Carving Groomers 1-31-08

Today was interesting, first Thursday up in forever.
Eric missed his bus and Jedd had to get some year end stuff completed. So it was just me.
no traffic, great parking and I was FIRST CHAIR!

Big day statistically, 13 runs! It was cold, but sunny. The 3" promised on the WP home page was not to be found.

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	3:49:41	6:12 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	3:33:48	5:46 pace
Distance (mi )	37.05
Moving Speed (mph)	10.4 avg.	46.1 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+23,335 / -23,351
Temperature (°F)	-4.5°F avg.	1.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph)	WSW 8.7 avg.	WSW 13.8 max.

The only freshies were in the trees, and up above timberline. Panorama opened at noon, so I only did one run there. Trees on top of Rainbow were great, and the ones at the top of scraper were nice as well. Derailer was skied off, until the end. Phantom Bridge was yummy and Rainbow and Arrowhead were both great.

Groomed on the Jane Trail, so I have an new top speed. The mountain was mine for most of the early morning, so, I just pointed the tips down an cruised.

Good day all-in-all.

Mary Jane has Big Bumps

Eric joins up today...
First time this year. Today was the first day of the MJ Birthday Weekend. 32.

Good day, warm +10. With the sun out it felt much warmer. About 2" of fresh snow. Eric, Jedd and I skied the Black Side of MJ after taking a warm-up on the trail.

Bumps were soft and lots of fun, we really kicked our butts today. Phantom Bridge, Rail Bender, Derailer, Long Haul/Short Haul, Needles Eye, Boiler and finally Trestle. All were very nice except Trestle, which was skied off. Boot deep powder in the trees. Did not hit the speed goal, but we did get a ton of verts.

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	2:50:05	6:26 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	2:35:18	5:53 pace
Distance (mi )	26.38
Moving Speed (mph)	10.2 avg.	36.6 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+16,416 / -16,348

Powder expected tonight and tomorrow, should be a great weekend.

Brrrrr 1-18-08 Eight Runs and Frozen Toes

Day Seven on MJ brings more cold.
-5.8f. The sun was out and the winds were low so it was a beautiful day to ski, frigid cold aside.

Bruce Melvin joined me today, for likely his last Friday up for awhile. Bruce got a real job.

Chair seven up the lift today, first day all year in the top ten first chairs. we did our typical warm up on MJ trail, but this time (and the second time) we had the entire run to our selves. Just pointed the tips down and cruised.

After a romp on Phantom we headed up to Panorama. It looked just yummy from the lift. The parts above timberline were hard packed and wind blown. Really sticky and treacherous. Once we hit tree line we found about 2" of freshies. We were able to cut tracks in the great white expanse.

Garmin 205 performed like a champ, even in the bitter cold.

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	2:07:58	5:42 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	1:58:02	5:16 pace
Distance (mi )	22.41
Moving Speed (mph)	11.4 avg.	39.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+13,288 / -13,300
Temperature (°F)	-3.1°F avg.	-0.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph)	E 1.5 avg.	E 5.8 max.

Two more runs at Panorama were tree runs, again mostly untracked lots of tight turns and tree wells. You cannot beat a clear day at MJ for overwhelming beauty.

Last full run was top of golden spike, into rainbow cut. Not as stellar as last week, but still very nice.

Eight runs in 2 hrs, at home by 1:00PM tough day to beat.

MJ Day Six - New Toys

Jedd joins the party again and my new Christmas gift makes its first debut.

Seven Inches of fresh pow-pow. Just stellar conditions. Gusts of wind at top were miserable. No Eagle or Panorama for the day.

Knee deep at Phantom Bridge, and all fresh.
Trees on top of Golden Spike/Rainbow were just sick. Tons of powder and that awesome sound of complete silence as my skis cut through tons of plushness.

Did eight runs, but earned it.

New Garmin 205 GPS used.
Great device, tracked perfectly.
Skied 2:39:05
Top Speed - 33.8 MPH
14,898 Vertical Feet Skied
Temp 9.7 Avg/10.4 High
12.71 MI skied

Great Maps. Had to take GPS plot (there is a cloud over MJ on Google Earth) and fit over WP provided Trail Map. It is a little skewed at the bottom, but still gives an impression of the day.

Beers never tasted sweeter then after this day, just stellar.

MJ Day Five - David and Daddio

Last ski opportunity of Winter Break for David.

Good snow (packed powder)

Took about nine runs, lines were long for a Friday.

David and I finished at Pepperoni's as usual. Billy was not there but the Za' was a perfect end to the day.

David is getting to be a great skier.

MJ Day Four - Bitter Cold (No Really)

Hard Pack and cold. (Ok, Fricken Cold)

-12 at base and just nippely at top.

Kids take two runs and scamper for lodge.

I get two more, phone freezes, boot warmers freeze, time to go in.

Thank gosh for the pass!

MJ Day Three - Kids and the Boss

Friday before Christmas
Kids were out of school, so Bruce and I brought up David (11), Jenna(9?) and Hayden (12). All are very good skiers.

We had extra-super-primo conditions about 4" of fresh, and about 1" per hour (1.5 hr) of new.

First time up on the panoramic lift. A W E S O M E! Lots of new terrain and the powder was perfecto.

Extra Bonus, Leigh and Chris from the office joined us.

Had an awesome day, great Za' and good beer with great friends. Made the holiday weekend perfect.

MJ Day Two - SNOW!

Bruce and I had an excellent day, great conditions.

Phantom Bridge was untracked, we even were able to ski it three times cutting freshies each time.
Not too windy, and the pony was open.

Rainbow was primo!

As always Pepperoni's was perfect conclusion to the day.

Day One (third day up, first at MJ)

Conditions were tricky, about 4" of snow on several days of above average temps.
Good day, skied well.
Panoramic Lift not open yet. Cannot wait to try it out.
Bruce and I tore it up on MJ trail, Arrowhead, Phantom Bridge and Scraper.

Pepperoni's was open, had my Mary Jane ale in my own mug (196) for the first taste of the season.
I promise pics soon.
-Jeff