Author: Steve

2013-2014 Season, January, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Boot to Knee Deep & Cold: Magic

Sorcerer

Northern Vermont hasn’t been able to catch a break since before Christmas. Another storm slammed into southern New England and southern Vermont’s Golden Triangle was the big winner for ski areas. Magic picked up a foot and a half which opened everything except the trees.

Due to the cold temperatures, I expected light fluff over a questionable base. However, the powder was supportive though not bottomless. Supportive enough to merit excitement but the powder hid a thin base that occasionally punished said excitement with treachery. It was a sporting kind of powder, encouraging reckless abandon but rewarding cautious exuberance.

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2013-2014 Season, Cannon Mountain, January, Truth in Snow Reporting

Vista Bound: Cannon

Vista Way

Has it really been more than two weeks since I last skied? Bad weather and a horrible week long cold combined to remove two weeks from my season. Both the trails and I recovered earlier this week and this coming weekend looks very nice. I eased back into things at Cannon where expectations started low, got raised way too high, and ultimately the skiing was very satisfactory.

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2013-2014 Season, December, Mad River Glen, Powder Day

Mad River Glen: Opening Day Powder

Paradise at MRG

Yesterday at Jay was nice. Today at Mad River was better. Three days ago, Mad River announced that it would not open this weekend. But the forecast turned in favor of General Stark Mountain and opening day was set. A foot of dense fresh setup perfectly on the limited but existing base. All trails were open on occasionally thin but ample coverage. Bottomless it was not but cheers and shouts of joy rang out across the mountain, nonetheless.

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2013-2014 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Cold? Wimps. Jay.

From Kitzbuehel

Somewhere north of the Notch, my car’s temperature display dipped into the double digits. The negative double digits. I started questioning whether the drive to Jay would be worth while. The snow that fell earlier in the week would surely be tracked out, right? Jay’s recent snowfall combined with quite expansive terrain offerings would bring out the crowds, right?

Wrong. On both counts.

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2013-2014 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Cannon: Getting it Done

Gary's

The below average temperatures of November benefited Cannon tremendously. Terrain is opening at a significantly faster rate than last year. Today’s offerings included two fully unique routes from the Peabody Quad along with Gary’s and Rocket from the Zoomer Chair.

That doesn’t sound like much but some of these routes and trails are seriously wide (especially Gary’s and Rocket) and take a substantial amount of fire power to get them open. There is even a decent sized terrain park near the lodge. Last year, the Zoomer chair had not even opened yet whereas this year it is on its second week.

Snow making is in place on Middle Cannon, Middle/Lower Ravine, the Links, the Huckerbrook area, and the Zoomer base area (presumably in preparation for blowing Zoomer and Avalanche). I don’t recall ever seeing as many guns blowing at the same time at Cannon.

Despite arriving well after first chair, surfaces were edgeable hard pack and generally fun to ski. This excepts a few constricted high traffic areas that sported excessively scrapped down snow. Loose snow was plentiful along the edges of Gary’s and Rocket. Packed powder it was not. But it wasn’t bad skiing either.

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