Another ski weekend! This time I am back with my personal ski instructor, Emma. The real goal for the weekend was to be promosted to a Zebra (the Jay ski school uses animal rankings to show progression, I've been a Holstein for a year now). To accomplish that, I believe I had to start skiing blues, do parallel turns, and get into the woods - oh boy. The weather for the weekend was also looking ROUGH. Record high temperatures and plenty of rain. We went to Burlington last night for dinner where I also got my first set of skiing poles - "Arctic Lady" - which Emma had a field day with. Here we go! We got to Jay just before 9 and were on the slopes by 9:30am.
Run 1: Taxi Quad - The Boulevard
[0.38 mi, 2:46, 335ft, 15.5 mph max, 8.1 mph avg]
This first run was truly meant to 1) remind myself that I knew how to ski and 2) figure out what on earth to do with these poles. I had medium success and signifcant mental breakdowns.
Run 2: Taxi Quad - Queen's Highway
[0.71 mi, 3:26, 518 ft, 22.6 mph max, 12.4 mph avg]
Same goals as before - I was slowly starting to get into a rhythm, but frequently would be poling on the wrong side (i.e., outside of the outside ski vs the inside ski).
Run 3: Metro Quad - Perry Merril Ave - Chalet Meadows
[0.54 mi, 2:44, 315 ft, 21.7 mph max, 11.9 mph avg]
Okay now I was started to get into a groove - yay! Emma noted that I looked much better at skiing than the last time she saw me at Waterville Valley - yay!
Run 4: Taxi Quad - Kangaroo Trail
[0.44 mi, 2:00, 354 ft, 21.7 mph max, 13.1 mph avg]
First new trail of the day! Nice and easy with a few browning spots. I learned that I don't have to pole every single thing that I do, which made sense. I really just loved the poles for getting me into lift lines.
Run 5: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Angel's Wiggle - Paradise Meadows
[1.35 mi, 5:35, 1401 ft, 20.6 mph max, 14.5 mph avg]
Oh boy! Time for my first time on the Bonnie and my first blue on Jay. Emma wasn't sure how the blues on Jay would compare to those of Saddleback, Black Mountain of Maine, and Catamount, so she did warn me I might not have a good time. The lift ride up was very pretty even on this cloudy day - thankfully the rain hadn't started yet. From the top of the Bonnie, we took a left onto the Northway, which was BUSY. Grades weren't bad at all, but the softening snow was getting challenging. We stopped at the busy junction with Angel's Wiggle, made it down the headwall, and then turned right to continue on Angel's Wiggle, which helped dissipate the crowds as many went down Taxi. After the two headwalls the trail was smooth sailing. I told Emma she really gassed up the trail, but in hindsight I'd rather she over hype it than under... I think? Who knows. Lower Angels' Wiggle to Paradise Meadows was wide and fun, but Paradise Meadows spits out below the Bonnie, and Emma didn't tell me to hop on Kangaroo for the last bit... oops! Either way, I did my first blue!
Run 6: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Angel's Wiggle - Paradise Meadows - Kangaroo Trail
[1.36 mi, 5:25, 1,404 ft, 26.9 mph max, 15.0 mph avg]
Basically the same run, but this time I learned to take the end of Kangaroo to avoid skating up to the Bonnie at the end. I told Emma I've learned I like to do a slow "learning run" with stops the first time I do a run, and then a smoother one after, and that was this! I did find that over time the poles began to become just a part of skiing, which was nice. I also felt like they helped me make sharper turns, which might just be placebo, but either way, I was a big fan of my Arctic Ladies. Run felt good, time for another!
Run 7: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Hell's Crossing - Angel's Wiggle - Paradise Meadows - Kangaroo Trail
[1.33 mi, 5:34, 1,348 ft, 26.7 mph max, 14.3 mph avg]
Now to add some variation in the same run we've been lapping, Emma took us to a new junction. She paused to look at me and goes "should we take Hell's Crossing or Purgatory?" and I stared blankly at her - there's currently a David Spade interview going viral about how ridiculous trail names can be, and how he prefers trails like "poptart" instead of "Satan's A**hole" - I laughed plenty at that. Hell's Crossing had a decent headwall that was manageable - nothing more intense than what I've previously done. Soon enough we were back at the Bonnie for another!
