So this week was (and is going to continue to be) action-packed. From Sunday to Tuesday, we went up to Jay Peak in North Troy, VT. North Troy is so close to the Canadian border that there is poutine on the menu and all the signs are in both English and French. Jay Peak is famous for its powder and its glades. Before this weekend, they had already gotten almost 300 inches of snow this season, and when we left earlier today, they had gotten 42 more inches in the intervening days. What does that mean? That means the trails were loaded with powder. The storm rolled in Sunday night after turning from rain to snow, and went all the way through Monday evening, which meant not only was there a ton of fresh powder when we hit the slopes Monday morning, but it snowed throughout the day, too. I've literally never skied in so much snow. I was getting stuck. It was impossible to turn. Not to mention, it was a week-day and there was no one on the slopes. Hooray!
Simply put, Jay was great. The skiing was great, the skating was great, the rooms were great, the food was great. Here are some shots of our little studio apartment in their brand new Tram Haus Lodge, which sits at the base of the mountain. It had a small kitchenette (perfect for breakfast and lunch) as well as a fireplace, flat screen TV and view of the lifts.
When we got their on Sunday, we skied for a couple of hours before heading in to eat lunch, check into the room, watch some History Channel (Modern Marvels is the best show ever!) and then eat at Alice's Table, the hotel's really awesome restaurant. The food was great, and the prices were pretty reasonable, too. Honestly, the prices for this whole place are really reasonable - probably has something to do with being so far north. After dinner, we went skating at their (also brand new) ice rink.
The place was pretty much empty even though it was "Public Free Skate" (we shared the rink with about five other people), and it was fun to get on skates for the first time in about seven years. When I was younger, I used to do competitive figure skating, and it's amazing how most of that comes back easily. Ben, on the other hand, was freaked out when I started pushing him backwards on his skates. By the end of the skating, I almost had him reversing directions while moving. Almost.
When we woke up the next day, the conditions were very snowy. The workers were snow blowing and shoveling the walkways and digging out the lifts from about 2.5 feet of snow.
It was still snowing pretty hard, too.
And it was a pain to walk anywhere.
But the conditions were great! Nothing had been groomed, so it was all fluffy powder. Here are some shots of a trail I was on about half-way up the mountain. Notice the deep ski tracks in the snow? How about the fact that you can't see my skis and can only barely see the tops of my bindings? Yeah, that's me shooting the camera down at my feet. My pole is halfway buried in snow, too. And this was a regular old blue-square trail.
So yeah - awesome. Plenty of people were snowed in at the hotel overnight, so the bar downstairs was pretty packed. That evening we just relaxed, had dinner, and watched more History Channel.
And when we woke up? It was a bright clear day. And a total of 42 inches of snow had dropped while we were there!
We left after a little more skiing today, and the ride home through VT and NH was clear and beautiful.
That down there is Cannon Mountain, in NH. The slopes looked great there, too.
So, that is part one of my vacation. I have a couple of days of doing nothing before I volunteer all weekend as an "Enforcer" (fancy geek convention lingo for "volunteer") at PAX East, a video game convention organized by Penny Arcade at the BCEC in Boston. I'm excited to see all of the awesome games, concerts and exhibits, as well as help the show run smoothly. If you're attending, you'll probably see me everyday between 3pm and 9pm at the Registration desk.
1 comments:
Looks like you're having a great time.
So far north, eh? :)
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