That roar you hear isn’t thunder; it’s the ovation from skiers and boarders across the country, but especially in the northeast celebrating Pacific Group Resorts’ winning bid to operate Vermont’s Jay Peak, jewel of the Northeast Kingdom and a bucket list destination for any serious skier or boarder who truly wants to test his or her mettle...
Take a deep breath before the next plunge. Ski season is coming faster than you can thank me for the reminder. Now is the time to get the gear ready! Now is the time to shop for anything you;re lacking. Now is the time to line it all up to be ready at the drop of a hat. Insert voice of Jay’s friends: “Jay it’s not even September 1st…”...
We’ll have a long article on how fantastic JF.com’s weekend at Sunday River was this winter coming imminently. (And yes, we’ll be covering all the LIV developments in golf as well, just as soon as we get the lowdown on Tiger Woods’s confab with the rest of the PGA Tour players.) But for right now, let’s have a little fun with Eddy the...
PORTLAND, OR – Doug Fish isn’t just beaming this time, he’s dancing. Not only as his brain child, the Indy Pass, legged past the 100 resort mark, Fish has added his own home mountain – from boyhood to middle age! – Mt. Hood Meadows. Here’s the downright ebullient (and rightfully so) press release blared joyously: “The Crown...
2022 Update – Magic for the Win [Editor’s Notes: As we go to press, Magic, like most of the northeast, is just exiting a bad stretch of warm weather. However, hope is on the horizon; a nor’easter is on the way, plus lake effect in some areas. Magic may well be in sterling shape by the weekend. Keep a sharp eye and ear on the weather and stay stoked. In...
It was an innocuous question under ordinary circumstances, but this time the answer could not have been more poignant. “Are you almost ready for the season?” You have no idea. A LONG EXPECTED PARTY It was a gorgeous fall night, and my birthday party was in full swing. I throw a birthday party like a hobbit throws a birthday party, right down to the sign...
In perhaps its biggest score yet, founder/owner Doud Fish nailed down Powder Mountain as the latest resort to join the IndyPass revolution. Already celebrated as, perhaps, the most affordable multi-venue pass in skiing/boarding, IndyPass also added two more resorts to bring the total number of facilities to a whopping 66, spanning all across the United States. From...
So both Golf Course Trades and Resort Trades magazines are running a second Loon Mountain story that I wrote after my January trip. (Jay Peak is next, by the way.) It was quite an impressive place, but best of all, it was low impact, fun, and easy in every respect low hanging fruit for anyone planning a trip. Here’s a link to the piece. Golf season has...
Don’t look now, but Indypass is eating Vail’s and Alterra’s lunch as the best value in the mega-pass game. Already amassing an impressive lineup of winter sports parks including Jay Peak, Cannon Mountain, and Magic Mountain in the east, and Red Lodge, Brundage, and Tamarack out west, Indypass, just added east coast grande dame Waterville Valley and...
OLD FORGE, NY – Everyone just calls him “Stevie U,” and the joke is that the U either stands for “unspellable” or “unpronounceable,” depending on usage. But Stephen G. Uzdavinis, (that’s “YOOZE-duh-VENUS” for those of you scoring at home), a.k.a. Stevie U, is living his Adirondack Mountains dream, managing and...
Thank you to Joe Harvis, the National Ski Council Federation, and the folks at the North American Snowsports Journalists Association for all their help syndicating my Mount Sunapee article. Joe, you really made it look great. Here’s a link to the NSCF site. From the article: “Money and TLC were all that Mount Sunapee needed, and the Muellers were not...
I went to college in Connecticut, and I’ve skied all my life, but I’m chagrined to admit I never heard of Powder Ridge until I started watching Hell’s Kitchen. Yes, that Hell’s Kitchen: the TV cooking show where Gordon Ramsay terrorizes, humiliates, and outrages the chefs under him as they try to outlast one another and win a job at a famous...
We’re enjoying a brilliant, blazing fall here in the North Country (it was 81 Saturday), and while there’s still more than just the dying embers of the golf season left, we’ll be starting our winter sports coverage imminently. Of course we’ll be continuing our Border War Series where New Hampshire battles Vermont for northeast supremacy...
Border War! Vermont vs. New Hampshire Skiing Part 3 – Smugglers’ Notch —by Jay Flemma Special to Slave to the Traffic Light Adventure Magazine— JEFFERSONVILLE, VT – First chair at the place that had the best snow: that was the game plan, but I was having trouble executing it. Unable to sleep at 4:00 a.m., I spent the wee hours checking various apps in...
Border War! Vermont vs. New Hampshire Skiing Part 5 – Mount Snow —by Jay Flemma Special to Slave to the Traffic Light Adventure Magazine— DOVER, VT – If Smugglers’ Notch is “America’s Family Resort,” then Mount Snow is Party Central. 3-1/2 hours drive from Manhattan, 2-1/2 hours from Boston, and just over 1-1/2 hours from Hartford...