dlague
Active member
Conditions: Mash Potato, Corn (I am getting hungry) with a little ice patch here and there!
Trip Report: The most meaningless trip report!
How does that expression go? The best laid plans are designed to be broken! That was exactly the case this weekend. The original plan was to ski on both Saturday and Sunday hoping to arrive around 10 on Saturday. However, the series of issues cropped up at the last minute such as our kennel closing down, tires needing replacement (on my wife’s car) and the last minute scheduling of our sons Lacrosse practice. As a result, we did not get to our condo at Jay Peak until 2:30. While we thought about skiing for the hour and a half the thought of spending $180 for us to ski on Saturday was just not working for me. I think the $49 Killington and Jay Peak are asking to ski is a little steep for the terrain that is open - IMO.
So Saturday was spent hanging out and enjoying the weather on the patio of the Tower Bar while the kids went to the Water Park. We also watched the Bruins – Habs game from the Water Park. We would eventually look back to that afternoon and realize that it was the better weather to ski in.
Sunday was a whole other story! It was Mother’s Day and my wife wanted to be skiing so we were up early and looking forward to making some turns. The winds were pretty strong on Saturday and continued into Sunday morning. The predicted temp was for a high of 69 at the base and temps starting around 55. Well it was more like upper 40’s and the wind chill made it feel colder. However, I was determined to ski in shorts!
So the seven trails open – we only counted 6 and it was really 4. Two were boring as hell – Interstate and Perry Merril -> Queens Highway. The other two were The Jet and Haynes -> Mont L’Entrepide (which is really one trail). We started immediately by driving over to Stateside and skiing off the Jet chair – which was a bit of a pain since we had to hike over there – but nonetheless a lift was open so I will stop whining! Heading up the Jet Triple we noticed the clouds, winds and the cold. We were not expecting that. Each chair ride up got rather uncomfortable towards the top – but we have skied in subzero temps so suck it up! Our first run was on Haynes and it was great getting back out! Everything was groomed out but making turns was all I needed. It was a heavy mash potato/corn snow with believe it or not – some ice. That trail was getting narrow in some sections but actually skied pretty good. We then opted to ski The Jet and that trail was in very nice shape. There was a little bit of everything - towards the top a little glade skiing, bumps under the chair and groomer down the main part of the trail! We skied three runs on Jet before we thought we need to head back for Mother’s day Brunch. When we got back to the Stateside Lodge, my wife called for one more run from the Metro Quad so she drove back in her ski boots. The condo we were staying in was facing Interstate. The run was basically a lean back and make no turns run. Then just to say we did, opted to ski the other runs that were open. Big mistake – well not that big! Perry Merrill was cross-country skiing – there is no slope there and when the snow is soft you notice! We headed back to our condo via Queen’s Highway where we played any icy patch we could find but that was painful!
All in all, getting to ski on May 11th and have a nice brunch with my wife and kids, my mother and my brother’s family was cool! The weather improved dramatically by 1, however, we needed to make our way back to NH. My wife’s legs got trashed on Haynes and The Jet – she got out of skiing shape really fast since we hadn’t skied for two weeks – almost three! She was skiing cautiously which is probably why! Our favorite run (of the few) was The Jet which also had the most coverage. Dollar for Dollar – Killington was the better bet this weekend based on reports – but we were happy with what might be our last day of skiing!
There were a few things that confused me:
The Mother on the special day!
Yes there were some bumps
Looking up The Jet
Looking down The Jet
Looking up the Jet (this is getting repetitive)
Trip Report: The most meaningless trip report!
How does that expression go? The best laid plans are designed to be broken! That was exactly the case this weekend. The original plan was to ski on both Saturday and Sunday hoping to arrive around 10 on Saturday. However, the series of issues cropped up at the last minute such as our kennel closing down, tires needing replacement (on my wife’s car) and the last minute scheduling of our sons Lacrosse practice. As a result, we did not get to our condo at Jay Peak until 2:30. While we thought about skiing for the hour and a half the thought of spending $180 for us to ski on Saturday was just not working for me. I think the $49 Killington and Jay Peak are asking to ski is a little steep for the terrain that is open - IMO.
So Saturday was spent hanging out and enjoying the weather on the patio of the Tower Bar while the kids went to the Water Park. We also watched the Bruins – Habs game from the Water Park. We would eventually look back to that afternoon and realize that it was the better weather to ski in.
Sunday was a whole other story! It was Mother’s Day and my wife wanted to be skiing so we were up early and looking forward to making some turns. The winds were pretty strong on Saturday and continued into Sunday morning. The predicted temp was for a high of 69 at the base and temps starting around 55. Well it was more like upper 40’s and the wind chill made it feel colder. However, I was determined to ski in shorts!
So the seven trails open – we only counted 6 and it was really 4. Two were boring as hell – Interstate and Perry Merril -> Queens Highway. The other two were The Jet and Haynes -> Mont L’Entrepide (which is really one trail). We started immediately by driving over to Stateside and skiing off the Jet chair – which was a bit of a pain since we had to hike over there – but nonetheless a lift was open so I will stop whining! Heading up the Jet Triple we noticed the clouds, winds and the cold. We were not expecting that. Each chair ride up got rather uncomfortable towards the top – but we have skied in subzero temps so suck it up! Our first run was on Haynes and it was great getting back out! Everything was groomed out but making turns was all I needed. It was a heavy mash potato/corn snow with believe it or not – some ice. That trail was getting narrow in some sections but actually skied pretty good. We then opted to ski The Jet and that trail was in very nice shape. There was a little bit of everything - towards the top a little glade skiing, bumps under the chair and groomer down the main part of the trail! We skied three runs on Jet before we thought we need to head back for Mother’s day Brunch. When we got back to the Stateside Lodge, my wife called for one more run from the Metro Quad so she drove back in her ski boots. The condo we were staying in was facing Interstate. The run was basically a lean back and make no turns run. Then just to say we did, opted to ski the other runs that were open. Big mistake – well not that big! Perry Merrill was cross-country skiing – there is no slope there and when the snow is soft you notice! We headed back to our condo via Queen’s Highway where we played any icy patch we could find but that was painful!
All in all, getting to ski on May 11th and have a nice brunch with my wife and kids, my mother and my brother’s family was cool! The weather improved dramatically by 1, however, we needed to make our way back to NH. My wife’s legs got trashed on Haynes and The Jet – she got out of skiing shape really fast since we hadn’t skied for two weeks – almost three! She was skiing cautiously which is probably why! Our favorite run (of the few) was The Jet which also had the most coverage. Dollar for Dollar – Killington was the better bet this weekend based on reports – but we were happy with what might be our last day of skiing!
There were a few things that confused me:
- Why did they have Metro running – it was very rarely used!
- Why have crappy trails open? Just to have a higher trail count?
- $49 whether at Killington or Jay Peak seems absurd! What happen to the days when they had skiing for $10-25 and more people showed up? There were not a lot of people. Sadly there were more people at the water park.
- The Brunch there is now OK – it used to be great. Now they increased the price by a lot and there are fewer options! They have priced themselve out the locals range! It was hoping there three years ago and there were many table open this year.
- Can the weather persons get the forecast right or is it the Jay Cloud that makes it hard – it was there 100%!
The Mother on the special day!
Yes there were some bumps
Looking up The Jet
Looking down The Jet
Looking up the Jet (this is getting repetitive)