“…it’s pretty unanimous in town here that the mountain is skiing the best of the season.”
The beckoning conditions were certainly enough to get me out to the hill, but I had another good reason to pay Mt. Mansfield a visit. Our Sunday trip out to the Bench Woods with the boys during our BJAMS ski program got me thinking about bringing them out to Angel Food. It’s been a while since I’ve been out that way though, so like I did for the Bruce Trail a few weeks back I wanted to get in some reconnaissance to ensure that the trip would go smoothly. As of yesterday, the Mt. Mansfield Stake was showing a snowpack depth of 57 inches; it was still below average, but only by a couple of inches, and it was certainly enough to provide some decent turns even on steeper runs in the Stowe sidecountry.
With the combination of new snow and relatively low, midweek skier traffic, the traverse out to Angel Food was in good shape. I stopped in a few spots along the traverse to check the depth of the powder, and found anywhere from 12 to 20 inches in the high elevations. The main route was certainly tracked up, but there are just so many acres and acres of terrain around it that fresh lines were everywhere for the taking. Even though it was tracked and packed, the snow in the central areas was so good that I actually spent a lot of time there working on turns. When I did venture off the sides of the main route into other trees, the powder turns were divine, but the depth of the powder definitely started to drop as I went down in elevation. Down near the 2,000’ elevation there was also a thin layer of crust somewhere between the layers of powder. It was often quite subtle, so I suspect it was simply a bit of melt crust from when temperatures in the lower elevations rose above freezing on one of these past few days. I decided to take the traverses that got me back to the base of the resort instead of venturing down to Route 108, since that’s most likely what we’ll do with the boys at first, but we’ll work our way up to some of the other stuff. There was just glade after glade after glade off the main Angel Food route with few if any tracks, so the resort is really set up well for the coming holiday weekend.
Out in the sidecountry – a little Champlain Powder settled on a spruce
“There was just glade after glade after glade off the main Angel Food route with few if any tracks…”
After getting back to the base, I decided on one more run on Gondolier to really burn out my legs – I was on my Telemark skis so it really wasn’t going to take much. On piste conditions were very good. I’d still encounter the occasional firm spot, so I can’t quite put them down as top notch, but they were way up there. As they have been much of the week, temperatures at the base were right around 30 F, and somewhere in the 20s F up top. Between the fresh snow, midweek levels of visitors, and the perfect temperatures, people who chose this week for their vacation are really getting that quintessential Stowe experience. I think a couple more feet of base snow would really get everything to that upper echelon of conditions, but it’s essentially powder and packed powder everywhere as far as I could tell, so it’s somewhat splitting hairs on the exact level of snow quality. We’ve got some chances for snow going into the holiday weekend, and I’m leaning toward some backcountry turns barring a big storm, but front, side, or backcountry – the skiing is looking good in the Northern Greens right now.
Today was a continuation of riding Nemo’s bounty, and we got to check out how things went down at Stowe. Like most of the Vermont ski areas, Stowe fell in that 1 to 1 ½ foot range for storm accumulation, reporting 14 inches from the event. Yesterday’s cold had also cleared out today, with the forecast calling for sunshine and temperatures in the 20s F.
We kicked things off before program started, with a warm up run off the Sunny Spruce Quad. Conditions last Sunday were certainly decent, but it was easy to see that they’d taken a significant step upward today. On piste, the snow from Nemo had been worked into the groomed surfaces to make them quite soft, and off piste there was a good foot of fairly fresh powder everywhere. The boys requested a descent along the Sunny Spruce lift line on Lower Smuggler’s and it was some fine cruising. We had time for a second quick run since people were still assembling, so we checked out Nastar Hill and the open terrain above Meadows. When we’d initially arrived at the resort today I hadn’t seen many tracks up in that area, so I figured it might be crusty or tough to ski, but it was anything but tough. It was partially skier-packed snow that was gloriously soft. After ripping his way down that face Ty proclaimed, presumably with some hyperbole, that it was his “best run ever”. I get where he was going with that though, in that it was almost effortless. That’s low elevation, south-facing terrain, and the conditions were extremely impressive. After experiencing that, and having skied west-facing terrain at similar elevations at Bolton Valley yesterday, I’d say that Stowe currently has the edge in terms of conditions.
Kickin’ back in the Nosedive Glades
We finally met up with Ken and Jack and made our way over to Mt. Mansfield. With the new snow that has fallen thanks to Nemo, I decided that a Kitchen Wall run was in order, and the boys were fired up for that. The snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake has jumped to 55 inches with the addition of the recent snow, so that’s getting it up not too far below average. The Kitchen Wall traverse is in decent shape, although certainly not as soft and filled in as it could be. The snow in there was nice, with plenty of areas of untracked powder remaining if you were willing to poke around. Down below we found Nosedive a bit firm in the middle at times due to the manmade snow, but the edges were great and we worked those all the way back down to the Gondola.
“It was partially skier-packed snow that was gloriously soft.”
Another big plan for the day was to bring the boys out to the Bench Woods, since only Dylan has been in there with me. The first chutes bypassing Upper Gondolier were simply heinous – they’re cut overly tight for their very steep pitch to begin with, and with the traffic that has been in there, the coverage is worn down way too low. Another couple feet of base are needed in there to make them respectable. Even before we went in, I told the boys that I usually skip those chutes because they hardly ever ski well, but I wanted them to at least experience what they were like. Well, one trip was enough for them to realize why those chutes just aren’t that great. Down in the Bench Woods the powder was actually quite plentiful. Ken and I had a blast gliding our way down the center of a small streambed that just kept going and going. Luke and Jack definitely struggled in there though, since there are a lot of saplings that make many lines feel tight, and they don’t have a ton of experience in that terrain. Ty and Dylan handled it well, although they did get a bit bored waiting for the other boys if they were getting stuck in the powder or having trouble navigating. It’s a long run as it is, but between the struggles and boredom, Ken and I were probably the only ones really having an all out blast. However, we had a lot of good teaching moments dealing with the nuances of skiing that sort of terrain. The past couple of times I’ve been in there, it’s seemed like there’s a lot more underbrush compared to what I remember back in the 90s – I just think the whole place needs a good pruning and it will ski many, many times better.
Coming back out of the Bench Woods felt like a never ending saga for the boys, so when we finally arrived, I decided that they’d earned a good snack break in the Midway Lodge, just like Dylan and I had done that last time we’d skied in there. And, just like Dylan and I had done, we kicked back near the Fireplace in the near solitude of Midway in the late afternoon. For a snack I grabbed what looked like some maple granola made by Mitzi’s, a local Stowe company also known as Fresh Mountain Foods. That granola is fantastic, and when I shared it around among the group everyone was impressed. I suspect they carry it in other parts of the resort, but it’s going to be an excuse to get me back to the Midway Lodge.
