Category: Powder Day

2006-2007 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Banner Day at Jay: Untracked Powder All Day

If next week’s storm turns out to be rain and washes everything away and we do not get any more snow, I will end my lift serviced portion of the 06-07 season a very happy man. This was the day I had been waiting for since the lifts started turning. Easily the best day of the season and a top five day for my skiing career.

After having skied hard open to close at Burke on Friday and Cannon on Saturday, I originally planned to take it easy on Sunday. Probably only ski until noon time or so, then warp up the weekend. One of my little toes had been extremely sore lately from my neglect and abuse, and I knew Sunday would be painful. The original plan was Mad River Glen, but they did not report any new snow from last night whereas Jay reported eight inches. A no brainer, I changed my plans. Dare I say Jay under reported eight inches? Well, maybe that was the official number but the woods were socked full of goodies. When I got to Jay, eight inches on the trails sounded about right actually. It proceeded to snow all day long with a few puking sessions thrown in for good measure. Hard to even guess what the total was by the time I left at 4p, but lines were already been replenished for the next day.

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2006-2007 Season, Burke, March, Powder Day

Powder Day at Burke Mountain

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After an aborted Cannon Mountain attempt; which blew away in the 50 MPH winds, Sledhaulingmedic, NHPH, Dave, and I went with the next best closest option with the least likely chance of wind hold: Burke. Why I even thought Cannon would be open is beyond me. I was just so pumped up to be skiing Cannon at its prime with fresh snow… rather blind not to expect winds blowing south to north to knock Cannon off line.

We got going at Burke around 10 A.M. after working out the logistics. The Willoughby Quad was turning when we got there but we were warned it was being shut down soon. We got three excellent runs off the summit, including Willoughby, Doug’s Drop into Little Chief, and East Bowl before the plug was pulled. East Bowl was fantastic but it was hard to get up much speed with the nice and dense powder. Of course, the traverse back was brutal, but I had to show off Burke’s signature trail. The Poma lift was more than adequate for our needs and proved the surface lifts have their place.

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2006-2007 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay Peak reveals 6-8″ of Fresh Days After the Last Storm!

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Very satisfying day today at Jay Peak. Glad to see the vacation crowds hit the road and return the mountain to its typical not very crowded general state. Lines picked up around 11a-1p but I assume the Tram or Flyer must have got started by 2 P.M. when lines died back down. Aside from our first run off the Bonnie, we only skied the Jet so I have no idea if the other side of the mountain got going or not.

Met up with Dan bright and early. We found the main routes and glades well packed down with decent packed powder. Most trails and glades are back to having plenty of thin spots. Hate to say it… but we need another two foot dump. But when do we not? We still managed to find 6-8″ untracked and some mighty fine skiing. A superb, satisfying, and surprisingly good day at Jay today with lots of exciting exploration.

Dan Finding Some Untracked Powder

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2006-2007 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

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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2006-2007 Season, Burke, February, Powder Day

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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