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.