Last day of 2025 at Jay. We got skunked overnight and only got a dusting. I knew the Jet did not run the day before. I assumed that new snow in the trees would be great (from the storm the night before yesterday).
Unfortunately, the untracked snow was extremely challenging to ski through. Perhaps the densest snow that I have ever skied . The wind had packed the snow super dense. Boot deep in spots, but ultra grabby. “Powder turns” alternated with scraping the top of the ice layer underneath.
It was easier to ski once the untracked had already been cut up. I abandoned my normal off-map trees routine and skied Timbuk proper for the first time in a half dozen years, or so. Just enough traffic to break up the untracked a bit, but still not too much so that there still was some new snow whenever it felt right.
After two hours, Kitz Woods was proper packed powder and was skiing really good. One of those days when turns got better the more the new snow got skied in. Given the rain/freeze and extreme wind, the groomers were better than they had right to be. Still not great (firm, fast, and scratchy), but I expected worse.
Tough week for the vacationers. I left around 10am when the Jet started to get a line (all of the other upper mountain lifts were on hold). I’ll be back tomorrow. It looks like at least 6″ incoming tonight. New Year’s powder days are always great since most skiers value partying the night before more than first (or tenth) chair.
I can’t complain. It doesn’t look like Jay lost much base depth and we’ll be right back in it after tonight.
