“If someone had asked me about ski choice for today, I would have just said to take your fattest skis, whether they’re brand new or not.”
The front came through overnight as expected, dropping about an inch of snow down at our house, and more in the higher elevations. Things seemed to have come together, so I decided to head out to Stowe for an early ski tour. Temperatures were generally in the mid 20s F as I traveled through the mountain valleys, and there were no issues with the roads until I started climbing up toward the mountain around 1,000’. Above that elevation I found enough packed ice and snow that it warranted a bit more cautious driving. At the Midway Parking Lot (1,600’), the temperature was 20 F and there was light snow falling. There was the usual crowd of early morning skiers heading out and returning from the slopes, and I suspected it would be easy to find a nicely established skin track on any of the typical routes.
Heading out from Midway for turns
Since our last outings a couple of weeks ago focused on the Gondola side of Mansfield, I decided to mix it up this time and took the well established skin track that headed up Nosedive. It was well packed, and made all the sweeter by the fact that for much of the ascent there was a parallel boot pack available for anyone hiking without skins. The snowpack increased very quickly with elevation on the bottom half of the mountain, and I found the following depths during my ascent:
1,600’: 4-6”
2,000’: 8-10”
2,500’+: 12-18”
Above ~2,500’, I was essentially well into the deep stuff, and the gains in snow depth weren’t huge beyond that. Of course, when you’re already talking 12-18” of snow with plenty of substance to it, the lack of additional increases isn’t a big deal. At the top of Nosedive, I continued my ascent up the Toll Road for a few more minutes to check in on the depth of the snowpack at the fabled Mt. Mansfield Stake. At ~3,700’, the stake showed at least 17” of snow, and I generally found 18-19” there when I probed on the edge of the Toll Road itself, so indeed the snow depth up there was right around a foot and a half.
It’s really a nice sheltered area up along the road by the stake, and since the snow wasn’t perturbed by wind, you could definitely get a sense for where the snow stood with respect to quality. Indeed that quality was looking very good. As one would expect with the latest round of fluff, the snowpack was right side up with the lightest snow on top, and it was primed and ready for some turns. Big, dendritic flakes were falling while I was there switching over for the descent, and I stood and savored the moment for a while before pushing off down the road. I crossed over toward the Fourrunner Quad, and the summit area was awash in manmade snow. I didn’t even see that many guns going up there – I think the resort has already been able to hammer that area with manmade snow with the cold temperatures we’ve had.
Hayride today
So now I’m left with just one more thing to discuss, the pièce de résistance for the day… the descent. While ascending Nosedive, it was clear that there had been a huge bolus of snow dropped above 2,500’, so coverage wasn’t going to be an issue. Temperatures were certainly not in question either, since it must have been somewhere in the teens F. That left the aspects of snow density and the effects of the wind, and based on the turns I was seeing by people descending Nosedive, it looked like the skiing was going to be fine, even if not sublime. But, I suspected I could do better. There had definitely been some wind on Nosedive that appeared to have packed out the snow a bit. With that in mind, I decided to roll the dice and check out another descent route – Hayride. I’d had good luck on Hayride back on April 10th of last year, when Mt. Mansfield got laced with over two feet of dense, resurfacing snow. It was actually the challenge of that snow on Telemark gear that was one of the final nails in the coffin in convincing me to finally get some fat, rockered skis for Telemark use. I could already tell that today’s snow conditions were nothing like what I encountered on that April outing – with the new fluff, this snow was notably drier. I hadn’t actually thought that it would be anywhere near the quality of what we had last November on the 30th, but after a few turns on Hayride I found that it was certainly in the same league. And indeed we’re talking quite the league – Hayride was sheltered from the wind, so turn after turn after turn I was able to push hard on the deep snow. It gave way, let you sink in, but pushed back with just enough force to keep you from getting to the ground. With 115 mm underfoot and judicious line choice, I think I touched down twice on something other than snow on the entire descent. Just like last November, the AMPerages were totally in their element, letting me play around in the deep snow on a remarkably stable platform. They helped out immensely with fore-aft balance, and I can recall some specific instances where I was saved from what easily could have been a face plant. If someone had asked me about ski choice for today, I would have just said to take your fattest skis, whether they’re brand new or not. Today, a combination of fat skis with the available snow would be plenty to keep you safely above most underlying obstacles. You’d probably end up having a heck of a lot of fun as well.
Taking advantage of the October powder today at Stowe
Well, we definitely got to witness Mt. Mansfield flexing the snowfall muscles today – despite the fact that we know this mountain’s ability to reel in snow, it just never gets old. Stowe delivers. I’d certainly been contemplating some turns, but after catching Powderfreak’s comment this morning about how it was dumping at the ski area, and then checking the web cams myself to see snow falling hard and fast at the base, that sealed the deal. Ty has been chomping at the bit for some skiing, so he joined me and we headed out in the early afternoon. Temperatures were in the low 40s F in the valleys, and the precipitation was generally light rain. The Worcester Range was visible to the east, white with new snow, but off to the west, a white haze hung over the spine of the Greens and we could see that it was definitely still snowing up there. The precipitation remained rain as we headed up the Mountain Road, but at ~900’ elevation near Northern Lights Lodge, we started to see leftover snow accumulations along the sides of the road. The snow on the ground continued to build, and by the time we pulled into Stowe’s Midway Lot at ~1,600’, we found 2-4” of snow on the ground up on the grassy slopes above. The temperature had only dropped to 38 F, but the precipitation had changed fully over to a light snow comprised of small flakes.
“…despite the fact that we know this mountain’s ability to reel in snow, it just never gets old.”
We changed things up in terms of equipment today, and instead of Tele, we went with alpine gear using Alpine Trekkers for the ascent. I haven’t had the Trekkers out in a while, but it was time to bring them back into service; I’ve finally moved my old Volkl CMH Explosiv fat skis to rock ski status, and I was eager to try them out on one of these early days. My only Tele rock skis are my old skinny Rossignol Hellgates, and with a waist of just 70 mm, they’re really not a great tool for these early season powder days. Combining Tele + skinny + variable early season powder is certainly a recipe for challenge. Another reason to go with the Trekkers today was that Ty’s boots and bindings are now large enough to easily accommodate Trekkers. He’s not at the stage yet with his Tele skiing that he’s ripping up early season, potentially inconsistent powder with aplomb, so going alpine on the tour would be much more enjoyable for him. We decided to go with his carving skis instead of his powder skis for the setup, and fortunately we were able to get a good fit out of his skins from his Telemark skis.
