Noticed Rivercoil and others talk about jay
1. people rave about the snowfall.
2. trails can be pure boilerplate w/o snowfall or w/winds.
3. the trail system that was cut wasn't well thought out generally. (long time MRG folk mentioned this- i agree)
a. many are too wide/exposed, w/ akward switchbacks and traversing trails cut across...
b. would've been better with narrower cuts using the countours of the mt. to take advantag of snow/snow preservation (ie MRG style- they excel in this- jay should've tried something more along those lines, especially with its more direct exposure/lack of protection)
4. the glade system: huge yes, but basically stripped the Mountain of many local secret stashes (so i've heard) i'm sure there are plenty more, but they certainly were liberal in throwing things on the map (smuggs seems to have done the same most recently "shakedown" glade already got enough traffic before it was on the map) there glades...
a. hold snow incredibly- beaver pond for upslope events, and jet side for typical snowstorms (so i'm told) get deep.
b. without many cut glades for crowds, 2 days after a storm/wind nobody would bother skiing the hill (trails get scrapped/scoured quickly) glades are the only way to really take advantage of the snow at jay. (obvious, yes, but i think this applies to jay more than anywhere else)
I agree, Jay's exposure brings in massive snow and heavy winds. smuggs/stowe and MRG all have better snow preservation qualities/aspect.
When you ride up the freezer at jay during an upslope event, and come over the ridge DAMN does that wind hit ya. you can see the rime on the towers pointing west- northwest- right toward the lakes. the snow piles up in the west bowl bigtime, but scours the many exposed trails...
one more thing. on an upslope event dec. 26th (yeah, the storm that never was 'cept at jay) i noticed that west bowl area/freezer it was generally snowing harder/deeper than over at the jet all day- and beyond beaver pond (first tracks at 2:30pm- poached, of course) was WAY deeper than much of the rest of the hill. people poached all day, and the base had blue skies peeking through all day- but three minutes up riding the freezer, and it started DUMPING. all day like this. really cool.
i wonder if Big jay benefits from the blowing snow/leeward side of the prevailing winds- seems tucked back there, ready to get dumped... anyone know anything about or experience big jay's snowfall in relation to the rest of Jay proper?
jay is fun/unique. but you guys are right- best left for big dumps. and i'll go out and say jay's hyped up a bit- as our weatherman on here says, they probably only get 20 or 30" more a year than smuggs/stowe. smuggs averages between 290" and 315" a year depending on where you get your numbers- jay's probably at 325-340" per year at best... that was long-winded- sorry.
1. people rave about the snowfall.
2. trails can be pure boilerplate w/o snowfall or w/winds.
3. the trail system that was cut wasn't well thought out generally. (long time MRG folk mentioned this- i agree)
a. many are too wide/exposed, w/ akward switchbacks and traversing trails cut across...
b. would've been better with narrower cuts using the countours of the mt. to take advantag of snow/snow preservation (ie MRG style- they excel in this- jay should've tried something more along those lines, especially with its more direct exposure/lack of protection)
4. the glade system: huge yes, but basically stripped the Mountain of many local secret stashes (so i've heard) i'm sure there are plenty more, but they certainly were liberal in throwing things on the map (smuggs seems to have done the same most recently "shakedown" glade already got enough traffic before it was on the map) there glades...
a. hold snow incredibly- beaver pond for upslope events, and jet side for typical snowstorms (so i'm told) get deep.
b. without many cut glades for crowds, 2 days after a storm/wind nobody would bother skiing the hill (trails get scrapped/scoured quickly) glades are the only way to really take advantage of the snow at jay. (obvious, yes, but i think this applies to jay more than anywhere else)
I agree, Jay's exposure brings in massive snow and heavy winds. smuggs/stowe and MRG all have better snow preservation qualities/aspect.
When you ride up the freezer at jay during an upslope event, and come over the ridge DAMN does that wind hit ya. you can see the rime on the towers pointing west- northwest- right toward the lakes. the snow piles up in the west bowl bigtime, but scours the many exposed trails...
one more thing. on an upslope event dec. 26th (yeah, the storm that never was 'cept at jay) i noticed that west bowl area/freezer it was generally snowing harder/deeper than over at the jet all day- and beyond beaver pond (first tracks at 2:30pm- poached, of course) was WAY deeper than much of the rest of the hill. people poached all day, and the base had blue skies peeking through all day- but three minutes up riding the freezer, and it started DUMPING. all day like this. really cool.
i wonder if Big jay benefits from the blowing snow/leeward side of the prevailing winds- seems tucked back there, ready to get dumped... anyone know anything about or experience big jay's snowfall in relation to the rest of Jay proper?
jay is fun/unique. but you guys are right- best left for big dumps. and i'll go out and say jay's hyped up a bit- as our weatherman on here says, they probably only get 20 or 30" more a year than smuggs/stowe. smuggs averages between 290" and 315" a year depending on where you get your numbers- jay's probably at 325-340" per year at best... that was long-winded- sorry.
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