2025-2026 Season, February, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: The Chaotic Holiday Crowd

Four to six inches of fresh was more than enough to add to the already chaotic vacation week. It barely counted as a powder day. But it was enough to get the ski-once-a-year crowd rubbing ski jackets with the powder day crowd.

The new snow landed on top of hard pack, as I found out while making untracked turns during my first run. Underneath the new snow, the base was unpleasant. After three runs, the groomers were became sheets of scraped hard pack alternating with piles of pushed around snow.

The lineup crowd was large and only grew after every run. The fresh snow was not going to last long and I didn’t care to wait over ten minutes in the singles line. So, I split after half-a-dozen runs. The new snow was nice, but it was merely a band-aid, and it wasn’t worth dealing with the vacation crowd and their antics.

2025-2026 Season, February, Jay Peak

Jay: Holiday Weekend

The plan was to ride the lifts until the crowds showed up and then hit the local BC. I got up early like it was a powder day. A car was in a snowbank on 242 despite bare pavement. The Stateside lot would be full before the lifts opened. It was one of those types of days.

The majority of the people were self-evidently vacation skiers. You can easily tell by the way people move, and struggle, when walking with their gear. For some, it might have been their first big resort experience. Good luck.

I was hopeful that some specific off-map trees would still have loose, or perhaps even untracked, snow from two days ago. I found a bit, but it was more tease than enticing.

I would try to make the best of it and hope the BC remained fresh. But I was struggling to make routine, easy turns. Work had sapped my energy and I didn’t sleep well the night before. My skiing was sloppy and lethargic.

After two runs, I called it a day. My skiing was an accident waiting to happen. And skiing at such a low level was hardly fun. At least I wasn’t missing much by leaving early. It would only get busier and the off map woods had already been pulverized.

2025-2026 Season, January, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay: A Fabulous Foot

I knew Mad River Glen would get significantly more snow than Jay. And I still have three tickets on my unused Mad Card. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The extra half a foot at Mad River was not worth the risk of not getting a parking spot before opening nor significantly long lift lines.

Sure enough, Jay reported 12-14″ and Mad River reported 18-20″ (and MRG’s updated report even mentions “yeah the lines may have been long…”). I enjoyed an easier and shorter drive, no stress on the access road, and no crowds whatsoever at Jay. Definitely the right choice.

Many skiers riding the lifts commented that it was the best storm since before the Christmas week meltdown. While January has been kind with occasional six inch hits, we’ve haven’t been buried like this in a while. And it kept on snowing throughout the day.

However, I occasionally still hit scraped base underneath the fluff. It was a fabulous foot plus of snow, but it was not bottomless. It covered up most of the scraped base and junk poking through, so I am more than satisfied.

2025-2026 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, January

Tuckerbrook: Changes

Not much snow was expected during the holiday weekend. Cannon received half a foot during the past 48 hours. So, I opted for a tour up Tuckerbrook instead of visiting a busy ski area.

Highway traffic heading north was considerable. I was satisfied with my decision. My car was the fourth in the lot. By the time I returned, the lot would be full and cars would be parked down the road. Dozens of people were uphilling Tuckerbrook as I was descending.

Conditions down low were worse than expected with only an inch or two of fresh snow along the edges of the trail. The snow must have been localized and elevation dependent, as conditions didn’t get better until nearing the troll bridge (which still has yet to completely fill in).

Another pair of uphillers asked if was going to continue to the top of the Taft. I jokingly responded “sure, what are they going to do, kick us off the mountain?” Famous last words.

When we were all transitioning for the downhill, I was surprised to see ski patrol hiking up the saddle. Patrol asked where we came from and if we knew that the saddle was closed.

He was very nice and I don’t begrudge the messenger. But he made it known that we should not skin past the Tuckerbrook trail onto Cannon property.

Things have changed a lot at Cannon during the last dozen or so years. Management no longer values its loyal skier base. Die hard Cannon skiers quietly doing there thing and not making trouble are no longer appreciated.

I know mountains have liability concerns and fear law suits. But we are talking about skinning a hundred vertical feet from the top of Tuckerbrook to the top of Mount Jackson.

We weren’t skinning on Cannon proper. We were skinning the classic Tuckerbrook Ski Trail, just as it has been skied for over ninety years. Which is apparently no longer allowed.

The land swap was the worst thing that ever happened at Cannon. Things have gone downhill ever since.

2025-2026 Season, January, Jay Peak

Jay: Moody

Another rain/freeze event was followed by another recovery. Winter weather almost always oscillates between extremes, but this month has been particularly wild.

The recoveries have only been band-aids applied to wounds that need stitches. This January has been particularly frustrating since it follows Jay’s snowiest opening month ever.

A few inches of dense snow made for extremely fun carving on the Jet. It was so good that I repeated my first lap on the Jet. It is a rare day when a groomer gets me excited and wanting a second lap.

I wanted to try the woods but I didn’t want to waste a full run if it was as bad as I expected. So, I skied most of Derrick and then skied into the bottom of Timbuk where I found poor snow conditions and exposed tree roots.

From the Bonnie, conditions were both worse and better. I was shocked to find nice snow and good turns on Upper River Quai, so I repeated that trail. On the other side of the ridge, Can Am was also skiing well (though, scraped and thin sections were visible).

The weather was moody. The summit was in and out of the clouds but the lower mountain often had blue skies visible. The clouds were low and fast moving, the wind had a bite. Yet another day this month that was better than it could have been but far from expectation.