The things you learn on the Jay Peak Tram...

Sklinda and Dogski were down at Jay Peak last weekend for a little summertime R&R. They probably never expected that they would learn a Jay Peak history lesson, including the fact that our Jonny Jay, while certainly original, is not the first John Jay! Jay Peak, like many other mountains around the world, is named for some politician who never set foot or even laid eyes on the hill. And I'll bet he wasn't a skier.

Hi,

So it is amazing what you learn on a tram ride! Maybe you knew this but it was new to us. Jay Peak was named after John Jay one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (editor's note: interweb research reveals that John Jay retired from the first Congress in 1776 rather than sign the Declaration. Nevertheless, he is an important figure in early US political history. Hey, we're Canadians, who knew?). The tram driver (not George) said that to everyone's knowledge he never set foot on the mountain. He eventually became governor of New York.

The excavation for the new Hotel Jay and water park is roaring along. The footings are in. It is hard to imagine what the old Jay looked like! The golf course clubhouse is beautiful - a lovely restaurant inside. We had a skate which was really fun. They even rent figure skates and for a senior like me the cost was $1. Jack caught two trout in the river.

 The first John Jay obviously started the tradition of orange and black regalia

The Real Jonny Jay taking a breather on the hike to Andre's Paradise, 
resplendent (as always) in his orange and black regalia

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!

Sadly, we missed it...

This pretty much sums it up. His spelling isn't the best (and, yes, there are a couple of spicy words) but DoWork definitely found some stoke at Jay Peak yesterday:

Wow Jay was amazing... Untracked lines all day long, just had to get a liiiiittle more creative each time but they were there in grand fashion. There was pow-a-plenty in the woods which we hit all morning (even had a few charging face shots too!) and then when we went to traverse to the Tram Haus for our free lunches and saw that Powerline was completely untouched... So we plundered the SHIT out of it! THAT was probably the run of the day... When we came back there after lunch, there was a small crowd of people gaping it up at the top and pointing at the lines we took so me and Are just blew by them hootin' and hollerin', airing the shit out of the top lip and not letting up the whole way down, throwing ourselves off every roller and dip and smashing into the perfect velvet apron only to charge through the billowing pow... Truly a magical experience! The Billy Goats really shined in these conditions, can't say enough about their performance in the deep and wet.


Coldn't believe the coverage one storm cal lay down. Def the latest pow day I've ever had like that for sure.


Had a blast with Are, Buttah, Crank and Turn High charging the woods like a pack of angry rhinos and having a blast wootin' it up all over the place. Hell, even the bumps were on like the porch light by the end of the day. Wow, truly one for the books

And if that doesn't make you cry, there is more like it starting here and going on several pages.

For the real goods in photographic form, the Famous Internet Skiers win the day, here and here.

And finally, there is this video, which I sent to Pudd the other day, and is also posted on Harvey44's blog. This little film embodies the essence of skiing in Vermont. I am not normally a big fan of these "POV" videos but this one really stands out. Not only is the skiing dreamy, the dogs are fantastic and the music is great.

I have an excuse, why aren't you at Jay Peak?

The Jet Triple chair today, taken by someone who was there