With the Jay Cloud in full effect thanks to Orographic Lift, Jay Peak along with most of the Northern Green Mountains picked up over two feet of snow in three days. Most of that snow fell mid-week from Wednesday through Friday, so knee deep untracked was impossible to find by the weekend. However, the new powder falling overnight was more than enough to refreshen the glades and make skiing primo for Saturday. Jay Peak may exaggerate their snow totals occasionally, but no one can exaggerate the fact that Jay Peak gets a ton of snow when most other New England Ski Areas come up empty.
Arriving at the Stateside Lodge at 8 A.M., I noticed that the parking lot attendants were already packing the cars in like sardines. Despite the parking situation, due to Jay Peak's far northern location, the majority of skiers did not arrive until late morning leaving fresh lines for the early birds. However, by 10 A.M. all the lots were full and the Jet Chair was averaging more than a ten minute wait.
Jay Peak had reported in on Thursday morning with two feet of fresh snow. By Saturday the best I could find on the mountain was the occasional one foot of untracked which was a rare find indeed. The rest of the snow was either tracked up, packed down, or blown away by the high winds. Due to those high winds, the Groomer Trails were a pathetic mix of wind blown hard pack, frozen granular, and the occasional legit icy patch. Not that any one skiing Jay Peak would want to ski the Groomers... they only reason to ski at Jay Peak is heading into the trees.
After a quick warm up run off the Bonaventure Quad, I made my way to the Jet Triple where I would spend most of the morning and afternoon. Timbuktu was my primary target off the Jet Triple, and boy was it good skiing! After a half dozen repetitions, I noticed the line for the Jet Triple had severely backed up. I returned to the Stateside Lodge for a quick bite to eat before heading Tram Side to see what was available.
The "Green Mountain Freezer" lived up to its name with extreme winds and cold. The unload area at the top of Ullr's Dream was a nightmare of scraped and icy non-snow. Beyond Beaver Pond Glade seemed like a nice choice off the Freezer; however, I found BBPG extremely tracked up, scraped down, thinly covered, crowded, and devoid of any fresh powder. I quickly began making my way back into Beaver Pond Glade proper where things opened up and packed powder was par for course. After the run out, I boarded the Metro Quad and headed back towards The Jet.
When back at The Jet, I found a ten minute line and lots of anxious powder hounds chomping at the bit for the untracked they were not likely to find. I ventured down Kitzbuehel which had nice wind blown snow on skier's left but otherwise scraped up and nasty wind blown bumps down the center. Diving into Kitz Woods, things were little better in terms of coverage with exception of less wind blown. Clearly, the main glades would not yield any remaining powder. It was time to go off the map where I soon discovered great shots up to a foot deep and occasionally untracked. Superb.
With a full week of vacation in front of me and my elbow getting sore after pressing hard all morning and afternoon, I decided to pack it up around 1:30 P.M. Plenty more great turns to be had as the weather pattern dumping Orographicly lifted snow onto the Northern Greens was not going any where. Despite my recovering elbow, I was hitting stuff left and right that I had previously thought would be off limits for the rest of the season. The recovery is going much faster than expected. Though I still was cautious in the woods and did not attempt some of the more extreme lines I normally might pursue.