[Snowriders] New England Telemark Festival this weekend at Jay

[Chris Glazner]

Howdy all,
	I've promised a lot of folks that I'd organize this sooner :)  This  
Saturday and Sunday is the first of four in a series of fun telemark  
ski festivals around New England, and will be held at Jay Peak in  
Vermont. The past several years MITOC (The Outing Club, for the  
Snowriders-types) has always put in a strong showing at many of  
them.  I'd like to go ahead and organize rides for getting up there  
so we can get another good showing in.  I'm advertising this to the  
Snowriders because it's  more in their domain (lift served!) and I'm  
sure there are several folks out there who are tele skiers or would  
like to give it a try and aren't in the MITOC telemark community.



What is this event?
    It's the Vermont Telemark Festival, held at Jay Peak.  NET (New  
England Telemark) puts on a good fest: for $10 LESS than the price of  
a normal lift ticket ($45) you get:

* A lift ticket valid everywhere on the mountain
  *Free demos all day of telemark boots and skis
* free lessons, at ALL ability levels (very good in my experience!)
* LOTS of freebies and raffles.  (A person from MIT has won something  
major at every festival I've been to...bindings, skis, jackets....)
* Ski competitions (this year will probably be the radical terrain  
comp, with big prizes.)
* Costume Contest!
* FREE BEER (yes, I'm serious)
* Very, very nice people

It's a serious deal.

If you've ever wanted to learn, try tele, or meet more people that  
tele, this is an EXCELLENT place to do it. The MIT crew usually skis  
together and is quite a presence in some years: http://mitoc.mit.edu/ 
gallery/2004_3_2_TelemarkFestival/DSC01355 (that would be the costume  
contest...)

More about the festival: http://www.netelemark.com/Jay_Peak.htm


Getting There, Coordination

	There will be at least two crews: one that is going up Friday night  
for Saturday only and then has to get back to New Hampshire that  
night for MITOC Winter Leaders training (this will probably be the  
main MITOC crew).  These people should signup using MITOC's RideShare  
at ( http://mitoc.mit.edu/rides ) .  The second group that is not  
constrained by MITOC leadership commitments can plan on organizing  
rides using the Snowrider's RiderBoard ( http://snowriders.mit.edu/ )  
This way, there's not as much confusion over who is going where and  
when :) These people can plan to attend however they want, as long as  
rides work out.
	If you want to go and can drive, sign up on the appropriate board so  
that riders can join you.
Be sure to indicate when you are leaving and what your plans are.
	I'll make sure that there's an obvious MIT table at the base lodge.   
Everyone in MITOC should know what I look like...I'll figure out  
something for Snowrider types. I have very funny looking skis.  And  
I'm funny looking in general.

	Another issue is going to be accommodations. Jay is a really long  
drive for an up and back one day shot. I'm personally not staying for  
both days, so I won't be coordinating this part.  In the past, we've  
just "camped" at Jay in the parking lot kicking back our seats.  They  
are cool with this. I know there are a lot of folks out there that  
aren't crazy about this option.  For that reason, I've set up a  
thread on the Snowrider's forum to work out plans for people that  
want to go.  The forum will be here soonish:
http://snowriders.mit.edu/forums/display_topics.php?forumid=2
This should be the general coordination thread;  I will monitor it  
and ask questions once it's up and running.  (It' s being held for  
moderator approval right now.)

	Some folks are trying to organize a tent city:  check out this  
thread towards then end: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php? 
t=12776  This is an open community organized thing, not specific to MIT.


Questions?
	Post them to the coordination thread at http://snowriders.mit.edu/ 
forums/display_topics.php?forumid=2

once the thread is up.  It will be called "Telemark Festival at jay  
Peak" or something else very obvious.  I'll monitor it.


Thanks, and hope to see many of y'all there,

Chris
Resident tele skier and gear slut

	(Shameless plug: for Snowriders people that like backcountry skiing/ 
riding, there's a list: mitoc-bcski at mit.edu which you can add  
yourself to (or we can do it).  We've already had several trips this  
season. We're dominated by tele skiers, but we don't care how you  
choose to slide on snow)


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