Sharon
New member
The best ski trips are the ones that aren?t planned.
After skiing Stowe April Fools day in the brilliant 50-degree sunshine, the fool in me thought it was my last day of the season.
I was exhausted and ready to rest after a fantastic March, which involved road trips nearly every weekend to the bigger mountains, since our lowly Greek Peak began to fester after days of 60 degree weather and damaging rain and wind. My ski budget was depleted, my body was tired and my car was leaking oil. It seemed like the ski season was over.
By weds the weather reports were coming in of substantial mountain snow. It was even snowing in Ithaca where the crocuses and daffodils had begun to bloom. By Thursday, there was the promise of powder and I was feeling that I needed to ski again. I had to scramble to find a willing traveling companion to accompany me on a 7-hour drive to Jay Peak. This was surprisingly more difficult than I imagined, with holidays, family, sinus infections and spring chores in people?s lives. But luckily, my mtn bikin buddy who had not skied much this season, was eager to get on the slopes, especially with the promise of super conditions.
I selected Jay Peak over the other Green Mountain ski areas because I am familiar with the local weather phenomena that is known as the Jay Cloud. By Thursday 18? of snow had fallen and conditions were ripe for the Jay Cloud to put down some more fluff for the weekend. Snow was falling all along the Green Mtn spine, but Jay Peak was still calling and seemed to be the most affordable. It has been a few years since I made the trek, so it was time to go back.
The end-of-season slopeside lodging rates at Jay Peak were by far the best value. A night at the Jay Hotel including lift tic and meals was a $100. The hotel was sold out, but a slopeside condo was reasonable for a few people to share. We had a few Adirondack friends (Gore Mtn folks) join us to enjoy the luxury of fine powder skiing and slopeside accomodations. The Village condos are spacious, comfortable and immaculate, and offered a perfect haven for us powder pigs that we could never afford during the peak season. It sure beats Grandpa Grunts. There is nothing like waking up on a powder morning (3 powder mornings in a row), eating your own home-cooked breakfast, putting on the ski boots and skiing out the door to the lift. First tracks was not a problem when you are right there first thing in the morning. Skiing back to the condo for lunch and kicking off the boots for a while, bonus.
It never got very busy at Jay. Certainly on Saturday there was some traffic and the glades did get skied up pretty good by days end. We entered a completely untracked Everglade and found plenty of untracked lines in Beyond Beaver Pond a couple of times. We managed to ski untracked snow every run of the day. We skied some glades that are not on the trail map. It seems that just about every patch of woods has some open glades once you get in through the tight entrance. These are the ones that you?ll most likely find fresh snow in at the end of the day, and that we did.
Sunday we skied with a bigger group and explored more terrain. It was Easter and not many people showed up to ski, so we had a very relaxing morning getting our first tracks in a number of glades. There was no hurry because there was no competition and the snow kept falling throughout the day refreshing the lines. The Freezer is very fast, so we did many laps there into just about all the glades I can think of (BBP, Everglade, Staircase, North Glade), plus a few shots that aren?t on the trail map. Once we tracked them out to our satisfaction we headed over to the other side and checked out Vertigo before heading to the Jet. Forays beyond Timbuktu boundary called upon us to go out even further and ski the Dip down to 242. The snow was so deep out there and the terrain that goes out to the road is stellar with some nice steep shots.
We had planned to drive home after skiing on Sunday, but it was still snowing and the skiing was just too good to leave. While I was physically exhausted, the thought of skiing more fresh snow in the morning charged me up so I inquired about extending our stay in our luxurious condo. I have an old Jay Peak t-shirt that says, ?Know when to call in sick?. This was one of those times.
This old lady skied 8:30-4:20 both sat/sun and on Sunday she kept up with college students from SUNY Plattsburgh half her age! Not too bad for an old lady, though I was beyond exhausted when all was said and done.
Monday morning, there was more fresh snow to track up. It had been windy the previous evening so the snow blew into the woods and freshened up nicely for us to carve our ski signatures in on a very quiet morning. I heard there were about 500 people on the mountain that morning. Hardly saw 50 them. The main parking lot was barely half-full.
We revisited some of our favorite glades, with early laps on the Freezer and later over to The Jet. The Red Chair wasn?t running so we found plenty of untracked in Canyonlands on our way over to the triple. It was a one-shot deal since it required 2 lift rides to bring us back to that side and we were ending early to manage the 7 hour drive home. Vertigo and Deliverance would have also been good choices, but our weary bodies could better manage Canyonlands, and we were rewarded with untracked lines throughout and then below in the Bonni Glades as well.
We did not take a single run that did not involve at least one long glade, or maybe 2 or 3 short ones all weekend long each including untracked snow. That is truly the beauty of Jay Peak. I gotta say, even after skiing some beautiful glades at Gore and Stowe this year with the locals of those mountains, Jay Peak?s glades are far more abundant and diverse in their terrain, aspect and steepness. I am sure that the late-season crowds (lack-therof) made this place all the more intimate and special for the second weekend of April. It was like mid-winter without the crowds. A super bonus weekend.
This year I've skied in WA, UT, ID, Adks and the Green Mtns as well as central NY. I've skied in all kinds of conditions on all types of terrain. This past weekend surpassed all other ski trips in snow quality and tree skiing by far. I could not have planned it better.
