Month: March 2011

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Stowe, VT 08MAR2011

An image of Dylan skiing in powder
Dylan glides through some powder from the recent storm in the Angel Food area at Vermont's Stowe Mountain Resort

Dylan and I headed off to Stowe today to make some more turns in the snow from our recent storm.  By this morning we’d picked up 25 inches of snow at the house, and some of the Vermont resorts had received more than 3 feet.  It was a sunny, blue sky day, and the first thing that grabbed our attention when we got to the mountain was the view of the powdery lower slopes of Spruce Peak.  While they were adorned with plenty of tracks, we could see that lots of fresh lines were left, so we had to check that out for our first run.  We eventually worked our way over to the Mt. Mansfield side of the resort as well, and we really worked ourselves hard in all the powder.  The snow was synoptic in density, and there was a little wind crust in exposed spots, but it was still oh so good.  Dylan did a nice job managing the tricky conditions, even though he doesn’t yet have any fat skis.  To read about all the details and see the images from the day, check out the full trip report from March 8th at Stowe.

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Bolton Valley, VT 07MAR2011

Image of Dylan getting a face shot in deep powder
Dylan taking a face shot in deep powder on Secret Solitude

We spent the morning around at the house playing in the snow and taking care of snow removal, and then we headed up to Bolton Valley at some point after 1:00 P.M. to check out the new powder and get in some storm day turns.  Bolton’s Vista Quad was on wind hold, but Timberline was running well and we spent the afternoon there.  I did several depth checks in the 1,500’ to 2,500’ elevation range and got measurement of 26 to 31 inches for the depth of the new snow.  There were some gusty winds at times, but Timberline is fairly protected and wind wasn’t bad except on the ridgelines.  The new powder was just medium-density snow at ~10% H2O, and I guess the only thing that might made it better would be if it had been topped off with a bit of our Champlain Powder™ fulff, but let’s just say that it was quite a day to be out there.  It was certainly not one to be missed, but in case you did, you can check out all the details and the powdery images in the full Bolton Valley trip report from today.

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Bolton Valley, VT 06MAR2011

An image of snowy evergreen branches
Snow was quickly turning the area into a wintry scene both up on the mountain and down in the valley.

E and her co-director decided to cancel ski program at Stowe today due to so many parents being concerned about the large incoming storm, so I popped up to Bolton Valley for a bit this afternoon to see how some of the new snow was taking hold.  The conditions were actually quite nice, as the new snow is dense and it seems to be bonding to the old snow as it cools down.  I skied Hard Luck, which is fairly steep, and although I was certainly touching down on the old snow at times, even that was reasonably pliable and the new dense stuff was providing quite a ride even on pitches in the 30-degree range.  I followed up with Beech Seal, smiling the whole way as I ripped fresh snow down the deserted slopes.  I didn’t get any images of the new snow from up on the mountain, but I grabbed a shot out back at the house when I was making my weather observations at 4:30 P.M., and the snowy branches were representative of how the trees were starting to look up on the mountain.  For all the details, check out the full report from up at Bolton today.

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Cochran’s Ski Area, VT 05MAR2011

Image of the trails at Cochran's ski area
Looking at some of Cochran's terrain from the base

We were around in Stowe for a bit today but in the afternoon we made our way over to Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond to check out their 50th anniversary celebration.  They had 1961 throwback ticket pricing, so tickets were just 25¢ per person.  Everyone in the family went with their Telemark skis, and the boys had fun working on their turns.  Cochran’s is 9 miles down the Winooski Valley from our location, and the base elevation is fairly low.  At only 500 feet, it’s at the same elevation as our house.  Being down in the lower elevations, I’m not sure where temperatures were at in the high country today, but at Cochran’s and in the other lower elevation valleys they were in the 40s F.  We only skied on piste, but the snow was a good soft consistency, certainly somewhat spring-like, and it offered great carving.  To read the rest of the text and see all the pictures, go to the Cochran’s Ski Area report from today.