As usual, the Trekkers were great on the ascent. Although going with alpine skis and Trekkers is notably heavier than Tele, it’s typically not a big deal unless you’ve got huge tours to do. My biggest issue was with my skins – I’m not sure if the old skins for my CMH Explosivs have lost their water repellency, but whatever the case, today’s conditions had them catching and carrying a bunch of snow at times. I’d have Ty clean the underside of the skins off for me when we stopped, but we could never quite keep them from re-accumulating a coating of snow. Fortunately, Ty’s skins had no issues in that regard. The snow on the ground was quite wet at the base, but it dried out substantially as our elevation increased. We ascended via a bit of Perry Merrill, and then Gondolier to the Cliff House, and we observed the following snow depths with respect to elevation:
Aside from Ty’s first chance to try out Alpine Trekkers another new addition on this outing was his own Measurement Ski Pole. I put together measurement poles for both Ty and Dylan this fall, and it was great having Ty reporting depths along the ascent – with two observers we were able to collectively decide on the best approximations of depths to create the list shown above. It also kept Ty very interested in going higher, even if just to see how much deeper the snow was going to get. Although Dylan didn’t go out to the slopes today because he was off with E doing some shopping, based on Ty’s experience I think he’s going to have a lot of fun with the measurements on our next outing.
A shot from up near the Cliff House
It was around 4:30 P.M. when we hit the top of the Gondola at ~3,600’, and the snow was coming down with some good intensity. It wasn’t quite inch an hour snowfall since the flakes were still fairly small, but it felt like it was somewhere between ½ and 1 inch/hr and it was quite impressive. We took shelter under the Cliff House to gear up for the descent because of the intensity of the snowfall, but there was almost no wind, so it was nice to hang out and watch the flakes pour down. With the late hour, thick clouds, and hefty snowfall, it had that dusky feel of December in the north. Ty and I discussed how it just as easily could have been December with all the snow. Another great milestone for Ty was the fact that this was his first full ascent to the Gondola, and it was nice to see that he still had plenty left in the tank at the top. We put a call in to Mom to let here know that we’d be descending soon, but also to let her know about Ty’s accomplishment.
Extolling October Snow
We fueled up with some food and drink, but didn’t loiter too long because we knew the light was going, and we had to get in some shopping for dinner on the way home. Soon, we headed off down Perry Merrill, and one of the more challenging aspects wasn’t the snow, but the intense snowfall and reduced visibility. I’d been sort of soured on my CMH Explosivs the last time I’d used them, because they felt heavy and long and I just didn’t want to push them around, but today I’d say there was a newfound love for them. For whatever reason, perhaps because we were out on open trails instead of tight places, they felt great today – fat and stable, and just what one needs for the inconsistent early-season snow. Ty had to work hard on his skinnier skis to handle the powder, but we worked on technique on the way down and he made some great turns. I told him that if he could ski the powder on these skis, he’ll be cranking away when he’s on his powder skis.
That more intense snowfall was with us on the entire descent, and the freezing line had gone down as well. Back at the car, heavy wet snow was falling, and the temperature was down to 35 F, three degrees below where it had been when we’d arrived. It was the sort of precipitation that soaked you very quickly once you were out of your Gore-Tex, and we both got pretty wet putting away the gear and switching out of clothing. The precipitation eventually changed back to rain as we dropped into the valleys on the drive home, but it was raining quite hard at times. There had already been some additional snow accumulations down to lower elevations by the time we were leaving, and the snow in some of the lower elevations actually looked better than it had on the way up due to some new covering. Overall the quality of the skiing was quite good, especially up high, and it could be even better tomorrow with more snow falling tonight.
Temperatures at the Midway area had dropped three degrees while we were out on our ski tour, and a driving, wet snow greeted us back at the car.
Waterbury snowfall for the 2012-2013 season – broken down by month
The last snowstorm of the 2012-2013 winter season extended all the way out to Memorial Day weekend to produce some great late season skiing, but now that we’re well into summer and all the snow has melted, we can look back at how the winter went down at our location in Vermont’s Winooski Valley. The main focus in the seasonal analysis below is on snowfall, but snowpack and temperatures will be discussed as well. In this post I’ve hit on some of the highlights that came out of the data, and attached our various plots and graphs, but to get to the full data set, you can use the following link:
Thankfully, this past season’s snowfall (144.2″) marked a notable increase over the previous season (115.3″), but the total snowfall for 2012-2013 was still less than 90% of average, so that’s not likely to lift the season into the category of “great” winters. In addition, the amount of snow on the ground at the house last season didn’t help to improve the winter’s standing. Using the value of snow depth days as an integrative way of representing the season’s snowpack, one finds the 2012-2013 winter season producing a value of 729 inch-days, less than half the average value, and right down there in the basement with the well below average 2011-2012 season (688 inch-days). And, if the overall snowpack depth hadn’t already undermined any chances of redemption to an average level, the 2012-2013 snowpack secured the season’s ignominy by reaching the lowest value we’ve seen in January and February (3.0″), and coming within a hair’s breadth of melting out in the area around our measurement stake at a record early date in mid March:
This past season’s rather meager snowpack at our location in Waterbury (red line) relative to average (green shading)
Often, each month of the winter/snowfall season has its own unique flavor with respect to the weather, so one method I like to use to get a feel for the winter is to look at it on a month-by-month basis. Again, the focus below is on snowfall at our location, but snowpack is also considered, as well as mountain snowfall/snowpack and the associated effect on the local skiing. I’ll have a separate 2012-2013 ski season summary coming up, so I’ve kept the ski discussion minimal here in anticipation of a more thorough discussion in that report. The month’s total snowfall is listed at the start of each section below for reference:
Snowfall: 0.1″ – October snowfall isn’t reliable enough down at our elevation to be factored much into the seasonal assessment, but this October was on the weak side, with just a tenth of an inch of snow, vs. the mean of roughly an inch. Regardless of this, there was still enough for the needs of companies like https://divisionkangaroof.com/areas-served/gainesville/ with the weight of the snow causing damage to some roofs. One small feather in the cap of 2012-2013 is the fact that the first accumulating snow fell on October 12th, which beats out 2010-2011’s October 15th snowfall by three days, and now represents the earliest measurable snowfall I’ve recorded here at the house since I started monitoring the weather in 2006.
Snowfall: 6.3″ – November snowfall came in just a bit below average this past season, so certainly not remarkable, but notable in that it was probably about as average a November as we’ve seen. November has typically been feast or famine when it comes to snow. We actually had a total of five snowstorms in November, but a small to moderate storm of 4.4″ at the end of the month contributed the bulk of the monthly total as well as some of the first great skiing of the season in the mountains.
