Patrick
Well-known member
This certainly NOT Sugarloaf TR!!!
Told Lucky I was planning on hitting Jay on Sunday, but the forecast was calling for 60% chance of showers + t-storms. I don't mind the rain (see the TR May at Jay in 2008), but skiing with T-storms? I don't think so...
Woke up in Ottawa at 5:30am and checked the forecast to confirm. Isssshhhh!!!! I've rarely done leave Ottawa to head straight to Vermont, but I didn't make to gamble Sunday turns. After a 3:30 hour drive (that was good), I saw the snow...and the cars. Holy cr*p!!! It was only 10am on a May Day at Jay. I've rarely seen so many cars, even during the winter time. The Stateside parking was full, parking on the Tram was pretty full also, WTF???
Jay was charging $39 which included a fancy bbq lunch on new hotel/bar/pub thingy. Heard there was also a real cheap deal for the hotel too. Pretty fancy place. Jay Peak is now claiming of the King of Spring title (or something like that) over Kmart. In the last few season, Jay has been under new administration and has been offering skiing until May, better than the old Beast is Back down at Kmart, I wonder if the fact that Jay is no longer part of MSSI playing a role. By Jay staying open so late, they are cutting through the St-Sauveur Montreal Metro May skier market. Why drive 30-45 minutes to ski MSS when you can drive 90 minutes and ski Jay?
Okay, the skiing. The storm midweek dumped about 60cm of new snow, not sure if that is what people thought they were going to ski, but it probably had an impact on attracting people. There were plates from all the way to New Jersey, the new Kmart indeed. I had checked the trail count the previous day, compare to the previous day, it was now greatly reduced as it didn't really freeze at night and t was a warm day.
Two lifts were in operations, the Jet Triple and the Metro quad. Trails network were limited to those lifts. Someone in the parking had enough, he was syaing it was a 45 minutes way on Jet for only Haynes and Jet trails. As I get to the Triple, I see the line starting at the bottom of Haynes or Mont l'Entrepide like it's called at the bottom. I inspected the liftline, no sign of people I know. Okay there wasn't really a corral, but still. I managed to get to the single line which was almost none existent at that time. :mrgreen: On the lift, I noticed a kid skiing alone, it was Lucky's kid Alex. A few moments later, Lucky letting is long hair fly in the air. He was pretty surprise to see me. Ended up tagging up and skis the rest of the day together. Bumped into JLDD from ZS and a bunch of his clan. Lucky did a trip on Mount Washington with them in mid-April. There was also another group of people from ZS, I guess not all of them skied at MSS this weekend. Everything else was closed and the patrol were making people stay on the trails. Coverage was thin and narrow at the top and bottom of Jet. There was a few good bumps line on Haynes and Jet, but pretty irregular.
After a few yoyo runs, we took the car (they also had shuttles) to the other side to have the free lunch. There we bumped into Big Jay with JLDD and friends. Many people had stopped skiing all together, at toward 3, it was almost ski unto the lift.
Temps reached the lower 60s and for a last run, we did as what seems to be a tradition, we ducked a rope and started climbing toward Can-Am. Hope over the rock at the start of the pitch and there some nice coverage. At the top that new snow was wet and heavy, pretty tricky as Alex found out. The bottom was a connection of snow mounds parked on the snow park separate by grass/mud. Couldn't make it to the parking lot this year. :wink:
The Jet
Alex bumping...
MadPat decided to showup on Saturday.
End of day hike
Upper Can-am
Lower Can-am
Enjoy Lower lower Can-Am even more.
Told Lucky I was planning on hitting Jay on Sunday, but the forecast was calling for 60% chance of showers + t-storms. I don't mind the rain (see the TR May at Jay in 2008), but skiing with T-storms? I don't think so...
Woke up in Ottawa at 5:30am and checked the forecast to confirm. Isssshhhh!!!! I've rarely done leave Ottawa to head straight to Vermont, but I didn't make to gamble Sunday turns. After a 3:30 hour drive (that was good), I saw the snow...and the cars. Holy cr*p!!! It was only 10am on a May Day at Jay. I've rarely seen so many cars, even during the winter time. The Stateside parking was full, parking on the Tram was pretty full also, WTF???
Jay was charging $39 which included a fancy bbq lunch on new hotel/bar/pub thingy. Heard there was also a real cheap deal for the hotel too. Pretty fancy place. Jay Peak is now claiming of the King of Spring title (or something like that) over Kmart. In the last few season, Jay has been under new administration and has been offering skiing until May, better than the old Beast is Back down at Kmart, I wonder if the fact that Jay is no longer part of MSSI playing a role. By Jay staying open so late, they are cutting through the St-Sauveur Montreal Metro May skier market. Why drive 30-45 minutes to ski MSS when you can drive 90 minutes and ski Jay?
Okay, the skiing. The storm midweek dumped about 60cm of new snow, not sure if that is what people thought they were going to ski, but it probably had an impact on attracting people. There were plates from all the way to New Jersey, the new Kmart indeed. I had checked the trail count the previous day, compare to the previous day, it was now greatly reduced as it didn't really freeze at night and t was a warm day.
Two lifts were in operations, the Jet Triple and the Metro quad. Trails network were limited to those lifts. Someone in the parking had enough, he was syaing it was a 45 minutes way on Jet for only Haynes and Jet trails. As I get to the Triple, I see the line starting at the bottom of Haynes or Mont l'Entrepide like it's called at the bottom. I inspected the liftline, no sign of people I know. Okay there wasn't really a corral, but still. I managed to get to the single line which was almost none existent at that time. :mrgreen: On the lift, I noticed a kid skiing alone, it was Lucky's kid Alex. A few moments later, Lucky letting is long hair fly in the air. He was pretty surprise to see me. Ended up tagging up and skis the rest of the day together. Bumped into JLDD from ZS and a bunch of his clan. Lucky did a trip on Mount Washington with them in mid-April. There was also another group of people from ZS, I guess not all of them skied at MSS this weekend. Everything else was closed and the patrol were making people stay on the trails. Coverage was thin and narrow at the top and bottom of Jet. There was a few good bumps line on Haynes and Jet, but pretty irregular.
After a few yoyo runs, we took the car (they also had shuttles) to the other side to have the free lunch. There we bumped into Big Jay with JLDD and friends. Many people had stopped skiing all together, at toward 3, it was almost ski unto the lift.
Temps reached the lower 60s and for a last run, we did as what seems to be a tradition, we ducked a rope and started climbing toward Can-Am. Hope over the rock at the start of the pitch and there some nice coverage. At the top that new snow was wet and heavy, pretty tricky as Alex found out. The bottom was a connection of snow mounds parked on the snow park separate by grass/mud. Couldn't make it to the parking lot this year. :wink:
The Jet
Alex bumping...
MadPat decided to showup on Saturday.
End of day hike
Upper Can-am
Lower Can-am
Enjoy Lower lower Can-Am even more.