Category: Jay Peak

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

Some Cold Holiday Powder at Jay

Jay Peak Trees

Bitter cold and uncomfortable winds had many vacationers holed up inside their condos, townhouses, and rental units for the first day of the holiday week. The slopes were empty well into late morning when some brave vacationers finally decided to leave the comfort and warmth of their condos and townhouses and do what they supposedly drove up to Jay to do. Less crowded than your average Jay weekend with a ski on Flyer and never more than one or two deep in the singles line at the Jet and Bonnie. The tram had what looked to be about a three car wait as many folks opted to wait for the tram rather than brave the chairlifts. I debated doing the wait on my last run to get a run in off the ridge but didn’t have the stomach for the line.

The wind really loaded the powder up creating a tricky wind slab layer on the surface. Boot deep untracked powder was the norm for the morning and I hammered it without much care for competition. Aside from the lack of vacationer traffic, even the regular Jay powder hounds seemed to be AWOL. Pretty laid back morning and I left lots of typical early hits for later. Lots of options.

I made a rare visit to Tramside and poked around over there for three runs before the Freezer sent me shivering back to Stateside. While exploring, I found some new shots (to me) where I suspected there might be some and wished the wind hadn’t been as bad because I was really enjoying the turns on Tramside.

Today was my first full day on a new (used) pair of Fischer Atua skis. They surfed the powder well but were not as agile as my regular Dynastar Legend 8000 skis in tight trees featuring packed powder conditions. Certainly an exceptional ski on powder snow and will be an especially powerful tool on untracked knee to boot deep snow.

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2007-2008 Season, February, Jay Peak

Sunday Bust at Jay Peak

Sunday was the bust of this season. With the forecast calling for six to ten inches up and down the Green Mountains, Jay was slotted to receive a major snow storm Saturday night into Sunday morning. Rarely does Jay Peak miss on the big storm predictions. Quite the opposite, Jay almost always receives more snow than expected. But Sunday was a complete and total bust at Jay Peak.

Arriving at a packed Stateside lot shortly before the lifts began loading, I found one to two inches of fluff covering hard pack and scraped surfaces. That is what I get for notching a “powder day” onto my season cost and stat spreadsheet the night before heading up to the mountain. That is just bad Karma. Still hurting from Friday’s romp at Mad River, I set the early alarm and made the line up for opening at the Bonnie chair.

I checked all my favorite spots in short order and there was not much to be found except hard pack and scraped surfaces. There was the occasional nice shot of snow for two or three turns but conditions left something to be desired for the most part. I was tired, sore, and disappointed and decided to pack it up early despite new snow coming down during the late morning.

Jay posted five inches within twenty-four hours as of 4pm. I will chalk up two of those prior to opening and the remaining three falling throughout the day accompanied by increasingly harsh winds. I had hyped this weekend and it did not deliver. Will remember to keep the expectations down next time even when the snow forecasts start hitting double digits. Cannon would have skied better today, truth be told.

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

Massive Knee Deep Powder Day at Jay

Amazing Powder in the Trees at Jay

This was certainly unexpected. During the week, Jay picked up two feet of fresh powder over the course of five days. These small snow falls mostly isolated along the spine of the Northern Green mountains added up through the course of the week. Friday through Saturday morning brought another foot bring Jay’s seven day total up to three feet. Surely most of the snow prior to Friday night’s eight inches would be tracked out. Surely I could not hope to find boot to knee deep powder on Saturday morning?

With only a half day of skiing scheduled due to a late afternoon call into work, I spent the majority of the drive from Ashland to Jay deciding whether I should skin up Big Jay where I would find a guaranteed three feet of untracked or risk a morning of skiing Jay Peak where I figured I might find a foot of fresh in isolated pockets. The decision came as I entered the town of Jay and stopped to buy a sub, I was going to skin Big Jay. Or was I? Rounding the bend as I approached the Jay Peak Resort entrance, I saw moderately deep looking tracks on Jet and Haynes. I couldn’t risk a potentially big day lift serviced for only one big run of earned turns. It was on.

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

Very Satisfying Powder Day at Jay

Untracked in the Trees

Last night Jay Peak received its third six inch snow fall in less than one week. Blower powder does little to help build and refreshen base, but it is sensational to ski. So despite the powder, a scratchy base, icy in some places, still remains. Untracked lines abound due to sparse crowds and low levels of competition. Six inches was the minimum but sections of boot to knee deep untracked could be found in some tree slots that where not skied since the Monday storm.

After spending my first two hours skiing off The Jet, I began wondering where were the crowds? Yesterday was the first day of a Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend and lift lines for The Jet were a five to ten minute wait the day before. I soon realized what caused the lack of crowds. The completely unthinkable had occurred: so called skiers and riders had decided that staying warm and watching a football game were more important than skiing powder on a near bluebird day. As they say, it takes all types. And thank goodness because I skied onto every lift all day and usually rode solo as a single skier. I wish to extend a special “Thank You” to everyone that normally would have skied today but decided that a football game was more important.

Today and yesterday were a world apart. Saturday was good but the crowds were horrid and the untracked went fast. Certainly a fun day of skiing but nothing special. Today I was hitting boot to knee deep untracked at noon time and got a minimum of six inch untracked lines every run with no competition and no lines. With generally cloudless blue skies, 6-18″ untracked on every run (right up to my last run at 1:30), and no competition… the one word that kept coming to mind was “satisfying.”

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

Holiday Weekend Dust on Crust at Jay

Tree Skiing at Jay

After a dismal meltdown that included a few rain/freeze cycles, most New England ski areas were below fifty percent open and skiing groomed runs only. My solution to the problem was to take last weekend off from skiing and put in some extra hours at work over the weekend. Contrary to popular belief, a bad day of skiing is not better than a good day at the office. This past week brought winter back with a shot of cold and two small snow storms. Jay was a beneficiary of that snow to the tune of about eight to twelve inches total.

Today was my first day skiing Jay in three weeks. Jay weathers thaws better than most New England mountains due to its deep base and comparative best chances at regaining snow back. Glade skiing in all but Northern Vermont are probably done for a while. But I was able to pick up right where I left off three weeks ago. Granted the base depth was slight lower and featured a firm crust under the dust.

Groomers were absolutely phenomenal in the morning. Very atypical for Jay to have such wonderful groomed conditions but the wind was calm, the weather cold, and the snow fresh. I couldn’t help but rip a full half run down Haynes before ducking into the woods. Too good to pass up, but not good enough to do more than half a run, if you get my “drift.”

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