The Bump @ Mt. Enzy

So with all this powder we've been getting this week, and me working in an office from 8-5, I decided I needed to ride a little bit during the week. Since Okemo closes at 4, I had to improvise a little bit. I decided that the piles of plowed snow that had been adding up all winter would make a good starting point, and that it would be a great idea to build a kicker at the bottom of the highest pile. Here's what I had to start with (the pictures are all taken with my cell phone camera, which of course has no flash. I need to get a camera at some point):

Standing at approximately 10-12 feet, Mt. Enzy rivals most mountains in the Poconos. It is also the only mountain that is 100% lit in Vermont. However, with zero snowmaking coverage, it takes quite a bit of help from Mother Nature to get it open. This particular day dumped about 24 inches of fresh all across Mt. Enzy. That's some nice lookin' pow, right? Not too good for getting speed though. After a few runs down and some work with the shovel and my board, it turned into this:

Much better for what I was looking to do. The hard part was building the actual kicker. I have mad respect for park crews after building this - just getting it to ride right, and be solid enough to not just crumble when someone hits it, is an art. It took a solid hour of building to get it good enough to ride, and another half hour to fix it up the next day to ride again. The work those park crews must put in is insane. Thanks for the hard work - it's appreciated. Here are some more pics of the Bump at Mt. Enzy.

Not awful - nothing great, but it absolutely served it's purpose. Now, onto some of the "features." The picture below was taken from the top, looking down. Depth perception is near impossible, so I added a little visual aid. The lines are at the bottom of the starter, leading into the kicker.

Quickest lift in VT - 'bout a 20 second trip to the top - up the stairs.

And the actual kicker itself, looking from the side. It's not much, maybe 2 and half feet, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing. It's actually way more fun that I expected, and was definitely worth the effort.

I was pretty pleased with the way it came out, and I'm hoping it lasts for more than a few days. Saturday I'll finally get out on Okemo, so hopefully there's still some stashes out there.