Jay Peak 2024-25 Season

snowphoenix

Tuesday 12/17/24

https://newenglandskiconditions.com/viewreport.php?reportid=3686

Despite the recent warm-up, yesterday was a terrific day of springlike skiing at Jay Peak! I headed to the Bonaventure Quad for first chair at 9:00 only to find it was on wind hold. Unfortunately it never opened, so laps on the Jet Triple became the name of the game. Most of Stateside (about half of the mountain) was listed as open, though you can only access so much without Bonaventure. Still, there were plenty of different groomed and ungroomed options and I never got bored.

The snow was sticky mashed potatoes, but there wasn’t much ice at all and you could still get some speed on it. Groomers like Haynes, Jet and Angel’s Wiggle had some random small rocks in the snowpack but were generally good in the morning and only got slightly skied-off as the day progressed. The ungroomed trails had some thin spots and hazards, but were much better than I was expecting. UN in particular looked especially gnarly from the lift but turned out to be a great run. Sweetheart, on the other hand, had one really thin and rocky section that was quite unpleasant.

It was cloudy all day, although the clouds did lift above the summit of the mountain. Wind was very manageable in the Jet complex although it was evidently worse higher up. A bit of sleet/snow fell for about 45 minutes in the afternoon which made the surface ever so slightly softer. Temperatures were in the upper 20s to mid 30s.

The Jet Triple was mostly ski-on but occasionally had a wait of a few chairs. The Taxi and Metro Quads were open as well but I didn’t ride them. Skied from 9 to 4 with pretty much no breaks and got 22 runs in. Definitely one of the better early-season days I’ve skied at Jay despite only Jet accessing the upper mountain!

Riding up the Jet Triple

Angel's Wiggle

Hell's Crossing

Haynes

Upper Jet

Hotshot Derick

Kitzbuehel (with a rainbow in the background!)

Stateside Glade

Upper UN

Kitz Woods

Hell's Woods

Montrealer

Bonaventure Glade

Middle Can Am

Timbuktu

rickbolger

nice report!

riverc0il

Things are looking much better today Dec19 (not that they were looking too bad before, compared to other areas and what we sometimes have during this time of year).

Around six inches or so of fresh. Nice and dense. Light flakes continued throughout the day. All trees (on map and off) easily skiable from both the Jet and Bonnie.

Off map is a bit variable, from amazing to needs a bit more. You need to read the terrain features and ski smart. Off map a bit thin lower on the mountain in the run-out zone. An open brook in Buckaroo certainly made exiting that area interesting. Some lower mountain runout trails are not yet open due to waterbars (e.g. lower liftline under the Bonnie).

Overall, I was quite happy with the skiing today. Better than expected given the rain. Which demonstrates just how much snow Jay got during the past four weeks. Tram opens this weekend. Snowmaking on Northway to Goat from the summit, so no access to Tramside today.

Not many people there, the snow stayed fresh for a long time. This was around 11am in Vertigo:

snowphoenix

riverc0il;c-66803 wroteThings are looking much better today Dec19 (not that they were looking too bad before, compared to other areas and what we sometimes have during this time of year).

Around six inches or so of fresh. Nice and dense. Light flakes continued throughout the day. All trees (on map and off) easily skiable from both the Jet and Bonnie.

Off map is a bit variable, from amazing to needs a bit more. You need to read the terrain features and ski smart. Off map a bit thin lower on the mountain in the run-out zone. An open brook in Valhalla certainly made exiting that area interesting. Some lower mountain runout trails are not yet open due to waterbars (e.g. lower liftline under the Bonnie).

Overall, I was quite happy with the skiing today. Better than expected given the rain. Which demonstrates just how much snow Jay got during the past four weeks. Tram opens this weekend. Snowmaking on Northway to Goat from the summit, so no access to Tramside today.

Not many people there, the snow stayed fresh for a long time. This was around 11am in Valhalla:

Thanks for the report, looks great!

snowphoenix

Saturday 1/18/25

https://newenglandskiconditions.com/viewreport.php?reportid=3769

Jay skied great today thanks to 2' of snow in the last week, allowing the mountain to be fully open (apart from Middle Northwest Passage, which I believe has been permanently closed for about 3 seasons). Packed powder was the predominant snow surface, with loose granular on some of the groomed trails as well as some ice patches appearing as the day went on. The corduroy on Haynes skied really well first thing in the morning. Lower Milk Run skied great as well.

