May Earned Turns on the Jet at Jay

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With threats of precipitation, I made the early morning hour drive to Jay Peak (if 9AM can be considered early morning!). Views from Route 100 South and Route 242 West were not impressive. Turns were definitely to be had but not in abundance. I pulled almost everything out of my pack at the parking lot as the temperature was quite warm.

The Jet featured several broken patches, the largest one was just above the mid-point of the trail. Above this large patch, the snow pinched to climbers left, then broke apart before pinching climbers right and then pinching again climbers left. Essentially, there were two really small patches up top, a decent middle patch, and a nice wide open bottom patch. With exception of the bottom patch, most of the Jet was too broken up to get a good rhythm going. I did manage to only click out of my skis once on the descent from the top of The Jet.

Next I headed over to Haynes, which did not have as much vertical but did have much better continuous snow allowing for much more interesting skiing. Climbing up Haynes and the Jet after my last few climbs over on Washington was humorously easy in comparison. It is amazing how much steeper the most mellow slopes of Gulf of Slides and Tuckerman Ravine are in comparison to a typical black diamond pitch at a ski area. Turns down Haynes were fun but I did not have the heart for a third run. After the snow ran out on Haynes, I clicked out for a short hike and then skied over snow and grass until the snow ran out near the bottom of the trail. Desperation perhaps or just plain laziness. Or both.

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