Jiminy Peak 1/4/09

[ta&idaho]

Date(s) Skied: Sunday, January 4, 2009

Resort or Ski Area: Jiminy Peak

Conditions: bluebird skies; hardpack groomers

Trip Report:

My wife and I took advantage of one of the Potter Brothers flex days at Jiminy this weekend (my inaugural ski trip into the state of Massachusetts). Beautiful day (and night...there's something really unique about night skiing), decent skiing. Lots of hard, fast groomers, with some bald icy patches here and there. Jiminy has some nice terrain...it's too bad they seem to groom it all into oblivion.

Here are a few pics:

beautiful bluebird day

loved skiing at sunset (and props for the wind power)

wish there had been a little more snow in the trees (although, do they ever drop the ropes?)

all in all, a great day trip from nyc

 

[billski]

Jiminy has some nice terrain...it's too bad they seem to groom it all into oblivion.

I wonder if they groom the woods? :-o
...

wish there had been a little more snow in the trees (although, do they ever drop the ropes?)

It seems the further south you go, the more serious resorts are about prohibiting woods skiing. Berkshire east is a good example of making it tough to ski woods. Even the little trail to trail cut throughs are roped. Maybe they own a rope manufacturer :-o

 

[Greg]

I wonder if they groom the woods? :-o

The woods in SNE aren't really skiable all that much. I believe ta&idaho is talking about the overgrooming of the main trails which receive snowmaking which is unfortunately the case lately at Jiminy. There are several runs which would be great left ungroomed, specifically Jericho and Wild Turkey come to mind.

It seems the further south you go, the more serious resorts are about prohibiting woods skiing.

See above. Might have something to do with lack of natural? :idea:

Berkshire east is a good example of making it tough to ski woods. Even the little trail to trail cut throughs are roped. Maybe they own a rope manufacturer :-o

I've found BEast to be the most liberal in SNE in terms of allowing skiing on thin cover and in the woods.

 

[billski]

so Jiminy doesn't let anything bump up?

 

[Greg]

so Jiminy doesn't let anything bump up?

Haven't been in a few seasons, but usually only Cutter and a trail called The Mogul Thing. Cutter is a nice pitch but short and the bumps are left to form naturally and are usually sweeping broad push piles. TMG is almost a joke in terms of pitch and length. Skier's right of Foxes usually has some nice bumps and periodically you can find a line or two right under the Q1 quad on Whitetail. The rest of the entire place is flat as a pancake. It's too bad too since there is plenty of steep terrain and they have awesome snow making firepower. A lot of the trails on the main face ski the same so seeding some bumps would add a bit of variety. Not enough noise from whatever mogul community there is at Jiminy for them to seriously consider it apparently.

 

[2knees]

It seems the further south you go, the more serious resorts are about prohibiting woods skiing. Berkshire east is a good example of making it tough to ski woods. Even the little trail to trail cut throughs are roped. Maybe they own a rope manufacturer :-o

i've only been to berkshire east once so my keep that in mind but.....

when i was there, it was about 7" of super light powder on top of blue blue blue ice. one pass down anything ungroomed scraped it off and left that nasty old surface exposed. We skied 3 tree runs that day, all open, and 2 of them scary as hell. seemed extremely liberal to me. we didnt poach the beast but i think, based on what i've heard, that it may have resulted in a trip to the hospital.

love the sunset shot ta.

 

[Greg]

http://news.alpinezone.com/46018/

Good for them, but based on that, I wouldn't expect any changes in their grooming policy.

 

[billski]

http://news.alpinezone.com/46018/

Good for them, but based on that, I wouldn't expect any changes in their grooming policy.

My uneducated observation is that all "local" resorts (within a 2-4 hour drive) will see an uptick this year, while destination resorts in the midwest will suffer.

I have heard this comment from several families up and down the east coast that changed their plans to 'go local', save the airfare and "ski the east".

 

[Greg]

My uneducated observation is that all "local" resorts (within a 2-4 hour drive) will see an uptick this year, while destination resorts in the midwest will suffer.

I have heard this comment from several families up and down the east coast that changed their plans to 'go local', save the airfare and "ski the east".

That may very well be. If gas prices didn't come down, I would argue that perhaps the areas in the 1 hour drive range of large populations will do the best. Regardless of the cause of increased skier visits, I would imagine that suggested changes to terrain policy will not be looked favorably upon.

 

[billski]

That may very well be. If gas prices didn't come down, I would argue that perhaps the areas in the 1 hour drive range of large populations will do the best. Regardless of the cause of increased skier visits, I would imagine that suggested changes to terrain policy will not be looked favorably upon.