Snowfall: 49.5″ – December held the first lengthy, redeeming snowfall period of 2012-2013. Although the first half of the month was extremely poor on snowfall (just 2.2″ of snow at the house), from the 16th of December onward, temperatures got cold and snow came in for a dramatic change; close to 50″ of snow fell on us in the second half of the month, and as a whole the month actually wound up several inches above average. Those in homes with faulty or no heating in place are likely to struggle with the crushing cold at this time of year which is why it’s so important to conduct regular maintenance on heaters so you’re not left to suffer over winter. Reaching out to the likes of these professionals could help with this – siriuspac.com/heating-repair-service/. A problem left unaddressed could snowball into substantial damage and become more costly to repair over time so it’s well worth acting on it as early as possible. We received our second (15.5″) and fourth (11.7″) largest storms of the season during that stretch, right near Christmas and just a few days apart, so needless to say, the snow was there to set quite the holiday mood in the valleys and up above on the slopes.
Snowfall: 21.9″ – January continued that good, snowy weather pattern in its first week, albeit to a lesser degree than December, but unfortunately that modest first week ultimately wound up representing roughly half of the month’s snowfall. The second week featured a couple of substantial thaws with no measurable snow, and in fact we received no accumulating snow at all for the period between January 7th and 16th, a very long stretch for the mountainous areas of Northern Vermont during the winter. The third week of January offered just a few small systems, and the fourth week was arctic cold with minimal snow. The final week attempted to recoup the losses with a modest half foot storm, but it was too little too late – the month ended with just 21.9″ of snow, by far the lowest January in my records. The combination of very low snowfall and two January thaws was very deleterious to the valley snowpack – after coming down from the depths achieved in December, the snowpack depth at our location never even reached 10 inches again during the month, and got as low as 3.0 inches. That is ridiculously close to losing the winter snowpack in January, definitely the closest we’ve come based on my records since 2006.
Snowfall: 31.4″ – February was again below average in snowfall, partly due to the continuation of the dry arctic pattern in the first week, and it wound up missing the mark for the lowest February in my data set by less than an inch. Although that persistent dry pattern didn’t make for a very snowy first half of the month, our third largest storm of the season (12.6″) hit in the second week. It was still a rather modest storm, but at least it did break that one foot mark for accumulation at the house. By the end of the third week of February, the snow depth at the Mt. Mansfield stake actually poked above average for the first time in about a month and a half – but it was only by a couple of inches, and it quickly went back below average as the snowpack sat there essentially stagnant for an entire month. On February 21st, the snowpack was at 65″, and roughly a month later on March 18th, it was still at 65″, without any major consolidation of more than a few inches. That’s stagnant. Our snowpack at the house languished similarly, never even getting above 10 inches of depth during that stretch – and that’s a time of year when it is usually building to its peak of the season. The carryover of the low snowpack from January also set the lowest mark (3.0″) for snowpack that we’ve ever seen in February.
Snowfall: 4.2″ – April was even a couple inches below average for snowfall, but temperatures stayed cool enough to keep the winter season rolling along, and that’s what really helped make the period wintrier. We didn’t have any notable April snow accumulations down at our elevation, just a couple of small ones on the 2nd, and again on the 12th – 13th, but the mountains continued to get fresh snow right into mid month to keep surfaces in great form and the Mt. Mansfield snowpack robust.
Snowfall: 0.0″ – There was no accumulating May snowfall down at the house this season, but that’s not too much of knock on the Month, because not getting snow in May is more the norm than actually getting snow. The mountains did get that beautiful Memorial Day weekend storm though, and the late season powder skiing was mighty fine. Although I can’t factor that directly into the analysis for the valley, it was quite cold in the valleys at the end of the month, and close to even snowing there.
There were a couple of other interesting notes with respect to snowfall this season:
1) Storm frequency and average storm size: Despite coming in below average for snowfall, the 2012-2013 season offered up a healthy 51 accumulating snowstorms, almost up there with the 53 storms we received in 2007-2008. Of course, to come in below average for snowfall with that many storms indicates that the average snowfall per storm was down, and indeed it was. At 2.8″/storm, 2012-2013 ranks down there with 2011-2012 (2.6″/storm), the only odd seasons out compared to the more typical seasons up near 4″/storm. For whatever reason, this season’s average came in on the low side. This is presumably due in part to many of the everyday events being on the small side, but also due to the lack of bigger storms, which is covered in point #2 below.
2) Storms with double-digit snowfall: It’s certainly an arbitrary and subtle distinction, but after looking through my data, I noticed an interesting trend with respect to each season’s largest storms for our location. In my season summaries, I always make a list of the top five storms of the season, and when the season seems to have gone well, all of those top five storms have been in the double digits for snowfall. In fact, the “best” seasons thus far have been able to surpass that five-storm threshold. For reference, here’s the top five list for this season, with the links to the detailed web pages for each storm:
Indeed, if we look at the number of storms with double-digit snowfall by the seasons, we see an obvious trend. With the number of double-digit snowfall storms listed in parentheses after the season, one notes those “good” seasons – 2007-2008 (6), 2008-2009 (7), 2010-2011 (7) seemed to find a way to exceed five double-digit storms, whereas the poorer snowfall seasons – 2006-2007 (4), 2009-2010 (2), 2011-2012 (3), 2012-2013 (4) just didn’t. Surely the law of averages comes into play here to some degree – seasons with patterns producing lots of snow likely have a greater chance of getting a big storm in here, but that’s not a given. It’s also very suspicious that those seasons that come in sort of in that middling ground like 2006-2007 and our season of interest for this summary, 2012-2013, fall just short of making the cut. I suspect this trend may be more intact in a location like ours because of the relatively high number of storms and snowfall, and upslope snow (which was on the low side this season) as an extra protection against huge snowfall variance, but this is going to be an interesting trend to follow into the future as a gauge of snowfall seasons.
In sum, while snowfall was certainly a bit below average, and snowpack was well below average, I’d still give the season a reasonable grade. If C is average, I’d go with a C- for 2012-2013, just a bit off from making the average. Were snowpack a more significant factor in my winter preferences, one could argue for going a bit lower, but at least minimal snowpack was maintained throughout the entirety of the winter to keep everything white. Overall it could have been a lot worse, and with the amount of snowfall we did get, it’s hard to drop the season into the D range, which, based solely on snowfall and snowpack at the house, is where I’d put a season like 2011-2012.
We’re pleased to announce the completion of our Bolton Valley Photo Gallery for the 2012-2013 ski season. This year’s gallery is our largest to date, with over 270 images documenting this season’s ski adventures indoors and out, in the front, side, and backcountry, under blue skies and flake-dumping maelstroms at Vermont’sBolton Valley Ski Resort. Continue on to the thumbnail images below and browse away! Detailed reports are associated with every photograph in the gallery, so if you find a scene that sparks your interest, simply hover over the thumbnail image to get the date, and head to the archives on the right side of the page to read the full report. We’ve also got similarly extensive galleries from the past several ski seasons, representing nearly 1,600 photographs from around Bolton Valley, and these can all be found at our J&E Productions Photo Galleries Page. We’ll also have our full 2012-2013 Ski Season Summary coming out later this summer, so stay tuned for that update as well.
