Yesterday morning must have been nice. That much was evident after only a few tree runs on Sunday. Alas, I was not able to attend to the powder festivities Saturday morning. Sunday was still a good day at Jay, but I can not help but feel my relative experience of ‘good’ has changed over the years. Just a few yaers ago, today would have qualified as very good if not super. Now, I turn my nose up at being a day late for boot deep untracked. Packed and loose powder with only occasional boot deep? Only two knee deep drifts in the woods? What type of crap is this?
Sloppy seconds were the order of the day as (no surprise) the powder hounds were out in force on Saturday. The ‘Stupid Bowl’ kept the crowds relatively light (perhaps crowds had shifted to Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire for their yearly Two-Fer tradition). No line for the Freezer all day but the Tram had a two car wait. It was a terribly cold and windy day to be riding the Freezer. I took two absolutely miserable rides on the most reviled lift in New England. When getting stuck at the Tram lodge drainage, I opted for the slow Metro Quad back to Stateside more often than not. I am always boggled by the amount of people that wait for the Tram. Locals, Regulars, and Pass Holders rarely ride the Tram except for occasional access to Green Beret, Valhalla, Tuckerman Chutes, or the Face (of which only the former two trails were open and not worth the ride).
With exception of the metro quad, all of my runs involved at least one jaunt through the trees. Despite only being a first year pass holder at Jay Peak, I am already used to it, and I love it. Buck Woods was the best kept secret on the map, not too surprisingly. The well known glades were beyond tracked out with Timbuktu and Beaver Pond suffering severe damage and thin spots. Upper River Quai was also nasty but still fun but Vertigo was way past prime time. Everglade was ugly but dumping out into lower Staircase was sweet packed powder. Show Off Glade did not do it for me, but Stateside Glade had some nice packed pow with occasional powder shots past the edges.
Moguls are starting to set up well. U.N., Jet under the lift, Derick Hot Shot, Lift Line, and Poma Line all had good lines with only occasional thin spots in the troughs. The moguls should be going off with just one more dump to cover up the rough spots in the troughs and soften things up a bit more.
Woods off the map are still suspect but very doable. A low speed run in with a snow snake brought the reality of how low the base depth is back to reality. Unfortunately due to the time of the season, untracked lines I would normally give a wide berth to are getting hit because I want my fix. It is not the brightest thing to do, but slow and steady and an observant eye are in full effect. This past storm was nice, but only a refresher. We still need the big one to bring snow depths up to desired levels so I won’t have to ski through pucker brush and small sticks. My helmet certainly took a beating from the trees today. When I saw safe lines of boot deep untracked, I went for it whether or not I had to eat some bark and pine needles to get there.