jay peak snow report/ stop the lies

[Anonymous]

:evil:
i don't know who it is that fabricates the snow totals that are being reported every day for the website and snow phone , but they are so far from the truth it is truly amazing. i have been at jay every day this week and have seen what the weather has done first hand. i think that the customers would prefer to hear the truth of the matter when it comes to weather and snow totals. for instances on wednesday of this past week, some snow in the morning, then rain all afternoon. there has been no mentioning of that, which plays a huge role on the conditions of the mountain. then the following day there may have been 4 inches at the most, on top of a very icy rain crust layer. then for friday it would be very hard pressed to say that there was more than a dusting or an inch.

yes conditions have been improving due to more snow falling, but an honest description would be prefered, it is not that great and i think you are giving people a false image of what they are coming to ski.

As far as saturdays 6inches, complete B.S. It hardly snowed on friday during the day(dusting) i skied till four, no new accumulation and overnight it did not snow 6 inches, why the lies?
when i showed up yesterday to ski, i was expecting no new snow and that was exactly what there was. The wind kicked up and blew any of the light stuff we had recieved during the end of the week and blew it around, there was no NEW snow. it was all from the wind,

How many times can you count 4 meager inches on a nasty crust.

straight up , there is not that much snow at jay right now.
There just hasn't been any good weather and it is changing again for this week with some snow and more rain on the way, i hope that this forecast changes more than anyone, because i love powder just as much as the rest of us, but lets be realistic, no one can change the weather, and please give a more accurate description when conditions are marginal, or else i will


red eyes

reply from marketing director at jay peak:

I assure you, we're not intentionally trying to mislead anyone and I apologize if you feel slighted. Rain and Mixed precip notwithstanding, we certainly did pick up (to the inch), the amount of snow we say we did. I, too, was here everyday and sat through non-stop (just about at least) throughout the period. Now given the rain and mixed precip that came in, I can certainly understand how people would be left scratching their heads and wondering where the snow went/was but it was a difficult picture to paint, believe me.

We're charged with trying to paint an accurately attractive picture of the place and, guilty as charged, markters tend to err on the side of attractivness--accuracy be damned. We're sure going to continue to talk about, say, an aggregate of 12" of snow over a 5 day period--even if some mixed/rain blended in the middle, but I (we'll) try and do a better job of getting the accuracy up as well.

I'm always willing to have a straight up conversation on any topic and will offer mea culpas when we're off base but please try and do away the threatening prose--it's not going to further anyone's agenda, believe me.


red eye thinks:

it has been admitted in writing from the source of the misinformation at jay, "accuracy be damned"

What exactly is he saying? Are they admitting to lying?
what do you think? strange isn't it.

:evil:

 

[riverc0il]

actually, i saw props to that marketing director! i am amazed at the straight forwardness and candor of what we all know marketing folks get paid to do, which is make conditions look enticing regardless of what happens. occasionally a spade is called such when it's obviously raining buckets every where, but then again they know those are the days when they can be assured they are not fooling any one.

clearly when calculating snow fall totals, the mountain will count anything that touches the ground regardless of it getting washed out or blown away immediately after or not. so i can not really fault them for that.

i can speak from recent experience, that when you get to a mountain and find conditions better than you hoped and find that the mountain may have underestimated snowfall to date totals, it's definitely cool! funny how marketing folks never think of that!! would they rather customers come away saying "man, that was WAY better than they said it would be" or "that wasn't even close to what got me to drive hours to get here." definitely a fine line to walk and i wouldn't want to be in their shoes!

though, i'm sure my thoughts on this topic would be much different if i had driven to five hours to jay and found the conditions to be not what was claimed.

 

[Tony Crocker]

As I may have mentioned before, I recommend using the minimum number on Jay's snowfall tracker http://www.jaypeakresort.com/page77d2.h ... deID=16132 as it is consistent with long term historical data.

I also mentioned that to my eye Jay looked more exposed to wind stripping than the other Vermont areas I have skied (Stowe, Mad River and Killington).

The bottom line is that Jay's historical snowfall advantage is real, and that it is likely to be the best spot after a significant storm. But not in difficult weather like the East has had so far this season.

 

[skiadikt]

sounds like our old 'buddy' from killington's m.o., who's now the mouth at jay peak. believe me the guy has a history of that kind of 'reporting' at k. he talks the talk of being straightforward ... but yeah, 'accuracy be damned'. so you've been warned.

and 'threatening prose'-what threatening prose? threatening to give an accurate report. if they won't give an accurate report, then red eyes, report away.