True dat. It's interesting how the northern resorts formalized their terrain policy and put stuff on the map, whereas in the past before woods skiing became "trendy", woods were an "undocumented feature" only known to the few. Understandably so, the last thing they need is folks getting lost in the woods and having to go find them, regardless of the words on the back of the ticket... I'm not even talking about getting hurt. I'm talking about serious LOST.

The second dynamic I hear a lot is that you need a lot of good snow to cover up the deterius in the woods. The further south you go, the lower the snowpack.

Third, I wonder, (with no substantiation) if the proximity to urban liability digging scum makes a lawsuit more probable.

 

[Newpylong]

I was a passholder for many years at Jiminy. They could have some nice terrain if A) the trails weren't as wide as a football field and B) groomed as flat as a 2X4.

I get bored to death with the steep stuff on the left side (looking up) of the mountain. The trails are so wide that the majority of the decent snow usually blows right off. Whirlaway comes to mind as the worst. They don't make snow on Upper Exhibition it seems anymore, that used to be a fun run before the 6 pack went in. Wild Turkey I think is the best out of them all over there, it actually makes a turn 3/4 of the way down!

They had some nice tree skiing just down from Upper Fox - I think it was called Riptide. Then they bulldozed all the damn trees and made it into a trail the same as any other on the mountain.

The bumps on Cutter are always terrible. The ones on Upper Fox seem to be the best, but very short. I happily heard they moved the park off of Ace of Spades (which was stupidly called Coyote Ridge) and moved to Grand Slam (a terrible trail anyway). That is good news as Ace of Spades is one of the best runs there. Overall I can't remember the last time I've seen decent conditions there, outside of early November a few year's back when we had a lot open early.

Their lift system is great though...

 

[ta&idaho]

Some of the woods were actually remarkably close to being skiable (I would have poked in and out a bit more were it not for the ropes). I understand the safety issues, but I think skiers should risk base damage at their own peril. Maybe roping off some areas creates an impression that all open areas are completely risk free. Call me crazy, but ropes should be for cliffs, avalanche control, and hauling beginners uphill. If I'm stupid enough to venture over roots and other woodland debris (short answer: yes, I am), I appreciate the freedom to do so.

I agree with the other commenters about the waste of the area 6pack-rider's left. There are ~4 nearly identical, straight, wide, hard-groomed runs across the steepest part of the mountain. And, from what I can tell from one day, they were mostly empty (undermining the claim that the clientele demand all groomers all the time). Some of the other runs that had the slightest amount of terrain undulation, such as Wild Turkey, saw far more action.

Definitely a worthwhile trip--at ~2:30 from George Washington Bridge--but it could be so much more.

 

[Vince]

Skied here today. Bluebird sky, no wind, 25 degrees, solid crowd for a weekday. A few slick spots but visibility was good. Overall excellent cruise conditions a bit scraped off on the steeps. They blew snow top to bottom all day on Exhibition, Whitetail, Riptide and Outback. They've pumped a lot of snow here and have a good base all over the mountain.

 

[Hawkshot99]

wish there had been a little more snow in the trees (although, do they ever drop the ropes?)

One of the most fun trails on the mountain. Unfortunately it is all natural, so not open too much. The small cliffs are lots of fun, when there is enough to hit them, especially after they cleared out lots of brush to make lift evacts on the triple easier this past summer.

They only have one glade on property, the "hot wheels glade", but there is some nice tight tree skiing if you know were to look. Just dont get caught as it is not allowed.

 

[Newpylong]

Skied here today. Bluebird sky, no wind, 25 degrees, solid crowd for a weekday. A few slick spots but visibility was good. Overall excellent cruise conditions a bit scraped off on the steeps. They blew snow top to bottom all day on Exhibition, Whitetail, Riptide and Outback. They've pumped a lot of snow here and have a good base all over the mountain.

Were they making snow on Upper Ex???

 

[Vince]

I might be giving you bogus info on that. They did not make snow right under the lift up top. They made it on Upper Whirlaway continued down thru Lower Exhibition.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Were they making snow on Upper Ex???

They have no guns on upper Ex. or liftline.

 

[Newpylong]

They have no guns on upper Ex. or liftline.

Maybe not now... but every year in the 90's they used to just drag the hoses and tripods through the woods from Upper Whirlaway and cover Upper Ex. Its not that far to go at all.

Liftline on the hand has never seen a gun.