So it's been a rough year...we all know that. We've had to work hard for the powder turns we've found. With the wind hold that has plagued Sugarbush, my best days have come when I've hiked for the stashes that the winds kept lifts from reaching. This week, Seth and I, together with a bunch of ski bums from Sugarloaf, made what I'm sure will be an annual pilgrimage at least -- to Jay Peak, for some tree skiing adventures. In the span of a few days, we explored, dropped in to the unknown, found which way the winds had been blowing, and hiked for the deep, untouched powder that makes the run out worth it all in the end.
It's always an adventure when we hook up with James and crew from the 'loaf. Last year we had a few days of fun up at Jay, but we had stayed on the mountain proper, simply sniffing out what lay in between trails and trees. This year, we were armed with GPS's, a few friends who had been out of bounds before, and a real driving sense of snow deprivation that made the search for freshies our soul motivation.
Day one was "The Dip" -- repeated runs off the back side, where we found fresh lines through trees and rock drops back down to where we had stashed the cars, right around back for more. I know that the first crew that loaded in the back of hte pickup is probably still sore from the whiplash that comes from being a passenger when I'm driving a stick shift in snowboard boots!
Day Two was the big adventure of our first time hiking Big Jay. I must thank the guys for convincing me to come along. I had thought of wussing out because I'm old and my legs were tired and since we hadn't done it yet, we weren't quite sure how a knuckle-dragger would fair. Well, it was well worth it and I'm glad I joined in the fun. What a typical scene -- Colleen and the guys...lone girl and lone snowboarder among a group of skier guys looking for a mountain challenge. After the ~ hour hike over, we dropped in to delightfully deep untracked lines that led over 3-6 foot rock drops, knee deep face shots and the quiet solitude of only having your friends hooting and hollering powdery bliss as the sonic backdrop.
Of course, there was the runout...on which I somehow found myself sucked onto the low road that led me into a half-exposed streambed drainage that I had to navigate through to find my way out. A little shwapple slalom, post-holing into a river and knee-buckling into rocks later and I made the exit, giving the guys enough time to down a beer in celebration of our newest back country victory.
So now we have a new semi-local back country stash we can seek refuge in when the need for steep-n-deep takes over. It wan't the trip out west into bottomless bowls that we may have dreamed of, but for this year, the Big Jay experience will do!
