Category: Vermont

2012-2013 Season, Mad River Glen, March, Powder Day

Mad River Glen: Blower Over Thin Cover

Slalom Hill

Late season powder days are almost always the best of the year. While I am fond of early season powder days due to reserved trails, options are limited due to non-existent base. Whereas late season powder often falls over a decent base. And for whatever reason, many skiers (even dedicated powder hounds) are AWOL for the best days of the season. Maybe people have other obligations or perhaps thoughts are drifting towards “spring” outdoor recreation (as if skiing wasn’t at its best in the spring!). But for whatever reason, the masses abandon the season by mid-March.

Such was the case on Saturday at Mad River Glen. The summits of the Mad River Valley scored the jackpot with a foot of fluff at the summit. That was followed by 4-6″ Friday night setting up what would be a mid-season perfect storm: a well publicized localized jackpot followed by another half a foot of fresh heading into a weekend. Any other time of the season, Mad River Glen would have 40 minute lines with skinners claiming a hundred tracks before the Single even opened.

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2012-2013 Season, Burke, March

Burke: Out With the Old School

Willoughby Gap from Willoughby

After staying up way too late, the dog woke me up way too early. Springing forward isn’t an issue when you are planning a late start for spring conditions. But the weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate with partially cloudy skies and summit temps struggling to get to the forties. I bailed on a planned trip to Mansfield assuming the ridge would not soften. Instead, I got a late start and went to Burke.

It turns out that I could have putzed around at home a little while longer as conditions were still fast and firm in the late morning. During my first ride up the Mid-Burke Express, I shivered a little bit and debated returning to the lodge to replace my wind shirt with a full on jacket. I decided to tough it out and things did finally warm up after a few runs but temperatures never prompted full on spring conditions.

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2012-2013 Season, March, Suicide Six

Suicide Six: A Resort Amenity

The Face at Suicide Six

At only 650 feet of vertical on paper (I get a hair under 600′ looking at a topo), Suicide Six was the smallest area on The List. It was added arbitrarily as it falls significantly short of my 1150′ minimum. Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Dartmouth Skiway, and Whaleback also fall short of my arbitrary minimum number. However, unlike those other diminutive areas, Suicide Six skis even shorter than its already inflated vertical suggests and can’t quite make up for its lack of stature. It is no wonder that the area thrives as a resort amenity rather than on its own merits.

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2012-2013 Season, March, Smugglers Notch

Smuggs: The Honeymoon Still Isn’t Over

Smuggs Trees

Every time I ski Smuggs, I wonder if it will be the day that the honeymoon will end. Eventually, I am going to have a bad day at Smuggs. One of these days, the warm and fuzzy emotional reaction I get isn’t going to happen. But after half a dozen days at Smuggs, that day has not yet come. And It may be a while yet before it happens. If it ever happens.

Most of New England was forced to rely on human-groomin’ to alleviate a freeze event which followed mixed precip and/or wet snow. Smuggs was lined up for a few inches daily resulting in exceptional powder and packed powder conditions. Untracked was less than my half foot standard for powder day status but a few inches was all it took to ensure exceptional turns.

My slight disappointment with the low new snow totals was significantly offset by the exceptional quality of what little powder Smuggs did get. Everything was skiing exceptionally well despite occasional base depth issues in tight and steep quarters. There were still places in which a hockey stop in a tight chute would strip snow down to a grassy, rooty, or rocky base. But for the most part, snow conditions were primo.

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2012-2013 Season, February, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

The Magic of Mid-Week Powder Days

Black Line

Magic Mountain led Vermont in new snow reporting in with 10-14″. It felt deeper in spots but never felt less. The snow was extremely dense and super surfy. I was expecting more people but crowds were light and the double was ski on all day. It felt great to have a relaxing powder day.

Red Line and Black Magic were closed to conserve snow conditions for this weekend’s Ski the East Freeride Tour stop. It was disappointing not being able to ski one of New England’s best liftlines, but I could certainly get behind the cause of ensuring Magic has a great event on Saturday. Otherwise, the mountain was completely good to go, though there wasn’t much base to speak of underneath the new dense snow.

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