Conditions Report
Report from Saturday, March 29, 2025
I’ve been Jay-dreaming all winter. Jay Peak is the closest resort to me in the U.S. on the Indy Pass, and it holds a special place in my heart. My girls’ grandparents had a chalet here throughout their childhood, and it’s where I honed my skills and fell in love with snowboarding. There is a centuries-old history between Quebec and this part of northern Vermont, and I’ve felt at home here—at home, in paradise—since my first visit with my then-boyfriend in the 1990s.
For several years, my snow-ventures took me a bit further south into Vermont to places like Stowe, Bolton Valley, and Smugglers’ Notch. But last year, my first with an Indy Pass, I returned to Jay Peak and rediscovered why I fell in love with this mountain resort in the first place. For one, it’s very big by East Coast standards, majestic, if you will, and for two, it’s very snowy. The first time I ever tried snowboarding was on an icy trail in the Laurentians, but the second time was at Jay Peak on a powder day. That was all it took. I was hooked for life.
This region is cold, rugged, and somewhat isolated. One could argue that it is not the most instinctual topography for dreaming up a world-class alpine resort, but in the 1950s, Harold Hynes, a teacher of agriculture, envisioned exactly that. We can be forever grateful that his dream came true. With a summit elevation of 3,862 feet and a vertical drop of 2,153 feet, the resort has been an alpine lover’s paradise since 1957, best known for receiving the largest annual snowfall of any ski area in eastern North America.
Jay’s location near the northern tip of the Green Mountains benefits from its proximity to large bodies of water. Moisture captured from Lake Champlain, Lake Memphremagog, and other waterways cools and condenses as it rises over the mountains, leading to impressive snowfalls from the famous “Jay Cloud.” On average, Jay receives 306 inches of snow annually, with approximately 70 snowfall days. By mid-March, Jay had received an incredible 400 inches, including 50 inches between February 28 and March 11, trailing only slightly behind West Coast giants like Washington’s Mount Baker and Oregon’s Timberline. At the time of this writing, the snow total is 444 inches. It has been excruciating reading these stats from the city, wanting to be there all day, every day. Instead, I watched the weather looking for the best window to head down on a weekend. My shred sister, Veronique, and I decided to make the trip last Saturday.
It snowed throughout the night on Friday, and I was excited to get on the road early. I crossed the Champlain Bridge from my place around 7:00 a.m. to pick Veronique up, and we arrived at the mountain, approaching the 242 highway from the Jay village side around 9:30 a.m. There was a Jay employee on the highway directing cars to a third parking lot to be shuttled to the main lodges. In three decades of coming here, this was a new experience. News of Jay’s snow totals had traveled far, throughout the region and across the continent. Shortly after we boarded the shuttle, Jay announced on its social pages that all the lots were full.
On the shuttle, Veronique and I were seated beside another snowboarder about our age, Katie from New York. We had an instant rapport, which can happen when you speak the common language of shred, but I think it’s probably less likely for a group of women in their forties (and me in my fifties) to meet this way. We got off the shuttle at the Stateside lodge, always less crowded than the tram side, and—in my most humble opinion—with some of the better trails for snowboarding. This was Veronique’s first and much-anticipated visit to Jay Peak, and I was excited to show her my favorite trails. We parted ways with Katie after picking up our lift tickets, but only briefly, as we met up with her again on our second ride up the Bonaventure Quad.
For the rest of the day, we rode as a crew of three. One thing I noticed straight off about Katie is that she snowboards aggressively, with tremendous speed. I would say the same about Veronique, and probably myself as well for my advanced age of 52 years, but it’s hard to gauge such things about yourself. On our third or fourth ride-up (I lost track, which happens when you’re having the time of a lifetime), we met a fourth chick snowboarder, Norma from Connecticut. The conversation flowed all the way to the top of the lift, covering a lot of ground—family, work, travel, music, art, alternative medicine, meditation—and I knew we had made lifelong friends. How’s that for Canada-U.S. relations?
Norma’s fiancé Mike, who was a couple of chairs behind us, took some photos of us four at the top of the Bonaventure Quad. The newly engaged couple headed towards the tram side, and our original crew of three took another run, skier’s right towards my all-time favorite trail at Jay: Purgatory. Purgatory, poorly named if you ask me, is hidden in plain sight. Not every day-tripper to Jay will know it’s there. It’s my secret stash of untouched snow, leading to Hell’s Crossing, which has a nice little lip at the end for an old lady ollie onto Angel’s Wiggle. I could lap this all day and never get bored.
On our next ride up, we headed towards Upper Goat Run and the tram side for a hot beverage and a quick bite to eat at the Aroma Café. From Upper Goat Run, we took Green Mountain Boys to Lower Expedition to Harmony Lane. Riding down, I remembered some fun glades from recent visits and was disappointed that we didn’t have more hours in the day to explore this side of the mountain. Our original plan was to take the tram up, but after a quick and yummy lunch, we estimated that this part of the adventure could take the rest of our day. It was already 2:00 p.m. The tram line was long, and the clock was ticking: Next time.
We took the Metro Quad, traversed Perry Merrill Ave, and were back in line at the Bonaventure Quad in minutes. For the next two hours, we lapped as many runs as we could, finding powder, hitting the side hits, hooting, and hollering all the way down. At one point, the lift operator said something to us, but I only heard Katie’s response: “Yeah, we ride like guys!” Heck yeah. Never underestimate the collective power of a group of women who love the shred life. We got in just under the rope for the last chair, exchanged contact information, and hugged it out huge in the parking lot. We may not have another opportunity to ride together again this season, but it’s not that long until the next one.
I hope to get to Jay at least once more in the next few weeks. Over the years, it has remained open to die-hards through April and even into May. My last day on the slopes in 2023-24 was here on May 4th. The past couple of days have brought a cold snap to the region, and the long-term forecast calls for periods of snow throughout April. We could get another 10 to 12 inches before the month is out. Just writing about it has me Jay-dreaming about next time …
See you on the slopes!
Trail Map
NOAA Forecast
Current Snow Conditions
