Month: February 2020 (Page 30 of 42)

Hunting Powder Stashes and Shredding Groomers at Jay Peak (01/28/20)
from Jan Welch on 10 Feb 2020

Ski Day 26 (01/28/20) – Hunting Powder Stashes and Shredding Groomers at Jay Peak

My friend Jarrod came to visit me from Denver for a week and I wanted to take him to my favorite mountains, while he was here. The day before he left we made our way up to Jay Peak. They had just had several inches of fresh powder on top of their already plentiful snow conditions.

We put on our gear at the Tram Side Lodge and headed towards the Flyer lift. It turned out that Flyer would be closed the whole day and ALL the other upper mountain lifts were on hold because of icing. We spent the first hour and half just playing around on the lower mountain until Jet was opened. I had issues from the start with my goggles fogging over and they never cleared up for the rest of the day.

The first lift to be de-iced was Jet. While on the lift we could see all the untouched powder had a thin coat of ice over it. We made our way down UN and instantly started breaking through the ice on the moguls. It really wasn’t that much fun to be breaking ice nonstop, so we cut into the woods in between Jet and UN. The glade was full of non-crusty fluffy powder that made me feel like I was in a dream state.

At the bottom we ran my friend Gus, who works over at Loon and we went with him into Timbuktu. Gus is excellent snowboarder and was just ripping through the glades, while Jarrod and I were lagging behind, trying to figure our lines. Living in Denver, Jarrod prefers the steep and deep runs and isn’t too keen on trees.

We spent the rest of the day mainly hitting groomers, but I did manage to trick him into a few more trees and moguls. I also made a few solo glade runs, while he would take his occasional pit stops in the bar in the Stateside Lodge. Throughout the day, it became extremely foggy, with only about 20 feet of visibility. The conditions in the trees were excellent, but the groomers themselves were hard, with blown off snow and plenty of exposed ice. We lasted till about 2 before calling it a day.

Night Skiing at the Lyndon Outing Club in Lyndonville, Vermont (02-07-20)
from Jan Welch on 10 Feb 2020

Ski Day 29 (02-07-20) – Skiing Fresh Powder At Lyndon Outing Club After The Big Storm

By the end of the day at Burke on Thursday, I was covered in ice from head to toe. Although we had already had several inches of snow that morning, it was not what I was expecting to happen weather wise, when I heard about the big storm that was heading our way. Thursday night’s snow chances, turned into a mix of freezing rain and sleet and by Friday morning, all of the beautiful powder from the day before was covered in a layer of ice. I honestly thought we wouldn’t get any snow, and if we did, it would be minimal and crusty. As I started slipping into depression, it began nuking heavy wet snow on top of the ice layer, followed by super fluffy powder!

At my house we lost power three times during the day and I couldn’t stand being at home in the dark. The Lyndon Outing Club announced that they would be open for night skiing, so I made my way, through horrible road conditions, to the hill. I wasn’t expecting many other people to be driving on the roads last night, but boy was I wrong! The parking lot was full of cars and when I looked up at the hill it was covered in thick untouched fresh powder!

I put on my boots and headed to the T-bar, making my way up to the summit. It was still snowing fairly heavy and there was a bitter cold wind at the top. I could only imagine how cold the lift operator must have been! The wind blew the powder off of the crispy cover on the very top of the hill, but as soon as you dropped in, it was heaven! I mean, I was just floating over the snow and cutting through the powder. I didn’t even notice any of the crust that had formed on top of the previous days snowfall. During my year of skiing, I’ve never actually skied a long run that was just fresh powder. All my powder experiences have been in the glades for short spurts. This was a whole new experience for me and I absolutely loved it.

I made about ten runs on the face and some of the side trails, which were completely untouched! It was hands down one of the most fun times I’ve had this season. The Lyndon Outing Club is truly a gem for the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I recommend that anyone visiting the NEK or is skiing at Burke or Jay Peak to visit the LOC for day or night skiing. And while you are at it, make sure and have one of their tasty burgers in the lodge! Check them out at skilyndon.com for more information.