2006-2007 Season, April, Powder Day, Stowe

22nd Powder Day of the Season at Stowe

The rabble invaded Stowe today for the Can Food Drive and I was more than happy to do my part for a $25 ticket. Regardless of conditions (generally), I don’t pass up opportunities to ski Stowe at a discount.

Conditions were interesting and variable. It puked snow all day which was a glorious sight to behold halfway through the month of April. But don’t let your guard down because everything looks soft and fluffy! Ascending the Mountain Road, the rain snow line pretty was the Toll Road Area. Just down the Mountain Road everything was wet and rainy. Snow near the base area was very wet and there was a hard setup from the day before with warming temperatures causing consolidated snow to firm up. The lower 200-300 vertical feet of the mountain was choppy and unfriendly. Upper elevation sported a dense powder with untracked lines were hard to find though available off the beaten path.

After finally getting to disappoint myself by sampling Goat which had been roped on my previous visits, I wasted no time ducking into the woods. Trees in the Upper Mountain Forerunner area were mighty fine and impressive with that thick, dense powder. Mighty fine steep and tight lines in the trees, thank you very much! But I quickly decided that the royal soaking on the Forerunner was not worth the upper mountain trees and spent most of the day on the Gondi.

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2006-2007 Season, April, Jay Peak, Powder Day, Video

Yet Another April Powder Day at Jay Peak

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Met up with Nhski and from_the_NEK for a mid-week assault on Jay Peak as yet another major April snow storm slammed into New England with more on the way. I am quickly getting used to this and hope I will not suffer too much withdrawal when Spring finally returns with a vengeance to wash all this wonderful whiteness away.

Jay Peak’s web page is reporting 10 inches within 24 hours and 20 inches within 48 hours which does not match up to what we skied today. It was excellent but it was not 20 inches even in the untracked that was not skied the previous day. I would estimate closer to between sixteen and eighteen for the two day storm total. Not shabby for April regardless of how you measure it.

But that total was over the course of two days, so on lines that had been tracked the previous day, we only found about ten inches untracked in the morning. Despite light crowds, I felt that the untracked went quick as any one out there knew where to find the goods. I would not expect much untracked for Saturday but the snow is really good. Warm weather was getting the best of snow near the bottom of the mountain with some exceptionally wet and heavy snow down low. Things were still powdery on the upper sections of the mountain, but even after a foot and a half, Spring and April are letting their presence be known.

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2006-2007 Season, April, Mad River Glen, Powder Day

Powder Day at MRG: Last Day of The Original Single

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This report is essentially useless gloating as Mad River Glen is now closed for the season. This is due to the construction schedule for the Single Chair rebuild including an important Haul Line inspection during early April. Work begins immediately and even a one week delay would have put an already tight schedule behind. With cold weather to persist through this week and potential snow fall Thursday and Friday, it is conceivable with the current base that Mad River could be skiable from top to bottom perhaps for the entire month of April. Even without the Single construction plans, given the extremely low turn out for three powder days in a row at one of the best mountains on the East Coast, I doubt operations would have turned profitable for an additional week, which is unfortunate for late season skiing in general, let alone late season skiing at Mad River Glen.

Three inches fell over night though it seemed like more in places on the Upper mountain. It snowed all day with not much accumulation. Though it really started coming down hard as I began driving home at 5:30p. Tomorrow will be an amazing fifth straight powder day for the Northern Greens. This is April? This weekend certainly has not sucked. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday combine for a three way/day tie for my third best day(s) of the season. Not the deepest powder but pretty close at times and no competition all weekend with lots of untracked. It has really been sick out there.

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2006-2007 Season, April, Mad River Glen, Powder Day

Boot to Knee Deep April Powder Day at Mad River Glen

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Much to my complete delight, only The Single ran on Friday. Pretty rare is the day when there is no line for The Single for first chair but things are backing up pretty far on the Sunnyside Double. Much of the Sunnyside can be reached from The Single via Broadway to Easy Way, but all the steeper stuff off the ridge was virgin untracked with the total three day accumulation, just begging for some tracks.

Oh

My

Goodness

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2006-2007 Season, April, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Amazing April Powder day at Jay Peak

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Day 40 of the season was my 17th powder day with 18 to follow the next day. With work closed for the College Holiday, I started the long weekend at Jay Peak on the heels of a monster April surprise snow storm that would ultimately drop three feet of powder through the Holiday weekend. Amazing! What a way to start April off after March ended on such a downer.

Got started on The Jet at 9am despite Nhski running a little late (no friends on a powder day and all that…). But we played it like usual staying close to the lift for the first few runs of untracked and met up at the top of the Jet on the start of my third run. Sweet! Certainly has been a ton of fun finding a fellow skier to enjoy the great Jay powder with, always elevates my day to have a great skier to share it with.

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