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Difficult decisions were made last night regarding plans for today. But ultimately, I think the best decision was made despite wanting for the most powder. Southern locations scored more snow than northern locations during the Friday storm, which had me leaving a foot of fresh in central New Hampshire to ski in only a half foot of fresh in Northern Vermont. However, the snow that fell was the lightest form of blower possible and fell on minimal base which essentially made the powder worthless except for one or two runs in central New Hampshire areas such as Ragged and Gunstock (Tenney remains closed this weekend). Desiring to retain my Ski Vermont tickets for later in the season, I also by passed Sugarbush and Killington so I could return to them later in the season when their terrain is fully open.

Uncrowded slopes was the other aspect I banked on in deciding to ski Jay today and I hit the jackpot with ski on chairs all morning. Between the lingering effects of last week’s ice storm and central/southern Vermont receiving more snow than northern Vermont, most Stateside skiers did not have Jay Peak on the map. Which translates into untracked snow on every run.

Trees are continuing to fill in with many of my favorite lines available but with caution. I took two spills today courtesy of hidden stumps and snow snakes. So full on tree skiing is still out of the question. But most trees are skiable though some bush whacking may be involved as not all obstacles are buried yet.

I worked the Jet Triple for the entire morning making tracks exclusively in the trees and on the run outs. One particular area came into play very nicely this weekend which I lapped numerous times. On a few occasions, I nailed untracked snow from both Friday and Saturday which was about eight to ten inches total. One sensational boot deep and perhaps deeper drift really made my day. Should be fully tracked out for Sunday skiers but another storm arrives Sunday night for a foot and a half of fresh with more on the way later this week. Look for Jay to be at or nearly 100% open for Christmas depending upon if the Face, Tux, Staircase, and Everglade have enough base depth or not.

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!