Jay Peak 3/31/13

[Zand]

Cloudyish 50 degree day on the hill. Realized I left my gloves at MRG when I got to the mountain but it was warm enough to do without for the day rather than buy new ones for $65.

Skied all over the mountain today, mixing up between glades and bumps. Started at 11 am on a CanAm/Liftline run. CanAm was more slick than I expected. Liftline had a few good bump lines but a lot of dirt in the troughs as well. Did a weird run down Goat Run to Bushwacker afterwards... never skied Bushwacker before as it's a kind of out of the way blue glade but it's nice and spacious if you're looking for a first timer kind of glade.

Beaver Pond was up next... obviously pretty worn down in there but holding up pretty well. Many of the glades are still very nicely covered and should make it another week or two anyway.

Finally hit Face Chutes for the first time as I caught a tram ride with a bunch of people that were hitting it. That allowed me to really see the different lines and find one for myself. Other than a sheet of ice under the tram house and a little boneyness at the top of the pitch, the snow was phenomenal. Nice and soft the entire way. Finished up with some Milk Run bumps.

Headed over for a few runs off the Jet... hit Timbuktu, UN, and Kitz/Hells woods. The glades were in amazing shape... you were hard pressed to even find a patch of dirt anywhere in the woods over there. Compared to March 31 last year, it was heaven today. UN had plenty of bumps with a couple decent lines and a burnt out trough or two.

Headed back over to Tramside as the line was short which you don't get too often. Did a repeat of Face Chutes and headed down to Everglade from there. After coming off the Face, kinda made the steepness of Everglade feel like a piece of cake. Coverage in Everglade is terrific. A few rocks poking out in the usual places, but well worth hitting if you don't mind the SLLLOOOOOWWW runout on Ullr's at the bottom. Face to Everglade is 1,800ish vertical feet of insanity, I'll say that.

Next up was Green Beret. Again, another run that usually feels big and steep, but was nice and relaxing after hitting the face. The initial rocky area is actually not too bad getting through right now... a testament to how much snow the place has. Rest of the trail was nice. Took Hell's Woods to the bottom.

Did a Bonnie Liftline run before wrapping up the afternoon with a Canyonland/Lower Powerline combo. Canyonland is actually one of the more worn-out glades on the hill with quite a few dirt patches in the wider lines, but getting out on the edges reveals deeper snow. Powerline obviously has quite a few rocks poking out now, but some sick bumps as well.

Terrific past few weeks here in northern VT after 2 years of completely crap. Currently lightly raining here in Lyndonville but it should be a net neutral storm for the mountains with a few inches of snow on the backside. Spring weather returns later this week... looking forward to one more day at Burke Thursday, Jay Friday, and then I'm on spring break so I'll probably hit Wachusett for closing weekend festivities.

Doesn't feel like the season is coming to an end... in fact it feels like it just started because so much of the season has sucked here. But the days are getting limited. I'm intrigued by how deep Superstar looks right now and the rumblings of making it to June. My birthday is Sun June 2, and it would be pretty damn cool to ski on my birthday. Memorial Day would be great too. Hope they can make it.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Sweet report. Nice that the Face is so filled in.
Did you come across any brown snow while in the vicinity of Green Beret?

 

[thetrailboss]

Sweet report. Nice that the Face is so filled in.
Did you come across any brown snow while in the vicinity of Green Beret?

Yeah, exactly. Did you see anyone taking a dump in the woods?

 

[Puck it]

Yeah, exactly. Did you see anyone taking a dump in the woods?

From the sounds of it. He takes a dump at machschenll speed too!!!!!!

 

[JimG.]

Did a repeat of Face Chutes and headed down to Everglade from there. After coming off the Face, kinda made the steepness of Everglade feel like a piece of cake. Coverage in Everglade is terrific. A few rocks poking out in the usual places, but well worth hitting if you don't mind the SLLLOOOOOWWW runout on Ullr's at the bottom. Face to Everglade is 1,800ish vertical feet of insanity, I'll say that.

That is quite a descent.

I would like to ski the Face when it's softer...when I was there early in the month it was cold and the Face looked sketchy and firm. Tuckerman Chute made me pucker a bit.

Just trying to keep a certain theme to the 3/31 Jay TR's.

 

[skifree]

How are your knuckles ?

 

[Zand]

No I didn't see any brown snow on Green Beret though it was about 3:15 when I hit it so I'm glad I didn't ski too close to the edge hahaha.

Jim - the Face was nice and soft which is why it took me till now to finally ski it. Always has looked too sketchy to me. I hit Tuckerman's last week when I was there and it wasn't bad but I could tell that it still wasn't good enough to attempt Face.

Knuckles are good although I had one moment in one of the glades where I hit a slick patch and scraped them trying to stay on my feet. I was surprised when they weren't bleeding a few seconds later. Considering that I have a million other pairs of gloves, I'm certainly glad I didn't drop $65 for another pair from the shop.

 

[JimG.]

Jim - the Face was nice and soft which is why it took me till now to finally ski it. Always has looked too sketchy to me. I hit Tuckerman's last week when I was there and it wasn't bad but I could tell that it still wasn't good enough to attempt Face.

