It’s been dumping snow at Jay Peak for more than a week now. I don’t know exactly how much snow they’ve received in the last 10 days, but it’s more than 50 inches. Despite all the snow, I’ve been waiting for a good time to go, as wind has been an issue as of late, especially the last 3 days. Early this week, I decided that Friday would be a good day to head there and I requested a half-day off work. I work 4 AM to noon so a half-day means I get off at 8. Jay Peak is a 90-minute drive from me. If I leave right at 8, I can be there at 9:30. Not bad.

Today I was joined by Wild Bill, as well as Pro Skier Darren White and Bryan from New Hampshire. Wild Bill had visited Jay Peak a long time ago, but he didn’t remember much about it, so, in a way, it was a completely new experience for him.

Pro Skier Darren White and Bryan from New Hampshire put on a free show out there today. Watching Pro Skier Darren White navigate the trees is poetry in motion. They don’t call him The Glade Master for nothing. Even Wild Bill, who doesn’t ski trees at all, put on a clinic.

From left to right: Bryan from New Hampshire, Pro Skier Darren Right, Wild Bill

Jay Peak has two main base areas: Tramside and Stateside. Despite it looking like wind may not be an issue today, both the tram and the Green Mountain Flyer in the Tramside area ended up being on wind hold all day. The Metro Quad, a beginner lift out of Tramside that allows you to connect to Stateside, was also down. This means that, while you could access Tramside off the Bonaventure Quad (out of Stateside), there was no way to ski the terrain there to the bottom and get back to Stateside.

We were able to make the most of the situation by skiing the Expo glade on Tramside and then taking a run back to Stateside, but that was the extent of our time there. Basically, all of our skiing was focused on Stateside. There’s great terrain on Stateside so this wasn’t necessarily a huge deal, but of course all wanted to ski Tramside, too. The Flyer should spin tomorrow. I suspect there is a lot of powder over there!

As mentioned, Jay received a lot of snow over the last 10 days and conditions in the trees reflected that. They’re loaded with powder and the coverage is excellent. Elsewhere, groomers were either packed powder or icy, due to this week’s strong winds, depending on their exposure. Generally, the natural snow-only trails, like Kitzbuehel, were powder, but you could find an icy bump or two. The only run I skied today that had a notable amount of thin cover was Upper CanAM.

Today was a great day at Jay Peak. If you're thinking about going this weekend I would definitely recommend it! There’s a lot of snow in those trees.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Lincoln

SKIING POWDER AT JAY PEAK

SKIING MOUNT ELLEN AT SUGARBUSH

ANOTHER WINDY DAY AT WHITEFACE