The first seven words spoken in The Force Awakens are equally fitting for this weekend. After suffering through three horrific months, the season has been redeemed. This weekend may not have included the perfect dump that we all want. But it was far better than we could have hoped for and it was awesome when evaluated on its own merits. It was not perfect but still just what we needed: it got us excited and happy to be skiing again. The metaphor is strong with this report.
Jay received small bursts of snow for seven days in a row and it is adding up. Several natural snow trails opened yesterday including Green Mountain Boys and Upper Northwest Passage. Also, the Tram made its first trip to the summit for the season yesterday. Today, the natural snow trails were skiing well though starting to show wear. It snowed all day (heavy at times) and more is forecast overnight into tomorrow.
Snow guns were setup on Montrealer, Vermonter, and Northway which eliminated access to the basin between The Goat and The Jet. This was rather unfortunate as the natural snow would have skied well (Montrealer and Vermonter were scheduled to open but Jay opted to setup for snowmaking instead). This was a little disappointing. But if Jay can bury those three trails by next weekend, operations need only get Ullr’s and Taxi online to connect all the main routes.
I started at Stateside as is my wont. I haven’t made a lineup at the Jet in years and doing so today felt great. No matter how polished Jay Peak Resort has become, the Jet still feels right. There wasn’t enough fresh to justify lining up for first chair. But the way this season is going, an inch or two almost put me into a powder frenzy.
Natural snow trails were already beat up from the day before including Derick and Lower UN. But they both skied well if you topped the moguls instead of skiing the troughs. The Willard opened late which skied respectably. Stateside Glade may be the only open glade in the northeast and it was good! Though slow and alert skiing are advised. I tried Timbuk which was not worth the effort.
The main attraction was Tramside. Skiers that survived the Goat Gauntlet were rewarded with loose and packed powder bumps on Upper Northwest Passage, Green Mountain Boys, and Lower Exhibition. Sweet beyond words. Coverage worsened throughout the day but never matched the suspect condition of the troughs on Derick.
The worst conditions on the mountain were on the Goat which was receiving 100% of the traffic coming off the Tram and the Freezer. Frozen groomer tracks and timid intermediate skiers eventually made the effort not worth the reward, so I went back to Stateside where I ended my day. And what a great day it was. My back and legs wore out long before my desire for turns did.