Subside

The wind finally relents. I cannot recall a longer stretch of windy weather. Cold, blustery winds kept the Flyer and the Tram offline for more than a week. Feet of snow were blown off to who knows where.

Now that the high-speed lifts have finally reopened, pent up demand reached fever pitch. Hoping for fresh snow, I decided to start at and ski Tramside (an extremely rare occurrence).

After a bizarre 15-minute late start, the Flyer finally opened with a substantial line. After my second run, the line had backed up to the end of Ullr’s. The tram’s line backed up to the Flyer’s line (likely a two-hour wait to get to the summit, why bother?).

With the Metro Quad down, the Flyer was the only Tramside option (for those that refuse to wait for the Tram). Beginners that might normally take the Metro caused many lift stops on the Flyer.

There was some fresh snow in the off-map Tramside woods. But not much. After a few false starts, I finally found extensive untracked in off-map trees that could, thankfully, be cycled from the Bonnie (ski on).

Snatching victory from defeat, I began lapping boot deep untracked hours after opening. I was flabbergasted, everything seemed so packed down. How could I find powder, let alone untracked? Yet another unexpected powder day (my eighth of the season out of nine days).

Chaotic Rebound

If weather was sentient, it would always manifest its malevolence during the Christmas holiday week. New England could not escape the holiday week without rain. It is simply not permitted.

Jay Peak rebounded nicely with a well-forecasted, multi-day weather event. By the day after New Year’s, Jay was engulfed in a full-on-blizzard. Vehicles that couldn’t make it up the access road clogged 242. And all for not, as the upper mountain lifts never spun.

By Friday morning, more than two feet of snow had fallen, and the snow and wind continued. Fortunately, the Jet and Bonnie were spinning. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to know that JPR was the place to be.

Between vacationers and powder hounds, the lots quickly filled to capacity and the resort started turning would-be-guests away. Given two major lifts were on wind hold, the resulting liftline situation was dreadful.

Many holiday skiers seemed to be taking their first turns of the season. Or perhaps, the first turns of their lives. All lifts experienced incessant slow-downs and stoppages due to loading and unloading issues.

This made two-lift-laps for Tramside runs unbearable, despite exquisite knee deep untracked in the woods. Despite the exquisite snow, I could only stomach the Bonnie/Taxi cycle twice.

The boot to knee deep untracked was exceptional. But caution was warranted. The recent meltdown eliminated much of the base, so hidden snowsnakes and rocks were both a factor. By the end of this storm cycle, and with more skier traffic, the snowpack will almost reset to pre-holiday depths.

Focus

Down the Haynes I went, first tracks on a clean canvas. Eight inches felt like eighty centimeters. My favorite snow condition, even harder to get than knee deep untracked in the woods.

Almost a foot of supportive, springy powder on top of groomed. Just enough to not bottom out, but not too much that you can’t rip huge, high-speed arcs. Effortless and amazing.

The energy transfers automatically from turn to turn. I don’t yell nor cry out in joy. I am speechless. It has been years since I’ve felt this perfect layering of powder over groomed.

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Oscillate

Any other mountain would gladly have the conditions that Jay experienced today. But, for this season, at this mountain, the conditions were merely adequate.

My fifth day of the season was my first non-powder day. Back to reality. But it is an exceedingly excellent reality for December. I’ve skied Jay many times in December when it was hardpack-groomers-only.

An inch or two dusted over packed powder with occasional scratch. Everything is still skiable, but traffic since Thursday has taken a toll. I still managed a few turns of boot deep untracked, but not much was left.

The tram opened today, including (surprisingly) the Ullr’s drainage. Though, The Goat was closed for snowmaking. Most people went hunting for powder via the Tram. But I couldn’t stomach a three car wait, so I stayed Stateside.

Once snowmaking is done on Goat, they will move to Ullr’s. And, assuming there is no thaw, Jay could be 100% open by the new year. Snowmaking is the only thing holding up the ropes…