After skiing Stowe April Fools day in the brilliant 50-degree sunshine, the fool in me thought it was my last day of the season.
I was exhausted and ready to rest after a fantastic March, which involved road trips nearly every weekend to the bigger mountains, since our lowly Greek Peak began to fester after days of 60 degree weather and damaging rain and wind. My ski budget was depleted, my body was tired and my car was leaking oil. It seemed like the ski season was over.
By weds the weather reports were coming in of substantial mountain snow. It was even snowing in Ithaca where the crocuses and daffodils had begun to bloom. By Thursday, there was the promise of powder and I was feeling that I needed to ski again. I had to scramble to find a willing traveling companion to accompany me on a 7-hour drive to Jay Peak. This was surprisingly more difficult than I imagined, with holidays, family, sinus infections and spring chores in people?s lives. But luckily, my mtn bikin buddy who had not skied much this season, was eager to get on the slopes, especially with the promise of super conditions.
I selected Jay Peak over the other Green Mountain ski areas because I am familiar with the local weather phenomena that is known as the Jay Cloud. By Thursday 18? of snow had fallen and conditions were ripe for the Jay Cloud to put down some more fluff for the weekend. Snow was falling all along the Green Mtn spine, but Jay Peak was still calling and seemed to be the most affordable. It has been a few years since I made the trek, so it was time to go back.
The end-of-season slopeside lodging rates at Jay Peak were by far the best value. A night at the Jay Hotel including lift tic and meals was a $100. The hotel was sold out, but a slopeside condo was reasonable for a few people to share. We had a few Adirondack friends (Gore Mtn folks) join us to enjoy the luxury of fine powder skiing and slopeside accomodations. The Village condos are spacious, comfortable and immaculate, and offered a perfect haven for us powder pigs that we could never afford during the peak season. It sure beats Grandpa Grunts. There is nothing like waking up on a powder morning (3 powder mornings in a row), eating your own home-cooked breakfast, putting on the ski boots and skiing out the door to the lift. First tracks was not a problem when you are right there first thing in the morning. Skiing back to the condo for lunch and kicking off the boots for a while, bonus.
It never got very busy at Jay. Certainly on Saturday there was some traffic and the glades did get skied up pretty good by days end. We entered a completely untracked Everglade and found plenty of untracked lines in Beyond Beaver Pond a couple of times. We managed to ski untracked snow every run of the day. We skied some glades that are not on the trail map. It seems that just about every patch of woods has some open glades once you get in through the tight entrance. These are the ones that you?ll most likely find fresh snow in at the end of the day, and that we did.
Sunday we skied with a bigger group and explored more terrain. It was Easter and not many people showed up to ski, so we had a very relaxing morning getting our first tracks in a number of glades. There was no hurry because there was no competition and the snow kept falling throughout the day refreshing the lines. The Freezer is very fast, so we did many laps there into just about all the glades I can think of (BBP, Everglade, Staircase, North Glade), plus a few shots that aren?t on the trail map. Once we tracked them out to our satisfaction we headed over to the other side and checked out Vertigo before heading to the Jet. Forays beyond Timbuktu boundary called upon us to go out even further and ski the Dip down to 242. The snow was so deep out there and the terrain that goes out to the road is stellar with some nice steep shots.
We had planned to drive home after skiing on Sunday, but it was still snowing and the skiing was just too good to leave. While I was physically exhausted, the thought of skiing more fresh snow in the morning charged me up so I inquired about extending our stay in our luxurious condo. I have an old Jay Peak t-shirt that says, ?Know when to call in sick?. This was one of those times.
This old lady skied 8:30-4:20 both sat/sun and on Sunday she kept up with college students from SUNY Plattsburgh half her age! Not too bad for an old lady, though I was beyond exhausted when all was said and done.
Monday morning, there was more fresh snow to track up. It had been windy the previous evening so the snow blew into the woods and freshened up nicely for us to carve our ski signatures in on a very quiet morning. I heard there were about 500 people on the mountain that morning. Hardly saw 50 them. The main parking lot was barely half-full.
We revisited some of our favorite glades, with early laps on the Freezer and later over to The Jet. The Red Chair wasn?t running so we found plenty of untracked in Canyonlands on our way over to the triple. It was a one-shot deal since it required 2 lift rides to bring us back to that side and we were ending early to manage the 7 hour drive home. Vertigo and Deliverance would have also been good choices, but our weary bodies could better manage Canyonlands, and we were rewarded with untracked lines throughout and then below in the Bonni Glades as well.
We did not take a single run that did not involve at least one long glade, or maybe 2 or 3 short ones all weekend long each including untracked snow. That is truly the beauty of Jay Peak. I gotta say, even after skiing some beautiful glades at Gore and Stowe this year with the locals of those mountains, Jay Peak?s glades are far more abundant and diverse in their terrain, aspect and steepness. I am sure that the late-season crowds (lack-therof) made this place all the more intimate and special for the second weekend of April. It was like mid-winter without the crowds. A super bonus weekend.
This year I've skied in WA, UT, ID, Adks and the Green Mtns as well as central NY. I've skied in all kinds of conditions on all types of terrain. This past weekend surpassed all other ski trips in snow quality and tree skiing by far. I could not have planned it better.
