Category: January

2009-2010 Season, January, Jay Peak

Major Slab Wind Buff at Jay

Sometimes even the best laid plans are not completely fool proof. It seemed like a no brainer at the time. Twenty inches in three days with seven of those inches falling the evening before an upper mountain lift hold at Jay. Temperatures plummeted into the single digit mark and most metro area skiers and riders had no idea that almost two feet of new snow had fallen in Northern Vermont immediately following the massive wash out last weekend. I was not expecting a jackpot and I was expecting some wind buff. My expectations were not high but they were definitely in the “powder day” realm of thinking for sure.

Only a dozen skiers were lined up for first tram which was eerie to say the least. I chalked it up to the cold and afore mentioned metro rain bias. But I soon learned that it was not those who missed first tram that were the fools. Rarely do I ride the tram and only started at Tramside due to my ticket requiring a visit to the Customer Service desk. I decided to start my morning with a rarity of sorts for me and that is the normally sure shot first tracks in the Beaver Pond area.

En route to Beaver Pond, I spied some wind buffed powder on the edge of the fast hard pack and I pounced. And I tip dove and ejected. “Nothing more than cold legs on a cold day,” I told myself. But three turns into Beaver Pond, I had difficulty on a turn, caught some foliage sticking up through the snow, and lost a ski. Hum. The snow was beyond simply being wind buffed. It was slab wind buffed with one to two inches of firm breakable slab on top of the wind buff. Breaking through the slab was variable from turn to turn creating a dire need for anticipating inconsistency. I quickly checked my speed and my ego and decided to take things in the trees very slowly. By the time I exited Beaver Pond, I was not deterred but rather determined to find the wind protected aspect the escaped the wind.

Alas, it was not to be found any where today at Jay Peak. (more…)

2009-2010 Season, January, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Rediscovering the Magic

 

Magic delivered on MLK Day with the most new snow in Vermont. And while some locations in New Hampshire received the same or more new snow, Magic offered up the best combination of cost, terrain, and lack of crowds on a holiday weekend. Magic is always a safe (and cheap!) location on a holiday weekend for crowd avoidance. So this storm could not have been better timed.

Having said that, this was my first time skiing Magic during which they had a lift line attendant checking tickets and organizing the lift line. The two line coral backup up to a ten chair wait at one point. Wow! There were no chairs going up empty at Magic today until very late in the afternoon. It seems like the word is finally getting out about Magic.

Magic received half a foot of fresh. Powder consistency was fairly high moisture content but still rather of powdery. Great snow for packing down and improving the already ample base. My observations are that Magic did not receive rain prior to the snow. The new snow fell on a bomber but rather crusty base. The new snow was definitely much needed. Base is good but great conditions on a good base is better. All trails were open and skiing very well!

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2009-2010 Season, Earned Turns, January, Mount Washington

Washington Earned Turns via the Cog

With most of New England seeing above freezing temperatures yesterday into a freeze last night as we enter a long holiday weekend, I decided that earning turns would be the best option. I suspected snow at lower elevations might be manky so I ruled out explorations of local backcountry glades. I turned my attention to the west side of Mount Washington as a quick and easy option to get out and make some turns today.

I was not the only one with this type of plan as the parking lot at Marshfield Station had about twenty cars parked when I arrived. I quickly booted up and started my ascent looker’s right of the train tracks on a well established skin track.

This was only my third day earning turns this year and I felt winded and out of shape before even reaching the Waumbek  Tank. Snow depth was significant and I measured over 70cm in places using my pole. Coverage was exceptional with essentially edge to edge coverage minus elevated portions of the train tracks. Plenty of untracked snow remained. While it skied great, the consistency and depth of the snow was not good enough to merit a Powder Day designation.

After a short break at the Tank, I ventured on until reaching Jacob’s Ladder where I decided snow conditions did not merit further climbing above the tree line where weather exposure and visibility would be worse. Several other skiers were also there, some continuing on with plans for Ammo but most turned around at that point.

Skiing was not fun in the narrow pipeline right below Jacob’s Ladder but became increasingly more interesting below as things widened out. I opted to take skier’s left of the tracks which were not buried enough to allow easy crossing on skis once the decision had been made.  Untracked lines were plentiful but conditions made for interesting turns and had me wanting for fatter boards.

2009-2010 Season, January, Powder Day, Smugglers Notch

A Special Powder Day at Smuggs

“I gotta get to Smuggs”

This has been a yearly refrain of mine for some time now. The excuses are long since familiar and trite: “Jay has more powder”, “the lift lines will be really long”, “I don’t feel like the longer drive”, “not all of their trails are open”, “I have to max out my Jay pass first”, etc. Add in a few injuries these past few seasons for good measure.

But earlier this week, I started getting a feeling that it was at last the right time. Smuggs was fully open due to last week’s storm and was getting the same snow that Jay was getting. Lift lines would probably not be an issue due to this being the weekend between two holiday weekends and before the College kids came back to Burlington (and the cold weather certainly helped as well). And I do not have a season pass this year. Friday night before bed, I was giddily excited. Not because I thought today was going to be an exceptional powder day (which it turned out to be!). But rather simply because I knew I was finally going to ski Smuggs, a mountain that by all accounts is my type of mountain, and that made me very excited.

Pulling into Lot 1 at the opening bell, it did not look like more than an inch or two of fresh had fallen. I made the decision to grab my Legend 8000s but quickly changed them out after only a single run. Smuggs had conservatively reported 6-8″ but more than twice that amount could be found in the trees. I skied boot to knee deep fresh every run with plenty of untracked and the occasional thigh deep drift. Suffice to say, it was a very special first day at Smuggs.

Having gone entire seasons without skiing a new area, it is interesting that I have now skied two new areas in less than one week. Not knowing the mountain nor having a proper plan of attack was discomforting at first. But I gradually warmed to the wonderful feelings brought on by novel exploration and discovery. You only enjoy that feeling of wonder and discovery a few times at each area before it becomes just another routine. It was thrilling and tremendously enjoyable, especially considering what I found. Enough waxing poetic, let’s talk trip report already.

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2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, January, Powder Day

Epic Two Foot Powder Day at Cannon

On Sunday, we rolled the dice and bet against Cannon due to the wind forecast. While the result was wonderful yielding fourteen inches and a new discovery of a lesser known area, Mount Abram on Sunday would hardly qualify as epic. Based on trip reports and our clean up work this afternoon, I suspect most skiers at Cannon yesterday will rank January 3rd as their best day of the season when all is said and done. Suffice to say that this past Sunday at Cannon surely was a special day and we missed out.

Clean up operations commenced on Monday at Cannon and I was determined to find the left overs. And find them we did venturing forth into terrain likely never having previously been skiable this early in the season. In six hours we took six runs and worked excessively hard for four of them.

Our labor was rewarded with abundant two to three feet untracked powder shots that were frequently knee to thigh deep. During one epic descent, I took my first face shot of the season and ever so briefly entered the powder room.

After coming to a stunned stop shortly thereafter, I began laughing like a manic. Vigorously shaking the snow laden spruce tree behind me, I brought down copious amounts of snow on my head while yelling “powder room, baby, yea!!!”

Immensely satisfying. You only get a few of these every year. We missed the main dish but sometimes desert can be just as sweet if not as long lasting.