Jay 1/30/10

[riverc0il]

Not what I was expecting and I didn't think I had my hopes up too much. But the wind buffed everything. And I mean everything, not even the most protected trees were safe.

That said.... you would NEVER know this place got hit with rain a week ago. Wowzers. Coverage a lot less than normal for this time of year (snow mobile trails coming in from I-93 were all grass and not passible, wow!) but coverage was pretty much complete base with some notable exceptions such as the top of liftline under the Bonnie. A few twigs sticking out in places. But the place was covered and not icy. Though groomers were "fast hardpack". Really impressive overall.

Any ways, no upper mountain lifts ran yesterday. So I was hoping for that 7" of untracked to be wind buffed untracked perfection. What I found was the most substantial wind buff I have ever attempted to ski. Slabs were breaking off two inches deep. Tip dive = fall because the tips couldn't break the slab and resurface. I skied very conservatively in the trees. Hit (or passed by due to the entrance looking sketch) about half the on map trees and a few off map. Fell quite a few times on the untracked stuff. Just funky weird.

Once the untracked got cut up... it skied really well. I had my best turns in Timbuktu of all places... a glade I normally detest due to high traffic, irregular crap bumps, and coverage issues due to the traffic. So things were looking to get better as the day went on and I suspect tomorrow will be a rare case of Sunday being better than Saturday without any new snow (especially if it is warmer... Brrrr.........). I called it an early day. Probably missed better conditions later in the day as things got cut up more and the brutal wind buff slab was removed but I am dog tired. Stowe might have been a better option today.

 

[crank]

Thanks for the report. We're heading up tonight and skiing Sunday.

 

[billski]

We were there today also. Excanged note with River. We found the glades on extreme right facing up hill to be delightful. Name escapes me, I'm fading fast. Zero wind brilliant sun. Small snow forecast Sunday. My legs were burnin burnt from two days of glades.

 

[JD]

Beaver pond area....

 

[snowmonster]

^ Beaver Pond, Andre's Paradise. Thanks for the report, riv! Nice to know Jay recovered well.

 

[billski]

That's it, thanks guys
took some pics inside of new hotel. Ate lunch in their nice new restaurant-very good.
Will post Pics when I get back.

 

[riverc0il]

Beaver pond area....

That was my first thought and first run. But it was hard-to-break-slab-wind-blown just like the rest of the mountain. I skied pretty much every aspect and they were all the same. The snow skied well once it was broken up but untracked was really hard to ski yesterday.

 

[billski]

Saturday

That was my first thought and first run. But it was hard-to-break-slab-wind-blown just like the rest of the mountain. I skied pretty much every aspect and they were all the same. The snow skied well once it was broken up but untracked was really hard to ski yesterday.

We waited for Rivercoil to bust it up and then we went into Andre's from the top. In fact, it was busted up all over, but not pounded down. It skied really nicely and we had a lot of fun. It was the only glade we spent any time in. Thought about Timbuktu and looked at it from Derek, but had second thoughts.

 

[billski]

My Pics

Biggest line of the day, not counting the tram.

New Restaurant, Alice's Table. refreshingly calm compared to the high school
cafeteria atmosphere of the Tram Lodge

bonaventure:

New Digs:

Lodge Entrance

Lobby

This is now connected by a walkway(behind the tram machine room) from the cafeteria to the hotel = all indoors

Cool rental center

 

[riverc0il]

I didn't get much into the new building, meant to but I was just beat and wanted to head home. The rental area looked nice. Motion sensor door heading outside. No longer a need to go downstairs to the bathroom from the Tram Lodge main floor either. Looking forward to sampling the new bar. Could see the restaurant from the line for the tram and it looked pretty darn sweet. Saw a sign for the International so they are still serving over there too.

 

[ta&idaho]

Nice report. Thinking of heading up there next weekend, especially if they get some more snow. Anyone know of dog-friendly lodging in the vicinity? One of my buddies has to bring his dog since his wife is out of town.

