Knee deep untracked. Explosions of powder billowing up and over my shoulders. Run after run after run after run. No competition, no rush. Yet I could barely stop for a single photo to accompany this article (which I finally took well after noontime).

The wind finally relents. I cannot recall a longer stretch of windy weather. Cold, blustery winds kept the Flyer and the Tram offline for more than a week. Feet of snow were blown off to who knows where.

Now that the high-speed lifts have finally reopened, pent up demand reached fever pitch. Hoping for fresh snow, I decided to start at and ski Tramside (an extremely rare occurrence).

After a bizarre 15-minute late start, the Flyer finally opened with a substantial line. After my second run, the line had backed up to the end of Ullr’s. The tram’s line backed up to the Flyer’s line (likely a two-hour wait to get to the summit, why bother?).

With the Metro Quad down, the Flyer was the only Tramside option (for those that refuse to wait for the Tram). Beginners that might normally take the Metro caused many lift stops on the Flyer.

There was some fresh snow in the off-map Tramside woods. But not much. After a few false starts, I finally found extensive untracked in off-map trees that could, thankfully, be cycled from the Bonnie (ski on).

Snatching victory from defeat, I began lapping boot deep untracked hours after opening. I was flabbergasted, everything seemed so packed down. How could I find powder, let alone untracked? Yet another unexpected powder day (my eighth of the season out of nine days).

If weather was sentient, it would always manifest its malevolence during the Christmas holiday week. New England could not escape the holiday week without rain. It is simply not permitted.

Jay Peak rebounded nicely with a well-forecasted, multi-day weather event. By the day after New Year’s, Jay was engulfed in a full-on-blizzard. Vehicles that couldn’t make it up the access road clogged 242. And all for not, as the upper mountain lifts never spun.

By Friday morning, more than two feet of snow had fallen, and the snow and wind continued. Fortunately, the Jet and Bonnie were spinning. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to know that JPR was the place to be.

Between vacationers and powder hounds, the lots quickly filled to capacity and the resort started turning would-be-guests away. Given two major lifts were on wind hold, the resulting liftline situation was dreadful.

Many holiday skiers seemed to be taking their first turns of the season. Or perhaps, the first turns of their lives. All lifts experienced incessant slow-downs and stoppages due to loading and unloading issues.

This made two-lift-laps for Tramside runs unbearable, despite exquisite knee deep untracked in the woods. Despite the exquisite snow, I could only stomach the Bonnie/Taxi cycle twice.

The boot to knee deep untracked was exceptional. But caution was warranted. The recent meltdown eliminated much of the base, so hidden snowsnakes and rocks were both a factor. By the end of this storm cycle, and with more skier traffic, the snowpack will almost reset to pre-holiday depths.