Yesterday I dropped my skis off at the repair shop at Burke Mountain to get tuned. I drove to mountain today pick them up today at 2:30 and to drop off another pair of skis. Seeing we picked up yet another 3-4 inches of snow last night, I decided I had enough time to get some runs in.
As I’m walking out the door with my freshly tuned skis I realized that I didn’t have my poles with me. I then remembered I left them on the rack at Burke yesterday while I was dropping off my skis! I walked over to customer service to see if anyone hand turned them in and luckily they ended up being in the lost and found. Woohoo!
A Snow Squall On My First Run
It was an absolutely clear day when I arrived to the mountain, but by time I got on the lift, a squall had moved in and visibility was very poor. I did a tester run on the lower mountain to get a feel for the new wax job. I just got these skis at the beginning of the season and had only ridden on the factory wax, and my god, these skis were now flying.
Quick Dip Down Upper and Lower Whilloughby
With excitement, I headed to the upper mountain for one run down Upper and Lower Willoughby. Coming off the lift, the summit was covered in a dense fog. I began a super windy descent down the mountain and was greeted by a fun mix of powder and ice on the trail.
The fog started to clear about halfway down the mountain. From Lower Willoughby, I cut over to the lower mountain and hauled ass through the first segment of Jester. When I exited someone yelled my name from the lift. It ended up being my friend Jay Riley who was skiing while his daughter was in lessons.
One More Lower Mountain Run With Jay
I took one run on the lower mountain with him and he rode almost the whole thing switch. It was pretty badass, so after he left to pick up his daughter, I went back for another run to practice riding switch. Thanks to his advice it was pretty easy to get the hang of, until I started getting too much speed, so I just turned around back to forward. He definitely inspired me to work on riding switch more in the future.
Links
- Check out Stoked! Jan’s Ski Blog for more of his skating off-season adventures.
- Visit skiburke.com for more information.
- You can also follow Burke Mountain on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Follow Jan Welch and Jay Riley on Instagram.
About “Stoked! Jan’s Ski Blog”
I’ve spent my entire life living in cities, where I was able to urban, distance and aggressive skate all year long. In December of 2017 I moved to rural Vermont and found myself in the dead of winter, with snow all around me. Winters in Vermont are long and harsh, making skating nearly impossible 4-5 months out of the year. I live 2.5 hours from the nearest city and an hour from the nearest trails, making skating even in the summer much less frequent then I was used to.
Something needed to supplement my skating during the off season, so I took up skiing on January 2nd of 2019. From the moment I put on skis, I was hooked! Skiing gives me the exact same feeling I get from urban skating. Through skiing I am able to replicate the feel of carving around on city streets and playing on whatever obstacles catch your eye. This blog chronicles my stoke on skiing during my skating off season.
– Jan Eric Welch (Founder of bigwheelblading.com)
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