Category: Jay Peak

2022-2023 Season, February, Jay Peak

Double Day, Part One: Jay

U.N.

Today featured an unplanned dual visit to Jay and Cannon.

The ski day got off to an unfavorable start. I bypassed Cannon and drove on to Jay thinking that Northern Vermont would do better than Cannon during the storm. As I continued north, the driving got easier and the snow banks got smaller. Clearly, I made the wrong destination selection, but I was committed.

After booting up, I went outside to start my day when I noticed that the ear pads to my helmet had fallen out. Try as I might to reconnect the pads, I couldn’t figure out how to jam them into the helmet. It was far too cold to go without ear pads, and I certainly wasn’t going to buy a replacement helmet. So, I elected to ski with a hat only.

It has been more than twenty years since I last skied without a helmet. I felt exposed and uncomfortable. Despite the half foot of fresh, I opted to stay on open trails only. No woods for me today.

Well, at least until I met a first timer on the lift. The dude had just come back from skiing The Dip, not realizing he was following tracks to Route 242. He obviously had a sense of adventure, and I appreciated his idiosyncrasies. We hit it off and I wanted to show him the best of Jay, off map in the woods. Just one run. 🙂

We had a good time, but he went back in for lunch. Without a partner and without my helmet, I thought I had pushed my luck far enough. The skiing was fun, but not as fun as it could have and should have been. I decided to call it a day. But little did I know at the time, that my ski day was just beginning…

Part Two

2021-2022 Season, Jay Peak, May

Jay in May

Jay Peak from the Jet

Thanks to late season snowfall, Jay’s coverage going into May was phenomenal. Almost the entire Jet complex was open with exceptional coverage, including almost all natural snow trails and glades. Jay would go on to push back their closing date twice, closing on May 14 (it’s second latest closing date in at least 15 years). Pictures cannot quite do it justice, the skiing and coverage were exceptional… for any spring day at Jay, let alone what was originally scheduled to be a closing day.

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Northway

2021-2022 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Jay Peak: Knee Deep

Paydirt.

Two feet. Knee deep untracked. Every single run.

Can one day change the malaise of an entire season? Almost. It cannot change the past, nor the season’s future trajectory. But it still ranks right up there with all of the other knee deep untracked days that I have experienced. They are not a given during any season. Even a powder hound like me can go years between knee deep days. They are always special.

Especially when I found myself dropping the best untracked lines of the day for my last run. What!?!? Nuts.

It all melts down after this, perhaps the season’s best (and only significant) hurrah.

2021-2022 Season, Jay Peak, March

Jay: Rebound

Jay Peak from The Jet

A decent coating of light fluff made the snow look slower than it actually skied. The snow lacked the expected friction, which is provided by anything denser than blower. I constantly accelerated faster than expected and had to check my speed in the trees.

But I was in the trees, skiing natural snow and challenging terrain, which was all that mattered. Jay Peak has received every rain-freeze-wind-cold event that has plagued New England this season. But the rain has been less damaging along the Canadian boarder, allowing Jay to keep much of its natural terrain and trees open following rebound snowfall. It wasn’t amazing, but it was better skiing than almost every other ski area in New England.