Jay Peak - 3/5/06

[ga2ski]

I was laying around sick on the couch all day saturday looking at the weather. Then I saw the forecast/pictures for Jay (18" on saturday and another 18"-24" expected that night) and one of my friends had called me earlier in the day saying he wanted to go. So I downed some more dayquil and met him and some friends in Manchester. 2 hours later we were at our hotel in Lydonville, VT. We unpacked at the hotel and then hit this sketchy bar in town call the Packing house. .. . a very interesting local's bar. . . .FYI-next week is jello wrestling

We awoke this morning at 6:00 packed up the car by 6:30 and after a minor detour (our driver made a wrong turn) we arrive at Jay at 8:00. Upon arrival we heard that the Flyer, Tram and Jet lifts were closed and couldn't see how they were claiming 28" of snow over since Fiday. We thought "This is going to suck if we drove over 3 hours to ski just the lower lifts."
Well around 9:00 the Green Mountain Flyer (I mean Green Mountain Freezer) started loading. It was nice and warm with sun and snowing until we crested the top of Upper Exhibition and then the fierce winds kicked in. We headed straight to the beaver pond glades. Well even though the flyer had been closed all day yesterday due wind, some people had hiked and the glades were not totally untouched, but amazing. The fluff was great to float on and crash in.

On run number two I found all 28" of snow as I somehow skied outside of the boundary in Beyond Beaver pond glade and into the proposed expansion area. I ended up on a long backcountry trek in snow up to mid thigh deep. It was tons of work and awesome at the same time. Luckily I was on my tele gear.

The lines were really long at the flyer so we headed to the Jet where the lines were even longer. We waited up to 20 minutes in line, but no one really seemed to be that upset. Being able to ski powder seemed to keep most happy. Kit's wood, Hell's woods and Timbuktu were tracked up, but tons of fun.

Next we headed over to the Bonaventure quad and skied Vertigo, Buckaroo Bonzai, Canyon lands, Boneventaure glades. They were all tracked but we found plenty of fresh with a little venturing off the main track.

After lunch we went back to Jet and skied a few more runs in Timbuktu before calling it a day around 2:30 or so.

So keep this in mind, 28" of powder with take a cold away.

Here is a link to some pictures from today:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=548285891&key=mfkqvm

 

[thetrailboss]

2 hours later we were at our hotel in Lydonville, VT. We unpacked at the hotel and then hit this sketchy bar in town call the Packing house. .. . a very interesting local's bar. . . .FYI-next week is jello wrestling

Take it from a Lyndonville Native....the "Packer" is sketch, but not as bad as it once was. And us locals are not sketch :wink:

Upon arrival we heard that the Flyer, Tram and Jet lifts were closed and couldn't see how they were claiming 28" of snow over since Fiday. We thought "This is going to suck if we drove over 3 hours to skis just the lower lifts."

Yep, this is Jay's curse. It may snow, but the wind blows as well. We still have not heard from that guy who went to Jay on MLK week claiming that we were all wrong about the wind issue :roll: I've gone many days up there to be turned around

Well around 9:00 the Green Mountain Flyer (I mean Green Mountain Freezer) started loading. It was nice and warm with sun and snowing until we crested the top of Upper Exhibition and then the fierce winds kicked in. We headed straight to the beaver pond glades. Well even though the flyer had been closed all day yesterday due wind, some people had hiked and the glades were not totally untouched, but amazing. The fluff was great to float on and crash in.

At least they did get the lifts going....in general, when they close the lifts for wind, they're closed :roll: Sounds like an incredible day. Check out Burke on another trip. :wink:

 

[riverc0il]

yea packing house! it is actually decent for this part of the woods. if you want sketchy around here, i got a few places i could refer you to....