It was a very busy day, though I was able to get out early and get in about 5 runs before the lines got too long. Bonaventure's singles line was around 5 minutes, while Flyer's was closer to 10 minutes. Noticed more stops/slows than usual on those lifts. The tram and Bonaventure closed around 3:00 due to wind, causing 10-15 minute lines at Jet that lasted until around closing.

It was a cloudy day with temperatures in the low to mid-20s and some moderate to strong wind on the upper mountain (not much wind over in the Jet area though). Snow was falling for the last hour. Looking at the weather in the past few days I was worried that wind would keep the upper lifts closed, but luckily that wasn't the case for much of the day.

Taxi Quad and the summit

Haynes

Timbuktu

Stateside Glade

Unmarked woods on Stateside

Ullr's Dream

Kokomo

Upper Milk Run

ciscokid

Always great reports!

snowphoenix

Sunday 1/19/25

https://newenglandskiconditions.com/viewreport.php?reportid=3776

Another awesome day at Jay Peak! The snow report recorded 2'' of new snow at the base, but higher up on the mountain it was more like 4-6''. Conditions were soft packed powder on most trails, with even the busy groomers being less icy than I expected. It was nice to be skiing in the sun in the morning (all the other days I've skied this season have been overcast), though it did get cloudy in the afternoon causing the snow to firm up a little. Temperatures were in the mid to low teens and there was moderate wind on the upper mountain but nothing too bad, though the Tram did start out on wind hold.

I spent most of the day skiing off the Flyer with a handful of runs on Bonaventure as well. I hoped to catch the last tram of the day and got in line just before 3:40, but to no avail. Felt less crowded than yesterday, although the Flyer got a long line when it went down for about 20 minutes midmorning due to a chair spacing malfunction. Couldn't have been a good time for the people stuck in the cold on the top part of the lift when that happened.

Riding up the Flyer

Expo Glade

Flash

Everglade

Staircase Glade (upper)

Staircase Glade (lower)

Lower Northwest Passage

Chair spacing issue on the Flyer

Poma Line

Beaver Pond Glade

JFK

Deliverance

Upper River Quai

Buckaroo Bonzai

Vertigo

TomWhite

The Deliverance photo brings back memories of over a decade ago. If I recall, there are 3 narrow steep chutes. At least one was convex, which made turns more challenging.

riverc0il

TomWhite;c-67169 wroteThe Deliverance photo brings back memories of over a decade ago. If I recall, there are 3 narrow steep chutes.

You remember correctly! The three chutes merge into the right most line and then open up around where CanAm and Liftline intersect. You can access the more mellow lower section via cutting in from Liftline at the CanAm intersection. First tracks on a powder day down the main three lines are amazing, but conditions deteriorate quickly with not much traffic, especially when people start side slipping the snow off. I've only gotten untracked in those lines when the Bonnie/Freezer/Tram were offline (via hiking/skinning).

ILOVE2SKI

I love Jay. Prime was early 2000s before everyone went! Haven’t been in a few years but I gotta get back again soon. Thanks for the pics!

TomWhite

riverc0il;c-67172 wrote
TomWhite;c-67169 wroteThe Deliverance photo brings back memories of over a decade ago. If I recall, there are 3 narrow steep chutes.
You remember correctly! The three chutes merge into the right most line and then open up around where CanAm and Liftline intersect. You can access the more mellow lower section via cutting in from Liftline at the CanAm intersection. First tracks on a powder day down the main three lines are amazing, but conditions deteriorate quickly with not much traffic, especially when people start side slipping the snow off. I've only gotten untracked in those lines when the Bonnie/Freezer/Tram were offline (via hiking/skinning).

I guess if one is over their head they would resort to side slipping. But when you look in/down, you can see the chutes are steep and tight. Many turns are needed to control speed.

riverc0il

Jay is up to 261" for the season, it will probably be 300" by the start of the holiday week given the current forecast and weather pattern.

Yesterday was just silly. A foot of snow and nobody there. The picture was taken around 1pm, barely off an on map trail. Untracked snow open to close without even hunting for it.

I don't know what to say any more. I've only skied one day this season that wasn't a powder day. It just keeps coming...

NELSAP

riverc0il;c-67401 wrote

Jay is up to 261" for the season, it will probably be 300" by the start of the holiday week given the current forecast and weather pattern.

Yesterday was just silly. A foot of snow and nobody there. The picture was taken around 1pm, barely off an on map trail. Untracked snow open to close without even hunting for it.

I don't know what to say any more. I've only skied one day this season that wasn't a powder day. It just keeps coming...

There's a LOT more snow coming too, very good model agreement about an active weather pattern coming with the potential for several more feet of snow.