Category: Jay Peak

2011-2012 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Five Inches of Blower at Jay

Jay Trees

I will never understand skiers that dive straight into the woods on first chair. There are few things I long for more than blasting powder turns down a flat, steep, and wide open pitch. Don’t get me wrong, I love trees. And I enjoy bumps when I can’t ski powder. But there is nothing like a steep groomer blanketed with untracked powder. It is far more rare than untracked powder through the trees.

On my first run, I found almost half a foot of untracked blower on top of scraped hardpack. A delightful surprise that affirmed my destination decision. I shamelessly made wide arcs across the entirety of JFK. A farmer harvesting the carefully planted crop I was not. The feeling of my skis planing up and surfing the fresh was sublime. The feeling of my edges engaging the hardpack at the apex of my turn was not.

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2010-2011 Season, Jay Peak, May

Last Lift Service of the Season at Jay

Jet

More than half of Jay Peak’s guests last week were from Quebec. Whereas this weekend, more than half of Jay Peak’s guests were Killington Refuges. While not crowded, an empty chair was hard to find despite the Jet Triple running nearly ski on all day. For the second time this season, I saw a family without valid passes trying to sneak onto the lift only to be caught by RFID. And I thought it would have been the college kids getting called out.

Based on what I observed, it seems likely that Jay was operating profitably this weekend. But that is a somewhat dubious argument against Killington. As more ski areas close, it makes it easier for the limited few to make a profit due to attrition from other areas. As opposed to more competition for fewer guests spread around to more areas. But Killington could just as easily have been taking Jay’s customers rather than vice versa. Superstar is a superior late season trail and I would have been at Killington instead of Jay had the so called “Beast” ran their lifts. All that said, I was glad to be skiing lift serviced in May and glad to be doing it at Jay Peak.

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2010-2011 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Surfing the Wind Buffed Pow at Jay

Tram

In the past week, I have surpassed my 2009-2010 total days at Jay Peak. Three out of four days this past week were Powder Days. I know the answer already but I can’t help but ask myself “what was I thinking last year?”

Jay racked up an impressive two day total of 42″. And that is not a typo, those numbers are in the correct order. Today certainly didn’t ski like a “day after the wind hold powder day”. Winds laid down an extremely compacted wind buff. The powder was soft and surfy; decidedly not blower nor deep. Though softer shots on certain limited aspects allowed for some boot deep silky turns.

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