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Another sensational day on the rock pile. Due to a later start than planned, I paid the price as the lots were full by my arrival at PNVC around eight o’clock. Route 16 became a parking lot as cars angled into spots up and down the road. While gearing up at my car, I received a few odd comments from less knowledgable and experienced skiers regarding wearing shorts and putting on my boots. “You gonna hike up in those?”. Nah, I’m gonna skin up!

Snow conditions allowed for skinning from the Sherburne/Avalanche Brook Trail connection to a quarter mile up the Gulf of Slides Trail. Then I hiked for about 20 minutes and skinned the rest of the way with two or three portages. Much better coverage on the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail than I had expected. Though I will admit on the ski down, I really pushed the definition of skiable coverage to the breaking point. Avalanche damage where the first major gully crosses the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail is stunning. During the ascent, a heel blister issue began was of concern. The uncomfortability, and later pain, would get worse throughout the day but I didn’t let it stop me.

After gearing up above the First Aid Cache, I started with the Main Gully which had seen the most traffic so I figured I would hit it first. The gully was somewhat bumpy and choppy but a really great ski. Not quite mashed potatoes but beyond perfect corn. The Intuitiv Bigs have seen very little action lately but skied wonderfully today in the gullies. These skis are sensational for this type of skiing. After climbing back up the excellent boot pack lookers’ left in the Main Gully, I had a snack above the snow pack (which is creeping down quickly) and relaxed to a great view up and down Pinkham Notch. After my break, I hiked over to the next gully skiers’ left and dropped in to more sensational turns. My heel was really giving me problems at this point and skiing was somewhat uncomfortable. But the heck with pain, I had time to be sore when I got done skiing.

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What a productive day I was having at work! Really busy week and I finally felt like I was making some head way and clearing off my to do list. The original plan was to leave around three o’clock and head up to Cannon for some turns. Though I was honestly thinking about working right through my normal departure time. And then I stepped outside for a moment and knew my day behind the desk was officially over.

Due to dilly dallying at work, I got a later start than expected. I also neglected to pack up the car in the morning so needed to do the seven minute door to door commute home to pick up my gear and grab a snack. Within a few moments, I was back on the road heading up to Cannon forty minutes door to outdoor. Life doesn’t suck.

Due to the late start, I hesitated as I pulled into the Peabody lot. The time was five o’clock and I said I would be home by seven. Unsure if I could pull off two thousand verts of skinning in about an hour, I decided to head Tramside and lap Avalanche a few times. I booted up Avalanche which was covered wall to wall and stumbled upon more wall to wall coverage on Extension. Well, sure glad I brought my skins just in case! In short time, I was at the top of Extension and “oh yell, why not” I was skinning up Middle Cannon to the unload station of the Peabody Quad. And then “jeez, the summit is right there…. oh hell, why not!”

I made good time but was definitely going to be running a little late. Oops. The air was electrifyingly perfect with a very slight breeze near the summit blowing cool over the snow. I was heating up something fierce and the temperature and wind were perfect despite my short sleeve. I soon had the summit all to myself. Had I stuck around, I would have witnessed a stunningly sensational sunset. But alas, a lot of snow was already in the shade and I was already delayed by fifteen minutes thanks to making good time on the skin up.

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With a comp ticket left to burn and Stowe closing on Sunday, I made lift serviced a priority. Especially considering the alternative of skiing on Mount Washington during its busiest weekend of the year due to the Inferno race. Today was yet another blue bird day *yawn* I think this is almost getting old. You know the type of day… not a cloud all day, bright sun shine, soft snow, etc. What I wouldn’t give for -10F, crowded, and frozen hard packed snow conditions. Why any one skis this late into the season is beyond me. Bunch of wackos.

It never got below freezing last night so the snow was really soft from the get go and temps were excessively warm. Having never been up on the ridge before, I climbed up and poked around a bit. Being solo and unfamiliar with the terrain, I played things conservatively and skied back down one of the climbing gullies. It was nice to get the lay of the land on a nice day. Looked like a few options might have still been in play barely via the chin but like heck I was going route finding by myself without good coverage. Had a great first run up top then a wicked soft and slushy Perry Merrill back to my car. I switched to alpine gear and ditched most of my clothes opting to ski in a t-shirt with no gloves. It had to have hit 70 today at the Octogon. Fashions on the hill were easy on the eyes as folks stripped down to beat the heat.

