Identity

View from Bear Notch Road

I started writing this post in March. It was supposed to be a response to current events. The pandemic. Self-centered skiers objecting to the season’s premature end. Ignorant hostility towards the Black Lives Matter movement. The failure of people to understand the purpose and importance of face coverings. Tech companies profiteering from anxiety. I kept meaning to write something. But I could not add anything meaningful by doing so.

So I continued my journey. I turned my attention inward and tried, as best as I could, to shut the world out.

The Whites from Ellsworth Hill Road

Towards Waterville Valley

Redstone Rocket in Warren

Cannon Cliffs

I was fortunate to never be furloughed. My only sacrifice was a temporary 10% pay cut. I waited… the store manager of a retail store whose doors are shut and staff cut loose. What is the purpose of a retail store without customers? It was the most serene three months of my professional career. It was the perfect launchpad for identity transformation.

Without self-imposed work related stress, I could more easily eliminate unhealthy habits. I began changing my identity. I stopped drinking soda and eating junk food. I stopped ordering take out. I stopped drinking (not that I drank much). I cut my daily caloric consumption by over two thirds. I starved myself, but still gave my body what it needed. I renegotiated my relationship with work. I got back on the bike.

My response to the pandemic has been life changing. I lost 65 pounds. I am healthier and in better shape at 41 than at any time during my 30s. I am setting personal bests on my road bike across all categories; riding faster, longer, and more vertical than my previous personal bests from ten years ago.

Osceolas

Osceolas

The Pemi from Kancamagus Pass

I got back into road biking in 2010. By the end of that year, I was mapping out routes for the following year that would take me over mountain passes throughout the Whites. I never attempted those planned rides… until this summer. After biking up and over the Kancamagus Pass twice (as planned), I would add on Franconia Notch just because I could. I was riding routes that I literally had not yet even dreamed about.

I rode my bike very little during the previous four years. An apparent physical malady was causing deep exhaustion and muscle fatigue. After many medical tests without positive results, I concluded that either the issue was between my ears or it was something I just had to live with. It was easier to assume the latter. I could deal with work, adversity, nature; but I couldn’t deal with myself.

The Whites from Ellsworth Hill Road

Dana Hill Road

Cross Road Over the Pemi

When I was getting into road biking during high school, I loved to explore. Before leaving home, mom would ask me where I was going. I would cavalierly reply “I don’t know, I will find out when I get there.” I was philosophically flippant even with my mom. Bike riding as a metaphor for life. I would like to think that my teenage self would appreciate where this ride led, for better and, even more especially, for worse.

Almost a year ago, I began to change my narrative. I chose to control what I could. I chose to recast my tale. The tale continues to be recast into whatever powdery depths this season may bring.

Cannon

Content Aggregation

I created thesnowway.com’s Aggregator to manage ski blog content. When I created it, there was a general lack of quality aggregation tools available (at least those that did not utilize an email client as a reader). I created the Aggregator for my own use. But since it was internet based rather than a local client, I shared it with others thinking I could increase exposure to other ski blogs.

Some might say that I was curating content. Visitors to TSW’s Aggregator could not control the feeds. I selected a collection of interesting blog feeds and others viewed my collection if they wanted.

I always had reservations about this public feed setup and the TSW integration. There is a lot of concern in the blogosphere about stolen content and attribution, and I can relate. TheSnowWay.com recently had a photo lifted without permission and poorly placed attribution.

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Ski Shops & the Internet

Neuvation’s January 3rd Newsletter (removed since posting) struck a chord. John Neugent was writing about the cycling industry and competition between local bike shops and online retailers, but the same issues are at play in the ski industry (incidentally, many bike shops double as ski shops).

Neugent is biased as his internet sales are much more robust and profitable compared to his brick and mortar sales. I come from the opposite retail perspective: a brick and mortar store with higher sales than our rapidly growing online store. Yet our vision regarding loss of business to online competitors is the same. Neugent writes:

“My job, either in my retail store or on the Internet is to give customers what they want while at the same time make a profit. Because of the Internet and more recently smart phones, our customers have fundamentally changed. Retailers who don’t change with the market will die.”

“The debate in the cycling industry should be how we can best provide those core services to our customers at a profit and not try to figure out ways to change their shopping habits.”

This is well put and on point. Customers want to utilize the internet to get the best deal. Consumers have developed shopping habits that include internet based comparison shopping. Local shops cannot change customers shopping habits, especially by brow beating them with guilt.

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TheSnowWay.com Challenge

Exploration and novel experiences are critical aspects of the TSW philosophy. We all have untapped passions removed from our grasp only by lack of experience. Imagine a current passion removed from your life if you hadn’t had that first engaging experience. And now imagine what other potential passion is currently untapped. For shame. You can’t imagine it because you haven’t yet experienced it.

Even within our existing passions we often leave potential doors shut through intentional avoidance or passive omission. So I am proposing TheSnowWay.com Challenge: ski three “new to you” ski areas this coming season. A bucket full of bonus points if you make personal sacrifices or travel great distances to make it happen. Still more bonus points if you can link them all into one epic trip. Ultimate bonus points if you grab a friend and double the novelty through shared experience.

Being a fan of “lesser known areas that rock”, I am going to propose a few such lists. Magic, Burke, and Saddleback combine to form a triangle of the best lesser known ski areas in their respective states. I’ve also combined what I consider to be the three best lesser known areas by state for Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Or make up your own list. Go nuts. Go for five new areas. Go for one. Just go for something novel. Your favorite area might just be one that you have never skied.

  • Magic, Burke, & Saddleback for NNE
  • Ragged, Balsams, & Black for NH
  • Magic, Burke, & Middlebury for VT
  • Black, Abram, & Saddleback for ME
  • Make up your own challenge list

My list? Sutton, Orford, and Owl’s Head: an Eastern Township Trifecta. One long weekend, three new areas. Not necessarily in the “lesser known areas that rock” category for Quebec but certainly in that category for those of us stateside.

So get out there and try something new. Experience something different and foreign. Put yourself into an uncomfortable and vulnerable state. Open yourself to the novel and push your boundaries. Be it skiing or otherwise. Especially otherwise. But start with skiing if nothing else. Nothing is worse than stagnation.

Raising Jay or Razing Jay?

Or… The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same.

Tram Haus Lodge

For those keeping score at home, here is a list of the recent developments at Jay Peak:

  • 18 Hole Championship Golf Course
  • Tram Haus Lodge
  • Clubhouse/Nordic Center
  • Ice Haus & Parking Garage
  • RFID
  • New Hotel Jay
  • Waterpark

And that is just getting things started. Within my lifetime (maybe), plans include a new Stateside Lodge, additional Stateside base development, Stateside lift upgrades, and the West Bowl expansion. Jay seems to be reigning in exact plans and time lines until the current dust settles. Regardless, a complete reconstruction of the Tramside base area is just the beginning of changes at Jay Peak.

Old Jay, New Jay

Od Jay and New Jay

At the new Tram Haus Lodge, an original Jay tram car sits in front of the Taiga Fitness & Spa Center. It is a bizarre juxtaposition that epitomizes change at Jay. Within the Tram Haus Lodge, fancy signs and railings incorporate haul rope from the original tram cable. The new Tower Bar’s center piece is a lift tower and sheave setup from the defunct Green Mountain double chair. The Customer Service desk and ticket windows have replaced the pizzeria but you can still grab a slice in the International Room. You don’t have to go downstairs to use the bathroom in the Tram Haus cafeteria but old schoolers still tempt fate. It’s all the same. It’s all different.

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