The VT Blog

Jay Peak, VT: 2/20/10

Posted on by Powderqueen

EDeO, Chuck, Amy, Kelly and I set out this morning to pillage the glades of Jay Peak. It was windy, so the Tram and the Green Mtn Freezer were on hold in the morning. We took the Metro over to the Bonnie and started our skiing from Stateside where the sun broke through the clouds while it continued to snow.

The Dip had the best snow and the most untracked lines of the morning. We dipped out of bounds and skied back in for divine turns. We lost EDeO and Chuck on our third lap, because they went just a bit too far out and had a longer trek back. The rest of us got in a nice long run down Everglade from the top before lunch. It was pretty sweet in there.

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Tagged: Jay Peak, VT4 Comments

Smugglers Notch, VT: 2/7/10

Posted on by James Michaud

Hopkins Bridge

While it’s all about families at Smuggs (almost suffocating at times, and I’m a parent), the terrain really impressed me. It’s a good-sized mountain — a legitimate 2,600 vert covered by old-school EC terrain with lots of character, some steep shots, and skiable trees everywhere.

Harveys

Smuggs reminds me of a bigger version of Magic Mountain, including the outdated infrastructure: vintage double chairs and an undersized, out-of-date lodge at the bottom of the main hill. I can deal with slow lifts, but I’m kind of puzzled by how they’ve managed to avoid updating the uphill capacity while courting a demographic that insists on a certain level of amenities.

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Jay Peak, VT: 2/6/10

Posted on by James Michaud

I’m in northern VT for the weekend on my way to several days in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Left my office in northern NJ at 6 pm last night. Stopped to send some e-mails at the best highway rest stop in all of North America: the one on northbound I-81 in Guilford VT, just before Brattleboro.

By 11 pm, while driving past White River Junction, I was falling asleep at the wheel, so I pulled off, drove into a church parking lot, cranked the seat back and fell asleep. Woke up at 3 am, and I’m pretty sure that it was near zero outside, and not much warmer inside the car. In my 20s, I used to do the sleep-in-the-car routine occasionally, but I’m getting too old for this crap. It’ll take me two spa treatments for my neck and back to recover.

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Tagged: Jay Peak, VT6 Comments