Began hammering bumps via the Forerunner Quad during the morning and on into the afternoon. Went back and forth choosing various hits from Hackett’s to Goat. Upper Liftline was really nice and Lower Goat was also to my liking. As was Lookout where I enjoyed some of the best lines of the day. Hackett’s was farily thin in places and occasionally barely passable without going into the woods. Upper Starr was toast and not fun though Middle to Lower Starr had much better bumps. Hayride was enjoyable and as per usual Liftline was a bore below the upper section.

Many locations offered poor lines and bad bumps, especially those areas that received the most traffic. However, decent lines and bumps were most often found where most skiers were not. Almost one hundred percent coverage except a few minor bare spots. Even the base area looked great. Needless to say, Stowe could have gone at least one more week with only a few trail closures and minimal need to push some snow down to the lifts at worst. But lift service will end Sunday at Stowe. No chairs went up empty today and there was a short two to three minute wait through most of the morning and early afternoon.

Photo Gallery

For the second week in a row, weather forecasts showed sensational blue bird days during the week and colder rainy weather for the weekend. Not to be skunked two weekends in a row during some of the best skiing conditions of the season, I requested Wednesday off from work and hooked up with the Sledhauler for an epic day in Tuckerman Ravine.

We got a late start arriving at Pinkham shortly before nine o’clock. Temperatures were warmer than expected which meant the long slog up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to HoJo’s would be a sweaty affair which proved to be true. Touring with new boots for the first time, Sled had some discomfort on the skin up but fought through the pain. Views upon arriving at HoJo’s were stellar with gullies (both with and without names) filled in sensationally for this late in the season. We watched on as a boarder and skier slip slided and butt slided their way down Dodge’s Drop.

After a bit to eat and some quick refreshment, we were ascending towards the Bowl on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Sled opted to hike but I decided to continue skinning as long as possible. I skinned the entire trail to the bowl and only removed my skis once for a rock crossing. Coverage was simply sensational on the trail.

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Steve Launches the Tower 10 Cliffs (Photo Credit: eatskisleep / Micky O’Brien)

This was definitely a morning to sleep in (oops) as thing were quite firm out of the starting gate. But things got really good later in the day. Really really good. I arrived at the mountain at quarter past nine and ascended the Single feeling a chill in the air and could barely see two chairs in front of me due to fog. The Triple Crown Bump Competition was being held today and they wanted it on Chute. To break up the frozen crust, they were encouraging the bump comp folks to lap Chute. Despite the crusty snow, Mad River went with Chute and looked to have a solid event despite lack luster turn out.

My first run was down frozen groomer tracks on Upper Antelope and then around to Bunny for a top to bottom frozen groomer tracks quad burner. My skis haven’t been tuned in about a year at this point and the edges were no match for the frozen snow. I slid my way down to the Basebox and awaited the arrival of my partners.

After hanging out for half an hour, I chatted with the guys and we all headed back out for a run down Chute which had been cut up by the bump competition skiers. Better than Upper Antelope but a far cry from spring skiing. Down on Canyon, the bumps were actually surprisingly sweet with especially nice lines in the middle elevations of the trail. We hit the double chair for two more runs down Canyon to Waterfall which got better every run due to lower elevations warming up and traffic being focused on Canyon as the lower mountain bump run of choice.

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What a crowd today! Keep that up folks, no complaints here! We would be skiing into May if we could get half of today’s crowd not to hang up their skis for the season following this weekend. Because, as we all know, there is no more skiing come April.

Let’s review for those thinking about stopping to ski after this weekend: warm temperatures, no wind, sunshine, blue skies all day, lots of smiles all around, every trail open, huge base depth, and the snow still hasn’t even corned up which we can add to the list very soon. April will be sensational.

While the crowds were not expected, conditions today were much as I had anticipated. Three new inches helped refreshen surfaces earlier this week. But two days after the snow event, we are back to very firm conditions all around. Cannon today would have been night and day better conditions than Mad River Glen, but I had two vouchers to use and less than three weeks to use them. Purely an economical decision as I still have two more vouchers and a season pass. Not to mention that it is high time to think about Mount Washington. There is a pressing need to burn any remaining vouchers ASAP and today was a fine day for it.

Bumps on the trails looked rather scraped. Groomed trails skied wonderfully though shady spots not as well as those in the sun. Unmarked woods faired slightly better but were still pretty toasted. Due to a late start and needing to be back in Plymouth for a 6pm presentation (gotta love working Sunday night!), I only got four runs today as the Single was a full coral for much of the day. I found some great snow in the 20th and the drive was well worth those four runs. Earning turns gives you such a huge appreciation for one stellar run, let alone four of them. After yesterday’s bell to bell powder fest and four butt burners at Mad River today, I am one sore but satisfied skier.

