Jay Peak, VT
February 25, 2002
Jay Peak is one of those New England
mountains that was a dedicated and rabid following. They preach to any who
will listen about how much snow and powder Jay receives, and how great the
glades are. Well; that being said, if you are looking for 'Alta Powder' in
the East and lots of Glades, then Jay Peak is definitely worth the trip!
If glades and powder are not your thing, then Jay Peak doesn't offer enough to
justify the drive.
For me, I do not ski glades (yet), and
enjoy fresh snow but can do without excessive powder. That being said,
even the people that do love Powder and Glades must have been unhappy on the
Monday I journeyed to distant Jay Peak. Jay Peak was groomed everywhere it
seemed. Only a couple of choice bump trails were left alone by the
groomers, much to my disappointment.
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In the morning, I skied the
right side of the mountain (as seen on the trail map) via the Tram and
High Speed Quad. The snow was extremely fast, and the groomed snow
had an occasional thin cover/scrapped situation. Most trails on the
right side drop into an extremely flat run out. A great place
to practice a tuck for five minutes. Marked on the trail map as a
blue square (perhaps because of the occasional patch of trees in the
middle of the trail), this run out wore me out rather quickly. Jay's
entire bottom half of the mountain is very flat, which makes most
runs have a long flat run out to it unfortunately.
Before lunch, I got my fill of
bumps under the Bonaventure Quad. These bumps were huge! A
legitimately tough top to bottom bump run, the bumps were piled up high
with deep trenches in between. Occasional scraped and thin cover to
boot. This trail wore my out, and made for an early lunch. |
After lunch, a ride up the tram and a
run down the east face brought me to the Jet Triple area. Here I
encountered my favorite terrain in nicely pitched black diamonds off the Triple.
By now, with the sun at full force, trails were starting to soften up.
Temperatures probably reached high 40's to 50 that afternoon, and the snow
showed it. It started to become legit Spring Skiing mashed potato snow.
All in all, Jay Peak has weathered
this abysmal winter just as good, if not better than most resorts due to it's
location. However, Jay could sure use some more snow! In all
honesty, it probably would really help them if they turned their snow guns on
again. Cause if we don't get more snow soon, not even Jay will be skiing
far into April (if skiing into April at all!).
Overall, Jay Peak is just not my type
of mountain. Their 'trails' blend in and out of each other, creating a
myriad of ways down the mountain. Jay truly is the east's best Glade
skiing... tree patches open up literally everywhere you look.
But for someone who isn't a Powder or Glade buff, Jay Peak was a severe
disappointment and I would rank several other smaller areas higher in value,
quality, and terrain.
My
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