Much to my complete delight, only The Single ran on Friday. Pretty rare is the day when there is no line for The Single for first chair but things are backing up pretty far on the Sunnyside Double. Much of the Sunnyside can be reached from The Single via Broadway to Easy Way, but all the steeper stuff off the ridge was virgin untracked with the total three day accumulation, just begging for some tracks.
Oh
My
Goodness
Day 40 of the season was my 17th powder day with 18 to follow the next day. With work closed for the College Holiday, I started the long weekend at Jay Peak on the heels of a monster April surprise snow storm that would ultimately drop three feet of powder through the Holiday weekend. Amazing! What a way to start April off after March ended on such a downer.
Got started on The Jet at 9am despite Nhski running a little late (no friends on a powder day and all that…). But we played it like usual staying close to the lift for the first few runs of untracked and met up at the top of the Jet on the start of my third run. Sweet! Certainly has been a ton of fun finding a fellow skier to enjoy the great Jay powder with, always elevates my day to have a great skier to share it with.
Ski it while you can. It is hard to believe that just two weeks ago to the day I was skiing any line on the mountain I wanted with a foot of fresh for the taking. Everything on the mountain was open just two weeks ago, and I mean everything as in pick your line through the trees. Today? Not so much. Generally, I do not set myself up for disappointment this late in the season, but after such an epic March, I had expected slightly better coverage considering all the recent snow. But warmer temperatures and rain took their toll this past week and a half leaving not much snow, especially on the lower mountain.
Temperatures were very cold last night which made for a late start today. My morning routine consisted of taking a lap, then relaxing in front of the Basebox for twenty minutes. Repeat. Moguls in the sun on the upper mountain such as Quacky and Cat Bowl were ready by late morning, but nothing really corned up well until noon time. Many trails required some side stepping or grass skiing depending on the pitch. I did a few killer grass skiing sections with style.
Originally, I took Wednesday through Friday off to utilize a Ski Club deal on cheap skiing at Stowe. Based on the weather forecast, I bailed on pre-purchasing the three day ticket and went for the single ticket on Wednesdayonly. Essentially, including the Ski Club membership and discounted lift ticket, I paid full price but it was a worth while gamble. If this had been excellent conditions, I would have been skiing three days at Stowe for only $39 per day (which would have included the cost of club membership). Things do not go as planned sometimes.
I used this opportunity to demo the Volkl Mantra in a 177cm at the Pinnacle Ski Shop on the Mountain Access Road. Suffice to say, the Volkl Mantra is one helluva ski. But not the ski I was looking for and I am glad I demoed the ski before I pulled the trigger.
I had expected better conditions today considering all the recent snow but I forgot to take into consideration the high wind earlier this week. Many of the groomers were hard pack with occasional wind blown boiler plate. This is where the Volkl Mantra really wowed me. These skis have Volkl’s typical groomer chewer technology and the last time I rode a ski that ate up hard pack like this was the Volkl Six Stars. The Mantra sure was not at the Six Star level, but was able to really rip the groomers with similar style. This performance enhancement was a harbinger of my verdict on the skis as they compromise too much as a one ski quiver with their stiff, beefy, and damp groomer-ripper esque style.
Epic. Spectacular. Sensational. Best Day of the Season.
Originally, the plan for the weekend called for two days at Mad River Glen. Yesterday’s storm was good but less than I had expected at The Glen. Assuming Jay over reported Sunday’s snow totals, I considered both areas about even in Saturday snowfall. Sunday morning I opted to ski which ever ski area had a better report (with interpretation for the usual Jay Hype and artificial snow total inflation). Jay reported in with about double the snowfall that Mad River posted and I was feeling the Jay vibe. Great call on my part as we scored minimum knee deep untracked on almost every run today at Jay.
Met up with Dan after a few runs off the Jet Chair and we tore up the trees all day long. Halfway through a tree shot that I thought was not worth trying, we were skiing “only” boot to knee deep slightly tracked, and I turned to Dan and said “this is acceptable.” I had to laugh at such a statement considering any other day that shot would have been sublime.