Yet another spring weekend without corn snow. The disturbing trend continues. While last weekend’s full on winter days at Smuggs were both excellent, I am getting really desperate for a nice warm spring corn day. And skiing aside, mentally some warmth and sunshine would do my psyche some good.

My original plan was Mount Washington. But the weather did not cooperative with summit temperatures dipping into the single digits Saturday night and the wind honking into the 60+ MPH range. While Sunday was clear and sunny, it was not optimal for great skiing nor going for a summit. I changed plans from NH’s highest peak to VT’s highest peak, hoping for alpine skiing above the trails and corn bumps below.

That was not to be either. My clothing selection of wind shirt, shell, and sunglasses had me wishing for my winter jacket and goggles. The chairlift was bitterly cold due to a persistent northwest wind combined with below zero temps. Southerly facing groomers “softened” in a sense… but skiing wasn’t very good. The left and right sides of trails were scraped down to the firm stuff while slush got pushed around and clogged up the center of the trails.

By noontime, Centerline was ripping good with excellent tight bumps and quality lines. But Centerline is a short hit and Hayride below it was terrible with large, irregular, and firm bumps. Bailing onto Lord or North Slope resulted in having to ski the previously mentioned groomer junk.

Given the temperature, wind, and snow conditions, I didn’t even give the ridge a first thought let alone a second one. Some gullies looked like they had enough snow to be skiable, perhaps with occasional spiciness or interesting route finding. But given the temperature, snow conditions, and lack of solar gain in the gullies, it wasn’t even worth thinking about let alone doing.

Fatigue set in early and I called it a day just past noon time. I wanted to keep hitting Centerline bumps but the 1600′ vertical to get to and from Centerline wasn’t worth the effort. I was feeling drained and tired, I just wasn’t into the skiing at all. Yet another weekend without quality spring corn bumps filed away in the archive. Hopefully this coming weekend will setup well for some good corn skiing, earned or lift assisted, it matters not.