Jiminy Peak - 12/18/2005

[Greg]

Date(s) Skied: Sunday, 12/18/2005 - 9:20 am - 2:50 pm

Resort or Ski Area: Jiminy Peak, Hancock, Massachusetts

Conditions: Packed powder, machine groomed, LGR, very little hard pack. Cool - in the 20's, Mostly cloudy to start, sunny in the pm. Light winds.

Trip Report: Took a run up to Jiminy today with my father-in-law. I wasn't sure what to expect after the rain they saw on Friday. As soon as I walked on the snow over towards the six to put on my skis, I commented that if the snow on the entire mountain was this nice, we'd be in for a great day. It was!

First run was West Way and the snow was fantastic - mid-season-type packed powder. I was really surprised the skiing was this good. For the next runs we continued skier's left to right - Foxes, Riptide, North Glade, Whitetail, Jericho and finally Left Bank. Each run was as consistently good as the one before it. For the most part, full side to side coverage on all open trails. The mountain skied as if it was February, not mid-December.

Trails of note were North Glade - skied fast but very edgeable - a screamer; Skier's right of Foxes - sweet LGR and manmade; skier's right of Jericho - a bit variable, but some nice powdery manmade; and finally the run of the day: Skier's left of Whitetail. There was a fantastic line right under the Q1 Quad with some nice bumps forming on either side of the lip left by the groomer.

We took a break at 11:15 when the six began to back up. Even at it's worst, the line was only a 5-7 minute wait (again disproving Jiminy's weekend crowdedness). We ate the customary lunch of a burger at Christiansen's. We got back out before noon and the line at the six for the rest of the day was 2-5 minutes tops. They also opened the triple around noon, but it wasn't needed and would have helped more in the 10 o'clock hour.

A funny anecdote: around 2 pm, while in line, we were behind a guy slathering on so much sunscreen that you'd think we were skiing the back bowels at Vail in april, not the Berkshires in December. Later in the afternoon, I saw this guy screaming down Whitetail, semi-out of control...at which point the whole Coppertone affair made sense...

All in all a fantastic day and by far my best December outing to Jiminy Peak. I was pleasantly surprised. A few pics to follow...

[thetrailboss]

You dodged the obvious question...how are the BOOTS?

[Greg]

Originally Posted by thetrailboss

You dodged the obvious question...how are the BOOTS?

Oh...fantastic. A huge improvement. I totally felt more connected with the skis and the great surface conditions really gave me a chance to test them out. I found they even make a big difference in something as simple as skating. Much better control all around the board.

HERE are some pics.

I forgot to mention that there's a lot of snowmaking on Whirlaway and Wild Turkey. Won't be long before those open up. We also tried the newly regraded Outback trail. The verdict: The run still painfully flattens out, so much so that you need to skate to the end. The regrading at where Outback meets West Way is an improvement though as it's now flat and not uphill... I still feel they missed the mark on this trail. The point is to relieve some pressure from West Way, but I think folks are still going to opt for WW after trying Outback...

Nevertheless, a fantastic day. Props to mountain ops for whatever they did to get the surface as good as it was!

[ALLSKIING]

Pics look great!!Can't wait to hit Jiminy this year its a fun mountain.

[highpeaksdrifter]

What boots did you get Greg? Tell us all about the fitting process if you have time.

Nice pixs too. As I look at the pixs you took of the mountain from a distance it's hard to figure how they came up with the name Jiminy Peak, cause it diffently doesn't have one. It's one long ridge line.

[bvibert]

Originally Posted by highpeaksdrifter

What boots did you get Greg? Tell us all about the fitting process if you have time.

He already did in the Gear & Equipment Forum:
http://forums.alpinezone.com/viewtopic.php?t=6931

[thetrailboss]

Nice pics. I did not realize that the trails at Jiminy were all literally up and down...not many turns by the looks of those pics

[Bob R]

Great pictures. I love to watch snow being made.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by highpeaksdrifter

As I look at the pixs you took of the mountain from a distance it's hard to figure how they came up with the name Jiminy Peak, cause it diffently doesn't have one. It's one long ridge line.

Agreed. It looks like the top of the mountain was chopped off.

Originally Posted by thetrailboss

Nice pics. I did not realize that the trails at Jiminy were all literally up and down...not many turns by the looks of those pics

They're not all like that. The front steeps of Jericho, Whitetail and Whirlaway are as are the two straight natural runs of Upper Exhibition and Liftline (under the six and under the triple respectively) but they're rarely ever open. There are several great runs that aren't straight falline runs including the Foxes, Wild Turkey and Noreaster. Lots of blues and greens that wind around the mountain too. Also, from that pic you can't even see the Widow White's peak which has several more trails. Come down here someday trailboss and I'll give you a tour...