Mad River Glen, VT

It has been just over a month since my last visit to Mad River and that was just over a month too long. Friday skiing rules. Except for having to deal with commuter traffic, school buses, snow plows, and getting up a half hour earlier in order to arrive at the mountain a half hour later. East/West ski commutes in Northern New England are a bitch.

Upon driving into the parking lot and getting a visual on the slopes, I was immediately disappointed. Thursday was the best day for post storm mid-week skiing despite the storm generally flying under the radar due to forecasts calling for mixed precipitation earlier this week. Queuing up for the first lift ride confirmed my suspicions of tracked out conditions. So much for warming up on some of the trails I don’t normally ski. I went straight into the woods on the first run.

A dense powder was found on short but memorable untracked lines. Adjusting to the less than desirable dense snow took a few runs. Not quite the sublime dense powder we saw during much of December. Instead of skiing through the snow, I was tending to land on top of it and let it slide and glide me into the next turn.

Boot to knee deep untracked was found in some of the usual places but I also found lots of tracks in many others. Still managed to find some untracked towards the end of the day around 3pm or so but generally short slots and lines. The cut up and tracked up loose powder snow skied rather well. Bumps were rather forgiving since they were still soft and not frozen. With only one or two inches falling last night and nothing today or tonight, there will be little to no powder at the starting gate tomorrow morning.

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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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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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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