A COLD DAY AT JAY PEAK
With a Whiteface season pass, Ikon Base Pass and Jay Peak season pass, every weekend day is up in the air this season as to where I’ll be skiing. Today, I chose Jay Peak — not only because they’ve got plenty of snow and terrain open, but also because they held their pass holder appreciation party and I wanted to see what that was like. Jay Peak season pass holders get a gift from the mountain every season and I was able to pick that up today as well. More on that later.
It was a cold day on the mountain. I don’t know the exact temperatures, but I’d venture to say they were in the single digits up high and in the teens down low. Toss in a light wind and you have yourself a frigid day. It will be even colder tomorrow. The gear we buy is in preparation for days like this, though, so I wasn’t too cold, except for when I was riding the lifts. Then I could start to feel it!
Along with some beginner lifts, Jay Peak was spinning The Jet, Bonaventure Quad and the tram today. They were not spinning the Green Mountain Flyer. It opens on Monday. Today was the first day the tram was open, which provided access to some new terrain that was only accessible via the tram. Normally, a lot of this terrain can be accessed on the Bonaventure Quad and the Flyer, but the Flyer wasn’t spinning and the access point for the Bonaventure Quad was roped off. The tram and the Flyer are really the two main lifts out of the Tramside Base, so without the Flyer spinning I decided not to ride the tram as the line for the tram can be quite long and I’d rather be skiing than standing in a line.
Earlier this week we had a brief warm up with a little rain, followed by some snow over the last few days. This morning the mountain reported two to four inches of fresh snow and there was snow in the air all day, too. Conditions overall were pretty good. At times you could hear your skis scraping through ice under the fresh snow, but in general the ice wasn’t too much of an issue. Coverage is still really good everywhere (that’s open) on the mountain, even down low in the trees.
I’m relatively new to glade skiing, having only started skiing trees last winter, so I feel a lot more comfortable in shorter skis (160 cm) then I do my longer skis (176 cm). Normally, I bring my shorter skis with me to Jay, but I forgot them today. I did ski the trees with my longer skis, but I really missed my shorter skis. It was a struggle, but I still had fun. One day I’ll be comfortable in the trees with my longer skis, but i’m not there yet.
At 3 PM the season pass holder party started over at the Hotel Jay so I cut my day an hour short to check it out. Obviously, the party was only for pass holders and they were checking to make sure you were on the list. Not only did you get to pick up your season pass holder gift at the party, but there was live music, free food and free drinks. The bar wasn’t unlimited, but you got two drinks, which included alcohol. It’s all a very nice gesture and I’m glad I went. On top of the passholder gifts, which included a hat and a cup, they also had some posters and I got two of those.
Talk to you tomorrow,
Lincoln
