Powder Day at Jay Peak Following the February Blizzard

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A crazy day at Jay for sure following fifty-four inches of dense snow. Due to poor road conditions and traffic, I arrived at Jay later than expected. But the late start was not an issue since the Bonaventure Quad did not open until 9:15 A.M. The natives queued up were getting restless but a mutiny was narrowly avoided. When I first arrived at Jay, I looked for a rack to put my skis on. Much to my amazement, the racks were completely buried! Jay received an astonishing amount of snow over the three day storm cycle. While some critics suggested the spin masters of Jay Peak’s marketing department exaggerated snow totals, it would be really hard to pin down an exact scientific and accurate snowfall total any where in the Northern Green’s this week, most especially at Jay due to the wind. Perhaps the marketing folks were slightly over zealous in wanting to hit that magic five feet mark at the reported sixty inches. But Jay got the snow, reporting in with a range between 54-60 inches of snow. The increase is snow depth from last week is very impressive.

The mob at the Red Chair was unorganized chaos! The rope dropped, the crowd pushed forward, and we all got ours. First run featured lots of untracked in Deliverance (this was my first run in Deliverance as a Jay Peak skier). Steep chutes are quickly becoming my favorite terrain. The snow was once again a dense wind loaded variety not allowing for deep untracked. The snow involved boot deep sinkage generally and occasional knee deep shots in wind sheltered areas. Point em’ steep and keep those tips up! Submerged tips required a huge expense of energy to resurface. I am a fat ski convert, give me 95mm-100mm under foot and a wider tip!

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Follow Up Powder Day at Burke

Hard to believe I could possibly be disappointed today; but after yesterday’s romp and continued snow storm, I had myself psyched up that Thursday would be the day of the decade. Perhaps it was for first sliders, but I was held up at work most of the day only boarded the Willoughby Quad at 2:50 P.M.

I was able to get in four runs before the quad was shut down “due to wind” at 3:50 P.M. Went into the trees on the first run and was rather disappointed. The snow had been slaughtered and I was not going to get perpetual refills like Wednesday. Next I took a wonderfully packed/loose powder Willoughby to Birches where I found occasional untracked while trying not to get stuck in knee to thigh deep powder.

The snow consistency is amazing and unbelievable all at the same time. I have never seen better base building snow as what has covered Northern Vermont this week. Everything is open with great coverage. Despite several feet of snow fallen; once this snow got wind loaded, you just could not sink more than half a foot to a foot down into the snow.

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Epic Two Foot Powder Day at Burke: Untracked Open til Close

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I have had better individual runs and have skied deeper and better quality powder. I have skied knee deep blower powder with excellent base down narrow chutes and sweet glades. But I have never had a day featuring untracked on every run. Instant refills on the untracked due to heavy snow, blowing winds, and very little competition. Even though I have had better individual powder runs and better powder conditions, today is easily one of my best ski days due to untracked runs from open to close.

Boot to knee deep untracked all day with heavy snow filling in tracked lines within an hour or two. Essentially, untracked every single run from open to close. The snow is a very dense type of precipitation falling in small, tight, dense crystals. Definitely not fluffy but powder all the same. It made keeping tips up a challenge and spelled certain doom if tips got submarined. After much consideration, today tipped the scales, and I am officially in the market for something fatter than my current 89mm waist Dynastar Inspired Bigs.

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Powder Day at Burke

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Powder Day? Two days after the storm? Pinch me!

After staying out late last night, I was feeling very tired at the 6 A.M. alarm. Ditched plans to ski either Jay or Mad River Glen (more likely MRG), I opted for a $15 half day at Burke Mountain which averaged about a buck fiddy per run. Sweet deal, especially considering the quality of the runs.

The competition at Jay Peak on a powder day is insane. You get so little chance at scoring top to bottom untracked despite the amazing quantity of terrain and tree shots at Jay. It is baffling how quickly the powder goes gets played out only one day after a storm. But two days after the storm? Even off the map shots are fully tracked out. Enter Burke Mountain two days after a storm at noon time…

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