Category: March

2009-2010 Season, March, Smugglers Notch

Sensational Spring Skiing at Smuggs

“Discretion is the better part of valor.” A proverb I sagely doled out last week at Stowe in the climbing gully to a snowboarder that had never hiked the ridge before. And it was advice I was heeding myself Friday morning. Original plans called for a summit of Mount Washington and descent via a western facing gully that I have yet to ski. Exploring a new area solo when I did not have beta on snow conditions and feared possible wind and clouds blowing in later that day did not add up well in the risk assessment arena. Perhaps I was overly cautious in my decision making but I by passed the Route 3 exit and continued north en route to Smuggs.

A decision to go lift serviced on Friday could not possibly have gone wrong whereas a mishap was certainly a possibility with the alternative (though that is part of the sense of adventure!). I arrived at Smuggs shortly after 10:00 A.M. to find the snow still in the process of softening due to a hard freeze the night before. I took a warm up run on Sterling hitting the lower part of Exhibition under the lift where bumps were still rather firm. I tried to follow the sun and made my way over to Madonna 1 and skied down to the bumps under the Madonna 2 lift which were still firm and a little icy. I opted to take a short break and let the sun do its thing.

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2009-2010 Season, March, Sugarbush

Bumpapalooza East 2010 at Sugarbush

The MogulSkiing.net held Bumpapalooza East 2010 at Sugarbush this Saturday. Rave reviews of epic spring bumps on Friday yielded way to an overnight freeze and a generally cold and windy Saturday. Temperatures at the base were above freezing but the same could not be said for the temperatures at the Glen House. Winds had all summit lifts at Sugarbush off line though the GMX and Northridge were not effected.

The bumps started out hard, firm, and unforgiving. The groomers were much the same. After our first run, I began questioning the decision to drive five hours round trip for a bump day when temperatures were unlikely to soften the snow very much. But every run seemed to get better.

We cycled Lookin Good and Witch Way in the morning. Lookin Good never skied very well but Witch Way was significantly better every run as traffic loosened up the firm snow. At noontime, we stopped for lunch at the Glen House in hopes of things softening up after an hour break. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case as winds increased at lower elevations and temperatures remained stable at just barely above freezing at mid-mountain elevation.

After our lunch break, we began hammering Cliffs which was a little tricky on the first pitch but occasionally yielded very good lines on the lower two thirds of the trail. My preference was for the slightly lower angle bumps on Witch Way. During one excellent run down Witch Way, I could not suppress a huge toothy grin as I finally found my rhythm and a great line that I hammered quite well.

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2009-2010 Season, March, Stowe

Stowe

 

Having only skied Stowe nine times (and almost half of those being pre/post-operation earned turns), I had yet to take the full measure of the Mount Mansfield. Despite that short coming of first hand experience and personal knowledge, I have seen enough of the potential first hand and the online reports second hand to endorse Stowe as the best overall mountain in the East. I can now backup that endorsement through first hand experience following my tenth day there.

Spring sprung early in New England with perfect sugaring weather this weekend. While I hope spring retreats at least one last time (and hopefully more) before spring skiing overtakes winter skiing for the remainder of the season, I can not say that I did not enjoy the heck out of today.

After much back and forth trying to determine where would be the best location today given the weather and snow conditions, I made the last minute decision to ski Stowe after I was already on the road. Mom used to always ask me where I was going when taking my road bike out for a spin. “I’ll find out when I get there” was my usual response. Call it a life philosophy, haphazard circumstance style, a wink to determinism but with a tongue stuck out at the same time.

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2008-2009 Season, AlpineZone Meet Up, March, Sugarbush

Spring Bumps at the Bush

Sugarbush was the chosen location for a sparsely attended AlpineZone.com Meet Up for spring skiing in late March. This was the last weekend for Mount Ellen and Lincoln Peak was holding a pond skimming. I got a later start than normal and suffered through quite a line at the lift ticket window. The combination of end of season festivities and good weather brought out the crowds.

Lincoln Peak was still 100% open on all trails but snow conditions were rough to start. A recent rain/freeze event made the non-groomed trails rather variable and interesting despite a warm start to the morning. After a warm up down Lower Organgrinder and The Mall, I met up with a small crew and headed for Heaven’s Gate.

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2008-2009 Season, Burke, March

Game On at Burke

After a month sidelined due to a stretched ligament, I returned to the season on a cold late March morning at Burke. The skiing was hardly worth the drive. But after more than four weeks of not skiing and missing some really good days, I had an itch to make some turns regardless of conditions.

And the conditions were truly unsatisfying. Snow was firm, scratchy, hard packed, and fast. Groomers were quickly scraped off due to limited number of routes available for decent. Burke was claiming about 90% of the mountain was “open” but conditions off the groomers left much to be desired. I opted to stick to the groomers.

My runs were limited to Willoughby, Bear Den, and Warren’s Way with a few various combinations. Willoughby skied the worst with several icy and scraped patches. A fine day for a fresh pair of edges. The damage to the newly widened Willoughby was horrific. A classic trail and one of New England’s finest cruising trails has been ruined. Alas, yet another wide boulevard.