Category: Jay Peak

2010-2011 Season, Jay Peak, March, NE Ski Blogger Summit, Powder Day

Jay Peak Powder! NSBS Day 1

Jay Peak Horizontal

Approaching the lip of Upper Exhibition, I heard SBR start. I looked in his direction, shared a look, and knew it was on. It’s a special moment when two skiers connect, simultaneously decide to change plans, and drop into a line knowing that something special awaits. Who needs to ski the glades when there is boot deep untracked blow on a steep open pitch? A few conservative turns gave way to full on charging mode. And then the white stuff kicked up in The Flash and I couldn’t contain my wonderment.

It was a homecoming of sorts, charging hard in boot buckle deep untracked at noontime. I’ve clearly been away from Jay Peak for too long. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Perhaps we could have expected an inch or two at best and my leisurely start to the morning clearly indicated that I had no hope of a powder day. But Jay is a mountain of surprises.

You only experience the novelty of a new area once. That jaw dropping awe can only be relived through seeing the eyes of others experiencing it for the first time. It was like that today. I’ve skied all these lines before to the point of routine. But I saw them again almost for the first time today. And that was amazing.

More words to follow but I am spent for tonight. We’re just getting started.

Harv on Powerline

SBR on Upper River Quai

Jet

2009-2010 Season, April, Jay Peak

Jay: April 11th

Jay has retained impressive coverage considering the past month’s weather. As many lifts were running as there were available routes (read routes, not trails) which is in sharp contrast to typical late season operations at most other areas. But Jay’s setup neccesitates the number of lifts due to its horizontal spread out nature.

Available routes included Northway off the Tram, Goat and Green Mountain Boys off the Bonnie, and Jet, Haynes, and Motrealer/Wiggle off the Jet. Snow ran out at the end of Wiggle about 50 feet shy of the Bonnie (which was required to get to Tramside). There was no snow between Stateside and the Jet which required a walk  (but that is to be expected this time of year). Other than those two hiking aspects, all open trails were wall to wall coverage with no bare spots excepting parts of the bump line under the Jet.

Jay got some snow this weekend and it was snowing/sleeting when arrived at the mountain. Snow conditions were loose wet granular. Fairly decent skiing though the fog made for low visibility. Goat was promoted to a black run per signs as it was rather slick. Other than the small bump line under the Jet, there are no moguls which was a little disappointing. But given the weather, I will take good snow conditions on groomers over a barely skiable bump run.

Jay has plenty of snow for the next weekend and I am sure they can do two more weekends. Three though, might be a stretch but they are planning on staying open until the first weekend in May.

2009-2010 Season, January, Jay Peak

Major Slab Wind Buff at Jay

Sometimes even the best laid plans are not completely fool proof. It seemed like a no brainer at the time. Twenty inches in three days with seven of those inches falling the evening before an upper mountain lift hold at Jay. Temperatures plummeted into the single digit mark and most metro area skiers and riders had no idea that almost two feet of new snow had fallen in Northern Vermont immediately following the massive wash out last weekend. I was not expecting a jackpot and I was expecting some wind buff. My expectations were not high but they were definitely in the “powder day” realm of thinking for sure.

Only a dozen skiers were lined up for first tram which was eerie to say the least. I chalked it up to the cold and afore mentioned metro rain bias. But I soon learned that it was not those who missed first tram that were the fools. Rarely do I ride the tram and only started at Tramside due to my ticket requiring a visit to the Customer Service desk. I decided to start my morning with a rarity of sorts for me and that is the normally sure shot first tracks in the Beaver Pond area.

En route to Beaver Pond, I spied some wind buffed powder on the edge of the fast hard pack and I pounced. And I tip dove and ejected. “Nothing more than cold legs on a cold day,” I told myself. But three turns into Beaver Pond, I had difficulty on a turn, caught some foliage sticking up through the snow, and lost a ski. Hum. The snow was beyond simply being wind buffed. It was slab wind buffed with one to two inches of firm breakable slab on top of the wind buff. Breaking through the slab was variable from turn to turn creating a dire need for anticipating inconsistency. I quickly checked my speed and my ego and decided to take things in the trees very slowly. By the time I exited Beaver Pond, I was not deterred but rather determined to find the wind protected aspect the escaped the wind.

Alas, it was not to be found any where today at Jay Peak. (more…)

2009-2010 Season, Earned Turns, Jay Peak, November

Survival Skiing on Man Made at Jay

One route at Sunday River for $39, three routes at Killington for $49, or two routes earned for free at Jay. Gee wiz, I think I will see what is behind door number three, please!

Unfortunately, not much. This is a tough weekend for the desperate unless you want to buy over priced lift tickets for extremely limited products at Sunday River or Killington.

The price at Sunday River increased by over 50% without any increase in product. Needless to say, the law of supply and demand is in full effect. And who can blame them for doing so? When lift lines are backing up into double digit wait times and beyond, they obviously have enough demand to justify increasing the prices to increase profitability and put out a better product.

As for Killington, suffice to say I would not pay $50 for half of their trails open let alone two runs off the North Ridge Triple and Bunny Buster. Bretton Woods also opened one bunny trail for a $10 donation to charity. The options were not looking very promising for lift serviced.

So I turned my attention towards Jay.

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2008-2009 Season, April, Jay Peak

Jay Owns on Bluebird Spring Corn Days

Original plan was a trip to Tuckerman. Almost a foot of snow on Wednesday into Thursday with high avalanche conditions throughout much of the ravine put that plan aside straight out. Earning turns at Cannon was a backup option. Ultimately, Sled and I decided to hit Jay for some lift service instead. I have not really given Jay high marks on spring skiing. I will eat my words as I obviously have never hit Jay on a good spring day. Today was simply stellar.

We started at the Jet lot which had ticket service and bathroom service only. Walking was required to get to the Jet which provided the only Stateside lift service (as was to be expected this late in the season). Stateside trails that have snowmaking were all wall to wall top to bottom coverage with only a few bare spots on non-snowmaking trails. Essentially, unbelievably good coverage for this late in the season.

We warmed up on Jet and Haynes which were already starting to cook and get chewed up by late morning but still provided great turns. Followed that up with Derick with much the same, ducking into Timbuk which still had ample coverage but not what we were looking for. Next up was bumps on Kitzbehuel. UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLY GOOD. Awesome lines with just a little weirdness where the trail pinches below the split. These bumps were better than anything at Stowe last week or Bush four weeks ago. Sweet. U.N. was also bumped up as was the liftline under Jet and Can Am for your Stateside bumps.

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