I know we have lots of skiiers/riders out there, so I thought we could have a place to swap pics/stories/advice, whatever.

This weekend I went up to Jay Peak, VT. b/c of the distance from Boston (4 hours)/NYC (6.5?), even most northeastern folks don't make it up this far. but man this place is sweet. it gets more snow than any other place in North America (it has it's own little weather pocket) and has very liberal tree/OOB policies. combined, you can get days that come pretty close to Western skiing. (they received about 275 inches so far, or about the same as Vail).

last week they got about 20 inches from Wednesday - Friday, and about 5 more on Sunday. made for great conditions. not knee deep powder or anything, but more than enough to go bounding about in the woods. plus it wasn't even Arctic cold! here are some pics I took.

typical Jay glade



another typical line



me



my buddy coming out of the woods



me in the woods, crouching kbz, hidden kbz



in other news, does anyone use GS (bent) poles for regular skiing? I need a new pair of poles, saw some on craigslist, and was thinking about buying them, but I don't know if they are ideal for everyday use.

ya jay is one of the few places int eh NE that can compete with places out west.

honestly though i've spent so much time riding down mountains of ice that i can't imagine it any other way. i'm jealous though, i haven't been out in over a year, since i said "hey i'm just going to hit some easy rails in the park this morning, i don't need my helmet" and ended up face down and unconscious after hitting my head on the corner of a box

sucks man, I've only really been hurt once - I got a concussion years ago.

incidentally, this was my first time wearing a helmet, and I really liked it. it's warm, comfortable, and helps prevent massive brain injuries! win win win imo. I got a Giro with vents that you can open, really a great feature for cooling down after a tough run.

Going to head out to Park City in a couple weeks for some skiing. I hear they have an insane amount of snow this year, and their base is something absurdly big.

Will provide pics when I return...

i'm heading up to the white mountain area to do some skiing this weekend, probably at attitash, and somewhere different sunday (wildcat? idk). i only get to go out a couple times a year nowadays, and my parents own a house in that area that they never use so it's quite convenient.

jay's peak is awesome though, may have put a thought in my head.

It has been an amazing snow year in Colorado. It started at the beginning of December and never stopped.









Almost forgot what was behind the clouds.

ya i really cant recommend it enough.

Fernie BC has had over 1.5m of fresh puked on them in the last 5 days. I am going on Saturday. So stoked.

Also Jay has the best snow in the east by far.

xanta - so friggin jealous of you man. The only possible bummer is that there is so much snow they shut things down on the upper mountain. Fernie is one of the baddest places to ski fresh powder imo.

My mad skills, trying to pose cool for photo :

i wouldnt recommend using GS poles for regular skiing

Hey guys Ive some questions regarding snowboarding...

Ive never been but now have the time to go like 4x a yr if i wanted...

Will it kinda 'suck' much at first before I get any good?.. if so how long till its really enjoyable?

Whats it like going off for a week and snowboarding on your own? Much less fun than being with friends?

My friends who snowboard have probably done it for like at least 20 weeks total so would it be rubbish going with them, as Id probably have to snowboard at diff places (easy routes?)

FWIW I used to skateboard a ton from 14-18 and got pretty good (frontside boardslides and nosegrinds with blind shove-its out ) but have hardly touched skating for like last 6 yrs.

Finishing up the Tahoe trip, here are some pics from Heavenly..


nice scenery


durrr, jman, me


urindanger, durrr, bonafone, jman, me


bonafone busting a 360

haha looks like the asian is wearing sandals.

go with your friends and get lessons from an instructor so you dont have to bug your friends who want to go riding.
the second time you go, you should be able to keep up with your friends as 20 weeks isnt that long.

your skateboarding background should help you out a lot. as far how long it will take to be good enough to hang with your friends...really difficult to say without knowing how good your friends are and how quick you will pick it up. I have a buddy (a v good athlete) who started snowboarding a few years ago, and he's basically good enough to hang with anyone who is not very good.

point is, if you have a group of friends who go, its worth the time investment to learn yourself. You may pick it up and love it within 5 or 6 days (meaning, be good enough that you're not falling all over and your having a good time). worst case is a fun weekend/week at the mountain with your buddies.

I used to ski at Wildcat some, thats my favorite mountain in that area...though it has changed a lot.

I went to Jackson Hole like a month ago and I was actually praying for a day w/o snow.

I think we had 4/9 days with double digit powder.

Probably doesn't help that I have snowblades instead of regular skis. I'd post a pic but people would just make shortstack jokes

Spending President's Weekend at Sunday River in Western Maine. They've had about 25 inches over the past week or two, which is daunting to me, as I'm also used to skiing on sheets of ice in NY/southern VT.

Thinking about skiing depresses me. I used to be a highly competitive racer from the ages of 7-13. I skiied 2-4 times each week whenever there was snow. Then, because of financial instability in my family, I quit. I've skiied ~9 times since then and haven't went in the past 5 years. It bugs me that I spent I was so talented and now don't use it.

Fk it, I'm gonna go this Saturday. Hopefully I can find someone to go w/ me. Weird to think I'll be skiing on rental skis for the first time in my life.

Maybe I'll take some pictures of the joke of a hill I'm going to go to. Yay for unintentionally inspiring EDF threads.

Raptor; your pictures will most assuredly be the cause of the demise of one or both of my ACLs.

lippy I'm sure you don't realize this, but getting you skiing again was the true goal behind this thread. diablo you can lock as soon as lippy post pics of him getting his groove back back

Well, I had the feeling this was what was going on. But, now that you've confirmed... I'm touched. It's really great that you guys are so willing to go out of your way to benefit my life. And this is a group effort, not just one of you.

I'm getting all teary eyed here.

This is super ****ty. I was fortunate enough to have parents that could finace my racing addiction through to the point where I wasn't good enough to race Nor-Ams. It's one of the most outrageously expensive sports, but god do I love it. Get back on the snow man.

Also Boris: The trip is gonna be 10fold better because I have a ski bum cousin who's been living in Fernie and working at the mountain, doing comps, etc etc for 3 years. Nothing like having a local to show you the good spots and make sure you don't kill yourself.

Hate being a nit but this isn't even close to true... looks like Jay Peak averages 355" annually... Mt. Baker Ski Resort in WA averages 647" annually. This year they've had 528" already...

www.mtbaker.us/

Think he meant eastern NA, Baker is pretty sick.