“…you didn’t have to worry about hitting anything underneath and you could just let it rip.”
Saturday arrived with a nor’easter developing just like the weather models had suggested. For folks that had outdoor, warm-weather plans for the big holiday weekend, you almost couldn’t find a nastier combination of weather. Temperatures were in the 40s F, and there was plenty of wind and rain. We wondered if we were going to have to turn the heat back on in the house. Reports began to come in about the snow in the mountains, and by mid afternoon, Whiteface was already reporting that they had received 18” of new snow. As the afternoon wore on, even valley temperatures fell down well into the 30s F in many places in New England, and fairly low elevation spots began to report snow mixing in with the rain. Although we weren’t getting any snow down to the low elevations in our area, we lost power from about 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. for some reason, so we headed off to bed early and decided to see how things were going in the morning.
Snow closed down the road through Smuggler’s Notch today.
I made my morning CoCoRaHS observations at 6:00 A.M., and after checking back in on the weather board and looking at some of the mountain web cams, I decided to head to Mt. Mansfield for a ski tour. I couldn’t tell quite how low the snow line had gotten, but it was still below freezing in the higher elevations, and the precipitation had continued through the night. There was a good chance that a nice shot of snow had accumulated on Mt. Mansfield. I didn’t try convincing E or the boys to try to join me, since they were all still in bed, so I got into my ski clothes, let E know that I was on my way, and loaded up the car with my gear. I don’t typically find the ski gear vying for space with the baseball stuff in the back of the car, but it definitely was today. I headed off to the mountain around 7:30 A.M. or so, and temperatures throughout the mountain valleys in the Waterbury–Stowe area were in the lower 40s F on my drive. The precipitation was generally light rain until roughly the point where the electronic sign indicates the status of Route 108 through Smuggler’s Notch, and not long after that, the rain became much heavier. The sign, by the way, read “NOTCH ROAD CLOSED… DUE TO SNOW”. The road through the notch tops out near 2,200’, so clearly the snow was accumulating at that elevation on paved surfaces. The temperature remained in the lower 40s F until that final rise above The Matterhorn to Stowe Mountain Resort, where they dropped into the upper 30s F.
“You could do laps up there from 2,500’ to 3,600’ and think it was midwinter.”
I parked at the Midway Lodge (~1,600’), where the temperature was in the mid to upper 30s F, and the precipitation was generally snow, but certainly some rain as well, and the snow that was falling was of course incredibly wet. It was pretty nasty at that point, with 25 MPH winds and driven wet snow/rain. The snow wasn’t quite accumulating there, but it was close, and you could see the accumulations just a few hundred feet up the trails. The weather was nasty enough that I left my lens hood on my camera in its protective orientation, even when it went back in my pack. I rarely feel the need to do that, and typically flip it back around for storage, but that speaks to just how wet and windy that snow was to make me take that extra step to minimize the amount of precipitation getting on the lens filter.
Snow line in sight on Nosedive at 2,100′
In the Midway parking lot there were a few dozen vehicles belonging to skiers, and most of the people were heading up Gondolier, but my initial ascent was via Nosedive; it’s often a good bet for decent snow coverage and preservation in these early and late-season storms. Also, based on what I saw in the report from AdventureSkier.com last Sunday, it looked like there would be some decent base snow left in case the new snow depths were marginal. The first traces of snow accumulation on the ascent were at 1,800’, by 2,100’ there was generally complete coverage of the trail, and by ~2,200’ the depth was a couple of inches and it was consistent enough that I switched from hiking to skinning. Even with those couple inches of snow, I was beginning to experience some occasional slipping as I hiked, so it was nice to get the skis off the pack and on the snow where the skins had beautiful traction. There was a faint skin track from an earlier ascender, but it was intermixed with some of the descent tracks of skiers and a bit hard to follow. I met up with another guy that was making the Nosedive ascent, and we chatted a bit about skiing as we made our way up the mountain. He was just hiking in his boots with his skis on his back, which seemed like a bit more work as the snow got deeper and deeper, but it didn’t appear to slow him down too much. Listed below are the snow depths I found on the ascent of Nosedive with respect to elevation:
We stopped our ascent at 3,300’ because as we approached the switchbacks at the top of the trail we got some beta from a couple of skiers coming down Nosedive – they indicated that everything above that elevation in the switchbacks was scoured and really not worth it, and indeed that was obvious once we got to the landing below that final switchback at 3,300’. I’m going to call the average snow depth there 10” to be on the conservative side, but there were plenty of areas with 12”-15” of snow; there was just variability due to the effects of wind deposition. I stuck my measurement pole right in the snow in the center of that landing, and found 15” of snow depth. The guy that had ascended with me headed up just a bit higher to catch some turns along a drift of snow, so I pulled out the camera and got some action shots as he made his way down.
I didn’t get his name, but he had quite a blast ripping up the powder on Nosedive today.
Before beginning my descent, I downed a packet of GU Energy Gel to see if it would provide that extra boost of energy to my legs to permit proficient and aggressive Telemark turns. I’ve noticed that after fairly long and/or quick ascents, my legs are often still recovering, and not to the stage where they can handle a lot of rigorous Telemark skiing right away. Alpine turns are typically no problem, since they’re easier and more stable to begin with, and after decades of alpine skiing, my muscles have the memory to really let them do it efficiently. But those Telemark turns take a lot more work, and it seemed like a little extra boost of quick energy would get me where I needed to be. So, I took a cue from the boys, who like to have a GU when they’re starting to fade while we’re biking or skiing – the Vanilla Bean flavor is a favorite among all of us. I usually don’t find that I need to worry about having enough energy on outings with the boys along; the pace is so slow that E and I usually don’t get drained. The boys certainly push themselves though, often needing some sort of recharge due to their smaller energy reserves, and when that’s the case, it’s GU to the rescue. On bigger, faster paced outings by myself though, I also feel the drain, and today I wanted to give a recuperative GU shot a try. I had the GU just a few minutes before my descent, and it absolutely worked. It helped give my legs that quick energy that they craved, and they had no trouble making Telemark turns. It was great having maximum powder to drive the legs, and while there’s no way to know exactly how my legs would have performed without the shot of GU, it was certainly my hero for today. I can still remember when I first learned about those energy gels back in the early 2,000s when Scott and Troy and their Dirtworld.com mountain biking team would use them. They’d strap them to their handlebars and down one on each lap to keep their energy up. With the way it performed today, I think a shot of GU before each earned descent is going to become part of the routine.
