Steppin' it up for Jesus (TR)

[gincognito]

I knew where Basom was heading, but I wasn’t sure he could get there. He was cutting an upward traverse below the Ridge, breaking through the boot deep butter to reach a sweet 20-foot hit we’d discovered last year. I thought about following him, contemplated his trajectory, and finally took the lazy way out. Turning my eyes downward, I pointed ‘em off a tiny drop and joined APK, Big E, and Noodles on the relatively open apron below Jay Peak’s proving ground.

It was the first run of the day for all but Big E and I (we’d snuck in a warm-up run while the rest of the crew assembled their gear and threw down some breakfast) and we’d jumped right into the fray. Coming off the Tram the choices were Valhalla or the Ridge.

“Well, we could at least take a look at the conditions,” I’d ventured. And that was all that was needed for Basom to lead the way. We climbed up and peered down the main chute known as the Saddle. It looked good.

“It looks pretty good.” Basom’s face made the words unnecessary. A windbuffed upper portion would yield two turns before a straightline/air over the ever-present outcropping rocks. The only question was whether or not the snow would hold more than one run.

Basom offered to guinea pig. He dropped in to silky smooth butter and billygoated the exit in fine fashion. The snow held and APK wasted little time following him down. I opted for a line slightly left of central and scored a few schmear turns and a decent air onto the apron. Noodles and Big E finished it off and the day was on.

No sense in going into the details, but let it be known that the snow had been falling for days and, despite the upturn in temperatures and hordes of people that had been skiing the last few days, fresh turns were to be found for the dedicated maggots. And even where it wasn’t fresh, everything was soft and hits were dropped with hero mentality.

Most of the crew had to bow out early due to various obligations – Big E being the first to go courtesy of a tweaked knee (that’s all I’m going to say about that, in the hopes that that’s all it is) – but Basom and I kept charging and finished the day with a free-flowing run through a favourite unofficial glade. We were pleasantly surprised to find lines untouched and knee-deep fluff enveloped us the whole way down.

But back to the first run. APK, Big E, Noodles, and I looked up to where Basom had managed to position himself. A good twenty-five vertical feet and I-don’t-know-how-many horizontal ones separated him from the apron below. No one thought to bring out the camera, so Basom just counted down and launched. I was sure he was going to scrape his tails (at the very least) on the way down, but he cleared all debris by an easy five feet and left a respectable bombhole for his efforts.

The season is officially under way.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and hopefully pictures of Saturday’s festivities will find their way here),
d.

[glademaster]

Great trip report man. I've never been to Jay but will be there next Monday with my friend. If anyone or you will be there I'll be in a blue Fate jacket and Black Giro Full face helmet riding 185cm PR's. My friend will be in a yellow jacket riding a pair of last years volkl V-pros. Peace.

-Ben

[phUnk]

Nice TR. Jesus loves that shit.

[lax]

someone needs to teach me where all this shit is at jay

lemme pm you some lines i saw (non-face chutes)

[ArmchairExtreme]

We want pics! East is sounding promising.

[shamrockpow]

Bump for an awesome weekend at Jay and Gin's excellent TR (sorry I didn't seeya yesterday).

Spent most of the weekend with my dad (which is good, cause if not for him I wouldn't be skiing) and my buddy gaper Phil from MTL, but got to spend a little time with Basom/APK + crew on Sunday. Those guys know their home mountain, always better at finding the goods. Great start for the Eastern season and it felt awesome to be back on soft snow

Props to Basom for finding some stokeworthy lines before Christmas (I'm sure you ripped the shit outta of it)

And lots of luck to Big E. Hope your injury's not as bad as first thought and I'll see you at the Utah Mini...

[basom]

bump fo a summertime gincognito tr fix.
an account of Big E's last day on snow, glad your rehab has gone so well E. only four some odd months till its on agin.

http://biglines.com/photos/blpic16521.jpg

best shot of the season of gin. nice one E.