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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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Thank goodness we are going to get some more snow soon. As far as snow conditions go, this was the second worst snow conditions I have skied this year (which includes those infamous December days in which only The Jet and Haynes were open). Absolutely horrid. I took four runs and went home, completely baffled by the small line of people queuing up to actually pay for lift tickets outside the Stateside Lodge. I have skied some questionable days this season, but ultimately I have generally decided it was worth the time and gas money to get at least a few runs and dial in the legs a bit more. Not today, it was a complete waste of my morning.

Something wet but not of the frozen variety caked Jay’s snow base and froze over slightly. The result was that the groomers were only skiing well for those with well tuned race skis (I would have been a lot more happy today had I a pair of Volkl 6 Stars). Trails on the Stateside of the Bonaventure Quad were essentially scraped up frozen groomer tracks with a deceptive dusting of loose snow. Natural snow trails faired slightly better in most spots, a lot worse in others.

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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.

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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

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*Le Sigh*

After a week of wild predictions ranging from boot deep to the jackpot, I woke up Tuesday morning to the tune of only two inches of snow in Saint Johnsbury. Fret not, surely Jay Peak received much more than two inches! Arriving at the Stateside lot shortly after the bull wheels began turning, it was unfortunately confirmed that Jay Peak faired no better than Saint Johnsbury. Two stinking inches of very wet snow. Adding insult to injury, non-crystalline precipitation was following from the sky and a mist of wet nastiness hung over Jay. Is it 2007 yet?

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Welcome back to winter! Just in time for the Christmas Holiday and two days after the Winter Solstice, Ullr was kind enough to bless Jay Peak with two inches of fresh snow. For some excited skiers and riders, it was all fun and games until trying to drive up an unplowed Route 242 without snow tires! Snow began promptly on Route 242 just past the village of Jay and several cars with out of state plates and no snow tires dotted the side of the road. Trails were surprisingly sparse during the morning hours due to the slick conditions on an unplowed Route 242. Even once road conditions allowed safe passage for all cars regardless of treed, crowds were manageable through the morning and afternoon.

This afternoon featured the best weekend skiing at Jay Peak in almost two months since the earned turn October storms. The base was still generally wet from the rain on Saturday. However, a nice layer of fresh wet snow blanketed the trails with occasional spots of lighter powder making for excellent sliding conditions.

Beginning the morning with a ride up the Bonnie Quad, I found delightful cruising on Northway with exceptionally good high speed carving on the lower half of Angel’s Wiggle. I opened up my skis and carved huge edge to edge arcs back to the base area. While tempted for a repeat, I decided to take a rain check and opted for the Jet Triple.

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Yet another day in paradise. The mid-December mark has passed and Jay Peak has struggled to open new terrain due to abnormally mild temperatures and a complete dirth of natural snow. The Green Mountain Flyer (a.k.a. The Freezer) debuts this weekend with one route down to the Tram Base Lodge. Jay offers up ten trails this weekend with five lifts turning for a two trail per lift average. Thankfully, the addition of the Freezer and Metro Quad servicing Intermediate and Beginner terrain has taken much stress off The Jet area by the Stateside Lodge. However, despite having five lifts turning and ten trails open, Jay was not able to offer a connecting route to allow skiers access to the Stateside area from the Tramside area. Despite more elbow room and slightly better overall conditions, I found the afternoon of skiing uninspiring and elected to stay home on Sunday despite having a Season Pass.

I rolled out of bed around 9:30 A.M. and spent the better part of the next hour deciding if skiing was worth it or not. I decided it beat spending an afternoon doing Kakuro puzzles and went for it. I opted for the Tramside lot not knowing there was no connect to the Stateside area and thinking I would stay for the Season Pass holder party. After a few hours of skiing, I decided I couldn’t be bothered with the celebrations. The amount of non-New license plates in the parking lot was amazing. Jay is not worth driving up from Boston right now, let alone New York or New Jersey or Virginia.

I took three or four runs off the freezer which all blended together. Goat (one of my least favorite trails in all of New England) was blah with frozen granular surfaces on the upper section and a thin cover messy disaster under The Freezer. Conditions improved on Lower River Quai with softening snow conditions and okay soft moguls forming on skiers’ left. Interstate felt like one with additional skiers funneling off the Metro Quad and race training set up on skiers’ left. I opened up the skis and let run some nice big arcs on the soft snow with occasional thin spots. Middle and lower sections of the mountain were in Spring Skiing form with soft mushy snow and thin spots to avoid.