“Ken and I had a blast gliding our way down the center of a small streambed that just kept going and going.”
After the extended break to recover from our Bench Woods adventure, we had time for one more run. We decided to keep it simple due to the late hour, so we just did a Perry Merrill to Gondolier run. The snow was again quite good, and excellent along the edges. About halfway down I heard the boys yelling about something they could see off in the distance, and the best we could tell, since it was way down in the base area, it looked like a car was on fire. Black smoke was billowing hundreds of feet in the air, but it was hard to imagine that it could actually be a car on fire. We rushed down to the base, and low and behold there was indeed an SUV on fire. It was the weirdest thing, and not something you’d expect to see at the base of a ski resort (or I guess most places for that matter). I’m not sure what caused it, but perhaps we’ll hear about it in the paper.
Strange sight in the Midway parking lot
The boys wanted to hang around for some food, so we had a mellow meal by one of the south windows in the mostly deserted Great Room Grill. Claire is off to Africa for a couple of weeks, so she and Luke weren’t there, and Jack and his family were with some other folks over by the Spruce Camp Bar. Jack and the boys played some sort of hide and go seek around the lodge though, and kept themselves amused until we finally had to reel them in. At least E got them to eat most of their food – they often forget to eat and then they want more food when we get home.
We’ve got another winter storm coming into the area tomorrow. It’s a low pressure system that will be working in nearly overhead out of the Midwest, and in The Weather Channel naming scheme this one is called “Orko”. Down here in the valley it sounds like we’ll have a bit of rain with snow on the front and back ends of the storm, but it sounds like the higher elevations are going to be mostly snow with perhaps a little sleet. You folks better get your space heaters in order, no one wants frozen toes. The current forecast calls for 5 to 9 inches in the Mt. Mansfield area, although the models are showing some good potential for upslope snow on the back side lingering into Tuesday night, so totals could ultimately be higher than that if the upslope really kicks in.
Mt. Mansfield somehow still delivering that good snow
Since the roughly half foot of snow that the mountains picked up at the start of the midweek period, there really hasn’t been much in the way of additional snow. Temperatures aren’t nearly as cold as they were when that arctic air was here a week or so back, but we’re in a similar dry, zonal flow weather pattern. We’ve had just an inch of new snow at the house this past week, and the mountains haven’t had much more. There certainly hasn’t been enough moisture for a full resurfacing of the slopes since the warm temperatures that came through midweek, so there wasn’t a lot of incentive to head out yesterday for turns. I did get a lot of stuff done around the house though, and that’s a typical benefit of these snowfall lulls. Today was a different story though – we had our BJAMS ski program at Stowe in the afternoon, and with temperatures predicted to be near 20 F at the base elevations with minimal winds, there was no reason to cancel like we had to do last weekend. I wasn’t too optimistic about the snow conditions though – I actually pulled out my diamond stone and ran it along the edges of my Salomon Scream Hots just to make sure they were ready to hold an edge on firm surfaces. I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to do a mid season sharpening of my edges, but today definitely had me worried.
“To my amazement, it was far more than just good, it was great. It was again that 2-3 inches of powder over a fairly spongy base.”
It was partly cloudy and looked quite pleasant as we arrived at the mountain around midday. The Spruce Peak parking lot was rather full as usual, and there was a race going on, but it certainly didn’t seem too busy. We were able to grab one of those parking spots just a stone’s throw from the old Day Lodge, as there seemed to be a lot of people leaving midday. I suspect anyone from Southern New England that wanted to get home to catch the Super Bowl would probably want to leave around that time. I know that the resort has been making snow this week, so I figured trails that had seen some snowmaking might be the best bets for some reasonably soft ski surfaces. I inquired about snowmaking at the guest services desk, and they knew that Perry Merrill had seen some, but they gave me the number for the snow phone and suggested that I call it to get the rest of the snowmaking information. I can’t remember the last time I called the snow phone, but I dialed it up and I got to hear all the details. It was a noontime update, and snowmaking had most recently been done on Upper Perry Merrill, Gondolier, and Centerline last night. I think it may have even been Powderfreak on the other end that was giving the message. Anyway, that was just the information I was looking for, so I put those trails on our hit list for the day.
“…it marked a big change in our ski plans. I’d been thinking it was going to be an on piste day prior to that, but clearly the off piste was in play.”
Our ski group was large today, with the addition of Sam, Ethan, Luke, Julia, Joanna, Ken, and Joe, we had eight students and four coaches. With the snowmaking information in hand, we headed right over to the Gondola for a run on Perry Merrill. Conditions turned out to be far better than I’d imagined. Up at the top of the Gondola I did a quick check on the depth of the unconsolidated powder snow, and found roughly three inches over the old base. On top of that, the subsurface wasn’t even that firm; it had that spongy character that I’ve been finding at times lately, possibly due to assistance from the dry air. The top steep pitch of Perry Merrill did have some good snow, but there was certainly a lot of ice as well. Down below it was much better though, there was plenty of packed powder, although certainly some granular snow in areas as well. That seemed to be most prevalent in the center of the trail where traffic was high. However, the minimal natural snow that has come down in the past few days, plus whatever snowmaking had been done, plus the snow that people had pushed to the sides of the trails after a morning of traffic, made for some really nice turns overall. Short radius turns along the skier’s right tree line of Perry Merrill were generally excellent – far, far better than I’d expected.
For our next run we did the same start and then moved over to Gondolier. The skier’s right there was even better than Perry Merrill, with lots of loose snow and shots holding a couple inches of powder when one would dive in and out of the trees along the edge. About halfway down the trail, Ken’s son Luke inquired about heading into some of the Gondolier Trees at an obvious line he noticed. I was definitely leery of going in there; I couldn’t imagine that it would be that good with a fairly steep pitch and not much new snow. I agreed that I’d check it out though, we could pop in briefly and any students that wanted to go could go with me. Well, almost everyone came in because they wanted to see what it would be like. To my amazement, it was far more than just good, it was great. It was again that 2-3 inches of powder over a fairly spongy base. Based on the weather we had during the middle of the week it’s hard to say how it was so well preserved, but as is often the case, Mansfield delivered again. Dylan took his own line high along the skier’s left wall and got into some great powder. All the boys twisted and turned their way down through the gulley, until I finally called for an exit back onto Gondolier. The gulley did continue on, but I knew it got narrower down there and the exit more difficult, and I didn’t want to push our luck. Everyone was excited by that run though – Sam commented how he loved going up and down the steep walls of the gully, and I told him it was one of nature’s half pipes.
