A crazy day at Jay for sure following fifty-four inches of dense snow. Due to poor road conditions and traffic, I arrived at Jay later than expected. But the late start was not an issue since the Bonaventure Quad did not open until 9:15 A.M. The natives queued up were getting restless but a mutiny was narrowly avoided. When I first arrived at Jay, I looked for a rack to put my skis on. Much to my amazement, the racks were completely buried! Jay received an astonishing amount of snow over the three day storm cycle. While some critics suggested the spin masters of Jay Peak's marketing department exagerated snow totals, it would be really hard to pin down an exact scientific and accurate snowfall total any where in the Northern Green's this week, most especially at Jay due to the wind. Perhaps the marketing folks were slightly over zealous in wanting to hit that magic five feet mark at the reported sixty inches. But Jay got the snow, reporting in with a range between 54-60 inches of snow. The increase is snow depth from last week is very impressive.
The mob at the Red Chair was unorganized chaos! The rope dropped, the crowd pushed forward, and we all got ours. First run featured lots of untracked in Deliverance (this was my first run in Deliverance as a Jay Peak skier). Steep chutes are quickly becoming my favorite terrain. The snow was once again a dense wind loaded variety not allowing for deep untracked. The snow involved boot deep sinkage generally and occasional knee deep shots in wind sheltered areas. Point em' steep and keep those tips up! Submerged tips required a huge expense of energy to resurface. I am a fat ski convert, give me 95mm-100mm under foot and a wider tip!
Back up the Bonaventure Quad ("Four to a Chair, Let's Go!") and decisions, decisions. I opted to drop down under the chair and huck the ledges below the Red Chair as it crests the ridge. Really nice snow on Can Am skier's right next to the woods. I ducked back into the trees for more untracked goodness.
Back up the Bonaventure, I was wondering when the Jet would finally open? Things were getting tracked quickly, so after unloading, I skated straight for a spell and nearly got blown off my skis on Goat. I skied down to Northwest Passage and then into North Glade. While I knew Beaver Pond would be sheer stupidity with this type of snow, I thought North Glade had enough pitch for good turns. It does for the most part but North Glade flattens out near the end. After a few awesome untracked turns, I found myself expounding more energy than I should on a powder day to get out of the trees. This shot should be good after a few more powder dazed skiers and riders pack down some lines.
Boarded the Metro Quad and headed back to Stateside. Sure enough everyone was heading for the Jet and I was just in time for first tracks. After the coldest and nastiest lift ride I have ever endured, I dropped fresh lines into a heavily wind slabbed Kitz Woods followed by Hells Woods and repeat. Kitzbeuhel was nice too, but that damn lift ride just wasn't worth anything less than two feet of blower. So I headed back over to Tramside for three runs through the Show Off Glade which were phenomenal!
I would have kept doing Show Off Glade for two more hours if I hadn't crank my left shoulder into a tree doing some exploring above Show Off. Not a smart decision to go exploring when a sure powder shot was ready for the repeat cycle. Best snow of the season with unbelievable base depths and more snow on the way and it looks like I am side lined for at least two weeks with inflamed tendons and general soreness and discomfort. No break though, but man did that put a lousy five feet of snow in perspective quick! Jay really has my number. Earlier this season I took a thigh shot that ended my day after only three runs and I noted things usually come in threes. The first incident was a broken elbow during the previous season. I am sure glad those three are over and done with. I think I will be confining myself to the more spacious and open tree runs for the remainder of the season, some things just are not worth the risk.
Even when things were fully tracked out, this is some of the most excellent natural snow I have ever skied on. Absolutely brilliant, soft, and wonderful. Due to the wind hold, untracked might be found tomorrow morning but it should go quickly due to immense competition from the Johnny Come Lately vacation and weekend crowds. Don't expect to find powder, you might get one or two shots at the goods if you show up for first chair/tram. Else where in New England where there were not wind holds (as evidenced by my Burke report from Thursday), I suspect there will be no untracked to be found except in the more unknown off the map spots. If you didn't get out mid-week on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, you missed the untracked. But it wasn't blower. It really wasn't powder either in the strictest sense, but rather a huge amount of fresh snow. Conditions should be amazing this weekend for sure regardless of lack of untracked.