Jay Peak Updated

It has been a few weeks since we returned from our trip to Jay. I guess we’ve been busy with work, house hunting, pets, etc. Frankly we’ve let this go for too long, but here is a quick recap of our time at Jay Peak.

The bus ride there was decent. We had to get out at the border which is never fun, but it only took about 20 mins. Duty Free was closed and we only made one stop. Our bus couldn’t make it up a slippery hill, so after 45 mins. of trying , he gave up and we took the long way around. We arrived at Jay about two hours late. We took our time getting ready, which worked out well since the riding that day was lousy. Only one lift was running because most of the mountian was closed due to high winds and frigid temperatures. 

A bad first day helped us appreciate decent weather for the next two days.  It was still cold but managable, and the wind was no longer painfully strong. The entire mountain was open and quite empty. We explored and had some great riding. There was almost no fresh snow around, but conditions were still pretty good. It was a relaxing couple of evenings and we left Sunday content with the knowledge that our beloved Leafs acquired Dion Phaneuf and J.S. Giguere (sorry to all the non-hockey fans).

Jay has some very aggressive plans for growth, investment and expansion. A water park and ice rink are on the way as well as some pretty impressive hotels. Old hotel Jay is being demolished soon (I guess that’s why they didn’t care about the grafitti on our wall) and the new building next door is quite modern. Learn moreabout the expansion plans here.

We might not go back because the border is always brutal and the weather is very unpredictable.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if we returned someday to see how ‘the little resort that could’  grew into  a serious four-star, all-year travel destination… or failed in trying to do so. “If you build it, they will come.” Let’s hope so for Jay Peak’s sake.

VANOC Resorts to Straw at Cypress

There is likely a straightforward answer to this question, but I don’t know what it is: why did the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) decide that Cypress Mountain, which is located in Vancouver, would be a suitable venue for any ski or snowboard events? Are they not aware of how warm the weather can get in Vancouver? I can only assume VANOC was required to hold a certain number of events in Vancouver to call it the “Vancouver” Olympics.

The problem is, Vancouver winter weather fluctuates between “just cold enough to snow on the mountains nearby” and “warm”. And this year, the weather in Vancouver has been very warm. So warm, in fact, that Cypresss had to close early due to a lack of snow. And with the Olympics only weeks away, the world is watching as VANOC scrambles to put together courses for halfpipe, ski and snowboard cross and other competitions with a combination of snow they saved and… wood and straw. Seriously. There is such a lack of snow on Cypress that structures to support the courses now need to be built, and they are going to be partially composed of wood and straw.

This is extremely embarrassing, and news coverage of the problem grows daily. (Check out this update here, or simply use Google News to locate one of the hundreds of stories now detailing the problem).

It should be noted that Whistler currently has more snow than they know what to do with. As I left they were constructing the downhill courses and they looked great. But again, if VANOC had no choice but to use Cypress, I suppose it was an understandable calculated risk… which now appears to be working against them.

Lessons From Whistler: I Had It All Wrong

Looking back at all of my previous trips to Whistler, of which there must be close to ten, I now realize I’ve been missing the point.

I have had the opportunity to really challenge myself as a snowboarder – to get better and try different things – and instead I have consistently settled for days upon days of throwing myself down groomed runs, happy that they were slightly more challenging and much much longer than Ontario.

It took 150 centimetres over the past week – yes, that’s how much it snowed while I was in Whistler – to show me that Whistler is an incredibly gigantic mountain area with so much terrain that you never have to do the same run twice. It also showed me how much more I needed to learn to become even remotely good at riding (by anything but Ontario standards).

As I mentioned in a previous post, we started the week with an epic dump that would set the tone for the entire trip. It literally snowed a minimum of 10-15 centimetres every day. This meant there was plenty of terrain to explore virtually risk-free; I mean, if you flub a drop or a steep run all you’re going to basically do is land in powder anyway. We used the first day to explore areas we were already relatively familiar with, but that were now covered in powder.

But it was a mini-tour by a cousin of mine who lives in the area who really opened our eyes. On our second day, he took us straight over to the Whistler Bowl area, a collection of bowls and chutes that were simply packed with powder. And although they were all inbounds, a fair bit of it was difficult to access if you didn’t know where you were going (Doom & Gloom, Christmas Tress, Frog Hollow). Which meant the powder stayed in there all week.

After a couple of days learning how to deal with knee-deep powder all the time, Steve and I gained a level of confidence in our riding I don’t think we had before. And from that point, we made it our purpose to only ride areas packed with pow, which meant avoiding groomed runs at all costs and instead exploring all areas of both mountains (and putting ourselves in a few precarious situations as well).

A week later, I’m now back at home. I am sore as hell from digging my ass out of powder, hitting trees head-first (lesson: always wear a helmet), hiking, hitting unexpected drops, pulling myself back from the edges of cliffs, and spending so much time leaning on by back foot while I pointed my board through mountains of snow that I can hardly move it. As one guy I ran into on Blackcomb Mountain said, the place was a “powder barn” all week. And I fear I’ll never see conditions like that again.

Some other highlights of our trip:

• We lined up for Blackcomb’s Glacier Express lift two days in a row, knowing there would be an assload of pow in there. As the few folks ahead of us made their runs down the mountain, everyone was cheering them on. They responded by hooting and hollering as they cut through knee-deep pow. It was pretty awesome.
• Hitting “surprise stashes” one would think to be tracked out that never were. Example: taking the t-bar run from Harmony down to Peak Chair. Despite it’s easy accessibility, it was always full of crazy snow.
• Spending 30 minutes hiking Flute Bowl for about four minutes of pow, and realizing it was totally worth it about 15 seconds into the run.
• Discovering that the Harmony Ridge area can actually drop you into any kind of terrain you like.
• Apres beers at the infamous Longhorn. Possibly the best place for beer in Whistler?
• Visiting four stores in Whistler to try and replace my snowboard leash, until I finally realize no-one knows what I’m talking about because no-one has them.

I have so many updates to the Whistler Guide at this point that it’s not even funny. I will try to get on that as soon as I can.

Heading Home From Whistler

I’ll have a full report when I get home. In the meantime, enjoy this photo from a spot on Whistler Bowl near the Christmas Trees area. Given the low visibility at the time, we turned around and dropped into a bowl we were familiar with instead!