The original plan was to burn one of my two remaining ticket vouchers at Mad River Glen. With free skiing being offered on the upcoming Share Holder day, I effectively had five potential days to use the ticket vouchers assuming Mad River Glen does not extended operations. Online reports from Southern Vermont ski areas indicated heavy wet snow on Friday. Northern Vermont received a few paltry but fluffy inches. Nothing looked like a lock for a great powder day based on initial reports Friday night, so the Mad River Glen plan seemed the most worth while option.

But last night the radar loop showed the Whites getting hammered. Another sign of possible White Mountain powder were the off and on flurries in Ashland. I had a hunch about Cannon and a huge craving to visit Cannon once more before lifts closed. Cannon’s snow report last night showed only 4-5″ which had me on the fence but leaning towards Mad River Glen. I decided to wait for the morning reports. With Cannon ringing the jackpot bell at 10-11″, I packed up my gear and sped up I-93 towards Cannon with dreams of powdery trees floating through my mind.

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With Powder being such a rare event this March, the last week of this month have me craving warm spring skiing, corn snow, and earned turns. Temperatures on Wednesday were rather warm considering the recent stretch of colder than average temperatures. As the sun began its slow linger descent over the mountains west of the Greater Plymouth area, I headed home from work around five o’clock. The thought occurred to me that I should have been heading towards the setting sun instead of away from it.

Upon reaching home, I quickly changed out of work clothes and into ski clothes, grabbed my pack and skins, and turned the car around heading back into Plymouth towards Tenney Mountain. Despite having moved to the Plymouth area this past summer, I had not skied the local mountain all seasons despite often thinking of doing some dawn patrols at Tenney. Today’s Dusk Patrol would be my first ski at Tenney in almost a half dozen years.

Since Tenney closed for the season recently, the base area was down right deserted. I quickly geared up and set off skinning at an aggressive pace. Tenney skis much smaller than its 1400 vertical drop suggests with mostly flat and meandering trails. I skinned right up the gut of the mountain via Tote Road and achieved summit in just over a leisurely hour and ten minutes via a mile and a quarter of skinning. In subsequent weeks, I expect many additional post work skins up Tenney during which I hope to improve my skin time to well under an hour. This should make an excellent twice per week training ritual to get my legs in shape for an epic spring on Mount Washington.

Skiing conditions were less than ideal. I crested the ridge along Tenney’s summit just as the sun began disappearing in a blaze of glory. Which meant snow that was soft and somewhat corn like at the beginning of the skin was freezing up and becoming quite unforgiving. My descent involved previously groomed trails as natural snow and ungroomed trails were horrific to say the least. I utilized big sweep carved turns on low angle trails with occasional speed checks when the trail became steeper or snow conditions became dicey. This will be a sensational post work routine this spring as warmer temperatures and corn snow finally break through winter’s hold. Base depths are simply sensational with no bare or thin spots anywhere on the mountain. Trees would still be easily skiable provided softer corn snow conditions.

Photo Gallery

Lots of options were on the table today. But with the lifts closed on Friday, I figured Jay would be the best pick despite the anticipated crowds. And holy moly were there crowds. This weekend was a “Perfect Storm” of sorts. No major powder days since March 1st, almost two feet of Fresh snow heading into the weekend, lifts not spinning on Friday, early Easter Holiday weekend that usually does not come into play during April Easters, Downhill Race on Haynes (after two postponements), etc. Add in the Tram not running until noon and the Flyer not running at all and you have a recipe for the longest lines I have ever experienced at Jay. The singles line on the Bonnie extended to the second lift tower and there was a ten minute wait for the Metro Singles line at one point. Tram car waits were reported to be four or five cars. So, was it worth it?

The rush hit earlier than normal, but I was able to get in an hour and a half of competition free pick your line powder festivities before the crowds arrived. Since it stopped snowing yesterday, the wind did its thing and leveled out most of the snow into a super dense wind slab. I was glad to have my fat skis today for sure! Nailed some sensational boot to knee deep early. Boot deep was the general rule for the untracked. Decidedly not as deep, soft, or good as yesterday’s earned turn powder in the same locations thanks to wind over night without any new snow.

Things looked bleak with no Tram and no Flyer at noon time but I soldiered on despite the crowds. I would have been quite alright with those lifts not running had it not been for the lines. Full cycles from the Bonnie to Tramside were taking around 45 minutes but yielded boot deep untracked late into the day. I quit at 2pm despite having just hit yet another section of untracked woods late in the day. But the lines were beyond my tolerance level at that point and I had already taken my fill. Had the Flyer come online sooner, I might have stuck around but the chairs were not even on the line at 2pm and the Bonnie singles line was back to the second lift tower again.

