It's All Downhill: Discovering a whole new world

[View web version]( [It's All Downhill] Friday, February 10 [Follow Matt Pepin]( [A little help from my friends](#) For a variety of reasons, I've probably skied Waterville Valley in New Hampshire more than any other New England ski area in the last several years. I thought I knew it like the back of my glove. Yet there I was a couple Sundays ago skiing two glades areas I never knew existed at Waterville (thank you Frank Rossi). Yes, they're on the map, but I'd just always overlooked them until they were pointed out to me. One section, the Psycho Glades, wasn't really my cup of tea - steep, tight, and bumped-up - but still pretty fun to at least give a try. The other, located between the And Tyler Too and Old Tecumseh trails and called the Old T Trees (pictured below, or [you can watch the short video I posted on Twitter]( was perfect. Great tree spacing, moderate pitch, and plenty of good lines to choose from. [waterville_trees] For the longest time, I avoided glades of all sorts. Then one day a few years ago at Jay Peak, I was introduced to glades (thank you Susan Graham Staples) that were as easy as they come, which of course led to stepping up to slightly more challenging trees areas and spending a good portion of the day in the woods. Sometimes you just need a little help getting pointed in the right direction, and one of the really great things about skiing and snowboarding is the community of riders willing to share local knowledge, advice, and friendship. I doubt in either case I would have found those areas without some guidance. Now I'm searching for them every time out. Any suggestions where I should look next for intermediate level, or less-severe expert level glades? [Email me](mailto:matt.pepin@globe.com?subject=matt.pepin@globe.com). SPEAKING OF WATERVILLE ...: The Green Peak expansion area is opening Saturday and it will increase Waterville's trail count by 10. It has all types of terrain, plus a new lift, the Green Peak Triple. You can see the new area in the image below, and get a little taste of what it's like in [a video Waterville posted to YouTube](. [green_peak] WATCH THIS: If you do go check out the new slopes at Waterville Saturday, you might want to stay for the premiere of a documentary celebrating the resort's 50th anniversary. "50 Years of Firsts Waterville Valley" by Dan Egan's Degan Media will be at the Flying Monkey Movie House in Plymouth, N.H. at 6:30 p.m. [Here's a trailer](. THE WILD SIDE: Here's the latest from the animal encounters file - a snowboarder at Jackson Hole was chased by a moose and [the incident was caught on video](. WHITE GOLD: A far superior winter and the guidance of a court-appointed receiver have Jay Peak in line to potentially quadruple its profits from a year ago. That's good news as Michael Goldberg prepares to sell Jay Peak and Burke Mountain following the Ponzi scheme scandal last spring. [The Burlington Free Press has the latest]( on where things stand in the Northeast Kingdom. FAST TIMES: Have you seen the starting section being used at the Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland? With a 45-degree drop known as the free fall, it gets skiers up to 90 miles per hour in six seconds, according to CNN. [Watch the video at the top of this CNN story about it]( and ask yourself this: Would you do it? And by that I mean bomb straight down, no turns. Well? DIGITAL FIRST: As much as I enjoy working primarily in online media at the Globe's website, it's always painful to see a print publication shutting down. [Such is the case with Skiing Magazine]( which is owned by the same company as Ski Magazine - Active Interest Media. Fortunately, Skiing Magazine will live on as the brand is merged with Ski Magazine and will have a new focus on digital content. For what it's worth, I prefer Skiing's voice, articles, and attitude even though I'm probably more in line with Ski's target demographic. I get both in print, but Skiing has always been more of a sit-down-and-read-right-now kind of thing, while Ski was what I pick up and thumb through when the Bruins game gets out of hand. It will be interesting to see just how the merger manifests. TRUE CONFESSIONS: Ever wonder what life is really like for a ski patroller? [A recent Outside feature titled Confessions of a Veteran Ski Patroller]( is filled with interesting anecdotes, from the scariest rescue to encountering mountain lions. THE LAND OF POWDER: While it's been a rather abundant winter up north, Thursday's blizzard meant a powder day in Massachusetts. Below is a photo Pam Fletcher at Nashoba Valley shared. [Wachusett]( [Berkshire East]( [Butternut]( and [Jiminy Peak]( were also big beneficiaries of the storm. And [another one appears to be coming]( Sunday/Monday. [nashoba] THE SNOW REPORT: While this week's main focus is on the trials and tribulations of snow reporters, the highlight for New Englanders is going to be Halley O'Brien congratulating the Patriots. She's a Giants fan. [Watch her latest right here](. GO FOR IT: Registration is now open for the Vermont Open at Stratton Mountain. The music and competitive snowboard event is March 10-12 and features $20,000 in prizes. Competition includes rail jam, slopestyle, retro pipe, banked slalom, and Snurfer Challenge. [To sign up, visit Stratton's website](. LOVE IT: Sugarbush in Vermont is [offering $14 lift tickets on Valentine's Day](. Really. TWEET OF THE WEEK: Mount Snow in southern Vermont also reaped the rewards of Thursday's storm, as evidenced in the tweet below and [this one as well](. Mount Snow is 100 percent open, [according to the resort's blog](. [mtsnow2] [Like It's All Downhill? Tell a friend to subscribe](. [Sign up for more Boston Globe newsletters](. 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