Author: Steve

Big Jay Coverage

BC Ski Community Rallies, GMC Sub-Committee Formed

Backcountry skiers have rallied behind restoration efforts for Big Jay. A Green Mountain Club Press Release specifies that the Backcountry population has voiced their disdain concerning the illegal cut on Big Jay. The community has incorporated educational and fund raising efforts into four events including three ski movie premiers. Backcountry ski volunteers assisted with a restoration project held on October 14th to install waterbars and other errosion prevention measures on the cut under the guidance of supervising ecologist Jeff Parsons.

The Green Mountain Club has formed a sub-committee of the GMC Stewardship Committee to address and advise on the issue. This latest Press Release from the Green Mountain Club suggests that the cut was done using chainsaws and the width of the cut ranges from 20 to 60 feet throughout the entire length. The Green Mountain Club is calling the cut the “worst easement violation in the history of GMC’s Land Protection Program.”

Green Mountain Club Press Release: Trees Illegally Cut on Public Land at Big Jay

Book Reviews

Falling Season by Hal Clifford

Falling SeasonFalling Season is the term Aspen’s Mountain Rescue team uses to denote the time of year when mountain activity and associated injuries increase substantially. Numerous climbers and hikers, both prepared and unprepared alike, begin venturing into the mountains during late Spring. When accidents occur and rescues are needed, volunteer driven teams such as Aspen’s Mountain Rescue put themselves in harms way to save lives.

As a member of Aspen’s Mountain Rescue team, Hal Clifford has an insider’s view of Aspen Mountain Rescue specifically and Search and Rescue in general. Clifford acknowledges his biases by stating up front that he is a member of the Mountain Rescue team first and an author second. The author manages that balance well by utilizing quotes from everyone involved and painting a balanced story.

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News

Snowmaking Begins in New England

Snowmaking crews fired up the guns at seven New England ski areas Sunday night to commence preparations for opening the 2007-2008 season. Only time will tell which one of these front runners will open first but suffice to say no bull wheels will likely be turning for at least another two weeks. TheSnowWay.com will be reporting first tracks and first hand reports and pictures very soon! But for now, sit back and enjoy some pictures taken at each of the following mountains:

Maine:
Sugarloaf/USA
Sunday River

New Hampshire:
Attitash
Bretton Woods

Vermont:
Killington
Mount Snow
Sugarbush (No Cam Shot but snowmaking has been verified)

Poetry and Prose

An Excerpt from Birches by Robert Frost

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the line of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

Announcements

The Season Cometh & Web Site Updates

While this weekend’s cold shot and probable mountain top dusting will only likely be a tease and hint of things to come, it is hard not to be reminded of last October’s epic ending and look forward to this October’s end in hopes of an early season pounding. First tracks have already been made out West and the bull wheel is already turning at A-Basin. It will not be long before we get ours in Northern New England.

In the meantime, I have continued sprucing up the redesigned web site. The latest updates and additions include a horizontal navigation bar now in place via Menubar plugin (which still needs styling), an upgrade to WPG2 (please report any broken image links, thanks!), an upgrade to WordPress v2.3, a new form on the Contact page via the cforms II plugin, a daily image in addition to the random image, and an edited sidebar that eliminates redundant or needless links. Please continue to pardon the dust as the finishing touches are being made before the snow flies. Because once the mountains are white, I will be damned if I am going to spend skiing time working on design and code!