Powder Day!

Well, we just got the first major storm since I've arrived back here in VT.  Probably got about 9" down here in the Valley, Bolton claimed 17-19"...either way a ton of snow fell.  Naturally I was super stoked but also nervous since snow and my truck don't exactly get along.  However the snow basically took place over a 16 hour period and all during the day, giving plows and sanders everywhere a chance to make the roads passable for the 'Yota.  My trip up to the mountain was uneventful (thankfully) and I was greeted with the site of someone literally running up the hill to get in the lift line--I took this as a good sign.  To borrow a term from T. Fross the day was "phenomenal:" barely any wind, sun peeking in and out, temps in the 20's and tons of snow.  The one drawback was that the snow was SUPER heavy and wind packed, so that required a lot more work from my legs than normal.  Basically it was a matter of leaning on my back leg, pointing the nose of the board up and just go!  I took a couple of fun falls- fun because all the powder cushioned my landing.  The woods though were the highlight of the day.  I was shown a spot that I had never seen before off of the Timberline lift, and fresh tracks were available there all day long.  I wish the digger I took in there was recorded because I'm sure it was fun to watch.  I had a ton of speed and suddenly the nose of the board dipped into the powder, causing me to summersault, plant my head into the ground and kick my legs and board in the air.  Felt like I was doing a head stand--the only bad result was all the snow that went up my back.  By the end of the day my legs were burning so bad it was ridiculous, but so totally worth it!  I had planned on going up again today, but wayyy too sore.  I hope to get out again next tuesday, but if that doesn't happen it'll be sometime the following week since I'm taking a little trip to Texas (woohoo!)

My poor winter tire-less truck

A downhill look at all the snow in the woods off of Timberline...

....And here's an uphill shot

A shot of Lake Champlain off in the distance

Wicked Cool!

Sorry no posts for while, I was actually out this last monday with my cousins Adam, Michela & Nichole and had a great time.  I actually took some pics and video, however like a dummy I did not put the memory card back in the camera and have to USB cord to remove any info stored to the internal memory.  So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Today was amazing though.  I woke up and there was a dusting of snow here in the valley, so I was shocked when I got the mountain to find about 3" of fresh snow with practically no one there.  Temps were in the 20's with some decent wind and snow was consistently falling all day.  I got fresh tracks all morning off of the Timberline lift which was the first time I've really experienced that portion of the mountain (has been closed up until this week).  From there I moved over to the the little Snowflake two seater lift that provides access to the mini park.  Took a couple of runs through the park and attacked the jumps rather than let them throw me.  Didn't do much off  of them but was happy to just land and not biff it.  I decided to see how the trails were off of the Vista Quad next.  The primary trails were a little wind blown, but as I got closer to the bottom powder conditions returned.  Took a ride through the jungle jib and successfully 50/50'd the flat/down box and the up/flat/down box.  Finally, I decided to try the Wilderness lift, another two seater that takes forever to get to the top but with access to some good glades.  It did not disappoint.  The wind had blown the new snow off of the trails and into to the woods, resulting in about a foot and a half of fresh new untracked snow in there.  It was unbelievable.  I had to walk out a little bit at the bottom of the run, and when i hoped off the board the snow was up to my thighs.  Just an absolute blast of day.  Days like these are the ones that get you super stoked to ride.  Tried to post the video I had and it didn't work.  It really wasnt that great anyway.  Here are some pics, click on 'em to see a blown up view.

Me being super stoked...or am I livid?  Hmmm

Riding up the Timberline Lift.  New snow, woohoo!

The down/flat box I managed not to kill myself on

 A foggy/snowy shot from the Vista Quad

 Tons of untracked pow off of Wilderness Lift

Day 1

Well, after all I've been through on my trip to get up here to VT, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get on the mountain.  Today was FINALLY that day.  Temps were decent and roads were fine so I made the trek up to Bolton. 

See, proof I made it!

A riveting shot of the ski patrol shack.

Pretty cool perspective at the top of trail that I don't know the name of yet.

I have a little video too, but there is serious potential for motion sickness if watched.  I'm going to try and edit what I have into something watchable, but no promises.  Sorry for the boring photos, I intend to get more action shots in the future.  As for my performance today, wellllll it was a little shaky for the first couple of turns, but the confidence speed-wise came back in a couple of runs.  I took a stab at the Progression Park (code for little kids park--hey gotta start somewhere) and rode the boxes and hit the jump at the end very very carefully.  I mustered up a little boldness and took a stab at the flat box in the Jungle Jib.  While actually riding went ok, dismounting proved to be a challenge.  I got a longgggg way to to go.  All in all though I really couldn't ask for much more, it just felt awesome to be back out riding.  Probably won't be back out again until next monday thanks to high temps in the zero to negative number range in the upcoming days.

 

And here, we, go

So in case you don't know me, I'm Zack.  I recently relocated from Ocala, FL to the Burlington, VT area. I'm here primarily to take the final class required for my degree in Mechanical Engineering. But I also get to take advantage of the cold weather and snowboard for the first time in almost 4 years.  I'm creating this blog for a couple of reasons:  (1)  I made some amazing friends in the south (TX & FL), and this is the easiest way for me to show them what i've been doing on the snow.  (2)  I want to document any kind of progression (or regression haha) that I make.

I rode for about 8 years before moving to FL, but I never went more than 10-15 times in a year.  One of my goals is to get out on the hill between 30-40 times in the next few months.  Another goal is to learn how to ride rails/boxes/whatever...basically just learn how to jib.  It was always something that scared me in the past and I never did it, so I want to overcome that fear.  And finally, I want to get back to the confidence level I had going off of jumps in my senior year of high school.

So there you have it, the requiste background info.  I plan on posting everytime I make it up to the mountain (which will primarly be Bolton Valley).  There will always be pics, and occasionally videos (as I have the time to do some editing).  Hope all will get a kick out of the site.  Enjoy!