Category: 2006-2007 Season

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

Banner Day at Jay: Untracked Powder All Day

If next week’s storm turns out to be rain and washes everything away and we do not get any more snow, I will end my lift serviced portion of the 06-07 season a very happy man. This was the day I had been waiting for since the lifts started turning. Easily the best day of the season and a top five day for my skiing career.

After having skied hard open to close at Burke on Friday and Cannon on Saturday, I originally planned to take it easy on Sunday. Probably only ski until noon time or so, then warp up the weekend. One of my little toes had been extremely sore lately from my neglect and abuse, and I knew Sunday would be painful. The original plan was Mad River Glen, but they did not report any new snow from last night whereas Jay reported eight inches. A no brainer, I changed my plans. Dare I say Jay under reported eight inches? Well, maybe that was the official number but the woods were socked full of goodies. When I got to Jay, eight inches on the trails sounded about right actually. It proceeded to snow all day long with a few puking sessions thrown in for good measure. Hard to even guess what the total was by the time I left at 4p, but lines were already been replenished for the next day.

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2006-2007 Season, Cannon Mountain, March

Great Challenging Skiing at Cannon

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After a Powder Day warm up at Burke due to the lifts being closed at Cannon on Friday, I made my way back to the promised land with Dave on Saturday. Despite Cannon claiming up to eight inches of fresh, the wind picked the mountain clean as we found out on after getting first tracks off the first tram down Taft Slalom to Upper and Middle Hard. The trails featured two to three inches of wind packed fresh snow on top of a firm base. Taft Slalom skied excellent as did Upper Hard but firm moguls under the new snow on Middle Hard proved difficult to negotiate for a first run.

Since no fresh snow was to be found on the main trails, we ducked into the woods and found more of the same with two to three inches of fresh snow on average. Things were starting to warm up as the sun came up and softened things up to the point of melting. We continued to hunt the woods until lunch time when we opted for burgers at The Lift and then headed to the summit to tackle Tramline. With barely more than one hundred inches of snow, it was hard to believe Tramline was open even with the dense base building snow from the recent blizzard. Sure enough, Tramline was a total disaster and should not have been open to the public. Tramline featured two pinches with a near mandatory sidestep over rock and dirt. The crux maneuver below Tower One was almost child’s play compared to the less than heroic side stepping in key pinch locations. Tree skiing continued later that afternoon with Dave heading home shortly after Tramline. Much excitement was head in the trees on my spiritual home mountain.

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2006-2007 Season, Burke, March, Powder Day

Powder Day at Burke Mountain

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After an aborted Cannon Mountain attempt; which blew away in the 50 MPH winds, Sledhaulingmedic, NHPH, Dave, and I went with the next best closest option with the least likely chance of wind hold: Burke. Why I even thought Cannon would be open is beyond me. I was just so pumped up to be skiing Cannon at its prime with fresh snow… rather blind not to expect winds blowing south to north to knock Cannon off line.

We got going at Burke around 10 A.M. after working out the logistics. The Willoughby Quad was turning when we got there but we were warned it was being shut down soon. We got three excellent runs off the summit, including Willoughby, Doug’s Drop into Little Chief, and East Bowl before the plug was pulled. East Bowl was fantastic but it was hard to get up much speed with the nice and dense powder. Of course, the traverse back was brutal, but I had to show off Burke’s signature trail. The Poma lift was more than adequate for our needs and proved the surface lifts have their place.

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2006-2007 Season, February, Mad River Glen

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

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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