Run 8: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Purgatory - Hell's Crossing - Angel's Wiggle - Paradise Meadows - Kangaroo Trail
[1.30 mi, 5:02, 1,375 ft, 30.1 mph avg, 15.5 mph avg]
This time we took Purgatory instead of Hell's Crossing, which was a tad steeper and narrower, but all good. I felt like I was skiing decently well at this point - yay! At the bottom of the chute we took Hell's Crossing instead of turning onto Angel's Wiggle, which was more or less the same trail but with a few more trees and a tad prettier.
Run 9: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Angel's Wiggle - Taxi - Queen's Highway
[1.79 mi, 6:47, 1,562 ft, 28.1 mph max, 15.8 mph avg]
Now, I'm not sure if it was a good or bad idea, but I did mention to Emma that I was feeling good... which then resulted in Emma getting an idea... time for trees! Thankfully, Jay has some groomed glades. We took the Bonnie up and then took the Taxi to Queen's Highway to get over to Tramside. The best part about this stretch was I was starting to connect the dots between the different trails I've been on.
Run 10: Metro Quad - Perry Merril Ave - Quarter Moon - Queen's Highway
[0.72 mi, 4:50, 499 ft, 16.5 mph max, 9.0 mph avg]
OH BOY HERE WE GO. Perry Merril was easy, and then we went to Quarter Moon. Emma mentioned some people think the moons progress in difficulty (Quarter, Half, then Full), but she didn't really agree, but we started with quarter nonetheless. I was grateful for this progression, since I had a groomed track to follow while screaming at every turn. It was interesting not having as much room to make a turn as I'm used to. It was VERY pretty, minus a few collapsed snow bridges. I made it out unscathed, screamed, and Emma congratulated me on being a zebra!!! Oh, it was also on-and-off raining at this point.
Run 11: Metro Quad - Perry Merril Ave - Full Moon - Queen's Highway
[0.69 mi, 4:56, 509 ft, 13.9 mph max, 8.3 mph avg]
Okay time for another! I actually really enjoyed the easy woods (keyword: easy). This one in hindsight might have been the smallest bit more difficult, but hardly noticable. The track was more of a gentle halfpipe which made turns confusing and hard, and there was one 10-ish foot drop that was all bare ground, but we made it! I did try to turn at one point, blinked, and suddenly I was standing next to my skis instead of on them... but I didn't count that as a fall, just a moment of extreme confusion. There were also two kids, no older than 4th grade, who were having the time of their lives zooming through the woods. I swear, skiing is the only thing that makes me not hate kids.
Run 12: Metro Quad - Perry Merril Ave - Chalet Meadows
[0.55 mi, 2:35, 318 ft, 19.1 mph max, 12.7 mph avg]
Commuter run, made it back to Stateside!
Run 13: Bonaventure Quad - Northway - Purgatory - Hell's Crossing - Paradise Meadows - Kangaroo Trail
[1.40 mi, 7:08, 1,385 ft, 25.8 mph max, 11.8 mph avg]
Two more skip the last! We did a repeat of my favorite route of the day for the final run. All was good, rain was raining gently, and we made our way down the mountain!
The rest of our day was spent having a quick apres at the Bullwheel where Emma provided me a "Glade Pride" sticker for officially becoming a zebra - we were both really proud of me! I was also very grateful for her - I got very lucky having a ski instructor bestie who is willing to trade lessons for beer. We went to the Jay Country Store and then the Jay Village Inn for a DELICIOUS MASSIVE late lunch, and home we went.
End of Day Stats: 13 Runs, 12.55 miles, 11,319 feet, 30.1 mph max, 0:58:48 skiing, 3:36:03 elapsed.
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