“There were plenty of
untracked lines to ski,
and it was dense, wall-
to-wall snow…”
As for the snow conditions, indeed there was some leftover base snow on Nosedive, and that offered up great turns, but the new snow itself was extremely dense (probably 12-14% H2O or so) and as long as there was enough of it, there was no need for previous base because it kept you off of anything below. I caught some beautiful bottomless powder on the skier’s left below the switchbacks, and then a lot more on the skier’s right along the edge of the trail. The Telemark turns were definitely flowing, and despite the fact that it was dense snow that could easily have been challenging to ski, it wasn’t. I immediately thought back to that storm last year on April 10th. Mt. Mansfield picked up more than two feet of dense snow that covered everything, but it was quite a challenge to ski on the Teles. Sometimes you would punch through the snow too far, perhaps with one ski, making lateral balance tough, and fore-aft balance was also extremely challenging. It’s possible that there was snow of varying densities in that storm, with some less dense snow underneath the topmost layer. That’s “upside down” snow, which is typically more challenging to ski. It was after that storm that I really decided that I wanted some fat, rockered Telemark skis for powder, and eventually got the Black Diamond AMPerages. I can only wonder how they would have performed in that storm – they would have been nice today, but being unsure of the snow depths I went with my older Atomic RT-86 midfats, and there were no issues. Really, the most challenging aspect of today’s skiing was negotiating areas of thinner snow as you dropped in elevation. I was actually quite impressed with the quality of some of the powder skiing on Nosedive today, but little did I know it wasn’t even going to hold a candle to what was in store over at the Gondola.
22″ of new snow up at the Cliff House today
I had no time limits, and plenty of energy left in the tank with the shortened ascent, so I skied down to the junction of Nosedive and Cliff Trail, and continued my tour by skinning up Cliff Trail. Within a few moments of starting my ascent, it was obvious that snow depths were substantially greater on Cliff Trail than they were on Nosedive at equivalent elevations. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was heading toward the Gondola, or because Cliff Trail offers better protection from the wind, but coverage was deep, wall-to-wall. Unlike what I’d seen on most of Nosedive, there were no signs of whatever lay beneath the snow. It wasn’t an illusion either; the depth at 3,000’ on Cliff Trail was 11”, vs. the 8” on Nosedive. The snow just continued to increase as I ascended toward the Gondola, there was 12”+ by the junction with Perry Merrill at 3,400’, and 12” – 15” easily up at the Cliff House. That’s on the conservative side for what you could find up there, and in general the snow depth was somewhat deceptive because you didn’t sink much into the dense snow. But right in the middle of Perry Merrill just beyond the Cliff House I measured 22” of new snow in flat terrain with no drifting. The usual measurement off the top of the picnic tables was deceptive as well – there was about a half foot of snow on the tables, but you could tell that the snow was much deeper because the table’s seats were just about buried. I measured in the open space between the tables and got a depth of 18”, so presumably the tops of the tables didn’t accumulate the snow well due to wind, melting, or some other effect. Here’s the summary of the depths I found on the Gondola side ascending via Cliff Trail:
“…at times it was dense enough that you’d be smearing turns right on the surface.”
I had another GU and got ready for my descent. Even that first steep pitch of Perry Merrill had great coverage comprised of that dense snow. Typically you’d sink in a few to several inches, but at times it was dense enough that you’d be smearing turns right on the surface. It took a moment to adapt when that was happening, but somehow the variability in the turns didn’t seem to disrupt the flow of the skiing – it was just really fun. I almost headed back down Cliff Trail since the coverage was so complete, but there were already a couple of tracks on it, and it’s fairly narrow, so I opted to check out Perry Merrill instead. I was hoping it would live up to the coverage I’d seen on Cliff Trail, and indeed it was just as good, if not even a bit better. There were plenty of untracked lines to ski, and it was dense, wall-to-wall snow, all the way down to 2,500’. You could do laps up there from 2,500’ to 3,600’ and think it was midwinter. The snow certainly wasn’t fluffy VermontChamplain Powder™, it was dense Sierra Cement, but it wasn’t wet or sticky. It made for plenty of base and just skied really well – it was right near the top on quality that I’ve experienced relative to many similar early and late-season dense-snow events. Sinking into the snow only a few inches or so was inconsequential compared to the fact that you didn’t have to worry about hitting anything underneath and you could just let it rip.
The view from white to wet
I stopped my descent at around 2,300’, as the snow was down to about 4” and it was getting notably wetter. You could probably go down to around 2,100’ easily if you had your rock skis. I hiked down the last 700’ back to the Midway Lodge, and the last vestiges of snow disappeared right around 1,800’ just like I’d seen over on Nosedive. The precipitation was snow down to just a couple hundred feet above the base, and back down at the lodge it was mostly rain with some snow mixed in at times. There were some really good bursts of snow on my descent, even in the lower elevations. The temperature had increased a few degrees to ~40 F at the base, but it was midday at that point, so that was still quite impressive.
Overall, I was really excited about how my equipment and supplies performed on this tour. My Gore-Tex did its job in keeping me dry, despite the driving rain and snow. My skins held like glue even in the wet snow, and hiking both up and down in my Telemark boots was a joy. I remembered to put them in walk mode for the walking sections (and put them back in ski mode for the descents) and it was almost like being in my hiking boots. And then there was the GU. It really quickened my recovery for the descents, and I’m going to be keeping that on the tour menu going forward. The boys won’t be able to borrow GU from me as easily though when they need it. While the GU certainly did its thing, I’m sure my stop off at Dunkin Donuts to fuel up before the tour also helped. I was feeling so great when I got home at midday, that I was ready to go for another round of skiing if E and the boys wanted to. It was still nasty and rainy outside, and not really conducive to doing too much else, but we had some fantastic winter powder skiing sitting up there in the high country. I couldn’t convince them to go though, so they unfortunately missed out this time. We did get some quality time indoors though, which I’m guessing a lot of families were doing this weekend. Ty, Dylan and I had a great round of “The Settlers of Catan” while E did a bit of shopping. It was quite a storm though, with Whiteface and other areas of the high peaks really cleaning up and putting out some amazing pictures.
…and this is what you get for Memorial Day
Monday update: The clouds cleared out today to produce crystal blue skies, and naturally that revealed some amazing vistas of the spring foliage and snow-capped peaks everywhere. Mt. Mansfield and Camel’s Hump were topped with white, shimmering in the strong sun of late May, and the high peaks of the Adirondacks were brilliant. We traveled around from Waterbury to Vergennes to Cambridge doing various activities, so we took in numerous vantages of the Greens and Adirondacks. It turned out to be a spectacular Northern New England Day for the holiday, almost as if Mother Nature was trying to strike as sharp a contrast as possible against the recently departed storm.
