A DAY IN THE GLADES AT JAY PEAK
Today was Day 20. Where has the time gone?! Just a few weeks ago I started skiing daily! The road to 100 ski days is now well underway. For Day 20, I headed to northern Vermont to the East’s snowiest mountain. I have a season pass to Jay Peak. I bought it last spring and have already skied nine days on the pass. Today was my first day this season skiing there. I’d been waiting for a good time to go, when more than just The Jet was spinning, and today was finally that time.
Today they had The Jet spinning, as well as the Bonaventure Quad, which opened yesterday. There were also some beginner lifts spinning. Tramside was not open so all operations were out of Stateside. Tramside is expected to open tomorrow, though the tram and the Green Mountain Flyer won’t be spinning. The mountain had 28 runs open. Ten of them were groomed. There was plenty of variety from groomers to glades and natural snow trails. If you wanted bumps, you could find them and if you wanted groomers to cruise down, you could do so.
Jay Peak suffered through the same weather as everywhere else in Vermont this week. The mountain had tons of powder, thanks to a 10-day period of continuous snow, and then it rained. A lot. And then it snowed again. That’s just how it goes sometimes in the East. Because of this, I didn’t really know what to expect today, but I’m here to say that conditions were generally pretty good after this wild week of weather. Coverage on all open terrain is still really good for mid-December. Of course, it varied from trail to trail, but generally the snow wasn’t too firm and you could hold an edge with no problem. In the trees, there were powder stashes to be found, but you’d also scrape through some ice. Was the snow amazing? No. Was it pretty good after a week that saw heavy rain? Yes.
My main focus today was glades. Last season, I finally really got in to tree skiing. I’m a low level intermediate when it comes to glade skiing, but I have fun with it and I’ve been looking forward to it since last season. I skied multiple glades today including Timbuktu, Kitz Woods, Canyonland and the Bonaventure Glade. It sure was nice to be back in those trees. If you haven’t skied the trees yet at Jay Peak and you’re an East Coast skier, you’re missing out. It’s good stuff.
Overall? It was pretty good for December 14. I have no complaints. The Bonaventure Glade is probably my run of the day. I skied it three times total. I was really impressed with the snow there for it being so far down the mountain. Timbuktu, which is probably my favorite glade at Jay Peak, as of now, was also really good, but I only skied it once, as I was trying to ski everything that was open.
Talk to you tomorrow,
- Lincoln