Category: Jay Peak

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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2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak

Brutal Cold and Fresh Snow at Jay

Saturday was the culmination of a week featuring frequent snow and brutally bitter cold. Jay received a few characteristic inches overnight but not enough to call it a powder day. Stateside only received about two inches and riding the Jet Triple was an exercise in self discipline. After a few runs on the Jet, I gave the Bonnie a try and found the ride fairly wind free (even coming over the ridge above Liftline). Dropping into Liftline from the top and dropping the cliff, I found a few more inches of tracked up fresh, perhaps up to four inches, on top of previously hammered in bumps. Despite the fresh and having found a wind free lift, my energy was non-existent and the cold had seriously gotten into my bones. So I decided to call it an early day just as the hordes began massing at the lift.

2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Decent Three Days After the Storm Powder Day at Jay

Not bad, not bad at all. What a difference a week makes. Last week at Jay just sucked. That day last week will probably be my worst ski day of the season. But today… it was all good! Not good as in a two foot powder day (which was two days ago) but good as in “damn, three days after the storm and I am still finding some untracked” good.

Some tree shots still need more snow to cover up the sticks. But we are back to where we were before the Christmas melt down. Perhaps even a little better. On map glades were packed and tracked and bumped per expectations. Off map trees ranged from breakable wind slab foot plus deep (meh) to buckle/boot deep occasional untracked (lots of bush thwacking required). The cut up and tracked up powder in the woods skied very well and had some fluff factor.

Nothing to rave about… just another typical day at Jay that I have come to expect when there is no pow left to be had at most other areas. I brought my skins but was tired and sore and wanted to save some juice for tomorrow’s romp at Magic, so I opted to cut out at lunch time and save my legs for Sunday. No crowds to speak of. Last run I went out to the D and hoofed it back. It was surprisingly tracked out already but still some quality snow. Low angle BC is probably sensational right now.

2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak

Ugly Day at Jay

Ugh. UGH. UUUUUUUGH. UUUUUUUGLY.

This is a complete and total repeat of early January 2007. Thankfully, we have a much deeper base than early January 2007 so a recovery should happen fairly quickly after two big storms. It is going to take at least two feet to get conditions we experienced at Jay in mid-December.

A few inches (three on average, sometimes more sometimes less) covered up all the crap nastiness on the natural snow trails. Instead of helping non-groomed trails, the fresh snow made things worse because you couldn’t tell where the crap was located. I did two quick low angle glade options and decided to stick to the groomers for the rest of the day.

Not that things were much better on the groomers. Frozen groomer tracks and real legitimate ice all over the map. Tramside skied significantly better than Stateside, though Goat had some pretty nasty looking sections.

I met up with some friends and we banged out three down Ullr’s Dream before I left at 11:30am. Ullr’s had the best conditions of the day. If I hadn’t met up with some friends, I would have been out of there an hour and a half sooner after only three runs. Definitely worst conditions of the season so far.

2008-2009 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Uncrowded Powder Day at Jay

Difficult decisions were made last night regarding plans for today. But ultimately, I think the best decision was made despite wanting for the most powder. Southern locations scored more snow than northern locations during the Friday storm, which had me leaving a foot of fresh in central New Hampshire to ski in only a half foot of fresh in Northern Vermont. However, the snow that fell was the lightest form of blower possible and fell on minimal base which essentially made the powder worthless except for one or two runs in central New Hampshire areas such as Ragged and Gunstock (Tenney remains closed this weekend). Desiring to retain my Ski Vermont tickets for later in the season, I also by passed Sugarbush and Killington so I could return to them later in the season when their terrain is fully open.

Uncrowded slopes was the other aspect I banked on in deciding to ski Jay today and I hit the jackpot with ski on chairs all morning. Between the lingering effects of last week’s ice storm and central/southern Vermont receiving more snow than northern Vermont, most Stateside skiers did not have Jay Peak on the map. Which translates into untracked snow on every run.

Trees are continuing to fill in with many of my favorite lines available but with caution. I took two spills today courtesy of hidden stumps and snow snakes. So full on tree skiing is still out of the question. But most trees are skiable though some bush whacking may be involved as not all obstacles are buried yet.

I worked the Jet Triple for the entire morning making tracks exclusively in the trees and on the run outs. One particular area came into play very nicely this weekend which I lapped numerous times. On a few occasions, I nailed untracked snow from both Friday and Saturday which was about eight to ten inches total. One sensational boot deep and perhaps deeper drift really made my day. Should be fully tracked out for Sunday skiers but another storm arrives Sunday night for a foot and a half of fresh with more on the way later this week. Look for Jay to be at or nearly 100% open for Christmas depending upon if the Face, Tux, Staircase, and Everglade have enough base depth or not.