Jay Peak 12/11/11

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Sunday 12/11/11

Resort or Ski Area: Jay Peak, VT

Conditions: Awful

Trip Report:

Hit Haynes first, and first turn on the steep my feet came out from under me... it was that slick. Then the trail was closed to the bottom for absolutely no reason, so everyone had to cut back to Jet on an uncovered crossover trail that was full of rocks and dirt, while a nice covered lower Haynes (complete with whales to have some fun on) was closed off.

Jet was slightly less slick, but that's not saying much. It was somehow worse than last week which is absurd considering Jay has gotten 6" this week according to their site (bullshit) and 2 of the past 3 nights have been in the low 10s. Didn't see a single gun running on any other trail while I was there either, and seeing as we are in mid December with 2 trails open and daytime temps holding below freezing, it's probably time to start focusing on the skiing instead of the waterpark and hotel for once.

Speaking of waterpark, my GF wants to check it out this Wednesday so I'll probably take a couple runs before we go in there. Maybe things will be better with less traffic and more snowmaking (if they actually do that... probably expecting too much considering I saw dirt right in the middle of Jet at the top) but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[riverc0il]

I've skied far worse at Jay in December. Given how this season is going, I think your expectations might be a bit high. It looks like they got the condo trails and T-bar online this weekend so that is where they were blowing. According to their FB page, they plan to get the Freezer and Metro going next week. It is their standard plan. Jay isn't known for their snowmaking power, looks like they are doing the best they can with what they got.

 

[Zand]

I've skied far worse at Jay in December. Given how this season is going, I think your expectations might be a bit high. It looks like they got the condo trails and T-bar online this weekend so that is where they were blowing. According to their FB page, they plan to get the Freezer and Metro going next week. It is their standard plan. Jay isn't known for their snowmaking power, looks like they are doing the best they can with what they got.

I guess I was expecting them to be more on par with the areas in southern VT considering the latitude and elevation advantage. I heard from people that went to Loon and others that went to Mt. Snow yesterday and both sounded okay. Obviously not great considering the season but at least skiable enough. I've never gone to a mountain and only skied 2 runs before. Even Cannon was making snow during the day yesterday and I can't imagine their snowmaking power is any better than Jay's.

 

[riverc0il]

For what it is worth, Cannon only had one route this weekend (with the Links as an option to Spookie today) which is pretty much the same total acres as Jay. Loon had the advantage of going with uploading and blowing top to bottom so they had a jump. I'd rate Cannon's snow making as better than Jay's. Cannon has unlimited water and covers a lot more terrain than Jay does, plus Cannon has the elevation benefit. The tough part about Jay early season is the pitch of the Jet and Haynes causing those two trails to go bad really quickly.

 

[BigJay]

Same here. Conditions were slick varying from "barely edgeable" to "sheer ice". We did a few laps each day and were home for lunch. Water park is doing great, so i guess everyone's happy!

Best snow was definately on Mont L'Intrepide both Sat and Sun. I don't know why they kept it closed off... it was definately safer then the both white ribbons of death!

Now, how about some snow worth taking about?

 

[Zand]

I was gonna go poaching but wasn't sure how strict Ski Patrol is there. Nor do I feel like discussing it online and getting everyone pissed at me again like Killington a month ago, so if anyone could PM me some tips that would be great for next time. Although I did see a lot of people hiking tramside the last 2 weeks so I feel like they're pretty lenient.

 

[thetrailboss]

I was going to say this is the reason:

Mountain ops is working extremely hard to have Tramside open for next weekend. What we know for sure is the Learning Area and Sunkid moving carpet will be open next weekend. As long as snowmaking temps hold steady we will continue with snowmaking on part of the Northway, Upper Goat, Lower Quai, Interstate, Perry Merrill and Queens Highway. All in effort to be spinning the Flyer and Metro by next weekend. Stay tuned as we will know more throughout the week.

 

[Nick]

Now here's the question: is "Awful" better or worse than not skiing at all?

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

 

[BigJay]

Now here's the question: is "Awful" better or worse than not skiing at all?

Worst.

 

[JPTracker]

Date(s) Skied: Sunday 12/11/11

Resort or Ski Area: Jay Peak, VT

Conditions: Awful

Trip Report:

Hit Haynes first, and first turn on the steep my feet came out from under me... it was that slick. Then the trail was closed to the bottom for absolutely no reason, so everyone had to cut back to Jet on an uncovered crossover trail that was full of rocks and dirt, while a nice covered lower Haynes (complete with whales to have some fun on) was closed off.

Jet was slightly less slick, but that's not saying much. It was somehow worse than last week which is absurd considering Jay has gotten 6" this week according to their site (bullshit) and 2 of the past 3 nights have been in the low 10s. Didn't see a single gun running on any other trail while I was there either, and seeing as we are in mid December with 2 trails open and daytime temps holding below freezing, it's probably time to start focusing on the skiing instead of the waterpark and hotel for once.

Speaking of waterpark, my GF wants to check it out this Wednesday so I'll probably take a couple runs before we go in there. Maybe things will be better with less traffic and more snowmaking (if they actually do that... probably expecting too much considering I saw dirt right in the middle of Jet at the top) but I'm not holding my breath.

What time were you there? I got there at 8:30 and skied 8 runs in two hours all of which were pretty nice. The first couple of runs were nice packed powder. By 10:30 the ice was starting to show up and it was time to leave. Haynes was a little rough but a lot better than Saturday. Saturday was the first day Haynes was opened and it was freshly groomed snow making which results in a very rough surface.

Basically when there is limited terrain for a lot of skiers get there early.

As far as the snow making goes they had shut it down around 7:00 am from the Open Slope, bottom of Haynes,Chalet Meadow & Queens Highway. By noon time it was back up and running on Interstate over on Tramside.

 

[riverc0il]

Now here's the question: is "Awful" better or worse than not skiing at all?

I wasn't there this weekend but when I had a pass I skied a lot of early season days at Jay in which I skied three runs and went home wishing I had not bothered. When they only have Jet and Haynes in December, it is rather brutal. As noted above, the steep nature of Jet and Haynes causes scraped to icy conditions very quickly due to the large volume of intermediate skiers (and many advanced skiers as well) pointing em' sideways and sliding.

 

[thetrailboss]

Correct me if I'm wrong, because it has been a while since I last skied Jay, but it seems that they are conservative if not stingy with snowmaking. IIRC Steve Wright agreed with me that this is a weakness. I wonder if an upgrade is coming with all the $$$$ they have from EB5?

 

[kingdom-tele]

you would think a place that gets 400" of snow wouldn't need artificial snow making

 

[thetrailboss]

you would think a place that gets 400" of snow wouldn't need artificial snow making

Right. Same can be said for Snowbird, with over 500" annually, but both Jay and Snowbird are going on only snowmaking right now....