Jay: Better Than It Had Right To Be

Despite receiving more snow than other northeast ski areas, Jay had no right to be skiing well during MLK Weekend. I kept my expectations low and was genuinely impressed with what I found on and off piste. Low expectations might be the single most important aspect of my season this year. At this rate, I might even remember 2015-2016 fondly despite likely having one of my lowest ski day totals in a dozen years. That said, I would dearly like to have my first powder day of the season sooner rather than later.

The cold kept the holiday weekend crowds inside the lodges so lift lines were almost non-existent. The worst aspect of the holiday crowds was having difficulty finding a parking spot after arriving fashionably late. Normally, I am a strict adherent to first chair even on non-powder days. But I wasn’t too excited for lackluster skiing so I opted to sleep in. That was an unfortunate decision that cut my skiing time short.

I skied most of the natural snow options available between River Quai and Haynes. I began my morning with a rare ski of Can Am which could generously be characterized as sporty. The trail was pre-snowmaking natural snow with some fluff and a bunch of rocks to avoid. Even though I rarely ski Can Am, I almost always enjoy it when I decide conditions are ideal and today was no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed picking my way down the rocks and thin coverage, the few inches of fluff was a real treat.

I continued my rarely skied trail selections with Canyonland, one of my least favorite glades at Jay. The stream chasms presented interesting navigational hazards. I can’t say it was a particularly enjoyable run. But I was skiing in the trees which certainly made me a happy skier.

Over on the Jet, I found some really fun bump lines on upper U.N. but conditions were unpleasant on the lower U.N. runout. Skier’s left on Kitz offered some fun bumps and dropping into the woods below Kitz was interesting. The off map glades at Jay are hardly ready for prime time but not too dangerous if skied cautiously.

The real danger was dumping out onto Lower Northway below the Kitz Woods. I’ve rarely skied an open groomed trail that I would characterize as too dangerous to be open. But Lower Northway was a complete and total sheet of ice. I immediately threw my skis sideways, squared up my shoulders, and dug in as hard as I could as I slid. Intermediates were having an even harder time. It was dreadful. It was safer ducking into the off map trees below Lower Northway that connect into Hell’s Woods… an off map tree area that definitely needed more coverage but was still much safer.

Aside from that ugliness, the skiing was quite good for this season and certainly above expectations. I finished out with a very thin cover River Quai to another part of the mountain I rarely ski: Buck Woods. I went into today intentionally planning to ski stuff that I normally do not hoping that it might make for a more interesting day and it certainly did the trick.

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