After a car shuttle to the Stateside Auxiliary lot, I discovered that things were a little bit more exciting over on The Jet. Upper sections of Haynes were very scraped and generally sucked with race training on Lower Haynes on skiers’ left. The Jet was moderately better featuring relatively decent snow conditions due to less traffic and warmer temps that softened the snow. The Jet had occasional loose snow on the edges of the trail, frozen granular up top, and snow softening up to spring like conditions down low. Moguls under the lift line were uninspiring.

After an absolutely sensational day of hiking for powder at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire, I returned to Jay Peak on my Season Pass for some truly aweful conditions. If I had more energy for another day of lift assisted turn earning, I would surely have returned to Cannon on Sunday. But my turn earning legs are still in early season form and my Season Pass to Jay provided free skiing despite the conditions.

While I was expecting conditions to be much worse than Cannon Mountain, I had not expected conditions at Jay to be horrible. Unfortunately, I was incorrect in my assessment. Jay Peak was charging $45 for a weekend lift ticket despite only having The Jet and Haynes open along with a pair of connecting trails back to the Tram Base and Condos. U.N. was reported open on the web site; however the Lower section of the trail was roped and looked terrible.

Crowds were slightly more manageable than the past two weekends due to the addition of Haynes, but conditions remain terrible overall, probably the worst since jay opened. The steep upper sections of both The Jet and Haynes were skating rinks. Many skiers and riders were throwing the planks sideways and holding on for dear life, occasionally taking some rather long slides. I took one run down Haynes which was in rough shape sporting extremely scraped conditions on the upper section. Next I decided to make use of the bumps under The Jet Triple Chair. The bumps were variable with inconsistent lines and occasional scraping and icy sections near the towers. It was enough to get my legs and blood pumping but not enough to be enjoyable or keep my interest level. After four runs, I decided to call it a day. Easy enough for me to take four runs on a season pass on only a two hour round trip drive. However, I would have hated to have driven any further and paid the full priced $45 weekend lift ticket. I suspect most folks at Jay had the two for one deal lift tickets or were part of the telefest and had discounts. Suffice to say, Jay needs more trails and more snow bad.

Day number nine for the season and my first December ski day was rather depressing yet filled with optimism. For every negative aspect of the afternoon, I was able to come away with a juxtaposed positive. The same lift and same trail as the previous week was open today with slightly less coverage but better snow conditions and less quality deterioration. The previous week saw The Jet open edge to edge for the most part with moguls and natural features under the Jet Triple Chair featuring soft loose snow. However, today there was no snow under the lift forcing a higher volume of sliders onto a smaller patch of snow.

Despite marginal and variable conditions ranging from scraped to soft piles to soft bumps to good cruising packed powder, conditions deteriorated much slower than the previous week. The Jet Triple was ski on all morning which would suggest low crowds, but even with ski on lifts, with only trail to choose from, The Jet quickly was over run with too many skiers. I was not happy with the lack of elbow room. Many skiers and riders were borderline out of control and the occasional slider crossed well passed the control line. One humerus incident involved a snow blader that slid face first down two hundred feet of The Jet.

Seeing snow guns firing on Lower Haynes and the connector trails towards Tramside was a welcome sight. Additionally, Jay Peak was caked with two inches of white stuff from the snow Saturday night. With cold air finally taking hold in New England and snow in the forecast, things are finally looking up in New England. After one of the worst early seasons in modern New England ski history, it is safe to say that the season has finally begun in earnest.

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Jay Peak opened for the season on Friday November 24th turning The Jet Triple Chair with The Jet as the only open trail. Due to family functions related to Thanksgiving, I could not make Jay’s opening day but was sure to get in on the action Saturday afternoon. After sleeping in and whacking off around the house in the morning, I got a late start and caught my first lift of the season around 10:30a. By then the top of The Jet had been scrapped down to a sheet of frozen snow that only the racers could cut an edge through. Lower Jet was in the sun light and offered decent fast carved turns. But the real action was under the lift on The Jet where I found loose snow, moguls, thin cover, and frozen balls and boulders of snow making sludge. An interesting mix to say the least. I took this option on all of my eight runs much to the dismay of my back and legs. First moguls of the year are always a bitter sweet experience. Even after seven days of earning turns, the first day working a mogul field uses completely different muscles and the earlier turn earning was no assistance in developing those muscle groups. Conditions under the lift were quickly deterorating after noon as most skiers of a proficient level realized that was were the nice soft snow was. By run number eight, the conditions had gone from suck to blow and my body was too sore for further punishment, so I called it a day. Day number eight marks the worst snow conditions I have skied to date this season and hopefully the worst snow conditions for the entire season, with any luck. The last four days have progressively gotten worse and it is no surprised that my first day of lift serviced skiing sucked so bad given the limited terrain and marginal snow making temperatures resulting in low quality faux sneaux. Despite having a pass to Jay Peak and living only one hour away from the mountain, I opted to take a hike in the White Mountains on Sunday. My first day of lift serviced skiing was just that bad.

