAA (www.noaa.gov) weather radio station forecasted 16"-24" of fresh snow for Jay Peak, VT. When we left for the Belfry early Saturday evening the snow was falling at 3" per hour. The anticipation of the following day's powder filled turns sent us to bed early and stoked...
10 Ideas to
Kick the Pre-Season Blues
11.22.03 - Jay Peak may open December 4, 5, or 6. This is what I read on the Jay website today. Last week President Bill told us we could get our boards ready to go right after we finished our turkey dinner, November 28th. And before that, we were promised we could hit the snow on the 22nd. And so goes the waiting game we play every season.
Skiing, more than any other sport, leaves it’s participants waiting for the coveted ‘Opening Day’. From watching the weather channel to bouncing from .com to .com, we attempt to guess when Mother Nature will start up her snowmaking guns...
Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
11.01.03 - Many skiers and riders drastically underestimate the importance of tuning
their equipment. Maintaining gear not only improves your day on the mountain
but also goes a long way towards prolonging the life of your skis and snowboards.
Dull, rusty edges and dried-out bases cause sacrifices in speed and control,
which are essential to beginners, intermediates, and experts. This first edition
of Tech Tips offers preseason advice for tuning your equipment. I will provide
basic approaches to maintenance and things to keep in mind early in the year,
leaving in-depth tuning advice for later discussions...
Tenney Mountain Opens – October 4th
10.04.03
- Tenney Mountain promised an early opening to the 2003/2004-ski
season and on October 4th, they delivered. Breaking Killington's
41year history of providing the first turns of the east coast
ski season, Tenney hooked up 200 skiers and riders with spring
corn snow. Incorporating
state-of-the-art Japanese snowmaking technology into this mid-
New Hampshire ski mountain, owner-operator Dan Egan built a
terrain park
worthy of the jib scene that converged on it...
FC Magazine Launches Online Winter Home
09.01.03 - As we look past the fall season and start gearing up for another winter, we're excited to announce the launch of our new ski and ride website: 'First Chair - On Line Magazine' (http://www.firstchairmag.com). This site will actively serve as an on-line epicenter of the 2003 East Coast powder movement, which exists at Jay Peak, VT. Our Boston-based ski and ride brain trust developed this site as a definitive resource for a multimedia, interactive destination to prepare for, document, and remember the 03/04-winter season. Full completion is scheduled for Nov. 1st, ideally coinciding with the first turns of the season...