Jay Peak, VT 1/17/00

Matt Duffy

New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/18/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Ooh, that's cold. <BR> <BR>Somehow, I managed to find an overly optimistic forecast for Monday <BR>that suggested single-digit highs after the snowstorm. Ignored all <BR>other data and packed up for the long drive to Jay. Drove up through <BR>howling wind, plow-generated blizzards (Aren't plows supposed to use <BR>flashers when scraping the left lane at 25mph? Passed through a cloud <BR>of blowing snow and discovered the rear bumper of a large orange truck <BR>at the front end.) and slick roads to arrive at the tram base at 10am. <BR>Positive temperatures were nowhere to be found near the Northeast <BR>Kingdom. We arrived to -17F with 25-35mph winds, later hitting a high <BR>of -11F and seeing a low of -20F by late afternoon. <BR> <BR>We waited around a bit hoping that the wind would die down (it <BR>didn't), and at 12:30 resigned ourselves to a cold day with an <BR>afternoon ticket. It was well worth it. Only the Jet triple and a <BR>few surface lifts were operational, but 3.5 hours of perfect snow kept <BR>us completely occupied. Stateside was perfectly placed in he wind <BR>shadow of the summit, making for blue skies, calm air, and endless <BR>soft snow. Kitzbuhel and U.N. provided us with endless pillow-soft <BR>moguls that made even our intermediate companion feel like a pro. Off <BR>the main trails, sizable pockets of deep, dry snow remained untracked. <BR>The glades delivered every time, and we closed out the afternoon <BR>looping the wide-open bobsled tracks cut through Timbuktu. Goggles <BR>fogged and facemasks froze, but the still air let us dispense with <BR>such protection, clouds of steam streaming behind us. <BR> <BR>Reality hit us after the last (4:01pm) ride on the triple. Cutting <BR>across to return to the tram base, we found out why nothing else was <BR>open. A brutal -20F wind howled across brutally-groomed cruisers <BR>stripped clean of snow. Taxi to Queens Highway was a nightmare with <BR>useless goggles and stiff facemasks. We didn't miss much due to the <BR>Quad being closed. The sun set, the temperature plunged, but the car <BR>started and we began the long trek home. Didn't get noticeable heat <BR>from the car until Lincoln, NH....
 
Back
Top