The Big One. A well promoted storm providing several days notice for metro skiers to plan and preposition. The biggest storm of the season followed a storm blackout lasting several weeks during a below average season. All the ingredients for a powdery frenzy. Two feet of fresh was in the forecast for all of northern New England. A vacation day was a given. But the decision on where to go was agonizing.

Despite friends going to Jay and Mad River Glen, I ruled out those mountains due to fears of wind holds at Jay and crowds at Mad River Glen. Cannon was a storm bullseye but I had vouchers to burn. Smuggs seemed like a good option as it wouldn’t attract many metro area skiers due to its remote location (and I haven’t had a good Smuggs powder day this year).

Smuggs received two feet of snow during the storm and the locals were restless. I didn’t arrive in time for the Sterling Double’s early opening. So after waiting fifteen minutes for a ticket (only two windows open on a powder day: W-T-F), I lined up at the rope for M1. The lift was delayed but worth waiting since Sterling had already sent three cycles up the mountain. Eventually, ski patrol approached the rope saying “be cool, guys” which prompted everyone to immediately duck the rope.

I was on the fifth or sixth chair and assumed most skiers would go for Liftline so I opted for F.I.S. instead. As expected, no one had skied it yet by the time I got to the lip. I dropped in. *POOF* Knee deep powder every turn, face shot after face shot, all the way down Upper F.I.S. The trail had been groomed flat the previous evening so there were no bumps to contend with. I opened up the skis and went for it. Amazing!

But the untracked went stupid fast. The day was all about that first amazing run. Everything afterwards was clean up, just enjoying soft snow with the rare pocket of untracked. It was a powder fest of massive proportions and all the skiers knew where to go, there were no secrets left unturned.

M1 had wind or icing issues as only two out of three chairs were loaded. The liftline backed up significantly when they began loading only one out of every three chairs. Rather than wait, I went over to Sterling for a run and then went in to warm up. By then, M2 was finally open so I enjoyed some nice untracked under the M2 liftline. After that run, M1 was back to loading all chairs. After two hours of frenzy and lines, all lifts were online and loading full chairs resulting in nearly ski on lines for the rest of the day.

I enjoyed some amazingly soft packed and cut up powder for the remainder of the afternoon. I sampled four chutes which all suffered from a lack of consolidated base. Underneath two feet of powder lingered frozen waterfalls, rocks, and stumps. The below average snow totals for the year showed on these chutes, especially later in the day after they had been hit a few times.

The tree skiing was phenomenal but it wasn’t an epic powder day aside from that first amazing run. The storm brought folks out in a big way and fresh untracked lines didn’t last long at all. I grew tired and rued having to leave early due to fatigue. But when I got back to the base lodge, I discovered that it was already after three o’clock. I skied almost bell to bell but didn’t feel like I had done so. Perhaps a sign of a good day, perhaps a sign of a day not as fulfilling expected.