Category: Powder Day

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

Jay Peak, VT

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Yesterday morning must have been nice. That much was evident after only a few tree runs on Sunday. Alas, I was not able to attend to the powder festivities Saturday morning. Sunday was still a good day at Jay, but I can not help but feel my relative experience of ‘good’ has changed over the years. Just a few yaers ago, today would have qualified as very good if not super. Now, I turn my nose up at being a day late for boot deep untracked. Packed and loose powder with only occasional boot deep? Only two knee deep drifts in the woods? What type of crap is this?

Sloppy seconds were the order of the day as (no surprise) the powder hounds were out in force on Saturday. The ‘Stupid Bowl’ kept the crowds relatively light (perhaps crowds had shifted to Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire for their yearly Two-Fer tradition). No line for the Freezer all day but the Tram had a two car wait. It was a terribly cold and windy day to be riding the Freezer. I took two absolutely miserable rides on the most reviled lift in New England. When getting stuck at the Tram lodge drainage, I opted for the slow Metro Quad back to Stateside more often than not. I am always boggled by the amount of people that wait for the Tram. Locals, Regulars, and Pass Holders rarely ride the Tram except for occasional access to Green Beret, Valhalla, Tuckerman Chutes, or the Face (of which only the former two trails were open and not worth the ride).

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

Best Lift Serviced Powder Day of the Season to Date

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Wish I could say that we left some freshies for those not willing to brave the cold and wind on Saturday. Unfortunately for the fair weather skiers, you snooze you loose. Jay is officially tracked out. After a horrendous beginning of the season, it is officially on at Jay Peak with 70 out of 76 trails open following a one foot dump of blower powder. The best snow conditions of the season to date was quickly ravished by the hungry powder hounds leaving nothing but tracks in their wake.

Dan and Austin joined me for First Chair on The Jet Triple Chairlift. Dan made the brilliant suggestion to delay the glades a run and sample the powder on the open slopes. We enjoyed a crazy cool run down Haynes featuring about six inches of blower powder over a groomer surface. The skiing felt REALLY nice. I was carving turns slightly on the groomed hard pack in between floating mid-turn on the powder. White Gold was bellowing up from my tips and floating over my knee caps in a rush on white. It was a really sweet run and great start to the day.

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

Sloppy Seconds Powder Day at Jay

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After yesterday’s romp (which was my first open to close day of the year), I was rather tired and a wee bit sore. I opted for a late start and desired to leave early when my legs inevitably gave out. I ended up skiing from approximately 9a-1p which was about what I had expected.

What I had not expected was how bad the conditions would setup over night on the mountain. Temps dropped and the snow froze up a bit and got some wind buff. I skied a few open trails before ducking back into the woods and did not like what I saw. Northway and trails in that drainage were total skating rinks and the upper section of The Jet and Haynes did not look so good (I didn’t ski either, but after seeing a few slides for life from the lift, you kinda get the feel for how things are skiing). Natural trails were obliterated. They opened up Kitzbeuhel today but it was just nasty.

Out of a dozen runs I think I ended up in the woods about 10 times picking out trusty powder shots where I suspected base levels would be adequate and dangerous hazards would be minimal (relatively). I found way more pow than I had expected. Each run featured about 25% untracked or barely tracked in places I suspected had been trounced yesterday. It was slim pickings though… pick a line, get six turns, stop, reassess, likely traverse, repeat. By noon time the fresh lines were gone but sloppy seconds were still available. After a few more desperation runs for safe shots, my legs had enough and I called it a day. Pictures will be posted later.

Photo Gallery

2006-2007 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day, Video

Finally, a Powder Day at Jay!

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On the previous Tuesday, Jay had only ten trails open. A four short days later, the trail count suddenly tripled to thirty. Essentially, Jay dropped the ropes on trails folks had been poaching and let everyone have at the dust on dirt. It was all good! Amazing what six inches of snow feels like when you have been deprived for weeks. Equally amazing what said powder will make people think is skiable.

Derick Hot Shot started off really nice; nicer than Tuesday at least, but got beat up quickly. That was the theme of the day for the open natural snow trails. The moguls under the Jet Chairlift finally started to setup but still featured lots of icy spots. Haynes was a skating rink. Patrol took note and put up fencing along some trees.

Traverse trails like Taxi were open on natural snow sporting deep water bars and rocks. Beginners and intermediates were not having fun on such trails despite their Green Circle rating. Later in the day, patrol roped a particularly bad section of Taxi towards the end of the traverse which forced beginners and intermediates down a disastrously thin Lower Can Am. Not even I had much tolerance for the mess on Lower Can Am, I can only imagine what the other skiers were thinking.

Off the Summit, Vermonter was our first run and a total disaster. Not sure if it ever got better. Northway was in much better shape from the Summit. Upper Milk Run was also particularly terrible and not worth the effort.

Trees were navigational but only with high caution levels and careful line choices. I backed off several lines due to obstacles or being unsure what was hidden under the six inches of fresh. A base had been established, but nothing substantial. One rock, stump, or snow snake could easily trip someone up and send them flying. Where we found lines, the skiing was sensational (relative to the weather we have had this December). A lot of folks were selecting some questionable tree shots. Knowledge of how things setup and what is doable in low base periods is advisable before just jumping into any open hole on the side of the trail. Things were especially crunchy lower down on the mountain.

Video from Today at Jay Peak

Photo Gallery

2006-2007 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Powder Day

Powder Day Cannon Style: Earned Turns With Lift Assistance

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Damn, I love this mountain. Season Pass to Jay Peak be damned; when Cannon Mountain gets hammered with snow, I am there and paying for a lift ticket. Especially when said lift ticket is only $25.00! Granted the price of admission provides access to only one chair and one route down, but it cuts back substantially on time skinning up and allows for multiple summit trips. Cannon reported in with just over a foot of fresh snow, but my adventures to the summit of the mountain brought boot to knee deep powder snow on multiple runs suggesting either the wind deposited all the snow in all the right places or Cannon under reported what accumulated at the Summit. Given my runs from the summit were down untracked trails, I suspect no one bothered to measure snow depths on the upper mountain.

Despite having a Season Pass to Jay Peak and both ski areas reporting in a similar foot of fresh snowfall, my suspicion was that Cannon was going to have better terrain accessible by skinning. Also, lift serviced on the Peabody Quad servicing Ravine sounded much more fun and relaxing than Haynes and The Jet at Jay Peak on Telefest Weekend, not to mention the two for one email campaign that Jay Peak launched for this weekend. At Cannon Mountain, I found modestly crowded slopes but not over crowded like at Jay Peak the past two weekends. Additionally, snow quality was substantially better and never deteriorated and the Peabody Quad was ski on almost the entire day. If I choose Cannon over Jay Peak just to enjoy a single groomed run, I would have made a sound decision. But there would be much more skiing to be had at Cannon besides the Ravines.

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