Jay Peak, Vermont
February 25-28, 2005
Jay Peak was the new place on the Harford Ski Club schedule. Many people were leery of trying a place they had never heard of. Being as close as it is to Canada, it is more likely to be recognized by folks from Montreal than from Maryland. The French conversations on the slopes lent a European feel to the resort.
We flew up to Manchester and took a 3 hour (plus two beer stops) bus trip up to Jay. I think most of us went straight to bed. The next morning we awoke to bright sunshine. A few of us awoke to exploded beer bottles (it got pretty cold out on the balcony overnight). After a hearty breakfast, we headed out to the snow-covered slopes.
After a few warm up runs on bunny slopes, Evan and I headed off to the tram. I took in the spectacular view from the top, but just for a moment. I realized Evan was getting ready to shove off down the trail.
Caren contemplates taking the tram.
We headed over to Stateside. We did a few runs on Stateside and headed back to Tramside for lunch. After lunch, Evan was a bit tired. So I caught up with Kevin. We did a few runs off the high-speed quad on Tramside. One was without my right hand glove that I dropped off the lift (oops). Fortunately, I got it back.
John came by on the next run and we started to ski with him. Kevin decided it would be wise not to try to keep up. I decided that John's telemark skis slowed him down enough for me to keep up. We did the steeper and deeper, including Can Am (see humorous warning sign below).
I missed the hot tubbing with the Flying Dutchmen, but I did get to dinner in plenty of time. The food was excellent.
Getting it together at the base lodge.
After dinner a bunch of us headed over to the International Room for some music and drink. The drink was good, but the band wasn't. They played some good music, but they weren't the dance band that we were promised (we did get a refund). Ed and Christine got there early and apparently did well in the contests they were having in the bar. Ed won the Happy Hour Trivia Contest by being old enough to remember what Elton John's real name was. For that matter, he was probably one of the few old enough to remember who Elton John was. Not to be left out, Christine won the worst hat head contest.
Sunday morning we got out bright and early. After a few bunny slope runs, Caren, Evan and their parents headed up to do some real green slopes. It was soon evident that not only could Evan out-ski his mother, but so could Caren.
Later, six of us gathered for NASTAR. I'm not sure what happened to our NASTAR organizer, Lisa. Congratulations to Chris and Kim for each getting a Bronze metal.
At the top of the Tram, ready to take off.
Monday, we wasted tons of prime skiing time trying to second guess Mother Nature. A snowstorm was heading our way and I try to determine whether people would want to wait out the storm or make it home on our regular flight. A few folks tried to get out early, but that didn't work out. After a couple of hours of gyrations, we decided to just stick with the original plan. The good news is that we got out with only a small flight delay. The bad news is that we missed 18 inches of fresh powder. The ski cam was tough to take the day after we got back.
Heading down to Stateside from the tram.
Anyway, we did get some good skiing in. We found some great glades to ski (its what Jay is famous for). I packed it in around 3:30 and got the pizza. After Chris saw his sister off he hadn't seen in 10 years, we loaded the bus and found ourselves one short. I found the sleeping skier in the real estate office. We headed off, beating the storm.
Mother Nature gave us a great advertisement for the Bretton Woods, Mount Washington, Cannon Mountain trip we will be doing next year.
Coming down stateside with the tram in the background.
A few other stories made it my way.
Apparently, Mike fell off Alligator Alley. Only problem was that everyone followed him.
Jim got a new nickname: Dances With Trees.
Brittany apparently has some new signs. I think her elusive luggage finally made it home with here. It was, at various times, locked in a room she didn't have a key to and in a room occupied by people we don't know.
The best news, of course, is that no one got hurt this year.
Another run on stateside.
Kevin ready to ski down tram side.
Me ready to ski down tram side.
John . . . almost.
Mike speeding down the NASTAR course.
Caren ready to take on the mountain.
Warning Experts Only
Even in the best of conditions a
fall on the CanAm can lead to long
slides and
serous injury.
Do not take your friends, spouse
or family down CanAm
because
it is the toughest trail on
the mountain.
The results may
not be pretty.
