SKIING IN MAY ON THE ICE COAST
The calendar has flipped to May, but that doesn’t mean ski season is over just yet. Barring extremely unusual warm weather in early Spring, ski season typically ends in May in the East (and sometimes early June at Killington), and that’s the case this season. Heck, even Pennsylvania is in on the May skiing action this year with Camelback Resort still open!
The Jet parking lot was empty today!
Montrealer.
Riding the Jet Triple.
So with it being the first Saturday of May, which is known as “Derby Day” in the sports world, I headed to northern Vermont for some runs at Jay Peak. The snow surface was full of bumps and lumps, so I wasn’t able to open the throttle up to ski at the speeds of a horse racing at Churchill Downs, despite how much I would’ve loved to, but nevertheless it was a fun day of spring skiing. It was also a little too cold for the fancy suits, dresses and hats that people wear to the derby, so I settled for my full winter kit. To be fair, that’s a pretty expensive getup in its own right.
The narrow spot at the top of The Jet.
Looking down The Jet just below the very top of the run.
Angel’s Wiggle.
Paradise Meadows.
As mentioned, the snow was full of bumps and lumps. In general, it was soft everywhere, though the secondary surface on The Jet was a bit firm in spots. Jay Peak picked up a dusting of snow last night. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to help the open terrain. Aside from The Jet, which is in pretty good shape except for the very top, basically all of the seven open runs had areas of snirt and thin cover. It’s May 2, so this was to be expected, of course.
Looking at the snow on the trees while riding the Flyer Quad.
Middle Northway.
Interstate.
Queen’s Highway.
Those seven open runs were split across the Jet Triple, the Taxi Quad, the Metro Quad and the Flyer Quad. That’s right, Tramside was open today. Granted, there was no way to ski back to the Flyer directly, but still, it was open. If you rode the Flyer, you had to ski to Stateside via Northway and Angel’s Wiggle, hop on the Taxi Quad and then take Queen’s Highway back to Tramside. I won't dive in to all of the other open runs specifically, but just know that off the Jet Triple, the only run you could lap without some walking was The Jet.
Tomorrow looks to be another chilly day at Jay, but there should at least be some sun. I’ll likely be heading there to ski, but I do have the option to go to Killingon. However, I’d like to save my remaining days at Killington for use next weekend and beyond, so we will see.
Never Quit Skiing,
Lincoln