Right before the world shut down a group of us traveled back East for the film project above. Our plan was to shoot an East Coast road trip, but today it serves as a time capsule for how the world was before the pandemic. On our last night the New York Times alert popped on our screens saying the NBA was shutting its doors for the season. Thankfully we had ice coast memories to sustain us in the months to come. This gallery is a look back at the winter of 2020 in Vermont. —Mike Rogge
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Ski The East's Ryan Rubino sneaking in a mid-day sip at their old office.
Ski The East's Chris James' keeps his slides close by. His photographs documented a revolution in skiing from the East Coast. I have begged him to make a coffee table book.
Vermont is the beer state. Case closed.
While the Meatheads captured the East Coast, Theory-3 Media covered the Pacific Northwest. With a love for weird skiing and regional lore, director Jeff Thomas and the MHF crews go all the way back to the beginning. Here, Jeff captures Luke Miele's back flip.
Much is posted about the road to Stowe in the era of the Vail Resorts clusterfuck. The on-mountain experience will forever make the mountain a titan of the East.
Whistler-based professional skier Ian Morrison can ski anything.
The word "icon" is passed around too often these days. Hard to find another word to describe Mad River Glen's Single Chair, though.
Ski It If You Can. I hear West Coasters mock this Mad River bumper sticker often, but very few of them actually make the journey to test themselves at MRG. Aaron Blunck wasn't afraid.
There is no doubt the East cannot compete with the West on terrain. I would argue the West lacks the true characters found on the right side of the country. Bad skiing does something to people. I don't believe you can call skiing "bad" back there. Randy "The Hammer" Grasso at Killington
Ian Morrison knows how to make good turns. And marketing turns. The two should not be conflated.
Randy "The Hammer" Grasso finds late afternoon light on Killington's famed Superstar. Often misunderstood as a race course, Superstar is a proving ground each spring for East Coast groms.
Randy "The Hammer" Grasso
There are myriad ways to find soft snow on the East.
All roads lead to Jay Peak, Vermont
Ian Morrison airs one to the parking lot, kid.
This is a top five photograph for me. Switch skiing is a right of passage. Aaron Blunck is a master.
Today's skiing pushes specialist. Aaron Blunck is known as a halfpipe skier, but the kid can handle his own anywhere, anytime. He's a throwback to the golden era of skiing when you skied everything well to be called a good skier.
Jay Peak is the best run ski resort in the country. Ski The East.
