Category: Jay Peak

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

Jay Woods Open for Business

Jay Peak not only survived the ice storm and mixed precipitation earlier this week that plagued most of New England’s ski areas, but rather thrived in receiving a really good heaping of wrap around snow on top of a bomber base. While Jay did receive a little mixed precipitation that formed some minor breakable crust, a solid eight inches in favorable areas without crust was retained for a fantastic powder day.

My plan of attack was all wrong due to forgetting that only the Jet Triple ran on Friday leaving much of the mountain serviced by the Bonnie untracked. I got going stateside by ducking into a half dozen off map tree shots that yielded respectable cover but only two inches of untracked. After three rides on the Jet, I hopped on the Bonnie to explore the other side of the drainage.

Much to my surprise, a lone skier made his way down Liftline in nearly boot deep untracked! What the hell was going on? From the chair, I noticed a few tracks down Can Am as well. Sure enough, those trails had been “reserved”. And with good reason. A non-breakable crust had developed on the upper section of Can Am. But bellow that was a breakable crust yielding more than half a foot. I made second tracks down Liftline which was a delightful romp featuring around eight inches of untracked alternating between fluffy powder and a slight crust layer depending on angle and aspect.

Sure as a powder hound knows he’s missing a party, Liftline was completely tracked up on my next trip up the Bonnie. Upper River Quai to Buckaroo yielded nice cut up pow with some untracked along the edges. That was followed by a generally tracked up Vertigo to Buckaroo. Next I dropped into Deliverance via the second of the four chutes to generally good snow conditions with a few stumps and rocks still hiding. Not a bad go, but not ready for prime time. The mellower section bellow the chutes yielded alternating slots of sloppy seconds and some untracked. Sah-weet!

I finished up my last lap on the Bonnie by checking into some of my favored woods stashes and found they were not quite ready yet. And I finished the day on a Jet run that yielded more woods not quite ready yet but almost.

Currently, I would estimate almost a full half of Jay’s trees are cautiously ready for most tree skiers. Speed and full out attack mode are not recommended even for the filled in lines which occasionally sport stumps and dead fall not yet covered. Lots of sticks still covering up all but the most well cleared out lines but so much is doable right now. However, there is still quite a bit not yet ready for prime time. Beggars can’t be choosers two weeks prior to Christmas weekend… this season is just getting started!

2008-2009 Season, December, Jay Peak

Jay Opens Tramside with the Tram and Freezer

Expo Glade at Jay

After only two weeks of operation, Jay has all of its lifts online with exception of the Bonaventure Quad. This weekend marked the first day of operations for the Freezer and the Tram. And it showed! Operations for the Freezer were suspended mid-day due to mechanical problems and unloading from the tram required a monstrous hurdle of nearly two feet to reach the unload platform from the tram car. Operations for all lifts were delayed by 45 minutes while two groomers worked out the handle tow area in front of the lodge. To say full operations got off to a shaky start would be an understatement.

Once things were under way, it did not take me long to identify the best snow. The Kokamo/Ull’rs run out was horrendous and not worth the effort to ski any trails that dumped down into that run out. The best snow fell under and to skier’s right of the Freezer. Most notably Expo Glade which had received significantly more snow than any where else on the mountain. Occasional boot deep with deeper drifts were found though the entire mountain averaged closer to two to three inches. My run of the day was Upper River Quai to Expo Glade to The Flash.

Else where on the mountain, Stateside was fully tracked out with hard pack bumps in the glades. Off map tree shots were definitely not ready for prime time and difficult to navigate safely. Any run out trail that had not yet received snow making featured waterbars, ice, groomer chunks, and worse but did allow generally safe passage despite the leg burning. Jay officially opened almost 50 trails. However, all but perhaps a dozen of their steepest and rockiest selections could be safely skied which is tremendous for the first week in December.

Photo Gallery

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

Milking it at Jay Peak

Following a solid week of seasonably cold weather, Jay Peak opened for the weekend prior to Thanksgiving with the Jet and Haynes from the Jet Triple. Despite wanting to get an early start to pick up my season pass and still make first chair, I was delayed at home by half an hour. This proved to be a blessing in disguise.