I've become a Jay convert...quickly becoming my favorite mountain for a long distance 2-3 day trip. In early March I thought Tuckerman Chute was clearly the most difficult line I skied. Very steep and narrow not to mention the tight trees at the bottom. Lot's of exposed rocks. Quite a rush.

I determined after that run that the Face was too much for me at that time. It looked icy and sketchy at the saddle and I don't know that area well enough to go picking around. I watched 2 other skiers try it and their descent did not look smooth at all. They looked more scared than anything. The one skier who looked good in there was clearly a local. Jumped in right at that huge cliff skier's right, worked quickly over to the saddle just below the first cliff, then launched the second cliff and down to the bottom. Looked great.

I would love to be up there right now to try it, but I'll keep it on my to do list for next season.

 

[riverc0il]

JimG, Face is easier than Tuckerman Chutes in some conditions. We skied GoS main gully together... Face isn't that much steeper and if so, only for 50-100 vert feet before it really mellows. Only problem is if the coverage is thin and boney on the roll over. Once you get three or four turns in, it really mellows. Not hard at all when it corns up in the spring.

 

[JimG.]

JimG, Face is easier than Tuckerman Chutes in some conditions. We skied GoS main gully together... Face isn't that much steeper and if so, only for 50-100 vert feet before it really mellows. Only problem is if the coverage is thin and boney on the roll over. Once you get three or four turns in, it really mellows. Not hard at all when it corns up in the spring.

Interesting to know...my main issue was at the top. It was thin and icy in spots, nothing but rock in some places. I've learned that when I'm unfamiliar with an area and it looks like that, I pass and wait for someone to guide me to the best line or for easier conditions. I didn't think Tuckerman Chutes were much easier and I'm glad to get some verification of that. But even with that knowledge I would have passed on the Face that day.

Run away today, live to try again another day.

 

[skiking4]

I think the opposite. Tucker mans is just as short, not nearly as steep, and just a series of steep narrow chutes with often better coverage than the Face which is steeper plus tighter/more narrow and includes some no fall cliffy terrain.

 

[riverc0il]

You think Face is tighter than Tuckerman Chutes? Face is wide open. Nothing on Face is "no fall" -- a term that is WAY over used. A lot depends on conditions. I've only skied crappy conditions on Tuckerman Chutes and good conditions on Face so may mileage may be different than others. Face is only steep for a short pitch, the lower 2/3 is mellows out.

 

[skiking4]

I was up at Jay once two years ago. Here's the TR from the trip, which includes a nice pic from the top of the "easiest" chute on the Face
http://www.epicski.com/t/101721/jay-peak-feb-20-23

It was about a 12 foot straight-line into a tiny 5 foot sketchy coverage huck into the "wider" part of the chute before it opens up on the face about 50 feet later. You can navigate around the Face Chutes through the trees to skier's left to take you to the top of the "wider" part of this main chute which was about 15-20 feet wide as it gradually widens for the next 50 yards before it skis like a bowl and eventually into a narrower treelined but way less steep chute at the bottom.

Some of the other chutes on the Face were much longer straight lines and some had larger mandatory hucks. I also wouldn't want to fall right above the top of the Face Chutes or else you'd fly off a 20 ft cliff, so I'd consider that no-fall terrain.

I skied Tuckerman's once that week and don't remember much besides it being way less interesting than the Face Chutes. It was like a narrow trail that split up into several paths a couple times that was moderately steep and some annoying rocks at the top. Don't really remember much in terms of "cliffs", "extra-steep", "straight lining", or "very technical" sections however... or at all. But maybe it's just lost memory. It was a short run (like the Face), but at least the view from the top of the Face Chutes was a solid photo opportunity

 

[JimG.]

Nice pics of the Face skiking4. Those chutes were WAY more filled in with snow in your pics than they were when I was there. If there had been that much snow on them in early March I definitely would have already skied them.

I'd say there was half as much snow there during my visit, especially at the top where the chutes are well defined in your pictures. When I was there it was nothing but exposed rock, ice, and a few thin areas with some snow. There were no defined chutes like in your shots and it was difficult to determine where the chutes actually were. I saw nobody enter them from the top of the saddle like it looks like you can in your pics.

 

[Zand]

Seeing as I've skied both with similar conditions over the past week, I think that Tuckerman's really isn't all that bad. Like skiking4 said, there's a few narrow, quite steep chutes with a few rocks but nothing all that extreme. On the other hand, while the lower 2/3rds of Face Chutes are pretty mellow and wide, if you make a mistake on the top third there's a decent chance that you'll be tumbling over a rock or cliff if you can't stop your fall. Tuckerman's really doesn't feel all that much different than, say, Deliverance with slightly more pitch, but Face really is that steep and rocky at the top.

 

[skiking4]

Sorry for hijacking the TR, but I thought this was interesting if anyone wants to see my mini analysis of this section of the Face Chutes.





Ahh this quality sucks :/
Anyways I find the Face Chutes to probably be the hardest and steepest marked run I've personally skied in the East. At the top of the chutes when you only look all the way down on Northway from vertigo literally feels like you're out west chute skiing