We had a family gathering through early afternoon today, but in the mid to late afternoon, I headed up to Bolton Valley for a tour. Up to that point we’d had on and off bouts of precipitation in the valley, often showers mixed with sleet, but no notable accumulation other than transient stuff. Temperatures were in the mid 40s F in the 300’-500’ elevation range along the bottom of the Winooski Valley as I headed westward toward Bolton; we’d had breaks of sun among the clouds and precipitation, and I was preparing for some fairly soft and slushy spring turns up on the hill. Since I never pulled them out yesterday at Stowe, I’d even brought my fat skis to evaluate how they’d perform in the soft stuff. A lot of people seem to like the way they smooth out the mushy stuff, but I’m still curious about how well that works.
A dark, November feel today
Precipitation was pretty sparse as I headed up the Bolton Valley Access Road, and while there’s patchy snow all the way up out of the valley, consistent natural snowpack really didn’t appear until roughly the 1,500’ elevation at the Timberline Base. Temperatures had dropped into the upper 30s F by that elevation, and light snow was falling. It was mid to late afternoon, but it was actually pretty dark with the clouds around, and more of them appeared to be building in from the west. Based on the available light, it actually felt like a typical November outing in the mountains.
“The snow was good on the whole descent…”
On the slopes, the snow wasn’t really the mushy spring snow that the valley temperatures had given me the impression I’d find; I think the temperatures and/or available sunlight really weren’t high enough to support that. Instead what I found was the couple inches of wet snow/sleet that we’ve picked up from these latest storms, sitting atop the base. The subsurface was still fairly soft and spring-like, presumably due to the recent rounds of wet precipitation percolating some moisture down in there. The intensity of the snowfall was fairly light on the ascent, although I could see squalls around off to the west. There was one off to the south, and another more ominous-looking one off to the north, they were both starting to devour the views of the Adirondacks and it looked like the spine of the Greens was in their path.
Up around the Timberline Mid Station at 2,250’, the surface snow began to have a bit more coalesced consistency relative to what was below. The temperature was approaching the freezing mark, and it appeared to be due to a combination of elevation and some cooler air coming in with the approaching weather. I topped out at the Timberline Summit at 2,500’, and the temperature by that point was either below freezing or very close – the trees still held snow from the recent storms.
Brandywine Tracks
After starting down Upper Brandywine, I was about to head back toward the Timberline Mid Station, when I saw that there was a lot of good untracked snow farther down on Brandywine, so I followed that less traditional route. The coverage was actually quite good, and although I don’t follow that route as often, I’m realizing that it’s got more of a northerly aspect than the slopes below the mid station. I think it’s going to be a good route to use in more marginal situations of coverage or sun exposure. The snow was good on the whole descent, transitioning from that stronger, peel-away stuff in the higher elevations, to a wetter consistency down low. I was amazed at how much be It was very much like what we experienced yesterday at Stowe up to the midday hour before the freezing level rose up above the summit of the Fourrunner Quad. There are certainly areas starting to develop bare patches at Timberline, but if you wanted you could ski natural snow terrain all the way down to the Timberline Base; that’s pretty decent for west-facing terrain down at those low elevations this time of year.
The precipitation that had been looming off to the west finally pushed its way over the ridge and into the valley as I was switching out of my ski gear at the car. In typical Bolton Valley style, it came strong, and it was snowfall that meant business. It wasn’t quite the whiteout that I saw in Powderfreak’s Stowe pictures, I think in part because the flakes weren’t as large (probably about ½” max in diameter), but a decent wall of snow came in and made its presence known.
If that snow had been rain, it would have been pouring, and indeed I was able to watch that transition as I descended back down the access road. The snow stayed with me down to around the 500’ elevation, and finally mixed out to just a pouring rain. That rain followed me through the lower elevations of the Winooski Valley, and then by the time I got up a bit higher back at that house along the Waterbury/Bolton line, snow was mixing back in. Checking the radar a little while later, it showed a nice shot of moisture making its way through the Winooski Valley.
“…a healthy layer of smooth, dense snow that offered up some great turns and did a nice job of covering the subsurface.”
E and Dylan had midday communion practice, but Ty and I planned to ski, and I’d alerted Ty about the potential for some fresh snow earlier in the week. He was definitely ready for some skiing, but I was still torn about whether or not to head out first thing in the morning. Either the snow was going to be good and wintry from the get go because it was soft and sufficient to cover up the old subsurface, or we’d have to wait for it to soften up. We told E and Dylan that we might just end up doing a run or two if the snow wasn’t good, and Ty was definitely prepared for the worst. I brought both fat and mid-fat Telemark skis for me, and fat alpines and Telemark skis for Ty – we also brought out skins and ski packs in case we got ambitious and wanted to earn some untracked powder over on the upper part of the Gondola area.
First things first: Ty checks on the powder in the trees.
Ultimately we went with a mid morning start, finding temperatures in the mid 30s F at the base of Mansfield. The snow on the lowest slopes of the mountain had clearly softened into something nice based on the sounds (or lack of them) we heard from the lift, but up in the higher elevations, the temperature was below freezing and the quality of the skiing was still a mystery. The top half of the mountain remained in the clouds, and appeared to be well protected from any warming effects of the sun. We started off the day’s explorations near Ridgeview, and with a few quick samplings off piste it was quickly evident that the high-elevation snow was not some hard, refrozen amalgam of immovable ice, but a healthy layer of smooth, dense, sugary powder that offered up some great turns and did a nice job of covering the subsurface. Discovering this, we quickly dove into the trees toward Toll Road, and Ty was immediately captivated by the quality of the turns. He confirmed that we wouldn’t be going home after just one run. We found ourselves certainly more “on” than “in” the powder, based on the density, but the turns were silky smooth and skiing the trees was like mid winter. We worked our way down through a series of gladed areas on the various tiers of Upper Toll Road, before reaching Sunrise. Ty is always talking about how much he likes Toll Road, more for the glades that cut the switchbacks than anything else, and with the discovery of all these new lines it’s becoming even more attractive. We’ll have to find a way to get in there more often; perhaps I’ll have to capitalize on Ty’s requests. We dove back into the Sunrise Trees, and continued into the Chapel Glades, with good snow all the way to the Chapel. The snow really started to transition to a wetter, spring-style consistency below that point, and going was slowed on Lower Tyro. We did catch some nice, albeit somewhat sloppy and wet, fresh tracks down there though. After the experience of that first run, I was ever so close to grabbing my fat skis off the car and switching to them, but the mid-fats were getting the job done and I decided to save the time.