 

[awf170]

I was laying around sick on the couch all day saturday looking at the weather. Then I saw the forecast/pictures for Jay (18" on saturday and another 18"-24" expected that night) and one of my friends had called me earlier in the day saying he wanted to go. So I downed some more dayquil and met him and some friends in Manchester. 2 hours later we were at our hotel in Lydonville, VT. We unpacked at the hotel and then hit this sketchy bar in town call the Packing house. .. . a very interesting local's bar. . . .FYI-next week is jello wrestling

We awoke this morning at 6:00 packed up the car by 6:30 and after a minor detour (our driver made a wrong turn) we arrive at Jay at 8:00. Upon arrival we heard that the Flyer, Tram and Jet lifts were closed and couldn't see how they were claiming 28" of snow over since Fiday. We thought "This is going to suck if we drove over 3 hours to skis just the lower lifts."
Well around 9:00 the Green Mountain Flyer (I mean Green Mountain Freezer) started loading. It was nice and warm with sun and snowing until we crested the top of Upper Exhibition and then the fierce winds kicked in. We headed straight to the beaver pond glades. Well even though the flyer had been closed all day yesterday due wind, some people had hiked and the glades were not totally untouched, but amazing. The fluff was great to float on and crash in.

On run number two I found all 28" of snow as I somehow skied outside of the boundary in Beyond Beaver pond glade and into the proposed expansion area. I ended up on a long backcountry trek in snow up to mid thigh deep. It was tons of work and awesome at the same time. Luckily I was on my tele gear.

The lines were really long at the flyer so we headed to the Jet where the lines were even longer. We waited up to 20 minutes in line, but no one really seemed to be that upset. Being able to ski powder seemed to keep most happy. Kit's wood, Hell's woods and Timbuktu were tracked up, but tons of fun.

Next we headed over to the Bonaventure quad and skied Vertigo, Buckaroo Bonzai, Canyon lands, Boneventaure glades. They were all tracked but we found plenty of fresh with a little venturing off the main track.

After lunch we went back to Jet and skied a few more runs in Timbuktu before calling it a day around 2:30 or so.

So keep this in mind, 28" of powder with take a cold away.

Here is a link to some pictures from today:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=548285891&key=mfkqvm

Nice pix, looks awsome. Suprisingly tracked out though. Still looks a lot better than what I skied this weekend. So did you have skins on you when you got lost? I know ever since I got skis with freerides I throw skins in my pack if I'm going to do anything that has even a slight chance of getting me lost(ex. boundary glades) IMO having skins and touring bindings or tele binding is one of the best precautions to staying safe in the woods. For example the people who died a few years back on Big Jay probably could have survived if they had a way to avoid postholing. I'm kinda rambling, so anyway nice report

 

[ga2ski]

No skins. If I had had skins I could have gotten out much easier. i wasn't lost as i could see the trail, I just couldn't get to it very easily.

 

[ga2ski]

Added two more shots a friend took on his camera to the gallery

as you can see in the second picture . . . there was frozen snow snake hiding in the fluff.

 

[Vortex]

Looks like you had to dig out in that one shot. Nice pictures I know remember what snow looks like.

 

[redalienx11]

Hey I think I saw you there. Sooooo many tele dudes gettin after it though, maybe I'm confused I was the guy on the Verdicts/HammerHeads

 

[nelsapbm]

Have fond memories of the Packing House from growing up in StJ. The others are right, that place is pretty decent compared to others. You could have gone to the Dawg House in StJ. Yikes! Do they still have the riding bull at the Packing House??!! If you go up again, let us know and we'll point you in the right direction bar wise
Glad you had fun!

 

[riverc0il]

no riding bull last time i was in the packing house. i hear some legendary stories though.

 

[ga2ski]

No bull riding that I saw. They did have some poles to dance on though. But we left before the crowd got too rowdy.

I liked the moms and the daughters that were hitting on the same guys. Funny stuff. We went there to possiblt get food as most everything else was closed. We didn't know they didn't serve food. We played pool and went back to the hotel to sleep.