Trip Reports

Jay Peak, VT

December 31, 2006

Jay Peak from Stateside

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After yesterday's romp (which was my first open to close ski day of the season), I was rather tired and sore. Opting for a late start and early departure when my legs inevitably gave out, I skied from approximately 9a-1p which was about what I had expected. Six inch powder tree shots abound, the morning and early afternoon were dedicated to a quality over quantity motif.

Conditions setup over night on the mountain rather poorly. Temperatures dropped and the snow froze and got some wind buff. Before ducking into the woods, I skied a few open trails and did not like the conditions. 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 get the feel for how things are skiing). Natural trail snow coverage was completely obliterated and the words 'thin cover' did the trail conditions no justice.

Out of a dozen runs 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 of my tree runs included at least one quarter of the run untracked or barely tracked. Many of those shots were places that 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 powder shots, my legs had enough and I called it a day.

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