Wet Gay Boys... Need I say more?
For a number of years now the Boston OutRyders have been running "Big Gay Jay Weekend" at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. Â For the past couple of years the Toronto Gay Ski & Snowboard Club has been invited to attend as well. Â This year the Toronto Club (of which I'm a member) had it's largest contingent yet, and I got dragged, kicking and screaming, along with them.
What a weekend. Â The crew out of Boston are a fun group of guys.
We got there late on the Thursday night, so we were greeted by the stragglers left at Tower Bar from the evening social. Â Most of the stragglers were the Canadians... go figure. Â Canadian boys know how to party.
The Slopes...
I was bunked in with Yanick, and since he was short one pair of skis for the first part of the trip (Read why in "To Jay or Bust"), we got a late start to the slopes on Friday... finally heading out around mid-day. Â Perfect timing really, got the report back from the others about where the good runs were. Â It had rained a ton the night before, so some of the runs were getting pretty beat up and/or icey. Â But what are you going to do? It's March in the shittiest winter in recent history.
We hung out over on Stateside for most of the afternoon, conditions were a bit softer over there. Â My first time to Jay Peak, ok so the runs were a bit beat up, but you can tell from riding them what they're like when there's full snow. Â I honestly can't wait to get back and shred hard.
The weekend runs with two meetups every morning... one at 8:30 for those early risers who want first tracks... and another at 10am for those who are looking for a more dignified (read: slow morning from having been out drinking the night before) start to the day.
Almost everyone makes their way back to Tramside to hang out on the patia at Alice's for lunch. It's a March weekend, so while not normally quite as warm as it was this weekend, it's also not usually freezing, so the true slopes enthusiasts would hit the patio regardless, but there's also plenty of indoor places around the resort to hit up.
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One of the great things about staying at Hotel Jay, where all the group booked rooms are located, is that most of our group rooms are booked either on the 2nd or 3rd floors, and the walk out to the slopes is on the second floor. Â You're right there. Â So taking breaks back at your room and enjoying a complimentary Hot Chocolate or Coffee, making your own lunch in your room, just flaking out for a bit, and dropping a couple layers as the day moves on and the sun warms things up is super easy.
The resort also provides complimentary lockers for your ski equipment, it a different part of the building, but still all on the same level.
If you're not into staying with the group, there's a bunch of different options on the resort as well, but we got lucky and got a premo room right on the second floor. Â The view out our window could have been better (we got to overlook the roof and parking lot), but I think I looked out the window once on our stay. Â I mean we're there to be outside having fun!!
In Canada our Prime Minister is a certified Snowboard Instructor...
I mean, why can't an architect be a skier? Â It's like whoever the architect for the resort was, had the idea in their head that they were designing an accommodations building for a ski resort. Â It's in the little details... like putting a plethora of coat hooks to hang wet coats right by the door to your room, and a bench to sit on to put on your ski boots. Â Building wide hallways to make it extra easy to walk while geared up. Â Minimizing stairs in the design, and when you do need stairs, building them just that little extra deep so that it's easier to get up and down in boots.
Even the ski lockers where extra wide and extra large. Â Not just your typical school lockers that you see so many other places have. Â All these little things just make for a more enjoyable time.
Though it is somewhat odd heading down the hall to the slopes exit dressed in full boarding gear, while walking beside someone dorn only in boardshorts and flip-flops as they head to the waterpark.
But it's the apres-ski that the boys had right! Do not pass go, do not collect $200, head directly to the LARGE outdoor hot tub.
So a few hot tub notes;
1 - It's part of the waterpark, so you need a waterpark pass to get in. Â Available for $15/day... or very conveniently, as part of your Big Gay Jay Weekend package. Â Just remember to put your damn wrist band on ok? Cause they check these things.
2 - NO DRINKS in the hot tub. Â Yes, we all love to kick back with a brew while we're soaking away. Â But here's the deal, there's laws that the resort has to obey or risk getting shut down. Â So leave your drink outside the hottub area. Â Very convinently they've built a HUGE patio outside the waterpark area, so you can easily pop out and grab a sip and jump back in. Â It's really not that big a deal.
3 - Mind your language. It's part of a waterpark, so there's families and kids and such around. Â While they were all very welcoming of the big group of homos, they don't need to hear about who you wanna stick you dick into. Â Plenty of adult time socials for that talk.
4 - There WILL be crud on the bottom of the hot tub. Â Don't worry, it's just a little gravel, dirt and mulch from the surrounding patio. Â It's not going to kill you... and with all the chlorine, it's clean crud.
Yanick and I spent an amazing afternoon on the patio enjoying a few bevies in the sun, watching kiddies run back and forth from the hot tub to the snow, where they rolled (apparently a lot more popular in North America than I thought it was when I took my own dip in Tremblant), then ran back through the garden, getting dirty feet. Â Hey they're kids. Â Don't try to convince me you're not dirty in your own ways (refer to point 3).
So... total side note...
While sitting on the patio I had this wonderful conversation with this woman from Massachusetts. She was a grade 1 teacher, so we struck up a conversation where I talked about my ex, who is also a grade one teacher now. Â She didn't bat an eye, stumble, or anything... flowed right into the male pronouns while talking about him. Â That was unexpected and nice to experience.
Back to after...
I mean "apres". Â No matter how much you love hot tubs... at some point you need to get out. Â But Apres doesn't stop. Â This is one of the unique things about this weekend in particular, you're at a ski resort, doing the apres thing, in your swim suit?
There's official Apres events all over the place, but the gays all gravitate to the waterpark for apres. Â "The Drink" is a bar located right inside the Pump House waterpark. I mean this is right up my alley... I want to wear as few clothes as legally possible at all times. Â So I'm down with drinking in my suit.
So there's a lot of time spent at the waterpark, but Saturday night is OUR time to take over the park and get access to all the fun!!
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Time to Lose My Shorts...
A pool party is a fairly standard installation at most Gay Ski Week(end)s. Â But at Jay... screw the pool... we gots a whole damn waterpark to party in.
Many more non-skiing, and incredibly HOT gays from the local area come in just to get wet during this private party.
Featuring 4 waterslides, a lazy river, rock climbing wall, splashpad, more hot tubs, and basketball, most of the attention is directed at the waterpark's main feature, the Flowrider. Â Riding a surfboard or boogie board is just not the same thing as snowboarding... no matter how much you want it to be.
I didn't catch the name of the guard running the Flowrider (maybe one of you did and can tag it in the comments below), but he was amazing!! So patient, and skilled. Â Took his time to really do his best to help each rider succeed.
A nice bit of confidence and calm as he forced you to focus on him, and not the penis gallery that surrounded, watching, cheering, and laughing.
That confidence didn't help me though. Â One thing became very clear... I SUCK at surfing.
[fvplayer src="http://www.outslopes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-14-20.38.27.mp4" width="1920" height="1080" splash="http://www.outslopes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Big-Gay-Jay-2016-103.jpg" caption="Ian's epic Flowrider #Fail"]
If you're having trouble with the video, here's screen caps of the good parts.
So there you go, relive the embarrassment of my mooning the entire waterpark. Â So that was fun.
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More Pics from the weekend
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