“Based on the weather we had during the middle of the week it’s hard to say how it was so well preserved, but as is often the case, Mansfield delivered again.”
I have to credit that snow discovery to Luke, and it marked a big change in our ski plans. I’d been thinking it was going to be an on piste day prior to that, but clearly the off piste was in play. The goal was to next head over to the Fourrunner Quad from the top of the Gondola, and I said that we could check out the north part of the Nosedive Glades (a.k.a “The Middle of Nowhere”) en route. The snow wasn’t quite as good in there as it had been over by Gondolier, but it was certainly decent and easily held an edge. There was the occasional icy patch in there, presumably where skiers had pushed away the new snow in higher traffic areas, but some of those lines were pretty steep, so the fact that they weren’t simply hard park was impressive. Connecting onto Lower Nosedive we found the snow in the middle of the trail horribly hard packed, but fortunately the skier’s left held a good amount of soft snow that had been pushed there by the day’s skiers.
After flying down to the base of the Fourrunner Quad, Dylan said that he was just too cold for a ride there, so Ken headed up with the rest of the group, and I took Dylan back toward the Gondola base. We warmed up by poling our way over, and he was in good spirits at that point and wanted to take a run on the tow to hit the Midway Terrain Park. He was still feeling good after that, and was keen to do a Gondola run, where the ride would be warmer than sitting out on the quad. I also asked if he’d show me all that powder he’d found in the Gondolier Trees, and he was excited to get back to that. On our way down Perry Merrill, we stuck to the skier’s left and explored a lot of off piste shots at the bottom of the Tombo Woods area. There was certainly some nice snow in there – just those 2-3 inches over the base, but that base was quite soft. Back down in the gulley along Gondolier Dylan took me though his powder stash, and indeed we had some good turns. We both stuck our poles into the snow and beyond the powder, you could push right through the spongy subsurface and get to softer snow below. There really is a lot of good snow down there that doesn’t seem like it was affected by the recent warm temperatures, so that’s probably helping keep the quality of the off piste skiing reasonably good if people do get down and start busting up the subsurface. Another nice aspect of the current conditions is that the snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake, while certainly below average, is still right around that 40-inch mark. That means that coverage is quite good in most off piste areas. I’m sure some areas that are more exposed to the elements could have an icier subsurface that what we experienced, but with the off piste in decent, skiable shape already, it’s primed to be really good as soon as we get a decent storm in here.
Dylan drops in on his stash.Spruce Camp Bar
Dylan and I called it a day after that, and headed back to Spruce Peak for s’mores and hot chocolate at the fire pit. Dylan loved the late day atmosphere and the fact that he and I were getting gondolas to ourselves. I think those rides in the cabins really helped him to ward off the chill that he’d been building. We caught up with Ken and the other boys outside the Spruce Camp Base Lodge, and I found out that Ken had been working with Ty and the others on tip stands. Ken has done some freestyle/ballet in the past, and he said Ty was quite taken with working on the tip stand. That sort of stuff is indeed right up his alley, so we’ll have to work on that some more with Ken. We had a good Après session by the fire at the Spruce Camp Bar with Claire and Sue, as E and Claire debriefed each other on the logistics of the day. We actually had the entire place to ourselves today; I bet it was because most folks were heading home to check out the Super Bowl. I’m more optimistic for snow this coming week, it seems like we’ve got a shot at snow tonight into tomorrow, another one midweek, and then a potentially larger one at the end of the week. With conditions as decent as they already are, even a half foot of snow this week will elevate the off piste a lot. It would be great if that system at the end of the week could do a bit of magic in the Greens and produce something a bit more substantial as some models are hinting at, but we’ll just have to watch and see how the models develop it throughout the week.
Some of the Northern Vermont ski areas have picked up close to (or in the case of Jay Peak, substantially more than) a foot of snow in the past seven days, and while that’s actually a fairly modest pace for snow accrual in the mountains this time of year, it’s helped to get surfaces back to packed powder since they hardened up last week. The snow has generally been dry and fluffy, so even with all that accumulation it hasn’t been a thorough resurfacing for all slopes. However, my explorations Saturday on the Bolton Valley Backcountry Network revealed that the powder is building and there are some nice turns to be had. Temperatures were expected to be in the single digits in the highest elevations today, so it seemed like a good opportunity for some sidecountry exploration instead of riding lifts. And, since Claire and I have been talking about bringing our Stowe ski group for a trip on the Bruce Trail one of these days, this seemed like an excellent opportunity for some reconnaissance. There’s no doubt that everyone in the group is ready for the skiing on the Bruce, but I still wanted to familiarize myself with the route to ensure that the trip would go smoothly with all the boys in tow.
“In general, I found 6 to 7 inches of powder down to the 2,000’ elevation, and at some point below there it dropped down more toward the 5-inch range.”
Temperatures hovered right around 10 F all the way to the base of the resort, and there was sun and no wind, so it wasn’t feeling too frigid at the point. The resort had snow guns going on various trails, no doubt taking advantage of the temperatures to bolster base depths that were probably brought down a bit by the warmth earlier in the month. I rode the Fourrunner Quad with a guy who had already been out for some runs, and he said the conditions were quite good. Listening to the turns of the skiers below us, it did sound pretty quiet. I could see the occasional icy spot, but the surface seemed to be mostly packed powder just as the snow report had indicated. The snow over the past week has definitely been having an effect in terms of softening up surfaces.
“While I’m sure the steeper top sections of the Bruce are great with a good dump of snow, the skiing today was far superior once I got down out of the evergreens and into the hardwood forest.”
From the quad summit I headed over to the top of the Bruce Trail – a few tracks indicated that some skiers had already skied it today, but I dropped in via an alternate entrance to get an untracked line. The line was pretty steep and I was definitely touching down on the subsurface, but I could tell that I’d be able to get in some good powder turns on some lower angle terrain. The top part of the Bruce wasn’t really all that inspiring today – it’s pretty steep, a lot of pitches face southward, and it’s narrower than I’d thought it would be. I’d say it’s only 10 to 12 feet wide on average in the upper sections, which means that in reality it’s going to be tracked out and packed down after just a few skiers hit it. With its somewhat southern aspect making for spots of poor coverage here and there, it skied even narrower today. The snow was generally skier packed, so my fat Telemark skis were indeed feeling slow edge to edge, and I had to throw in a good number of alpine turns to fit in some of those small spaces dictated by the trail width and coverage.
Catching turns down in the lower elevations among the hardwoods
While I’m sure the steeper top sections of the Bruce are great with a good dump of snow, the skiing today was far superior once I got down out of the evergreens and into the hardwood forest. The trail is notably wider in that area, and there are a lot more glade options for venturing off the sides of the main route. In general, I found 6 to 7 inches of powder down to the 2,000’ elevation, and at some point below there it dropped down more toward the 5-inch range. All those depths were definitely enough for some nice powder turns on moderate angle terrain though. With the narrow nature of the Bruce Trail in the top sections, it’s really not a trail that’s going to offer up much in terms of fresh powder, so those looking for a sidecountry experience with real untracked snow would probably be best served by using the Bruce as a jumping off point for explorations of the Ranch Valley. The snowpack isn’t even especially deep right now (right around the 40” mark), but I could see a multitude of ski options all around during my descent. I noted a couple of potential areas for exploration up in the evergreen areas, but choices really exploded once down in the hardwoods. It would be easy to make a day of it out there, or, ski the resort in the morning and then tour out in the Ranch Valley in the afternoon and finish off the day by skiing out to Route 108.
Stowe XC Map – Click for full size image
At around the 1,500’ elevation, I entered the trails of the Stowe Mountain Resort Cross Country Ski Center. This is the part I’d been concerned about in terms of making the correct choices to get out to Route 108 and the Matterhorn. It turns out that it’s much easier than I’d thought; you simply stay on the Bruce, and Burt Trails, following the signs that say “Ski Lift”. Even though you may not be planning to head back to the Toll House Lift, those “Ski Lift” signs are the way to go. Eventually you’ll get to a junction where following the “Ski Lift” route is a very obvious (and somewhat arduous looking) uphill, so you won’t want to go that way. By that point there are signs that indicate “Route 108”, and those will get you right out to the Matterhorn area. At every intersection you essentially go straight through, so in a worst case scenario, go with that. The trek through Stowe’s Nordic trails, and a small portion of the trails that belong to the Trapp Family Lodge Cross Country Ski Center, is slightly downhill, but there’s plenty of poling and skating to be done. I was happy to have my Telemark gear, even if I looked funny with my skis being three times the width of the other Nordic skiers ambling around on the trails. I generally took it slow and enjoyed the scenery, which included some marvelous views of the Ranch Brook. The brook had that winter look with some flowing water, but also lots of ice, and snow pillows covering the rocks.
Elevation profile of today’s tour – click for full size image
The final leg of the descent on Ranch Brook Road brings your right out on the “Ski Inn” driveway, next door to the Matterhorn, and across the street from The Notchbrook Convenience Store. I had time before the next uphill Mountain Road Shuttle arrived, so I stopped into the Matterhorn to get some sushi… only to discover that they don’t have sushi on Mondays. Clearly I’m going to have to hit the Bruce again with the boys on a different day so that we can finish that part of the adventure. So instead, I popped across the street to the store and got a snack before catching the shuttle back up to my car in the Mt. Mansfield lot. One thing I should note about the shuttle – the ski slots on the outside are still fairly old school, so if you’ve got fat and/or twin tip skis, you might have to bring them on the bus with you. Apparently that happens a lot, because the driver immediately knew what my issue was when I inquired. Missing out on the sushi, I did stop off at Harvest Market for a couple of samosas on the way home, and that definitely filled the void. So, today’s outing offered up some good turns in the powder, and was certainly a successful reconnaissance. The route down to the Matterhorn is easy, and I can tell that the biggest hurdle is going to be getting the boys through the flatter terrain at the end of the run. If that’s the toughest part we have to deal with though, it should be a lot of fun.
Harvest Market
Weather-wise, the day turned out much warmer than the forecast seemed to suggest – it was 20 F once I was back down in the valley, and before I’d realized that, I couldn’t figure out why it felt so comfortable. The sunny skies from earlier in the day had clouded over ahead of another small snowfall event that’s supposed to hit us tonight into tomorrow – these are the sorts of storms we’ve got for now until something bigger comes along, but at least we’re getting something.
Today’s Tour viewed in Google Earth – Click for full size image
The clouds put on quite a show today throughout the mountains.
With a generally cloudy forecast, I wasn’t sure if today’s skiing at Stowe was going to match up to the quality we experienced yesterday at Bolton, but boy did Mt. Mansfield deliver. Temperatures did get down to the freezing point overnight, but the morning clouds in the valley were an undercast that meant sunny skies in the mountains. Any snow that might have cooled down and tightened up was certainly soft by the time we arrived around midday. There was some exciting weather out there as well. Higher clouds had built in from the south, and screaming winds in the higher elevations of the atmosphere had them cruising along at impressive speeds not to far above the summits. Temperatures were schizophrenic too, with hot and cold pockets all over the place. On my first run of the day on the Sunny Spruce Quad, after we’d risen about 1,000’ vertical or so, we suddenly got to a warm layer of the atmosphere – the temperature felt like it changed 10 F instantaneously.
“You could attack anything, as steep as you wanted, and that snow would just peel away beautifully and let you hold those turns.”
We kicked off the day on Spruce Peak, and Luke had a little trouble with the RFID on his season’s pass that required the lift operator to call in some technical help. That gave us time to meet up with Claire though, once she’d taken care of her duties and gotten the program coordinators their passes. Conditions on Spruce Peak were generally nice, but there were certainly some bare spots opening up on natural snow terrain since it’s generally south-facing. Everything was soft, with the best surfaces being those that had seen various combinations grooming, skier traffic, or manmade snow. Natural snow terrain that hadn’t seen any packing was skiable, but typically mushy or sticky. I found turns down West Slope this afternoon particularly invigorating, as you could lay your skis over as far as you wanted on that steep pitch and have that snow just peel away as you carved it up.
“Hanky style”
After a few runs on Spruce, we took a quick pit stop at Spruce Camp where Claire and Luke gabbed some bagels that they hadn’t had a chance to eat earlier, folks got drinks if they needed them, and then we shifted over to Mt. Mansfield. With back to back gondola rides to get up to the Cliff House, there was plenty of time to take in snacks, but since not everyone had food, we decided that we’d also go for some food at the Octagon. From the top of the Gondola we headed down toward the Fourrunner Quad via Cliff Trail, and with all natural snow, there were some sticky spots, especially where traffic was lowest. You could really feel the difference in the snow surfaces when we arrived at Nosedive though, since it has a good amount of manmade snow and sees a lot more traffic; there were no issues with sticky snow there. At the Octagon we got some food, hung out for while, and everyone had a good recharge. As it turned out, we were all going to need that recharge, because we were going to work ourselves hard for the rest of the afternoon.
Working on those poles today on Hayride
Luke had originally requested a trip to Nosedive Bypass, since it’s one of the mountain’s areas that he’d yet to ski, but we were unsure of how much traffic it had seen, and how easy the skiing would be. Instead, Claire and I decided that it would be a perfect time for the boys to work on their bump skiing. The snow was just so good on that type of terrain that we didn’t want to pass up the chance, so we headed to the top of Hayride and Centerline. We could see that both were loaded with tons of soft, fantastic looking bump lines, so it was a difficult decision, but we ultimately went with Hayride. It turned out to be a good choice because there were also those extra steep pitches that let the boys work on steep skiing technique. The bumps were excellent, and the snow quality was fantastic even on the steepest pitches. You could attack anything, as steep as you wanted, and that snow would just peel away beautifully and let you hold those turns.
Although the boys were all ripping up the terrain, and it was hard to nitpick on instruction, I could see that they needed some pole work. The combination of bumps and steeps was perfect ground for demonstrating how proper pole technique can really bring you to that next level of skiing in that terrain. Reaching for those pole plants on steep terrain can really keep that upper body facing downhill, so we kept pushing that upper/lower body disconnect because I could see that some of the boys couldn’t manage turns in the tighter lines like they’d want to. It’s really difficult to make rapid transitions back and forth and perform those especially tight turns if you upper body is constantly turning out of the fall line. I’d say Ty has got that down the smoothest of all the boys, and for some reason it’s just something he picked up when he was very young, but as a group I think it’s a process that will really reap rewards for the boys this season. They’ve all definitely reached a level of skiing where they can handle whatever terrain you throw at them, and it’s time to work on the finer points of body positioning.
Claire showing the boys how it’s done
After a couple of trips on Hayride, we finally mixed it up and visited Centerline, which of course yielded more fantastic bump lines. That let us head south to pick up the rail park, since Dylan was really looking to get into some park terrain. They had some long rails and boxes in there, and the funniest moment by far was when Dylan was skiing along a double box, and near the end of the second one, which was probably a couple feet wide, he ended up with a ski on the ground on each side. He continued to ride it, in classic “crotch grind” fashion, and held on right through. It was as impressive as it was funny, and the “crotch grind” definitely hung with us for the rest of the day. We met up with Connor’s group right at the end of the park, and we had a good collective run down Tyro. We didn’t want to do it, but the boys convinced us to drop below the Crossover back to the Gondola to catch a trip through the Half Pipe. It was a heck of a lot of fun though, and those massive vertical walls felt bigger than ever, so it was worth the extra work to get back to the Over Easy. We had really cooked ourselves pretty good with all those bumps, and I know that most everyone was enjoying that well earned tiredness at the end of the day.
South winds were screaming along at the top of the Fourrunner Quad at the end of the day, and we’re rapidly approaching the end of the warm weather as a cold front nears the area. Snow is expected by overnight tonight in the higher elevations, and by midday tomorrow in the valleys. The biggest question going forward is about how much snow Mother Nature will put down by the upcoming MLK weekend. It doesn’t look like there’s a big enough storm coming this week to put down a real resurfacing to support lift-served skiing, so it may be time to hit the sidecountry/backcountry. But, there are a number of snow chances in the upcoming pattern, and you never know when the Northern Greens will pull 6 to 12 inches out of small passing systems. I was talking with E on the ride home about how, even though we had tons of good powder skiing days in the previous couple of weeks, it’s hard to think back to it when you’re out there on spring snow. It was a good break, but it will be nice to get the fat skis back out soon.
Dylan swishes through some of that Spruce Peak powder today.
Ski program started up today at Stowe, and it was our first time back since our training day on December 15th. With all the snowfall over the past three weeks, and about a foot and a half in the past seven days, we were expecting great conditions. I found a couple inches of new snow on the snowboard at the house this morning, and light snow was continuing, so that was going to add an extra freshening to the surfaces. With temperatures in the 20s F, the mountain was set up for an excellent day for the kids. As we approached the mountain we got a special view as among the clouds we saw the slopes of Spruce Peak lit up with sunshine.
Dylan initially forgot his ski jacket, so after dropping E off to take care of her coordinator duties, we popped back to the house to get it. On the drive we could see that there were all sorts of folks coming and going throughout the Stowe area, and it had the feel of a busy ski weekend. Our timing on the return was good though, as I grabbed a parking spot right near the drop off area. I think there’s something about arriving closer to that 1:00 P.M. period where you can catch those earliest skiers leaving, because another car was leaving from a great spot just a few spots down. From the parking lot I could see lots of fresh tracks in the area above Meadows, a classic sign of good snow at the resort.
“…the fact that the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is at 50 inches, and the way the Chin Clip Streambed is skiing well, can attest to the sufficient base depths.”
I had our usual group of boys today, and it was great to be back together for the season. Also helping out as a second coach was Ken, another BJAMS benefactor – it turns out that he enjoys bumps and trees and powder and all that, so we knew he’d fit right in with our young advanced group. We let the boys take turns choosing the runs, and Luke was fine taking ownership of the first warm up run off Sunny Spruce. For the rest of the Spruce Side, Jack took Whirlaway, and Ty took Green Acres and Spruce Line. There are still areas on the Green Acres headwall that should be avoided due to coverage, but down below in the glades and on Spruce Line there are no issues. Few people seemed to want to negotiate that headwall, so we essentially had all the terrain below to ourselves and there was plenty of fantastic untracked snow for us to ski. Over on Mansfield, Ty somehow got another one in the form of the Chin Clip Streambed, and then Dylan finished things off with some Nosedive Glades, or as the boys like to call it, “the middle of nowhere”. We started working on steep turns with the boys as we dropped into Green Acres, and I let them know that they could vary their turns anywhere from a continuous carve to a full blown jump turn. On the jump turn theme, we also worked on airs as we navigated the various icefalls in the Chin Clip Streambed. We talked about how one can take the airs straight if they feel that there is enough room to bleed that speed, or vary their landing angle with jump turns to the point where they have cut down the speed to where it’s reasonable. In line with the jump turns, pole work and timing were also a focus since we had a chance to get into plenty of mogul terrain – Dylan still needs to get his timing down on steeper terrain, but he was working on poles on lower angle terrain to get there. We had a really good group for après ski at the Spruce Camp Bar, and it was a really busy après session there because it actually wasn’t easy to find tables to get everyone together.
Enjoying the good coverage in the Chin Clip Streambed todayAprès today at the Spruce Camp Bar
Conditions on the slopes are very good overall; the fact that the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is at 50 inches (roughly a foot above average), and the way the Chin Clip Streambed is skiing well, can attest to the sufficient base depths. There are still a few spots on most steep trails we visited that could use a bit more cover, whether due to the fact that they need a slightly deeper base, or traffic has worn them down. A notable spot would be the Green Acres Headwall, where some of those nasty, jagged rocks are almost covered, but not quite there. Also, those tough to cover spots such as the south-facing terrain on the steep, lower spots of Spruce Line could use more snow. Another foot or two of base would take care of those issues, but the mountain must be close to 100% open from what we saw. Likewise we found some slick spots, typically in areas where snow was made, but the surfaces were almost exclusively packed powder and powder – we cut over to the area above Meadows whenever we could on our runs on Spruce Peak and there were still plenty of lines with powder in them for the boys to enjoy. It looks like temperatures are going to be a bit warmer over the next week, but we seem to be staying in the storm track so the snowpack in the mountains should continue to build.
The weather today at Stowe was crystal clear with long views.
Today was our annual school program training day at Stowe, so we were out at the mountain very early to allow E to take care of her coordinator responsibilities. Our instructor for the day was Arturo, who hails from Portillo, Chile. Since our group indicated that we’d be instructing all levels of students, we kicked things off on Spruce Peak at the Magic Carpet, then advanced fairly methodically to the Adventure Triple, Easy Street Double, Alpine Double, and Sunny Spruce Quad before breaking for lunch. The sky was crystal clear, the temperatures fairly chilly in the 20s F, and at Spruce Peak in the lower elevations where we skied, I’d call the snow conditions generally loose and frozen granular. That wasn’t too surprising with the terrain there getting the most sun and warmth. It was an excellent morning with Arturo though; he’s lots of fun and passed on numerous pearls of wisdom from his many years of instructing.
After the usual midday paperwork and season pass picture session, we had lunch at the Great Room Grill and headed over to Mt. Mansfield to continue the progression into higher level teaching. At the top of the Gondola we found the best snow of the day, which included plenty of packed powder that had been preserved thanks to cooler temperatures. I really enjoyed the snow and turns on that first steep pitch of Perry Merrill, which coincidentally was where I had my best turns exactly two weeks ago when I skinned up to the top of the Gondola. Below that we stopped just around the corner past the junction with Cliff Trail, and everyone commented on how good the soft, packed powder snow was in that area. The snow continued to be pretty decent (although still firm in lots of spots due to skier traffic) until about halfway down Perry Merrill, where it got notably harder. Presumably, temperature fluctuations had deteriorated the snow quality down there, similar to what we’d experienced over on the lower slopes of Spruce Peak
We finished the day off with a run from the Fourrunner Quad. Although basically just as high in elevation, the snow off the top of the quad didn’t seem up to the quality we’d seen at the top of the Gondola. Perhaps that’s due to the fact that the quad terrain has seen more traffic in general – I heard that today was actually just the first day for Gondola lift service. After a comment from Joe about wanting to get better at bumps, Arturo decided that we should make a run down Hayride. Frankly, it seemed like it was going to be pretty scary with the firm conditions – with the way the top of Hayride drops away, revealing nothing of the slope but just a view of the sunlit valley below, one had to cringe at the thought of an icy slope hiding behind the drop. Indeed there was plenty of firm snow, but Arturo had us work on turning on the tops of the bumps where the soft snow remained, and that was good practice and a surprising amount of fun at the relaxed pace at which we skied it.
I had several favorite new drills/techniques from the day; the first was a technique for kids turning in the wedge stance. Arturo puts his hands out to the side like an airplane, and then drops his hand down to a knee. This puts pressure on that ski and creates the turn. At the more advanced level, Arturo gets folks to put more aggressive angulation into their skis on steeper terrain by having them punch their hips in toward the slope with their downhill fist. I also like the way Arturo puts his ski poles on his shoulders to show how they are always pointing downhill, and uses the term “Shin-Tongue” (a.k.a. a new Asian dish) to remind students’ to keep their shins against the front of their boots to ensure that their weight is forward.
Since there’s been minimal new snow over the past couple of weeks, today was definitely a ski day worthy of edges, and not one in which I would typically venture out. But, that’s one of the benefits of these scheduled training days, they get you out on a day you might otherwise not hit the slopes. The temperatures were plenty cold, and the mountain continues to crank out lots of manmade snow and expand terrain, so there should be a lot available for the holidays, regardless of how much natural snow we get in the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, we’re looking at a much more active weather pattern starting up tomorrow. While the sun from the past few days has been nice, and it was fun being out on the slopes in it today, I’m definitely looking forward to the next week of wintry weather. Things kick off with snow tomorrow, and while we’re expecting some mixed precipitation in there as we head into the beginning/middle of next week, it sure seems like we’ll start adding to the natural snowpack in the mountains again. Right now the natural snow line is actually pretty low, down to around 1,000’ at the Matterhorn, but it’s still quite thin in general, so we need some storms to get the natural snow terrain rolling again like it was at the beginning of the month.
The powder at Stowe yesterday was so good, that I had to head out today for some more. E and the boys had some things to do at school in the morning, but for me it was a very casual Saturday today; with light snow falling to the tune of about an inch at the house, and powder in the mountains, it was just the sort of way you’d want to usher in the month of December. I took care of some things around the house this morning, and then headed off to Stowe in the early afternoon.
Temperatures have warmed considerably today relative to yesterday, and the temperature at the house was around 28 F when I left. That was pleasant though – much more comfortable than the teens, but not so warm that one would worry about melting the snow or affecting the powder. The temperature dropped to 24 F as I approached the resort base, and as has been the case for the past couple of weeks, numerous snow guns were cranking away on the slopes. On the American Weather Forum, Powderfreak sent in some impressive pictures of what Stowe has been doing in terms of snowmaking – those modern guns can really crank out the white stuff.
With the Fourrunner Quad area open with lift service, I decided to head over to the Gondola side of the resort to earn some turns. It was my first visit to that area of the resort this season, but if the snow depths were anything like what I’d experience on Nationalyesterday, I knew that there would be plenty of natural snow for turns. There were just a couple of cars in the Midway lot, and as I began my ascent on Chin Clip Runout I saw that there had been a surprising amount of skier traffic on the trails. Several people skied down past me as I climbed, and it had me wondering where they were all coming from. I was still plagued with the lack of uphill traction that I had to deal with yesterday because of the narrow skins on my skis, so I stuck to a moderately pitched route that took me up Switchback.
“Even though it was only a couple hours past midday, the clouds were thick and low, and the world had that close, dark, quiet feeling of December with deep snow.”
It was an incredible afternoon to be out on an ascent though. Even though it was only a couple hours past midday, the clouds were thick and low, and the world had that close, dark, quiet feeling of December with deep snow. Sounds were so muffled with all the powder around, that as I was ascending Switchback, two guys making their descent along the edge of Gondolier almost went unnoticed even though they were probably only 20 feet away from me. The only reason I knew they were there was because I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Within another second they were gone, gliding downward in the fluffy silence.
When I hit eventually hit Gondolier, I had to make my own switchbacks because the pitch was just too steep for my skins, but things got a bit better when I reached Perry Merrill. Soon after that, I realized where all the people were coming from – they were coming out of the exit of Lower Rimrock, so people were making their way over from the quad to hit the lower terrain of the Gondola area. Above that point I found that the amount of fresh powder on the trail increased dramatically, because traffic really was down to people who were hiking for turns. I continued on up and wrapped around to finish my ascent on Upper Gondolier. In the 3,000’ elevation range it became a bit difficult to estimate the natural snow depth because of the effects of wind, but my depth checks along the ascent had revealed the following numbers:
1,600’: 9”
2,000’: 12”
2,500’: 14”
3,000’+: 14”+
I had a snack and a drink at the Cliff House picnic tables, and it was definitely colder up there than at the base elevations; I put away my wet hat and got on my balaclava and helmet pretty quickly. The south side of the lodge had a nice area of drifted snow in excess of two feet, so I stowed my skis there while I recharged and enjoyed the quiet scene. Based on what I’d seen of Upper Gondolier (very windswept), and the terrain leading toward Chin Clip (pretty tracked up), I decided to descend on Perry Merrill. The best parts there were that very first steep pitch that drops toward Cliff Trail, and then the section near the big Gondola waterfall on down to where the traffic entered from Lower Rimrock. Between those stretches, the terrain was pretty windswept like I’d seen in other areas. Those Perry Merrill turns were awesome in general, with plenty of untracked powder, but I think that first steep pitch was the very best. There were only a few tracks, and the pitch, snow depth, and fat skis combined for quite a ride.
The AMPerages ready for action
The snow became more tracked with plenty of chowder below Lower Rimrock where all the skier traffic was entering, and it was my first chance to see how the AMPerages handled those conditions. I was able to tell pretty quickly that powder was really where they were the most at home. They were fine in the chowder or partially packed areas, they just didn’t have that feeling of amazing superiority that they do in the powder. Their slower edge to edge speed due to the width, which doesn’t really become apparent in untracked powder, was more evident in packed areas. It’s interesting to hear Black Diamond speak to the potential of the AMPerage as “the closest thing you’ll find to the mythical one-ski quiver”, because while it does have camber underfoot to go with the tip and tail rocker and make it more versatile on packed snow, it’s still a ski with a 115 mm waist. Based on impressions so far, I suspect one could pull it off as an all around ski here in the Northern Greens and various places in the mountains of Western North America, depending on their penchant for powder, but it still seems wide for everyday use. It’s definitely not something I’d consider an all-around ski for many locales. I got the AMPerages (and E the women’s Element version) as our powder Telemark skis, and although I don’t think we’ll refer to them as our all-around skis, they will probably see fairly heavy use. There’s almost always some powder out there to ski, even if it’s not a deep day, but the beauty of fat skis is that they can help float you even on those smaller days. I’m sure we’ll both have more to say about these new fatties as we work our way through the season, but up to this point I can only reiterate that I’m extremely impressed with how they ski in powder – if you haven’t yet tried a pair of fat, rockered skis for powder – do it.
It was well on to dusk as I was finishing my run, and when I saw the lights of the base area laid out below me, I stopped alongside the bottom race shack on Gondolier and took some pictures of the scene. The darkness really reinforced that December feeling. I actually think the powder may have settled a bit more in the higher elevations (probably due to wind) relative to some of the lower elevations, but the skiing was still excellent. It was absolutely a good start to the month.
I awoke this morning to our coldest temperatures of the season – we bottomed out at 7.2 F and there was no doubt that the snow was going to be light and dry. Since the snow had shut off by roughly midnight, there had been plenty of time to clean up the roads, and the trip over to Stowe was quick. There were a good 20+ vehicles present as I parked in the Mansfield lot, and although it was still fairly dark, I could see a few skiers making their way up the slope leading to the trails. They seemed to be heading off in the direction of Nosedive, so I opted to head that way and hopefully make use of an established skin track.
“I’ve often wondered if it was worth going the slightly narrower route on skins to reduce weight and enhance glide. After today’s experience, I can tell you to forget about it for typical alpine ascents.”
The track headed up Lower National through a few lower elevation snow guns, and the areas of firm, manmade snow quickly made me aware that my ascension setup wasn’t going to be perfect. I was using my AMPerages (139-115-123) to see how they fared in the powder, but since I don’t have skins for them yet, I was using my RT-86 skins (127-86-113). That width differential left a good deal of base exposed, and on occasion I had to use a heaping helping of arm strength with my poles to avoid slipping. Although I’ve always cut my skins to the full width of my skis, I’ve often wondered if it was worth going the slightly narrower route on skins to reduce weight and enhance glide. After today’s experience, I can tell you to forget about it for typical alpine ascents. Unless you’re going to be touring on very low angle terrain, it’s just not worth it based on what I experienced today – any benefit from the weight/glide could easily be lost by the constant slipping. Thank goodness the skin track didn’t have any post holes in it this morning or it would have been a huge pain to hold traction. Up through Lower National I was getting by reasonably well with the occasional small slip of my skins, but the challenge wasn’t quite over. After reaching the top of Lower National, the skin track shot up Midway, which has quite a steep pitch, and maintaining skin traction became a lot harder. The pitch eased a bit as the track made its way onto Nosedive, but by the time I’d reached the Liftline/National junction, time was getting short and I was more than happy avoid any more slipping. It was time for a descent.
I’d been checking on snow depth during my ascent, but due to all the snow this week, there was a lot of unconsolidated stuff under the current storm’s bounty and it was difficult to assess just what came down overnight. I’d been getting measurements of roughly a foot or more since I’d started at the base area (~1,500’), but when I stuck my measurement pole into the snow at that ~2,800’ mark, I got an overall depth of 18 inches. Combined with what I was seeing around me from other skiers (check out the pictures from adk and from Powderfreak at the American Weather Forum), who were having little if any issues touching down on obstacles below the snow, the potential turns were looking really good. National is quite steep and while it wouldn’t typically be my first choice for early season skiing, Mother Nature has really been dishing out the snow on Stowe this week. It looked ready and I was about to test it out.
