Category: Reports by Event

2025-2026 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: The Chaotic Holiday Crowd

Four to six inches of fresh was more than enough to add to the already chaotic vacation week. It barely counted as a powder day. But it was enough to get the ski-once-a-year crowd rubbing ski jackets with the powder day crowd.

The new snow landed on top of hard pack, as I found out while making untracked turns during my first run. Underneath the new snow, the base was unpleasant. After three runs, the groomers were became sheets of scraped hard pack alternating with piles of pushed around snow.

The lineup crowd was large and only grew after every run. The fresh snow was not going to last long and I didn’t care to wait over ten minutes in the singles line. So, I split after half-a-dozen runs. The new snow was nice, but it was merely a band-aid, and it wasn’t worth dealing with the vacation crowd and their antics.

2025-2026 Season, January, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: A Fabulous Foot

I knew Mad River Glen would get significantly more snow than Jay. And I still have three tickets on my unused Mad Card. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The extra half a foot at Mad River was not worth the risk of not getting a parking spot before opening nor significantly long lift lines.

Sure enough, Jay reported 12-14″ and Mad River reported 18-20″ (and MRG’s updated report even mentions “yeah the lines may have been long…”). I enjoyed an easier and shorter drive, no stress on the access road, and no crowds whatsoever at Jay. Definitely the right choice.

Many skiers riding the lifts commented that it was the best storm since before the Christmas week meltdown. While January has been kind with occasional six inch hits, we’ve haven’t been buried like this in a while. And it kept on snowing throughout the day.

However, I occasionally still hit scraped base underneath the fluff. It was a fabulous foot plus of snow, but it was not bottomless. It covered up most of the scraped base and junk poking through, so I am more than satisfied.

2025-2026 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, January

Tuckerbrook: Changes

Not much snow was expected during the holiday weekend. Cannon received half a foot during the past 48 hours. So, I opted for a tour up Tuckerbrook instead of visiting a busy ski area.

Highway traffic heading north was considerable. I was satisfied with my decision. My car was the fourth in the lot. By the time I returned, the lot would be full and cars would be parked down the road. Dozens of people were uphilling Tuckerbrook as I was descending.

Conditions down low were worse than expected with only an inch or two of fresh snow along the edges of the trail. The snow must have been localized and elevation dependent, as conditions didn’t get better until nearing the troll bridge (which still has yet to completely fill in).

Another pair of uphillers asked if was going to continue to the top of the Taft. I jokingly responded “sure, what are they going to do, kick us off the mountain?” Famous last words.

When we were all transitioning for the downhill, I was surprised to see ski patrol hiking up the saddle. Patrol asked where we came from and if we knew that the saddle was closed.

He was very nice and I don’t begrudge the messenger. But he made it known that we should not skin past the Tuckerbrook trail onto Cannon property.

Things have changed a lot at Cannon during the last dozen or so years. Management no longer values its loyal skier base. Die hard Cannon skiers quietly doing there thing and not making trouble are no longer appreciated.

I know mountains have liability concerns and fear law suits. But we are talking about skinning a hundred vertical feet from the top of Tuckerbrook to the top of Mount Jackson.

We weren’t skinning on Cannon proper. We were skinning the classic Tuckerbrook Ski Trail, just as it has been skied for over ninety years. Which is apparently no longer allowed.

The land swap was the worst thing that ever happened at Cannon. Things have gone downhill ever since.

2025-2026 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: Wind Packed

The annual Christmas week rain/freeze event was followed by significant snow and extreme wind. The Jet did not run the day before. So, I was hoping for a “day after” powder day.

I assumed the trees would be great. But untracked snow was significantly wind packed, grabby, and challenging to ski (perhaps the densest snow that I have ever skied). Turns alternated between boot deep bottomless and an icy base.

After the untracked was cut up, it became easier to ski. I abandoned my normal off-map trees routine and skied Timbuk proper for the first time in years. Timbuk had enough traffic to break up the untracked without being completely tracked out.

After two hours, Kitz Woods was proper packed powder and skied great. Given the rain/freeze and extreme wind, the groomers skied better than expected but were still not great (firm, fast, and scratchy).

Overall, I cannot complain about how things have rebounded after the rain/freeze event. The base remains deep and the full mountain remains skiable (albeit after someone else has broken up the cement).

2025-2026 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: Unexpected

While at work yesterday, I received a notification that the the building would be closed today due to construction. Employees were not allowed to report to work for safety reasons. Okay then, I guess I’ll go ski some more powder.

I was not expecting much. Jay reported 2-4″ overnight and 4-6″ during the past 48 hours. I figured I might be able to find the full half-foot Tramside since no upper-mountain Tramside lifts spun the day before.

Ironically, I found the deepest snow in off-map woods that were accessible from the Bonnie. A small patch yielded the full bounty, not just from the past 48 hours, but from the past 5 days! A short but sweet 200′ vertical of very unexpected knee deep.

Traffic was very light, mostly tourists and non-regulars. So I skied Staircase for the first time in years. It is a glade that I rarely ski as it gets side-slip scraped due to its pitch. It was well covered (except its steepest pitch), but yielded only a few inches of untracked.

After going back to the Tramside trees for a few runs, I figured I might as well check out the OOB from the Jet. Surely, the two feet from last week’s storm has been chewed up by now, right?

Wrong. Boot to knee deep. What? Fresh lines were limited, but they were available. It wasn’t just knocking down a few random piles, but rather legit lines of untracked lasting a dozen turns at a time. This season just keeps on delivering.