Category: 2008-2009 Season

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!

2008-2009 Season, Earned Turns, October, Powder Day, Stowe

Sensational Earned Turn Powder Day to Start the Season

Looking Down National at Stowe

Game on! Last week’s two inches was just a teaser of better things to come. A massive storm system drew moisture out of the tropics and sent cold air racing the Appalachian chain into Florida. Combined with upslope snow fall on the backside of the storm, this is the trifecta of perfection for early season powder dumps in New England. Amazingly, the Catskills in New York received the highest snowfall totals at nearly double Mount Mansfield’s reported 12″ at The Stake. But when all was said and done, Mansfield definitely received more than a foot of fresh and was the best place to ski following the storm.

Austin and I hooked up in West Lebanon and carpooled up to Stowe. Originally, we had been considering Jay which was forecasted to receive more than Mount Mansfield. But the initial snow totals suggested that the upslope did not kick in for Jay like it did for Mansfield. We met up with Greg in the parking lot and skinned up Nose Dive. After an ill advised dabble in Nosedive Glades, we skinned up to the Octagon and prepared for a descent down National.

National usually is a horrible trail to descend featuring irregular spacious mounds of snow with scraped snow in the valleys. National is one of Stowe’s well known “front four” trails but hardly merits its reputation as an expert level trail. The steep drop scares many skiers into throwing the skis sideways and scraping off the snow which then slides into unorganized mounds. Suffice to say, National hardly skis well except immediately following a fresh dump.

Seeing an beautifully untracked line down skiers right, I picked my way through some thin coverage and rocks (which had kept most skiers away) and slid into a slot of bliss. With quads burning and begging for mercy, I skied down National’s powdery bliss spraying powder clouds left and right. Happy Birthday to me one day early. At the intersection of National and Liftline, tracks went everywhere but untracked was still to be found. The tracks a testament to well over a hundred skiers and riders hiking for turns. I finished my first run of the year down Lower National making somewhat aesthetic lines where once there was untracked snow. This is the way to begin a season.

Photo Gallery