EdBacon

Just got back from a great day at Jack Frost. Best conditions so far this year. Had a blast. Left a little late but the roads were fine (only about an inch of snow fell in Bucks Co.) and got into the parking lot around 9:30. Booted up and went right for the east side, didn't hit any of the blues or terrain park today. Mountain was practically empty. I was able to ride on to most lifts, but that's not unusual at Frost on a weekday. First run of the day was poaching T-bolt. It was closed for snowmaking which meant I got a run down an almost untouched 8 inches of pow over snowmaking whales. Maybe half a dozen tracks on the trail total. Next up was Happyland which rode good throughout the day but got bumped up later. Moved over to River Shot and Floyds which rode great: pow which started to get tracked out but just turned into nice soft bumps. I love nice soft bumps. Tried Elevator glade which was icy underneath, couldn't hold an edge and slipped it, rather than ripped it. Run of the day was Floyds. Not for the trail but because somebody attempted to drop Risk It. Basically, Elevator Glade and Risk It are ice close to the open trail where the snowmaking blow over has set up into cement, peppered with ice chunks from when they groom out the adjacent trails. The further side towards the woods only got the 8 inches of cover from last night. Not enough to start hucking cliffs. Anyway, this guy didn't give a fuck and decided to send it over Risk It into some ice chunks. Slid his way down and lost his ski. I was kinda jealous. I wish I was that gnarly. Everything was tracked out, but still riding well by noon. Packed up around 1:30. All in all a great day.

Platty is the best thing south of VT when there's a decent snowfall. Heck, I'd even take Platty on a pow day over a lot of VT mountains like KMart or Mt Snow. Love that place, great atmosphere and a lot of fun lines in the trees if you know where to find them.

Yeah its basically like the Blair Witch Project out there. Many people have gone missing. Always make sure you practice appropriate backcountry safety procedure when you're in the Bear Creek sidecountry: go with a local who knows the terrain, carry a shovel/beacon/probe and make sure you've got food and water.

Man you should go. Ask a local about the back bowls for a good time.

Now it looks like all snow for the Pokes so next week should be good. Comfy temps too: highs in the upper 20s to low 30s. Sunday-Wednesday looks best provided any precip stays all snow.

You gotta whack your pole hard before you drop into The Squatch. If you wanna get really gnarly yell "Watch me rip this line!" so everyone knows you're about to get rad.

4ish inches in lower Bucks Co but hard to tell with how the wind blew it around. Gonna stay in tomorrow then make the trip to JF Saturday, probably. Maybe take a sick day monday because this next system looks like it could rain.

Wow be careful man Sasquatch is a really hard trail. Ask ski patrol about conditions next time before you "drop in" as the pros say it.

Near Yardley.

Probably only a couple inches on the ground In Bucks Co. but its blowing around. Wind is really stiff.

Whats the word on riding tomorrow with the wind as bad as it is? Yea or nay? 15-20mph with 35mph gusts doesn't seem like it should be a big deal except maybe make the cold bite more?

Sure the conditions are usually worse, but you gotta love the one you're with.

I don't think its about matching the difficulty or danger of something out west, obviously you can't recreate that. But its more about having fun and coming up with a way to challenge yourself with what you've got. Magic is one of my favorite spots in VT and it is challenging even if it doesn't look it. Dealing with rocks and stumps and ice on a pretty steep pitch is difficult, and being confident enough to make it look easy takes skill.

I'm sure we can find a way to make a challenge out of it.

Just throwing out the idea. Anyone ever follow the Ski the East Freeride Tour? I don't know if they still do it but a few years back they used to hold events where you'd just send it one some of the steeper/sketchier runs in VT. I think they used to do Castlerock and Jay Peak Face Chutes as well as Black Magic at Magic Mtn. Always looked like a ton of fun and I wondered if there was any interest on these boards to organize something similar. Unofficially, of course. Maybe pick a few of the more interesting/difficult runs in the area and pick a day and have a meet up and just have fun with it. Maybe somebody can bring a bluetooth speaker and the prize can be a case of good beer. I dunno, just a thought. Anyway, looked like a lot of fun and I figured it could be a cool way to organize something in case that sounded appealing to anybody. I know most guys here seem to already know one another and ride together so I hope I'm not butting in. Here's a video for an idea, obviously would not be unofficial and not organized unless somebody actually is interested in putting something together. I'd be all ears:

That isn't me in the avatar. It's from a very bad/funny 80s sci fi movie Space Mutiny (hey its got Cameron Mitchell's dad in it). I'll be the snowboarder wearing black pants and a light blue jacket and blue helmet.

Not enough broken glass under the lifts.

If Elk is the southern VT in PA then what does that make CB? Haven't been there since they built the hotel. Oh, anyone been to Bear today?

Thank you! And probably tomorrow morning.

That doesn't sound right... but I don't know enough about thermodynamics to dispute you.

Maybe you can ski with the meatheads while you're up there? Just don't go over the cliffs in the notch.