March Instagram Dump

I've been doing some stuff, I just haven't been posting. Here's an update:

I finished up the community college skiing class that I teach:

Then had a ski weekend at Gore:

Followed by a sweet trip to Mad River Glen for a 2-day PSIA clinic before my big exam. They had gotten 3-4" inches of snow when we arrived, and they had another 2-3" the next night. It made for awesome conditions for bumps and trees. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we skied pretty hard. Here's a couple of shots:

The following weekend was the PSIA exam at Killington. I was too busy being stressed, so not many pics from there either. We did have a phenomenal Norwegian tele feast at a backcountry hut on the Long Trail:

Then we had a beer in the umbrella bar while waiting for the results to be tabulated:

And a celebration beer after the success:

I am now an official member of the Eastern Division Telemark Development Team. I realize that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. I'll probably write up a post later explaining everything about it, but for now, I guess you can just think about it as Level 3+, where level 3 is the highest certification most people get.

After that, we returned to Gore for a weekend, but went off piste and did the Rabbit Pond trail from the Wood Out entrance:

It was fun on Tele skis, but if I did it again, I'd use the fishscaled BC skis for it. Lots of up and down on the way down to the Ski Bowl.

It took us about 1.5-2 hours at a slow, relaxed pace, but it can probably be done faster. It was a great way to get away from the crowds at Gore and it was fun to do some exploring.

Speaking of exploring, the following week, We were at Jay Peak:

It was phenomenal. Pow, trees, chutes, and fun skiing (well, Ace snowboarded the first day):

There's a lot of pictures of Ace making left turns for ya (I have no idea why it worked out that way). We spent three days skiing Jay Peak Resort, then we did some backcountry across the street:

Really nice snow conditions, and a really fun, relaxed time.

After that, I understudied a Tele event at Whiteface, where 7 inches of wet snow made all the glades awesome:

Then I started riding my bike (I'm trying to do #30daysofbiking again this year):

But I haven't forgot about skiing. Great day last Sunday, and it looks like this coming weekend will be sweet, too.

And now you're all caught up.

Whiteface Auto Road: 10/27/13

I didn't want to throw myself into the crazy Killington early season shitshow, and I wanted to extend my streak to four straight years of skiing on natural snow in October.

So I picked up a couple of girls who just wanted to go for a hike and I hit the Auto Road at Whiteface for a little low angle fun.

There wasn't a lot of snow at the toll house, but we started to see snow on the sides of the road pretty quickly. After about a mile or so, there was probably enough snow to ski on. I waited a little longer to put my skis on.

The snow started to look pretty damn good:

And it got better and deeper:

We went up to just above the Lake Placid turn before we turned around. The view was slightly better than the last time I was up here, but still not great (loving the snow, though):

Oh the way down, I was just psyched to be skiing. Ace took some pics for me:

So instead of a shitshow, I had a shit eating grin:

I rolled on down, just enjoying sliding on snow again. Mountain biking is fun, but nothing compares to the feeling of skiing:

I skied until the snow ran out, and I took off the skis and boots:

The walk down was a piece of cake. And the weather got nicer, too:

It was even sunny in spots on the drive home:

I can't say enough how much I prefer this kind of skiing to the craziness at Killington or Sunday River. It was peaceful, fun, and a really good time (great company, too). Could it have used a little more pitch? Sure. But at this point in the season, I'll take what I can get. Like I said, I'm just happy to be sliding on snow again.

TR: Whiteface 10/16/10

I posted the Trip Report for my recent Whiteface Toll Road adventure over on the Harvey Road NY Ski Blog.

Here's the video:


Whiteface Auto Road - 10/16/10 from Matt Charles on Vimeo.

Whiteface Mountain Biking

Went up to Whiteface Mountain Bike Park last weekend before hitting the Octoberfest.  Downhill Mike runs a pretty awesome operation, and if you are ever thinking about giving DH mountain biking a try, you should definitely hit it up.  Mostly staying on the lower mountain, using the shuttle bus, we rocked 12, 13, 6, 7, and 2.  We also took a little jaunt down to the Flume Trails for a little bit of Cross Country action (as we were all on XC bikes).  I think if we do it next year (which we already talked about), we'll rent the big, beefy DH bikes, throw on all the pads, and take the party right up the Gondola.  Here's a couple of pics and a short video.  I might put together an edit with my other footage if I have time.

What you missed (In Pictures) . . .

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on the blog (I've kind of toned down my internet presence a lot), but here are some shots from March 1st (wow, it has been a long time) through now.

Trip to Whiteface in Late March (first time on the Slides):

Early April Road Bike Ride:

Gore Mountain Adirondack Adventure Festival (or something):

Tulip Festival in Albany:

Late Spring Lake Trip:

World Cup Party at Wolff's Biergarten in Albany:

Mountain Biking at the Skidmore Stables:

Saratoga Beer Festival:

July 4th in Buffalo: