Jay Peak, VT: 12/31/06

riverc0il

New member
After yesterday's romp (which was my first open to close day of the year), I was rather tired and a wee bit sore. I opted for a late start and desired to leave early when my legs inevitably gave out. I ended up skiing from approximately 9a-1p which was about what I had expected.

What I had not expected was how bad the conditions would setup over night on the mountain. Temps dropped and the snow froze up a bit and got some wind buff. I skied a few open trails before ducking back into the woods and did not like what I saw. Northway and trails in that drainage were total skating rinks and the upper section of The Jet and Haynes did not look so good (I didn't ski either, but after seeing a few slides for life from the lift, you kinda get the feel for how things are skiing). Natural trails were obliterated. They opened up Kitzbeuhel today but it was just nasty.

Out of a dozen runs I think I ended up in the woods about 10 times picking out trusty powder shots where I suspected base levels would be adequate and dangerous hazards would be minimal (relatively). I found way more pow than I had expected. Each run featured about 25% untracked or barely tracked in places I suspected had been trounced yesterday. It was slim pickings though... pick a line, get six turns, stop, reassess, likely traverse, repeat. By noon time the fresh lines were gone but sloppy seconds were still available. After a few more desperation runs for safe shots, my legs had enough and I called it a day. Pictures will be posted later.

Play safe out there folks, the fresh is gone after this weekend and the trees are pretty dangerous. I won't be back in the woods next weekend without more fresh snow. Especially if tomorrow is a NCP event.
 
riverc0il":rnca8mi8 said:
What I had not expected was how bad the conditions would setup over night on the mountain.
Thanks for the pictures, maybe conditions weren't up to usual Jay standards but it still looks like heaven compared to conditions in western NY or southern Ontario (6 deg. C and rain). If it wasn't an 8 hr drive I would have been there...
 
under the ropes":2mxdges3 said:
Thanks for the report and photos. I look forward to your posts
and in fact, joined Liftlines just to let you know. Pray for more snow!
thanks, i appreciate it and welcome aboard.
 
I was there also that day And It was I think the best you could get in the region (including Laurentian). The powder was clearly in the wood but A bit dangerous in some area (dangerous hidden branches).

You got nice picture, I was too lazy to take some. It's sad you didn't get one over the cloud. It was so amazing.
 
the cloud over jay peak as seen from the jet was definitely amazing to watch. i meant to take a picture of it but i keep getting off the lift going the other way...
 
nice pics!

I was there dec 24 through 30th, but had to drive home. The 30th was surprisingly good, but only away from the officially open trails. The penalty was two core base gauges to repair when I got home!

the early part of the week was by far the worst I've seen at Jay in 8 years of skiing there and it looks like spring's returned with a vengeance this week. Roll on winter!

Geoff
 
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