Tree Skiing and Challenging Lines at MRG

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Not being religious, ascending the Single Chair at the end of the day with the sun beginning its descent directly over the top of General Stark Mountain was about the closest I will ever come to believing in a big escalator to the sky. I do know the Single Chair leads to heaven, that much is for certain. No wait, it leads to Paradise. I always get those two mixed up!

Having a Mad Card and a Work Day ticket burning a hole in my Parka, I decided it was past time to make the arduously long and taxing drive down Route 2 to Mad River Glen. I can not believe I used to drive between two to three hours without complaint! Most Vermont locals that have lived in the Northeast Kingdom all their lives probably could not identify where the towns of Warren, Waitsfield, and Fayston are located. Culturally, Eastern Vermont and Western Vermont might as well be considered too different states.

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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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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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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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Epic Two Foot Powder Day at Burke: Untracked Open til Close

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I have had better individual runs and have skied deeper and better quality powder. I have skied knee deep blower powder with excellent base down narrow chutes and sweet glades. But I have never had a day featuring untracked on every run. Instant refills on the untracked due to heavy snow, blowing winds, and very little competition. Even though I have had better individual powder runs and better powder conditions, today is easily one of my best ski days due to untracked runs from open to close.

Boot to knee deep untracked all day with heavy snow filling in tracked lines within an hour or two. Essentially, untracked every single run from open to close. The snow is a very dense type of precipitation falling in small, tight, dense crystals. Definitely not fluffy but powder all the same. It made keeping tips up a challenge and spelled certain doom if tips got submarined. After much consideration, today tipped the scales, and I am officially in the market for something fatter than my current 89mm waist Dynastar Inspired Bigs.

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