Author: Steve

2023-2024 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: Cleaning Up the Leftovers

The “Powder Day” tag may be stretching it a bit. The day before was the true powder day. Today was about cleaning up the leftovers. I found many untracked powder turns, but no untracked lines. It was an off map hunting expedition (and even then, pushing the edges of the skiable zones).

In some ways, the final few inches that fell last night were more a curse than a blessing. A few inches of super light blower covers up obstacles and provides no cushion. I tried Vertigo for my first run and sloughed three inches of dust off three sizeable rocks. Thankfully no base damage, but it could have been worse.

The base under the new snow isn’t pretty, it isn’t for charging hard. Cautious turns in the low angle off map woods for me today, and nothing too steep. Where I found untracked turns, I got the cumulative boot deep bounty. But it never lasted more than a few turns on the periphery of the skiable zones.

The new snow came just in time for the holiday and bailed out a poor February. But the base is still thin and the new snow didn’t bond well nor pack down well. A solid gain, but not enough to salvage a failing season.

2023-2024 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, February, White Mountain BC

Tuckerbrook: Blue Bird

Lincoln & Lafayette

The forecast promised an amazing blue bird day in the mountains. With new snow sticking to the trees, it was guaranteed to be a brilliant day in the outdoors. The air was cold and crisp, and the views of views of the Franconia Ridge and Kinsmans were fabulous.

Kinsmans

The morning temperature was extremely cold. Skinning is always a great choice for these days as it is easy to stay warm. The lower mountain snow pack was much improved since my last skin earlier this year. But access to the ski trail was still quite thin and would require careful skiing during the exit.

Cannon

The skin was uneventful, the views amazing, and the skiing acceptable. The snow pack is still quite thin for the first week of February. However, at least the trail is now well covered (at least, above the nordic trail junction).

Tuckerbrook

2023-2024 Season, February, Jay Peak

Jay: Undercast, Not Underwhelming

Tram from River Quai

After what feels like weeks of cloudy darkness, it was wonderful to see the sun today. Despite the general lack of snow, I kinda felt that the sunny day was needed more than a powder day.

Conditions were not bad all around. A bit firm, but not hard pack or scraped. The undercast was beautiful and the weather was pleasant. Given the stillness in the air, I even rode the freezer today! A rare day, indeed.

2023-2024 Season, January, Ragged Mountain

Ragged: Not A Powder Day

Today was my first time skiing Ragged since my first visit over twenty years ago. Back then, Ragged had just installed the first Six Pack in New Hampshire. Since then, they have added another high speed lift up Speare Mountain, and a few more glades.

However, I would not be skiing those glades today. The new snow would normally constitute a “power day” tag. However, most of the new snow was groomed, or fell on bare ground. No “reservations” today, the new snow was not enough to entice even me.

Four generally unique routes were available from the summit, with a bit of natural (thanks to an earlier groom) on some of the trails. Unfortunately, all of the open trails got a groom at some point during the evening. So, no trails offered more than a few token inches. Still, it was nice to feel natural snow again, even if only a few inches of a chop.