Jay Peak: When It Rains It Snows

Storms are fickle things on the east coast, especially in March. A storm raises ropes at one ski resort and drop ropes at another. While it was raining in much of ski country the Jay Cloud was forming just south of the Canadian border. Cam, John and I trekked north to chase some late March pow.

We arrived Monday before lifts started spinning, and scored ourselves an upfront parking spot. In defense of March, that is one of the perks this time of the season.

It was 10 degrees at the base, snow was coming down and the wind was whipping. I lowered my expectations for The Tram and The Flyer but raised them for everything else. It’s safe to say I was counting on an all time day.

We hopped on the metro quad for a creamy warm up lap before checking out the small group forming at the Tram. Sure enough winds at the top were 40+ and it was down for the day. We quickly made our way over to the Bonaventure quad on the hunt.

I’ve been to Jay enough times to remember my favorite trees, so I lead the group to the Canyonland glades. We found deep wind blown snow waiting for us on the inside.

After riding the trees under the Bonnie it was time for a perennial favorite: the Timbuktu glades. Here we found more of the same untracked sugary crystallized snow as though it were the middle of winter.

We lapped the Jet taking it all in, yet I wanted more. On the other side of the mountain Beaver Pond was waiting.

With a short hike the glades are accessible off the Bonaventure quad. This also means that the snow if often significantly better than all that is lift served. When there are untracked lines visible from the entrance, you know it’s going to be great.

I rode through the trees barely crossing another track and at times the drifts were well above the knees.

When we made it back on to Ullr’s dream the snow was so deep we had to unstrap and push back to the tramside base. All that work for the goods was worth it but we needed to refuel. Back at the tramside base we grabbed Miso Hungry and some Von Trapp beers from the general store. Already we had felt accomplished, but we had plenty of time left. After a perfect quick lunch we were back at it.

The rest of the day was spent making the lap across the mountain from the metro to the Bonnie and back again. Everglade and staircase had plenty of good snow, if not a little more tracked due to the ease of access. the best snow best still required a little work.

To finish the day I had thing one my mind, back to Beaver Pond. My last run through those trees was just as good as the first, if not better. Refills on tap. That’s what Jay is all about.