 

[hamdog]

skiadikt says: and 'threatening prose'-what threatening prose? threatening to give an accurate report. if they won't give an accurate report, then red eyes, report away.

kind of the point of the "no-bull" ski reports isn't it? quit the whinning and post your reports. :twisted:

 

[Admin]

There are some others who didn't seem to have such a problem with the snow at Jay, especially with this season's fitful start. I received the following email from another source this a.m., a non-commercial listserv to which I belong (posted here admittedly without permission, but I do so simply to illustrate that there are differing views present):

This preseason has taught me to love Jay. I know they hype themselves ad
infinitum, but marketing aside, I can report first hand that the snow gods
smile upon that lonely, cold mountain.

Given a unexpected pass from home, I jumped at the chance to earn my first
turns, and motored the 50 miles to Jay Peak, Vermont.

I headed up "Powerline" from the Jet Chair area, figuring it would be a
good direct way to the Tram House up top. I thought I was in shape, but I
can't say I raced up the hill--more plodded along, listening to french
radio sations-my favorite being a wierd "montage" station that played only
pieces of current American alt tunes. Felt very Euro...

The skin up was a complicated affair, what with a double fall-line, varied
snow conditions, buried rocks, and a fierce wind towards the top. In other
words, fun. It is full on winter at Jay--a nice hard base with plenty of
powder on top makes the whole mountain look skiable, which likely it is
except for the steepest stuff.

Once I made it to the top of Powerline, I caught a couple of skiers
skinning up on rando gear. Nice fancy equipment, and not one piece of duct
tape on any of their gear. Turns out they were from Connecticut, and I
invited myself along when they said they were headed to do the Beaver Pond
Glades. I said, "look, if you want to go solo, let me know--but I would
love to tag along 'cause if I get wrecked in the woods, Mommy will be mad
at me!" They said, no problem, so I suddenly was in a little ski posse
headed into the tamer Jay glades.

We stripped skins at the Tram House, and blasted down the old Poma run in
glorious untracked powda. I felt a bit guilty elbowing into the couple's
ski, but i wanted company if I was heading into the woods. I even felt
guilty about stealing first tracks, but they seemed to let me go first each
time we stopped. Once into the glades, the snow was perfect-6-8" of light
fluffy powder on the hard base. Stumps and rocks were covered enough to
make nice little jumps, and the rest of it was just your usual untracked
woodsy paradise we call powder skiing.

When we got to the bottom of 2100 vert of untracked, I found myself at the
opposite end of the ski area from my truck. When I mentioned this, I got a
blank response from the Connecticut couple--no ride was offered, so I began
strapping my fat boards to my pack for the hike back on the road. While I
did this, the CT folks loaded their gear into a nice big new Euro Van. I
then headed off on the road solo, gomering along the pavement for a good 40
minutes, thinking about the difference between rural people and urban
folks. Maybe they thought I was an axe murderer, or maybe they really
didn't want me skiing with them after all...

Bottom line to me is that Jay is skiing great right now, what with the
whole Tram side sitting idle, waiting for skiers to track it up. Don't wait
any longer--go and get you some!

 

[Anonymous]

i can assure you that the woods runs are sketchy and skiing them is asking to end your season very early, beaver pond glade may be mellow , but there are plenty of snow snakes ready to take a bite out of you and anyone else who is willing to venture. ski where every you want , thats up to you, but i am telling you all right now, that the snow is thin and be very cautious on trails with only natural snow. the first powder snow of the year is always great , but realistically its very thin .

Have fun, be safe

red eyes :twisted:

 

[Sharon]

The email that Marc reproduced in this forum says nothing about the conditions on the open trails. The report that Red Eyes gave was about the snow on the open trails which is also what the Jay Marketing department was focusing on.

Maybe Red Eye's correspondence with Jay's Marketing Dept will help get Steve out of his office and on the slopes a bit more before he posts the report.

Interestingly, Steve Wright's name has not been on any of the marketing material I have seen, though I do recognize his writing style.

 

[Geoff]

Interestingly, Steve Wright's name has not been on any of the marketing material I have seen, though I do recognize his writing style.

In the bunch of years Steve did the snow reports at Killington, I found his reports of snowfall amounts to be accurate. There's a perception problem because 20,000 skiers track out the fluff very quickly and midweek snow tends to settle significantly by the time hack weekenders like me get to ski on it.

Don't know how that translates to Jay Peak but Kmart has been quite honest since Preston Smith sold it to ASC.

 

[gincognito]

I take Jay Peak's - and everybody else's - snow report with a grain of salt. I understand what they are trying to do and deal with it accordingly.

I don't know what they were saying for Sunday, but here's what I found at 9:30 that morning. The Jet was in fine shape and still held a good 4-6 inches of only slightly chopped pow at the bottom. Top part help soft bumps and easy-to-carve hardpack. It only really got slick later in the afternoon. Derek Hot Shot was soft bumps with occasional barespots. Lots of loose snow lying around.

