Author: Steve

2025-2026 Season, Jay Peak, November

Jay: The Perfect Storm

News of 93″ at Jay Peak in November had spread far and wide via many different sources. Social Media, Traditional Media, Jay Peak’s self-promotion, etc. Jay received so much snow that they decided to open one weekend early, further juicing the hype train.

But the weather threw a wrench into the procession. On Friday, the day before opening, the temperature began warming. And during the night, a light rain fell before temperatures plunged.

Unfortunately, the worst case scenario happened, and the natural snow locked up. It was best to stick to groomers, despite what looked like mid-winter conditions.

I saw the train wreck coming, but still decided to join in (hoping beyond hope for a little natural snow and tree skiing). I treated the morning like a powder day, arriving an hour before the lifts opened and still barely getting a spot in the Stateside lot, which was already mostly full.

Thankfully, I got to the ticket window before the lines started to form. Passholders like myself were forced to request a complimentary day ticket because the season pass printers were still not operational.

The line for the Jet backed up like a powder day, but it was anything but a powder day. I was about 50 chairs back from first chair, and got to see the occasional regrettable attempt at skiing under the chair (off the groomed snow).

I ripped a run down the Jet and got back in line. A few chairs from the top, the lift stopped and didn’t restart. “Uh oh.”

Due to the condition of Jay Peak’s Jet and Bonnie chairs, I always dress with consideration for a possible lift evacuation in mind. Both lifts have experienced a lot of issues during the past few years. I have very little trust in either lift.

Sure enough, after a fairly long wait, the backup motor kicked in and I knew my day was over after just two runs. I skied down the Jet far enough to see a mass of humanity leaving the queue and heading for the Bonnie (which also had a considerable line).

I had no desire to wait 30+ minutes for a ride on the Taxi Quad. And who knows how long the Jet might take to be repaired (turns out, it was about two hours). I cut back to the Stateside lodge, changed, and headed for home (attempting to beat a possible exodus).

If anything good came out of today, at least many Four Pass and Indy Pass holders burned one of their tickets, which should decrease crowding a bit later in the season on better days.

The owners of JPR really need to begin investing in the lift infrastructure (especially the Jet and the Bonnie). Years of kicking the can down the road is really starting to show.

2025-2026 Season, Earned Turns, Jay Peak, November

Jay: After the Storm

The skiing today was a fair bit better than my previous trip to Jay. However, work and other obligations continue to get in the way of powder skiing. My ski days continue to come in-between the storm and the frozen consolation periods.

Snow conditions were variable with a few inches on top of a crusty, frozen base layer. Dealing with turns from previous skier traffic etched into the base layer was a challenge.

Each turn presented a different type of snow surface, sometimes powdery and sometimes crusty and sometimes both. Weighting and unweighting turns became quite challenging as snow surfaces were unpredictable.

The real story is the overwhelming quantity of people uphilling. While skinning Ullr’s, I counted over 30 other people within eye-shot. I usually do not see 30 people in total, let alone all at once while skinning.

I got to thinking “I hope no one does anything stupid.” I mentally admonished myself for self-talk that was critical of other skiers (lest I start throwing stones in a glass house). But I would later learn that my gut feeling proved to be justified.

Following a number of incidents (including an injured skier, property damage, and skiers intruding on snowmaking operations), JPR released a statement calling for better decision making and obeying the simple requests of staying away from operations.

We are very fortunate that JPR allows uphilling during all times of the year, including early season and late season. You could even say they encourage it, since they make social media posts showing skiers and riders earning turns when the lifts are closed.

That permission could easily be revoked. Personally, I appreciate having green and yellow lights to uphill at a closed ski area. Although I occasionally do it, I prefer not to outlaw uphill at areas that prohibit the practice.

In either case, I always avoid mountain ops, even if it means deviating from my established plan (which happened last week: I adjusted my skin route to a less desirable option while other uphillers skinned past mountain ops using heavy machinery to work on a water bar).