After obtaining my season pass at the Customer Service desk, I made my way over to Stateside and booted up. Soon after grabbing my skis, I discovered the Jet Triple was down and being evacuated. So arriving late may have just saved me from a frosty wait high above the Jet and being evac’d from the chair. Cool.

After a warm up run down the Jet, I began my hunt for natural snow and perhaps some powder. Derick Hot Shot was nearly completely tracked out from the day before and rather thin but still a great natural snow run. It would have been well worth my four hour round trip drive for Derick alone.

But I soon met up with Scott and went exploring. We found boot deep untracked and milked it for all it was worth. Drifts up to the knees and higher were found in wind loaded areas. We took a half dozen runs together before calling it a day.

Today was a great start to the lift serviced season. While not on par with last year’s tremendous November, any time I can ski boot deep untracked in November is certainly better than average and an experience to remember. Game on!

2007-2008 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Crowded Wind Blown Powder Day at Jay

Singles Line on the Bonnie Extending to Second Lift Tower

Lots of options were on the table today. But with the lifts closed on Friday, I figured Jay would be the best pick despite the anticipated crowds. And holy moly were there crowds. This weekend was a “Perfect Storm” of sorts. No major powder days since March 1st, almost two feet of Fresh snow heading into the weekend, lifts not spinning on Friday, early Easter Holiday weekend that usually does not come into play during April Easters, Downhill Race on Haynes (after two postponements), etc. Add in the Tram not running until noon and the Flyer not running at all and you have a recipe for the longest lines I have ever experienced at Jay. The singles line on the Bonnie extended to the second lift tower and there was a ten minute wait for the Metro Singles line at one point. Tram car waits were reported to be four or five cars. So, was it worth it?

The rush hit earlier than normal, but I was able to get in an hour and a half of competition free pick your line powder festivities before the crowds arrived. Since it stopped snowing yesterday, the wind did its thing and leveled out most of the snow into a super dense wind slab. I was glad to have my fat skis today for sure! Nailed some sensational boot to knee deep early. Boot deep was the general rule for the untracked. Decidedly not as deep, soft, or good as yesterday’s earned turn powder in the same locations thanks to wind over night without any new snow.

Things looked bleak with no Tram and no Flyer at noon time but I soldiered on despite the crowds. I would have been quite alright with those lifts not running had it not been for the lines. Full cycles from the Bonnie to Tramside were taking around 45 minutes but yielded boot deep untracked late into the day. I quit at 2pm despite having just hit yet another section of untracked woods late in the day. But the lines were beyond my tolerance level at that point and I had already taken my fill. Had the Flyer come online sooner, I might have stuck around but the chairs were not even on the line at 2pm and the Bonnie singles line was back to the second lift tower again.

Lines aside the skiing was sensational despite the extremely wind slabbed snow. Base depths extremely deep at this point. It feels like early season in the woods again due to the constant need to cross block branches with poles. Instead of blocking trees not yet buried, we are instead blocking high branches that normally do not come into play! Canopy levels are getting into head chopping range. Some downed trees and bent limbs also made normally open lanes tighter than normal.

2007-2008 Season, Earned Turns, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Major Earned Turn Powder Day During Jay Lift Hold

Headed up to Jay on Friday with moderately reasonable hopes that at least one of the Stateside lifts would turn (probably the Jet). Despite hopes of a late afternoon opening, it was not to be. Friday could have been my best day of the season had the lifts spun. It was still sensationally epic skiing none-the-less.

We skinned up Meadows to Wiggle where the game planning began and continued to evolve. Skiing would involve dropping down to the flats and yo-yo’ing whatever looked good. Several tree options provided sensational knee deep powder with more face shots than I could shake a skinny touring ski at. One particularly wind favored section saw me sinking below my croch for a few turns. We ascended to the top of the Jet twice and Kitz Woods was the best I had ever skied it. We made a poor selection on the next run off the Jet sliding into an area that was severely wind buffed and not protected. The wind directions seemed to change throughout the day so it was not easy predicting what areas would offer good skiing.

We got in four runs on some of the deepest snow of the season. Knowing I had two more days this weekend and probably a rather demanding Saturday, I decided to call it quits before my legs completely gave up. The snow was dense wind blown with some mammoth drifts in places. No regrets on the decision to ski and earn turns at Jay Peak which received two feet of snow compared to other Vermont resorts that had lifts turning with half as much or less powder.