On the next run I decided it was time to introduce Ty to the Bypass Chutes. He’d never been in there before that I can recall, but I told him that it was like doing the Kitchen Wall traverse in the opposite direction. We traversed high, and saw a lot of good lines. The snow was definitely the deepest of the day out there, and when we finally hit an area where my depth checks revealed 11 inches of new snow, it was time to ride. I couldn’t believe how deep the snow was in that area, but you could see that it was likely spillover from the ice cliffs above. Mt. Mansfield always seems to find a way to deliver the goods. Ty hiked up a bit higher than me to get a good starting point, and then let it rip down a beautiful line, while I shots some photos. Some other skiers who were on the traverse below us stopped to watch the show, and gave him props for his turns. Ty was definitely loving his first experience in the Bypass Chutes; it’s totally his kind of terrain. The trip through various steep cutes continued, until we reached Rimrock. We worked our way over to check out the Gondola area next, and eventually got back into that springtime snow as we dropped in elevation. One nice aspect of this recent storm made itself apparent though – the sleet that fell really isn’t all that different than corn snow, so it really made a quick transition to something other than mush. There were still sticky areas due to the recent snow, but overall that snow was transitioning to a nice spring snow much quicker than dry, fine-grained powder would.
“…the turns were
silky smooth and
skiing the trees
was like mid
winter.”
We had a good lunch in the Mansfield Base Lodge, and by the time we got back out, the clouds had risen up to near the peaks, and it was really starting to warm up. There were even some breaks in the clouds off to the east and it was starting to turn into a partly sunny day. The freezing level had climbed all the way to the top of the Fourrunner Quad. We did get back into the Upper Toll Road Glades, but the snow was much wetter than it had been, and we spent most of the run back on the trails. Although not quite up to the level it was before, the skiing was still decent, but Ty was pretty tired and we called it a day. We’ve got more precipitation falling this evening though, and with temperatures in the 30s F down here in the valley, it’s going to be frozen up high. The snowpack at the stake continues to sit in that 70-80 inch range, and coverage remains excellent at Stowe all the way down to the lowest elevations. I suspect the mountain could be sitting at roughly 100% open if they really had the traffic to warrant it.
I hadn’t really been paying attention to the weather forecast over the past couple of days, but I looked out in the back yard this morning to find that no longer was it just the leftover snow standing out – everything was whitened again. It looked like it was back to spring in Northern New England. There was over an inch of snow on our back yard snowboard here in Waterbury as of my 6:00 A.M. CoCoRaHS report, and after a short lull in the precipitation, the snowfall came back in with huge flakes. When I checked the morning snow reports for the local resorts, I found that Bolton Valley hadn’t updated theirs yet, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to since they aren’t firing up the lifts until the weekend. Just a bit farther north though, Stowe was reporting in, and they were at seven inches of new snow and counting. If they’d received that much snow, Bolton was likely to be somewhere in that ballpark as well, so I packed up the gear for a stop in at the local hill on my way to Burlington.
“while I finished gearing up for the ascent, the snowfall ramped up to probably 2 to 3 inches
per hour or more…”
Light snowfall in the valley became a decent 1”/hr snowfall up in the Bolton Valley Village at 2,100’. A couple of minutes after parking and beginning to get my gear together, I re-parked the car with the back facing to the east because everything inside was getting covered with flakes due to the heavy snowfall driven by those westerly winds. That reorientation was apt, because Mother Nature decided to really crank up the snow spigot at that point; while I finished gearing up for the ascent, the snowfall ramped up to probably 2 to 3 inches per hour or more, with visibility dropping to less than 100 yards. It seemed like the parking lot picked up another inch in just 10 minutes.
Ahh, just dumping.
The resort appeared absolutely deserted as I began my ascent behind the main base lodge. The wind was howling at times, and it was certainly pushing the snow around and making it difficult to get a read on just how much had fallen. I took a route up Beech Seal and then Cobrass to the Vista Summit and made the following measurements for new snow over the old spring subsurface:
2,100’: 3-4”
2,500’: 4”
2,600’: 5”
3,100’: 5-6”
Views of the fresh powder as I ascend Cobrass
With no midweek grooming taking place, the only issue with regard to measuring the snow depth was that wind, which somehow seemed to find a way to mess with everything on the compass that had any sort of westerly component. There had definitely been some southwesterly winds, because during my ascent of Cobrass I saw that the powder had been blasted in most areas, and indeed up at the Vista Summit I found the wind turbine facing a somewhat uncommon southwesterly direction. I was happy to see that it was running though and cranking out some power for the resort.
Seeing that wind, I opted for starting my descent on a more northerly aspect using Alta Vista, and the powder was notably better there with respect to scouring. The snow was indeed quite dry as my morning snow analysis from down at the house indicated, so even with 115 mm underfoot I was still hitting the subsurface on 50% of my turns. On the lower mountain I opted for Fanny Hill, since it’s typically well protected from most wind. A little wind had gotten in there, but nothing like what I’d found in the more exposed areas. Overall the skiing was certainly decent, with a good dose of surfy turns in the new snow, but not so mind-blowing that I wanted to throw on the skins for another run and delay getting to town. I’d had a good morning workout in any event, and headed off with a smile.
“…even with 115 mm
underfoot I was still
hitting the subsurface
on 50% of my turns.”
We arrived at Timberline right around the opening of the Timberline Quad, and kicked things off with a Brandywine to Intro to Spell Binder run. There was some decent powder off to the edges of Brandywine and Intro up top (including enough to bog Dylan down for a great crash that delighted the folks on the lift above), but it was Spell Binder that had the real pay dirt. There were a few tracks that had been set down, but other than that it was a sea of untracked snow. I suspect that run would be picked as a favorite in the group today. The snow wasn’t especially deep, but there was plenty of it for bottomless turns and the density worked out pretty well. We went with Adam’s Solitude next, and had the fortune to meet Steve from thesnowway.com. We had an enjoyable run with Steve, and I even managed to sneak in some ski-related conversation. I’ve avoided Adam’s Solitude over the past several weeks, not being really sure that it had the coverage I want to see in there, and based on what I saw today, it really needed this latest storm. I know that Steve has been visiting a variety of resorts this season, and it’s great that the recent snowfall brought him over to Bolton for some turns. I see that he’s already written up his report from the day, so click on over and check it out. Hopefully Steve can get back for another Bolton trip to check out Wilderness (the Wilderness Chair was down on wind hold today) and some of the backcountry.
