The Hotel Jay is gone

 And frankly, good riddance. I'm sure the barn-like structure held some good memories for many Jay Peak visitors but really, it was a pretty non-descript building and will be replaced (in theory) by something far more groovy. My memories of this structure are limited to standing in line at the customer service desk waiting to get a ticket. Although the last time I was there, they were giving out home-made cookies, which was nice. You can check out pictures of the tear-down here, the one below is my favorite.

It reminds me of my favorite picture from the great renovation here at Hundwalden. That was quite a moment, driving up and finding the middle of the house gone.

Is this symbolic of the future of Jay Peak, with Customer Service the final thing left standing?

Ski movie arrives in mail, restores faith in humanity (for now)

After participating in some ski movie chatter over at Harvey Road, I thought that I should finally track down one of my personal favorites, Sinners, by Bill Heath. Even with some thorough Internet searching, the only seemingly reliable location I could find selling copies was in, of all places, Jolly Olde England. And guess what, it was on sale. After a couple of glasses of wine, it did not seem too far-fetched to throw down the credit card info and buy a Canadian film from a UK-based web site. The next day, sober second thought made me think: what have I done? Will I ever see this movie? Are English rockclimbers dining out on my Mastercard? The promised e-mail confirmation never came. But today, just 10 days later, guess what appeared in our big white mailbox with a stamp bearing a picture of the Queen? Sinners. Amazing!

All is well with the world. The spring snow has melted, the wild leeks are fine, I officially have my first black fly bite and, tonight, Blue Toes and I are  going to watch a film that the Globe and Mail described like this: "Sinners extols the exquisite beauty of snow."

Next project: locating the lost copy of Greg Stump's classic,  Groove Requiem in the Key of Ski, my other top pick for Best Ski Movie Ever.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....

GO HABS!

Spring sprang but winter returned

Up here at Hundwalden, home of the Ravenscliffe Highlands Ski, Snowshoe & Country Club, we had hung up the winter gear and were busily getting ready for croquet season. Then, the weather changed. Yesterday, there was this mini-blizzard that left us with excellent grass-skiing conditions this morning.

Utah checks the snow depth before we head out on the trail

This morning I put on long pants for the first time since surgery day, April 1, and hauled the last armload of firewood from the convenient rack outside the doorway. I may have to split and haul some more to last out the cold weather forecast for this week. The best laid plans...

This leaf is trying hard to think spring

The only good news from this is that the black flies have disappeared (temporarily, of course). Hopefully the wild leeks survive the cold snap for the leek-picking festival planned at Hundwalden next weekend.

The wild leeks are not happy

The snowy leek fields of Hundwalden

The Hund enjoying the Walden

Off topic but relevant spring stoke

The Pudd-mobile in full playoff regalia. GO HABS!