Last Saturday at Smuggs, I gazed across the notch at the Nose and marvelled that routes like Profanity, Hourglass, and Hellbrook were already long gone. The Mansfield summit usually looks more filled in by the end of December. I usually reserve my two Stowe vouchers for days when I can ski off the ridge. But those days are long gone this season, so I decided to pick the best spring skiing day possible instead.

I was hell bent on getting the full spring skiing experience. So I lathered up my arms and face with sunscreen and hiked up to the Forerunner in a short sleeved T-shirt. I was wearing the only short sleeved T-shirt to be seen at Stowe that day. Despite the base area pushing into the mid-50s causing a puddle of water in the loading area, the top of the mountain was in the 40s with a 20-30 MPH wind. The chairlift ride was mostly pleasant except coming over the final ridge. The brief unpleasant wind burst was well worth skiing without a jacket.

I started off skiing some groomers which were frozen despite the warm temperatures. I was dumbfounded at how bad the snow conditions were. Occasionally you could find soft snow and make an awesome carve. But on your next turn, you would find frozen groomer tracks or legit ice. It was mostly unpleasant skiing.

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For the record.