The boys teaming up to shred the great snow on Spell Binder today
Dylan was really hankering’ a waffle from the Waffle Cabin – in the spirit of what we were calling his hobbit-style “second breakfast”. We made our way over only to find that the Waffle Cabin was closed, but we went for an inside snack nonetheless and had a good time sitting by the fire. We made a Vista run after that, and I directed everyone to Devil’s Bowl… or at least close. We overshot it a bit and ended up skiing the trees off to skier’s left, but there was a lot of untracked snow in there. Ty called for a return to Timberline, which went over pretty easily with everyone else since the winds, which were definitely howling at the top of Vista, were notably lower down there. We caught the lower part of Tattle Tale on the return, and noticed three guys that were actually skiing Upper Tattle Tale – but the Tattle Tale headwall looked really bony from wind scouring and they were essentially skiing around it on the edges of the trail. Lower Tattle Tale had some decent powder, but a lot of tracks on it. Fortunately even the previously tracked snow was good, and Ty said he liked it a lot. We decided on one more run before breaking for lunch, which included the Intro Trees followed by a trip through Doug’s Solitude. That run was mostly satisfying Dylan’s request to see a lean-to that E and the boys had built during the summer a couple of seasons ago in the Timberline Mid Station area. It’s still standing, despite the deep snow. The boys launched some nice airs at the end of those lines though – Ty’s was very smooth with a nice sloped landing, and Dylan’s was flatter with a couple of tiers. We did discover though that the route back to the Solitude traverse needs some definite trimming this off season as it’s got a lot of small vegetation clogging the lines back there.
Dylan on a drop in today
After lunch it was the Wood’s Hole/KP Glades show for the boys. We took the first run with E and she stuck to the trail because her legs were getting a bit cooked for too many more Telemark turns in the steep trees. The boys were looking to drop some cliffs, and drop them they did. They were so excited that we hit two more rounds in there even after Mom called it quits for the day and headed for the lodge. The boys were definitely in the zone during that afternoon session, and the vibe was good because they kept feeding off each other and the whole scene. The powder out there was set up well for dropping off the various ledges and cliffs – I checked a number of times and was getting depths of 22 inches where snow hasn’t been disturbed during all these recent rounds of snowfall. Landings were very soft, although Ty did have to walk away from one that I judged just a bit too dangerous with a log and a rock in the landing zone. He was all set to charge it based on what he saw from above, but once he got down and had a look he thanked me for the warning.
It was a wintry March day today, not especially cold with temperatures in the 20s F, but brisk enough with the wind that the pond skimming had to be postponed. This cold weather is really keeping that powder in great shape however, and we’re not worried because we know that spring weather will come eventually. Until then I say keep the snow flying to make up for the slow January and February. The season is still below average on snowfall (~90% of average at the house), so even though the snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake sailed above average to 82 inches today, we’ve still got some catching up to do in that department. We could actually be in for a repeat of last night’s snow tonight. Winter weather advisories up for the Northern Greens for as much as 10 inches of snow, but we’ll have to see how that plays out – so far the radar hasn’t really seemed to light up the way it did last night.
The latest nor’easter had delivered about a foot of fresh powder to Stowe by the end of the day today.
This morning I awoke to the first accumulation of snow from our current nor’easter. My early estimation was that there were 3 to 4 inches of snow on the snowboard, and that was pretty close, with 3.8 inches measured for my 6:00 A.M. CoCoRaHS observations. Once reports from the Vermont ski areas started coming in, the trend was ~6 inches in the northern resorts, and 8 to 9 inches at the southern resorts. E and the boys eventually got the word that school was cancelled for the day, which meant it was time to decide where to ski. E was initially leaning toward Bolton for the shorter drive in the snow, but we found out that Claire, Luke, Jack, and Madeleine were going to be at Stowe, and that shifted the balance.
After the initial overnight snowfall, precipitation slowed down for the first half of the morning, and then resumed with greater intensity around mid morning. It was starting to coat the roads again as we made our way to Stowe, but the driving conditions were still decent. Based on the day’s ski plans, we parked over by the Mansfield Base Lodge for the first time this season. The scene had that retro flair, complete with a train of classic, bluesy rock playing on the audio system.
It’s Powder Week!
Stowe had indicated about 5 inches of new snow in their morning report, so I decided that we’d focus on some moderate angle terrain for a bit and see where that led us. We’d had such success with areas like the Chapel Glades and various surrounding trees, that it seemed like a good place to start. From the summit of the Fourrunner Quad we made our way down some of my favorite mellow routes in the Toll Road and some of the Upper Sunrise Glades. We explored a new route and found that there has been a LOT of off season work done in those areas. We followed that up with a trip through the Chapel Glades, where E was having a lot of fun on here Teles. E’s favorite part of the run was probably when we dropped into Lower Tyro and found very few tracks, just vast areas of fresh powder at a nice pitch for powder skiing. As an added bonus, the sky was just unloading snow on us at that point with some of the heaviest snowfall of the day. We followed that up with a run from the Mountain Triple, where we traversed even farther before dropping into the Chapel Glades and found that there had been a lot less traffic.
Dylan was ready for lunch at the bottom of the next run, so we hit the Mansfield Base Lodge, and we were pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of food that they had available. Once you get used to the plethora of great options at the Great Room Grill, other dining spots might seem limited, but there was a good selection at the ‘ol Mansfield Base Lodge. I got the soup of the day, which was corn chowder, in a bread bowl, and E and I were able to share it. Claire called while we were eating, and by the time we were finishing up, she and her crew had arrived.
Deep Dylan
We decided to show everyone what we’d been skiing in the morning, and varied it by pushing even farther into the Upper Sunrise Glades toward a line we’d seen from below. It was quite steep at the top, which got some of the boys like Ty excited, but meant a bit slower going for Madeleine. In subsequent runs we hit some of the Hayride Woods that we’d wanted to try and finished off the day visiting Duck Walk and the half pipe. We actually had to start picking up the pitch of untracked terrain as the day wore on, because the powder was getting deep enough that the gentler terrain wasn’t quite cutting it. It’s a good sign that the subsurface is getting covered. It’s been quite fun exploring the far southern side of the resort after so many days earlier this season in the northern areas.
Overall it was a sensational powder day, since temperatures were comfortable and there was little if any wind away from the highest elevations. There were numerous times today where we enjoyed the silence that comes from heavy snow in the air. It looks like this snowfall could continue for quite a good period this week, and Stowe actually had a sign at the bottom of the Fourrunner Quad indicating not just a “powder day”, but a “powder week”. That’s a good way to run a week. The Mt. Mansfield Stake hit 70 inches today, which is the highest it’s been this season. It’s still a little bit below average, but the mountain is skiing really well and should be in really great shape if the snow keeps up this week.
Above ~2,500’, I was essentially well into the deep stuff, and the gains in snow depth weren’t huge beyond that. Of course, when you’re already talking 12-18” of snow with plenty of substance to it, the lack of additional increases isn’t a big deal. At the top of Nosedive, I continued my ascent up the Toll Road for a few more minutes to check in on the depth of the snowpack at the fabled Mt. Mansfield Stake. At ~3,700’, the stake showed at least 17” of snow, and I generally found 18-19” there when I probed on the edge of the Toll Road itself, so indeed the snow depth up there was right around a foot and a half.
