• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Tram summit at Jay Peak Resort.    (Photo: Courtesy Jay Peak Resort)

Jay Peak’s 75 sanctioned runs are owned by Jay Peak Resort. Reach the 4,000-foot summit via one of eight chairlifts or Vermont’s only aerial tramway. Warm up on gentle, groomed Northway or mogul-strewn Upper Can Am before plunging into feathery powder on Buck Woods, one of 24 forested glades. Beginners find gentle declines and widely spaced trees on Bushwacker glade. For fresh tracks, tackle tree runs on the ski area’s edges like Beaver Pond to the west or Timbuktu off the Jet Triple Chair to the east.

For bigger thrills, take advantage of the resort’s liberal backcountry policy, which allows skiing and boarding anywhere within property lines. Then ski the Dip, a wooded expanse of knee-deep powder outside Jay Resort’s eastern border— and the only out-of-boundaries skiing the resort condones. The trail ends at Route 242, so leave a car there and have a buddy pick you up, or hike back to the lifts. For supersize adventure, hike up, then ski down adjacent Big Jay Mountain, the Green Mountains’ highest peak without a maintained trail system.

If you can't ski another foot, go dogsledding in Belvedere with veteran musher Kathryn Venable (802-326-3229; e-mail mushvt@yahoo.com) and her team of huskies. Bound along groomed, wooded trails at a pace perfect for taking in still-frozen streams and maybe a moose or two: Dogsleds move quietly enough to sneak up on the 1,000-pound beasts.

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Published on Mar 5, 2008 as a web exclusive.