Of course, I didn't spend too much time on these runs. A quick duck into the lower portion of Timbuktu revealed close to a foot of fresh in places and more than enough cover for mellow skiing. Hiking up to Canyonland revealed similar stashes: fresh snow over the boot and above the dropped knee. Again, coverage was good but the terrain features are tricky so speed was always held in check. Final run brought us down Can Am and there was easily a foot of powder along the sides. Hoots and hollers all around.

Often the snow is there - you just need to search for it.

d.

 

[From_the_NEK]

Here is what I found on Saturday at Jay. I made 10 runs with a couple of friends on a Blue Bird day. I found that there way little to no wind all day (at least on Stateside). I didn't venture over to the north facing side of the mountain that is normally whipped by winds from the Champlain Valley. So I can't report on that.
First run was on the Jet which was a mix of man-made hardpack/ice and powdery bump. I found that skiing the bumps under the lift made for a more enjoyable experience. My bump skiing was definitely ugly the first few runs as this was my first day of the year (post deer hunting season) and I probably looked a little foolish as I got thrown around on my first decent :? . But nothing gets the sea legs back like jumping in head first. The bumps under the lift had a much softer feel than the main part of the Jet.
Second run was Haynes. This was by far the worst run of the day. The very top was okay but as one descended the surface turned into a concoction of ice and baseball/golfball size ice balls apparently created from the tilling of the frozen snowmaking. It was nearly impossible to control my decent as I may as well been on ballbearings. When turning my skis sideways to turn or try to shed speed the balls of ice would not allow me to plant an edge. It was very disconcerting. Apparently most other people had also figured out how bad it was and stayed off the trail.
The third run took me down Montrealer and connected some various little used trails (may have involved ducking a rope or two :evil: ) . This was the run of the day as I proceeded to do a few variations on this run later in the day. The sign at the top had a warning for thin cover and water bars which was accurate. The cover could have used a couple of extra inches but I wasn't complaining. I barely scraped earth all day. The water bars were a nuisance, but the skiing was overall quite enjoyable. The trail report I had checked before leaving said there were only five trails open. I'm glad they decided to open the additional terrain as I was definitely safely skiable. I only did one shot through the woods since the guys I was skiing with didn't want to hit any buried rocks with their good skis. I took one run down through Hell's Woods had full coverage but the base was definitely thin. There was 6-8 inches of soft stuff on top but not a whole lot underneath. I didn't hit anything major but I did feel a couple scratches on the way down (thank you rock skis). Overall I would say I had a great day for the start of my season. And I would say that the official snow report I saw was quite accurate. I will try to get some pics up tomorrow of this report.

 

[From_the_NEK]

Here are some pics from Saturday at Jay. I'll have to remember to add them in reverse chronological order next time.

 

[Admin]

Jeez, some of those pics -- especially the shot of Vermonter, Green Beret and the Sky Haus from the top of the triple -- look like mid-winter form.

 

[From_the_NEK]

All it will take to reach mid winter form is another 8-10 inches. If this week's storm drops more frozen than unfrozen precip 3/4 of the mountain could probably be open next weekend.

 

[Anonymous]

great pics, but looks can be deceiving, it also could be september, i have been up there then and it looks like that , 8 inches of base and a blue sky , mid winter ? hardly, but you can only ski in wind drifts that are at the deepest 14 inches, and then make another turn and its only an inch. oh well , believe what you want, but i skied today and there is only a meager amount of snow and skiing around the whole mountain today only reassured that . barely enough cover to ski off the groomers, but what do i know, i only ski every day at jay.

hopefully we got some snow on the way..

red eyes

 

[Anonymous]

you gotta skin for the dank boys..... 2 feet of virgin pow, and boy she was sweet. :lol:

 

[Sharon]

Looks like your comments to Jay's Marketing Director have made a difference:

"Even the king of eastern snow gets rained (actually mixed) on sometimes. An evening of mixed precipitation and rain (after picking up about an inch of snow during the day) should give way to flurries and light snow later on this morning. We’ve got mixed precip and some left over rain showers going on at the moment, but forecasters are calling for a turnover within several hours. As we move closer into the weekend, we're expecting flurries and periods of snow later today straight through Tuesday of next week."

 

[NHpowderhound]

http://www.lodgetheory.com
((*
*))NHPH

 

[Sharon]

Ever stay at the GML?

What's it like? What kind of people hang out there.

Do they have a hot tub?

I found this on that website and it cracked me up:

Bong Hits for IQ Points
Is that dreadlocked liftie a perma-crisp burnout or a burgeoning genius? Maybe both. Canadian researchers have found that smoking between one and five marijuana joints a week can actually make you smarter. The study-which has been tracking the same kids since 1978-compared the test results of 70 nine- to 12-year-olds taken eight years ago (pre pot) and their current IQs. Those who smoked regularly showed an average increase of 5.8 points; those who didn't smoke at all picked up just 2.6 points.

 

[Sharon]

Oh, btw, that quote above is from Skiing Magazine :lol: