Quebec and N. VT TR (12/27-12/30)

[glademaster]

Left NJ at 6:00AM on friday the 26th with my friends and their parents. Crossed Canadian border at about 2:00 and got settled in in thier condo by about 3:00. Despite rain the day before about 16 or 18 inches of new has fallen and is in there backyard. Stoke level rising, very glad to have brought my fatties and not my race boards. Wake up and 7:15, scarf breakfast and get my first view of Owls Head. This is not the biggest mountain out there, but it certainly has some kickass terrain, and with a foot and a half of new snow and bluebird skies, today should be good. After lapping the woods between runs and poaching a few closed trails covered in knee deep powder we decided to head into the marked woods. The new glade known as Rodeo turned out to be just that. A bit thin downs the steep tracked out section, but I spy some interesting looking lines farther to the skiers right. After a 5 minute bushwhack through alders and water holes we come upon a series of chutes, about 4 or 5 skiable back to the trail. There are 2 more that drop nearly 2000 vert down to lake Mephremagog, but lacking AT gear, we ski the inbounds ones. Knee to thigh deep untracked down perfect pitch for 6 runs in a row, the shit eating grins last all day. After skiing more woods and untracked snow down to a road we decide to call it a day at about 3:00. Owls Head is really a gem, uncrowded, quirky, and the views of the lake are amazing, the easily rival the views of Lake Tahoe.

Day 2: Get up early and drive to Mont Sutton for some Sous Bois. Riding up the lifts, i see that most of the marked "glades" are not really treed at all, except for a few trees here and there. Whatever, the snow still looked great. Most runs were cut up crud and soft bumps, which was super fun to ski. Sutton is a steep hill, though it doesnt have much vertical(sort of like Whitewater). We managed to find some untracked in the woods, but it was warm so the snow got a bit sloppy. Got last chair of the day to the top and skiied down while watching the beautiful sunset over the mountains.

Day 3: Jay Peak.
Got to Jay at about 7:15, since it was only 20 minutes from my friends condo. By the time we bought tickets and ate croissants at the car it was 8:00 and time get in the tram line. We are the 3rd through6th people there and easily get first tram. First run, we drop into beaver pond glade and find soft bumps and fairly wide open trees. Despite long liftlines and 50+ degree temps, it was sweet and the snow was good. Green Beret was probably the run of the day, steep, with good cover and the snow was just starting to corn up. Everglade was prolly a close second, with soft bumps and nice, workable crud that made you want to ski faster than was really possible given the bumps, pitch and trees. I was dissappointed the face chutes were closed, but some other time. Vallhalla help what was the best snow of the day, chalky bumps with stashes of still cold and fluffly powder to be found. The experience of skiing snow that dry in a t-shirt is something everyone should experience. Ended the day with pizza in the parking lot with shorts and sandals on, very fun.

Day 4: Supposed to ski and Sugarbush with my dad on his Christmas gifts(V-Ex's), but it was 36 and pouring in the parking lot. Walked around the ski shop at the base and sulked for a bit before going to Ben and Jerrys to drown our sorrows in Cherry Garcia. Got home with my parents to our ski place near Gore, sat by the woodstove with a book, and then went to be around 7:00.

Great Trip overall, too bad I didnt meet some maggots/minions, and RAIN BITES!

[road trip]

Nice road trip! Glad you got some freshies before the rain came in and f'd up the whole thing...

[glademaster]

Bump to save, even though it kinda sucks