Jim B already reported on the 12/21 Meet Marc Guido Day at Jay.
I'll be brief.

Jim & Marc & I (~Todd was nowhere to be ~found) spent the day on 12 out
of 8 open trails, with firm, boot-deep, untracked and/or cut-up in
plentiful supply. Best laugh of the day was a discussion of family
duties and how the line, "gee, I'd love to help, but I'm really too
tired from all that skiing" *never* works. Fave run was Derek Hot Shot.
Lots of contours to dip and turn into. Conditions were set-up, with the
evening's fog having settled yesterday's snow. People who skied it
Sunday (Mr. G) were disappointed at the lack of powderness. On teles, it
was a nice consistency for working a solid-feeling turn.

Today, Tuesday, we arrived to rapidly falling temps and big wind.
Previous night there'd been heavy rain. Now snow squalls. Expected nasty
frozen surfaces, but they weren't bad. Mostly a question of either (as
Marc put it) finding good lines, or (as it seemed to me) trusting the
snow. Marc zipped down Jet at mach speeds. I tried to follow and did ok,
but kept thinking I was going to lose it on an ice patch. There was a
good inch or two of nice snow on top but plenty of ice below. Ended up
much happier taking slow loopy turns on one side of the trail, sticking
to what I could see with my eyes was good surface.

Later in the morning started exploring some of the trails on skiers'
left from the top of the Blue Chair. Marc led, I followed down some
strange, firm, untracked. It was just barely deep enough to get a wee
tiny bit of floating feel but mostly it was *firmer* than anything I've
skied. You really had to choose/set and arc and stay to it--exactly. Not
a free-wheeling kind of experience, but a lot of fun. Dropped through
Kitz Woods (I think) which didn't really have enough snow but was a
blast anyway. Fair number of survival stops to avoid numerous
stumps/rocks that were taller than the snow was deep.

By early afternoon, all Jay activity came to a wind halt and I collected
a pass for some future day and began the 375-mile drive early.

Non-ski related:
Stayed in the Marc-recommended North Troy Inn, 1 mile from the Canada
border. It was a friendly, almost BnB type of place, with a friendly old
character of an owner and a delicious breakfast included with the room
for $25/person. Anyway, Monday night Marc goes into ER mode as the
owner's wife becomes violently ill and needs to go to the hospital. Marc
could have been one of those guys who handles some medical emergency
then turns out to have no degree or something. He kept calmness in a
frightening situation and got the ambulance staff briefed before they
took Julie to the Emergency room. Me, I was practically passed out from
a hard day skiing as all this was going on. In the morning, it turned
out that Julie would be ok. It was a debilitating inner ear infection,
but nothing worse.

Back to ski-related:
Dr. Marc guided his skiing patients (me and, on Monday, Jim) through
some Ptex gouging conditions. All survived, but when the ski-tuners saw
the hideous price our skis had paid, they shook their heads in disbelief
and warned, "next time, better ask to see his qualifications." ;-)

Back to non-ski related:
Marc's Mom was a great character (once we agreed to politely not discuss
impeachment politics) and a paragon for all non-skiing significant
others. She read happily in the lodge as skiers wandered in and out. I
want to introduce her to my wife. Say, honey, I'd like you to meet this
wonderful person who is happy to facilitate--as opposed to sabotage--a
great ski day. Can't quite figure out how to tactfully bring up the
subject.

telenaut