 

[billski]

Food was good at Alices. I had the buffet, which included French Onion Soup, Salad, pasta with dried tomatoes, and make your own cold cut sandwiches. My bud had something from the menu - frenchfries with gravy and cheese - it tasted good, but not for me. Delightfully warm and friendly waitress. Table at the window.

All the adults were here, all the kids were in the tram lodge.

 

[JD]

That was my first thought and first run. But it was hard-to-break-slab-wind-blown just like the rest of the mountain. I skied pretty much every aspect and they were all the same. The snow skied well once it was broken up but untracked was really hard to ski yesterday.

Interesting. We weren't far from there as the crow flies....skiied creamy, settled powder...Tomorrow I am going back to mansfield, hopeing to get into more soft snow on a simular aspect to what we skiied yesterday...hopefully we find the same conditions as we did yesterday.

 

[riverc0il]

Interesting. We weren't far from there as the crow flies....skiied creamy, settled powder...Tomorrow I am going back to mansfield, hopeing to get into more soft snow on a simular aspect to what we skiied yesterday...hopefully we find the same conditions as we did yesterday.

Could have been better just a short ways down the road with a little more ridge protection for sure. I didn't go to far off the beaten path but stuff leading down to 242 was the same. Wonder how things were on the other side of the pass.... my touring boots stayed in the car so I didn't bother trying to find out after I hit every aspect I could think of at the resort. Usually there is something that gets wind shielded but if there was, I certainly couldn't find it!

 

[JD]

Looking back at the topos of J, I think the face would have the best snow after strong north westerlies. I think the fact that they trim so much may actually hurt snow quality in these cases. Beaver pond also, but not at the top where the wind would whip thru the saddle..edit: after looking at the topos again, I would have headed for the side of Big J most visible from the tram...After I checked out the face shots from the top of the tram...

 

[riverc0il]

There weren't any face shots from the top of the tram. First tram up, I noticed tracks coming down the Face that looked to be maybe 2-3" deep. The original plan was something of the ridge but that was scraped pretty quickly. The place just got beat harshly by the wind. Not that it doesn't but it was significantly off the charts in terms of wind speed up there. I heard the Bonnie got derailed or something or other due to the winds (when it was closed).

For snow preservation and longevity of quality snow, it probably could not have been better for Jay following the rain. 20" of blower surely would have left the place wanting for a lot more given what the snow fell on top of.

 

[JD]

I meant the lines coming down off the face....but hey, I wasn't there. Just would have been my plan of attack if I were....

 

[snowmonster]

Thanks for the photos of the new lodge. Wow! Big upgrade over the Tram Lodge. And yes, nicer pic of the glade.

 

[crank]

Just got home. We stayed at the new Tram House lodge. They had a promotional deal of $99 per person including lifts so it was the same price as staying at a cheap place and buying passes - even with the local discounts.

We had a1 bedroom suite, gas fireplace and pullout in outer room TV's in both rooms. Table and chairs, room to hang coats and leave boots in the entrance nice kitchen are with toaster, 2 burner stove,... nice rooms. The ski lockers are also conveniently located right near the door to the slopes.

Couple of things they seem to have forgotten: We wanted to leave our gear so we could pick it up when we were done skiing. They "forgot" to include a storage area. Employees were apologetic and the bellman offered to carry our stuff down from the room and stash it in my car. (Valet parking is part of the deal.) so that was cool. Also, there's no house phones. So you can't call up to your room to wake your lazy ass 16-year-old son up to come out and ski dammit.

That said we pretty much skied all over - skipped the face but hit Green Beret and some trees off of that first run. Best snow was definitely in Beaver Pond and it was a relatively calm day for the Freezer so we lapped that for our last 4 runs of the afternoon.

Really glad we went - I've had better conditions and it was a lot of driving for 1 day, but we needed a northern VT fix and we got it.

Oh, I forgot, it was snowing nicely when we left and there was about an inch on my car.