Best November Ever. Period.
Sunday continued where we left off on Saturday which was about boot deep in the trees. With only The Jet Triple turning again, the Stateside area was completely tracked out on both the open and closed trails. Conga lines formed to head for whiter pastures. The boot pack and skin track lines heading up Northway looked like a Highway to Heaven. It was no secret where the untracked powder was on the mountain but there was plenty to go around considering the length of time a round trip took.
Much to my chagrin, even Can Am and Upper River Quai had been significantly tracked out by my first run. However, I noticed that Vertigo had not a track. Obviously, the steep drop into the glade needed another foot or two to avoid bottoming out on the rocks and stumps that were hidden beneath the tempting white. Good thing for me that most people care about their ski bases!
I dropped into Vertigo and scraped a few rocks and stumps but the pitch soon enough mellowed into untracked-pick-your-line bliss. Nothing is quite like the feeling of nailing a completely untracked trail and carving those first turns into the snow. The powder was slightly more compressed and consolidated compared to the day before but still light enough to go boot deep. Killer tracks all the way back to Lower Can Am and onto the The Jet for another cycle. This time going around the bend and dropping into Expo Glade for another romp of completely untracked boot deep tree skiing goodness. Day two on a Powder Day weekend and taking Expo Glade all for myself? Yes!
After a short rest at the Stateside lodge, I gathered myself for my big cycle of the day. The plan was to skin up Vermonter and take Green Beret and then cycle back over to Expo or North Glade. Unfortunately, Green Beret lacked the cover at the drop in point. So I continued on to the summit and took Northway around to Poma Line and then down Ullr’s Dream which skied nicely until Beaver Pond. After Beaver Pond, Ullr’s was a moderately pitched fiasco of deep drifts and giant two to three feet deep water bars. I hacked my way down to the water bar ridden Kokomo and began another skin up Deer Run. Instead of cycling back to Stateside, I opted to just cut to the chase and skin right up Green Mountain Boys. In hind sight, I should have cycled as the steep trail fatigued me to the point of needing to call it a day. Green Mountain Boys was sufficiently tracked but still skied sweetly.