“These new fat, rockered skis are absolutely the real deal. I continued to bound my way down the steep slope, just amazed at how easy the turns were.”
I switched to descent mode and decided to see what the AMPerages could do. I dropped in for the first few turns, tentatively, still wondering in the back of my mind if I was going to hit something below, but it was immediately obvious that there was plenty of snow. The powder was light and dry, and I quickly found myself just giddy with how well the AMPerages performed. This was my first time on such fat, rockered skis, and although I figured that there might be some modest, incremental increase in ease of powder skiing over my regular Telemark setup, it was far more than that. These new fat, rockered skis are absolutely the real deal. I continued to bound my way down the steep slope, just amazed at how easy the turns were. At the bottom of National I decided to avoid heading back down toward the snow guns where I’d ascended, and instead took Houghton’s over toward the Lookout Double. It was very quiet over there, since it was well away from any snow guns, and I finished off my run turning my way through fluffy silence. It’s not even December 1st and there’s not just passable, but really good natural snow skiing from top to bottom on Mt. Mansfield, so indeed that’s a great end to November on the slopes.
A peaceful Lookout this morning
Sure today featured the best snow I’ve encountered this season, but I can already tell that the powder skiing is going to be just that much more fun this season with the new boards in the quiver. I’ve now tested the AMPerages in some legitimate Champlain Powder™ – they handled the fluff with aplomb and they are clearly NVT worthy in that regard. Presumably the whole season won’t be just a fluff fest, so I’m also eager to see how they handle thicker snow and crud, but we’ll have time for that.
Blue skies today with a combination of natural and manmade snow coating the trees at the summit of Stowe’s Fourrunner Quad
I was in Morrisville today, so on the way home to Waterbury I stopped in at Stowe to make some turns. From the Stowe Village area, the view is quite nice with all the trails covered in white from the snow at the beginning of the week. Even at midday, the temperature was just a bit above freezing at the base (~1,500’) and the resort was cranking out snow from top to bottom. The bulk of the snowmaking was taking place on the main routes in the Lord/North Slope area, although snow was also being blow over on the lower slopes of Spruce Peak in the same places that we’d seen it on Sunday. To avoid the roar of the guns, I decided to make my ascent up Nosedive. Hiking was in order at the start of the ascent, since natural snow doesn’t appear until roughly the 1,800’ elevation. The air was generally calm and the temperatures pleasantly cool as I hiked, and finally when I reached the 3,000’ elevation it seemed that the snowpack was sufficiently deep and consistent enough to strap on the skis and start skinning. There were a couple of descent tracks from people who had skied the upper parts of Nosedive, and while the snow was actually quite nice with some powder and sugary surface hoar, you’d certainly want to use your rock skis based on the coverage. I topped out at the Fourrunner Quad summit area, and switched over for the descent on the plateau above Nosedive away from the snow guns. Estimates of the natural snow depth at various elevations on the ascent are as follows:
“The descent featured all sorts
of conditions, such as bottomless
manmade snow, sticky manmade sludge,
refrozen moonscape, and thankfully,
some areas of packed powder and
partially groomed manmade snow.”
The descent featured all sorts of conditions, such as bottomless manmade snow, sticky manmade sludge, refrozen moonscape, and thankfully, some areas of packed powder and partially groomed manmade snow. I started the descent on Upper Lord, and that was where I found the bottomless manmade that had recently been blown. After my experience with the snow on my November 4th tour, I have to say that I find that unconsolidated manmade stuff even more horrific to ski than Sierra Cement or Cascade Concrete, at least on Telemark gear. The turns often feel like an accident waiting to happen as you glide across the top and then suddenly cut into the paste with random frequency as you pressure the turn. Fortunately that ended by the time I reached the top of the Lookout Double. Snow was still being made, but the guns weren’t as densely packed and you could get around so that you were riding on older snow. Those middle elevations offered some of the best turns, with some nice packed powder to be found. The manmade snow that had had some time to dry out and/or had been packed by other traffic skied quite nicely. I did get into trouble in one spot where a gun was blowing fresh snow that turned out to be on the wet side – as soon as I stopped, several inches of it glommed onto the bottom of my skis and I had to slowly work it off while I got moving. I did my best to avoid any of the snow being blown by the lower mountain guns after that point, but it seemed like that one was just especially bad because of the mixture it was putting out. On the bottom half of the mountain there were still some areas of nice snow, but also refrozen and slick areas where one had to be careful to avoid a sliding out. At the bottom of my run, the guns were blowing in the North Slope Terrain Park, and I was dreading the thought of what the snow would be like down at that elevation. I watched a snow cat head right up through the gut of the trail, so I waited for him to make it above me in order to stay out of his way. That turned out to be very beneficial, because the best snow was actually in the track that had been churned up by the treads. It hadn’t been fully smoothed out, but by breaking up the top skin of the manmade snowpack, it produced some really nice packed powder. Those turns were actually great as I made my way back and forth in the swatch of the snowcat, and it gives me confidence that once Stowe’s snow is appropriately groomed, it’s going to ski quite nicely.
Today at the summit of the Fourrunner Quad
So, I definitely found some nice turns out there today. Today’s skiing scores well above what was available when I went out for a tour back on November 4th, but it wasn’t quite up to the consistency we found in the corn snow on Sunday’s outing, so today will fall in the middle of the pack for this November’s turns. It looks like we’re going to continue with this stretch of generally clear weather into next week, so while we can’t expect much natural snow during that time, at least the temperatures are such that plenty of snowmaking can take place.
With the combination of new snow and relatively low, midweek skier traffic, the traverse out to Angel Food was in good shape. I stopped in a few spots along the traverse to check the depth of the powder, and found anywhere from 12 to 20 inches in the high elevations. The main route was certainly tracked up, but there are just so many acres and acres of terrain around it that fresh lines were everywhere for the taking. Even though it was tracked and packed, the snow in the central areas was so good that I actually spent a lot of time there working on turns. When I did venture off the sides of the main route into other trees, the powder turns were divine, but the depth of the powder definitely started to drop as I went down in elevation. Down near the 2,000’ elevation there was also a thin layer of crust somewhere between the layers of powder. It was often quite subtle, so I suspect it was simply a bit of melt crust from when temperatures in the lower elevations rose above freezing on one of these past few days. I decided to take the traverses that got me back to the base of the resort instead of venturing down to Route 108, since that’s most likely what we’ll do with the boys at first, but we’ll work our way up to some of the other stuff. There was just glade after glade after glade off the main Angel Food route with few if any tracks, so the resort is really set up well for the coming holiday weekend.
