Trail Report: Jay Peak December 12 & 13
Friday December 12th
Slow drive up on Thursday evening because of an ice storm in Mass and snowstorm in and after Franconia Notch. Took me about 5 hours.
Jay Peak got about 8 inches on Thursday night. It was heavy snow and when I got to the mountain there was a freezing mist. It wasn't necessarily cold, somewhat of a warmth in the air and lots of moisture. The snow consistency was heavy and in certain spots there was a thin crust on the snow, but easy to break through even for skiers.
Only the jet and Tram were open. No crowds. Timbuk was nice in the morning as it usually is. Right along the orange line I found some good snow. I hit up the orchards for the first time this year. It was money. Lots of snow covered stumps and rocks to launch off of. Also did the Dip. It was money, even the last section which can be shady this early in the year. Beaver Pond rocked. Lots of freshies. Didn't even have to go out of bounds. It was a "Wahoo" run. I caught myself projecting an instinctive yelp. It was that good. Ended the day pretty much at 4pm which is always a killer. Rode with a bunch of people from Burlington and some other Jay Peak regulars.
Saturday December 13th
Cold day. 8 degrees (F). But sunny and no wind. The Freezer was a bit cold in the morning, but that's to be expected. Because neither the Red chair or Freezer were open this week at all, lots of the trails on the middle of the mountain got any traffic. We hit up Expo/Expo Woods first thing. Not super deep pow (Eric was concerned with deep knee tele turns) but still excellent. I typically don't get to do wide powder turns at Jay but they were there for the taking on Expo in the morning.
We then hit up JFK to lower everglade. JFK was nice. Can Am sucked by the time we got to it mid morning. Not enough coverage there, lots of rocks. We then headed over to the Jet, even though I told everyone that it would probably be skied off because it was the only lift open all week. It sucked, but I found some decent snow near the orange line of timbuck. We hit up North glade. Found some decent snow there. Hells Woods were surprisingly still good. I liked Expo, Expo Woods and Hells the best on Saturday. Also, got to ride with the ol' SS Jay crew - Randy, Dan, and Eric.
It was a solid 2 days for early season, even with a bit of mixed precip thrown it. Forecast is the same this week. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much.
Slow drive up on Thursday evening because of an ice storm in Mass and snowstorm in and after Franconia Notch. Took me about 5 hours.
Jay Peak got about 8 inches on Thursday night. It was heavy snow and when I got to the mountain there was a freezing mist. It wasn't necessarily cold, somewhat of a warmth in the air and lots of moisture. The snow consistency was heavy and in certain spots there was a thin crust on the snow, but easy to break through even for skiers.
Only the jet and Tram were open. No crowds. Timbuk was nice in the morning as it usually is. Right along the orange line I found some good snow. I hit up the orchards for the first time this year. It was money. Lots of snow covered stumps and rocks to launch off of. Also did the Dip. It was money, even the last section which can be shady this early in the year. Beaver Pond rocked. Lots of freshies. Didn't even have to go out of bounds. It was a "Wahoo" run. I caught myself projecting an instinctive yelp. It was that good. Ended the day pretty much at 4pm which is always a killer. Rode with a bunch of people from Burlington and some other Jay Peak regulars.
Saturday December 13th
Cold day. 8 degrees (F). But sunny and no wind. The Freezer was a bit cold in the morning, but that's to be expected. Because neither the Red chair or Freezer were open this week at all, lots of the trails on the middle of the mountain got any traffic. We hit up Expo/Expo Woods first thing. Not super deep pow (Eric was concerned with deep knee tele turns) but still excellent. I typically don't get to do wide powder turns at Jay but they were there for the taking on Expo in the morning.
We then hit up JFK to lower everglade. JFK was nice. Can Am sucked by the time we got to it mid morning. Not enough coverage there, lots of rocks. We then headed over to the Jet, even though I told everyone that it would probably be skied off because it was the only lift open all week. It sucked, but I found some decent snow near the orange line of timbuck. We hit up North glade. Found some decent snow there. Hells Woods were surprisingly still good. I liked Expo, Expo Woods and Hells the best on Saturday. Also, got to ride with the ol' SS Jay crew - Randy, Dan, and Eric.
It was a solid 2 days for early season, even with a bit of mixed precip thrown it. Forecast is the same this week. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much.
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