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With Jay Peak planning to open for the Season this coming Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, I planned a double purpose trip to Jay Peak. Instead of fighting the crowds on Saturday morning to get my Season Pass picture taken, I opted to visit the office this morning and take care of business before the rush. The other purpose was of course to make some turns and claim my seventh day of the season. While Jay Peak’s Faux Sneaux left much to be desired, claiming day seven before Thanksgiving is not too shabby, especially considering the first major New England ski areas just opened yesterday.

Arriving at The Jet triple and clicking into my skis, I happened upon a pot of gold. White Gold that is. With snow guns firing and a bright sun blazing across a deep blue sky, a rainbow had formed at the nozzle of every single snow gun. The end of the rainbow led to a bountiful pot of white gold. I have never chased the end of a rainbow before; but now that I have, I know that the story is true.

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On Friday November 3rd, Jay Peak fired up the snow guns on The Jet and Haynes as unseasonably low temperatures continued throughout New England. Jay Peak plans on bumping up their opening to the weekend before the Thanksgiving Holiday and will have plenty of snow to do so, even with the pending warm up next week. All the major players let loose their guns this week to capitalize on a rare shot at prolonged early November snow making. The masses also descended on Jay Peak to capitalize on a chance to ski and ride early season man made snow before the lifts start moving. Where were all these people the past two weeks when Jay had epic late October snow? I have no idea.

While I had prepared myself for Jay to have substantially less snow and worse conditions than my first four days in October, I had not prepared myself for the massive disappearance of snow. Approaching the mountain, Can Am and Power Line (which were both socked with snow last week) bore huge brown spots and disastrously thin cover. The lower slopes at Stateside were no longer skiable nor skinable, so I carried my skis on my pack and began hoofing up Derick Hot Shot.

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To conclude October with my personal best record of four days of skiing, I left work early to Dusk Patrol Jay Peak. My birthday present was sweet indeed as on the eve of the anniversary of my birth, nature offered up excellent turns on a beautiful late afternoon. I could not have asked for a better present than to be on my fourth day of turn earning before October ends. The myriad shades of color spreading across the valley from behind Jay Peak as the sun set was the proverbial icing on the cake.

With the 30th in the books, I have passed my October total for last year and without hesitation can confirm this early season has been and continues to be way better than last year’s early season. While I have not had as much powder depth this year, the lack of consistently deep powder has been more than made up for by the consistently good base, consistently good conditions, and consistently cool weather. I will take consistently great over once in a while superior.

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With two more days left in October and snow still falling at Jay, I ventured out for day number three of the season with plans for a fourth before October was in the books. Despite a decent snow storm the night before, Jay’s open trails were picked clean and wind blown. No worries though as it was still snowing around the summit and as per usual at Jay Peak, the goods were to be found in between the trees. Tree skiing in October? Heck yea!

Austin and I joined up for the drive up to Jay Peak from my house in St. Johnsbury. Occasional flurries near the high point of I-91 got us jonesing but we knew the best was yet to come. Climbing up Route 242, there was a very definitive line between the rain and the snow. Although Jay probably got all rain at one point, they had a sweet change over Sunday morning. Not much snow was to be found in the parking lot, but it was starting to come down when we arrived. By the time we reached the summit, it was puking!

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The 2006-2007 installment of the “One run for the Price of None Tour” has begun! One week after a freak snow storm buried Buffalo under a few feet of snow during mid-October, an unrelated storm system slammed into New England bringing heavy rains and cold temperatures. I found myself scrambling to get to the ski shop to pick up my skis and boots Friday night as thunder, lightning, high winds, and heavy rains began. The Northern Greens were about to hit an October jackpot.

Reports coming in the previous night indicated most areas between Mansfield and Jay likely had received a similar amount of snow. Jay Peak was the closest and most accessible option and thus my destination. Friday night, I walked through my “night before” ritual as if the past four months off season had never happened.

The drive to Jay was much as I had expected. Almost no snow with exception of the high point of I-91 North which provided excellent visual stimulation with trace snow and caked trees. Even Troy, VT was completely without snow cover. But sure enough, the snow began just after turning onto Route 242 and increasing steadily as I ascended to the Stateside Lot of Jay Peak.

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