Let’s hope this early season wake up call leads to better decision making, avoiding mountain operations, and more conservative early season descent choices.

2025-2026 Season, Earned Turns, Jay Peak

Jay Skunked, Burlington Buried

Today was an inauspicious beginning to my ski season. It’s not everyday that Jay Peak gets nothing from a storm that buries Burlington.

Last weekend, while Jay was receiving over a foot of dense snow, work and kept me away from the mountain. Once my work schedule relented, a rain/freeze event locked up the snow pack.

No problem, I thought. There was a snow storm on the back end. However, it deflected up the Champlain Valley and didn’t overrun the green mountain spine as expected. And then, just as I left the mountain, it started nuking.

During my skin up, I had to keep reminding myself that I was already at the mountain and on skins, so it made little sense to not take a full run. Despite the frozen lunar surface, I kept skinning and hoping for better snow higher up.

Vermonter did have better snow. But it required constant line changes to stay in the soft stuff. By the time I reached the Wiggle, I resigned myself to agonizing foot pain. This will be over soon, and then these will be the worst turns of the entire season. It will never be any worse.

During the following days, Jay got another foot or two. But work kept me away from the mountain until the next frozen-precip event. My current work schedule is sadly inverted to the weather.

2024-2025 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Encore

After the least snowiest March that I can remember, we got one final storm before the big meltdown. During the past week, Jay was resurfaced an inch or two at a time. The storm topped things off with a half-foot of fresh, which was more powdery than expected.

Powder starved skiers came out in droves (despite poor driving conditions and “only” six inches). Parking lots filled to capacity for at least the third time this season, which was unexpected during the last week of March.

Perhaps Indy Passholders were running out of options as other ski areas closed. Many people were not regulars nor familiar with the resort. The Singles Line at the Jet backed up to the bottom of The Willard (three trails over from the liftline).

By noontime, the powder was well tracked out and I grew tired of the lines. If that was my fifteenth and final powder day of the season, it was a worthy encore for a season that I will remember quite fondly.

2024-2025 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Impact

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this exceptional season. Today was my fourteenth powder day out of fifteen ski days. It is astounding how good the season has been at Jay Peak, and it is only the mid-point.

During many of my chair lift rides this season, I experienced feelings of gratitude and appreciation. How could I not be grateful? Given a warming world and changing climate, I thought winters like this were over.

This season is a massive aberration. A once in a lifetime anomaly. So, I continually attempt to recognize and appreciate how great this season is, as it probably will never happen again.

But I took my appreciation a step to far and begin thinking that “if my season ended today, in the middle of the season, it would still be one of my top three seasons ever, it may even be my best.” Famous last thoughts.

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While skiing in the Orchard and ducking through some trees, I experienced a side effect of having lots of snow with large base depths and no thaws: low ceiling.

During the past few weeks, vertical space has been shrinking in the off-map woods. Instead of cross blocking branches from the sides, I am using my poles to cross block branches from above at eye level. Visibility has become a problem.

While snaking my way through some trees, I went to block branches away from my face and I didn’t see a small sapling on the other side. Since I was ducking to avoid the branches, I impacted the sapling with my shoulder. I skied right through it, not even falling or losing my balance. But I knew it was a day ending impact.

The Orthopedic reports some ligament damage in the rotor cuff area and recommended a few weeks off from skiing. An MRI would be required for a more specific diagnosis and surgery would be the only fix if there is a problem. So, we are taking a wait-and-see approach and hoping the damage is not severe and heals itself.

My ski injuries never happen on challenging terrain. They always happen on easy low-angle terrain, when my guard is down. In this case, the very thing that made the season so amazing (massive snow totals with no thaw) also caused the low ceiling conditions and visibility issues that led to the injury.

I am still grateful, however. This really is a top three season for me, regardless of what comes next. And after a few weeks rest, I will be back to experience all that this season still has left to offer.