Lines aside the skiing was sensational despite the extremely wind slabbed snow. Base depths extremely deep at this point. It feels like early season in the woods again due to the constant need to cross block branches with poles. Instead of blocking trees not yet buried, we are instead blocking high branches that normally do not come into play! Canopy levels are getting into head chopping range. Some downed trees and bent limbs also made normally open lanes tighter than normal.

Headed up to Jay on Friday with moderately reasonable hopes that at least one of the Stateside lifts would turn (probably the Jet). Despite hopes of a late afternoon opening, it was not to be. Friday could have been my best day of the season had the lifts spun. It was still sensationally epic skiing none-the-less.

We skinned up Meadows to Wiggle where the game planning began and continued to evolve. Skiing would involve dropping down to the flats and yo-yo’ing whatever looked good. Several tree options provided sensational knee deep powder with more face shots than I could shake a skinny touring ski at. One particularly wind favored section saw me sinking below my croch for a few turns. We ascended to the top of the Jet twice and Kitz Woods was the best I had ever skied it. We made a poor selection on the next run off the Jet sliding into an area that was severely wind buffed and not protected. The wind directions seemed to change throughout the day so it was not easy predicting what areas would offer good skiing.

We got in four runs on some of the deepest snow of the season. Knowing I had two more days this weekend and probably a rather demanding Saturday, I decided to call it quits before my legs completely gave up. The snow was dense wind blown with some mammoth drifts in places. No regrets on the decision to ski and earn turns at Jay Peak which received two feet of snow compared to other Vermont resorts that had lifts turning with half as much or less powder.

Tonight was a tough night for our team without our top point man. Our team was very competitive on Monday nights, especially considering the median age of our team is 30 (NASTAR heavily favors older skiers when awarding handicap points). However, our recreational oriented race team was no match for the most race suit wearing gate bashers that race during the other week nights. We finished second to last though with our top point man and slightly better runs from our key racers, our team could have placed slightly higher.

My two runs felt good despite a sluggish start on racers right and a tough run out on the flats of racers left. The course was set on Twister which was unfortunate for my preferences. Twister actually looks like a good race trail if you start at the top instead of at the flats, so I am anxiously awaiting King of the Hill next Thursday.

After hardly skiing a hard packed groomer all season, it was nice feeling the progression as I got my carving legs back under me. Still was not up to college racing form, but that aspect of my technique package has definitely slipped in favor of powder, freeriding, and tree skiing skills. I got better every week and beat out our number three point getter twice during the last two races.

This was my first full season in a NASTAR league and I came away with the impression that some rule changes need to occur to make up for some irregularities and handicapping issues that reduce competitiveness. Either that or they need to start setting a challenging race course. It is too easy for old farts to essentially straight line it towards the finish. The snowboarder on our team got better every week but his scores did not show improvement so snowboarders need a bigger handicap point boost.

• Individual Race Results from Finals at Pats Peak
• Team Race Results from Finals at Pats Peak

Tough racing for me tonight due to barely getting to the mountain in time for the first run. My car has been having some troubles lately including needing new breaks and a wheel bearing issue. Due to the need for repairs, I did not want to drive my car the two hours round trip to Pats Peak. Thankfully, my significant other was able to leave work early and offer usage of her vehicle for the evening. Due to difficulties leaving work in a timely fashion, I arrived at home way behind schedule. Then it took me fifteen minutes to figure out how to lower the passenger seats in my significant other’s car. Suffice to say, I was slightly rattled by the time I was on the interstate en route to Pats Peak.

After a quick change, I grabbed my skis and headed up to the summit. Without a warm up run or course preview, I skied down to the start gate on Twister and jumped right into the gate barely in front of the second round of skis. Out of breathe and rather unfocused, I had no time to prepare for my first run. Adding to my difficulties was a horrid start ramp which made pole placement and a starting kick difficult. Running dead last on the course only added insult to injury. My second run was much more focused featuring a much better start but hardly anything impressive. Racing in the last slot ensured a scraped and rutted course. My time was improved but hardly a very good result.

As a team, we finished a solid second for the night and a respectable third on Monday nights for the season. Our placement was good enough to make the Finals for all nights on Thursday. Though we will certainly be slaughtered by the better skiers from other nights (especially without our top point scorer), it should be a good conclusion to a fun race season. After eight years of not racing, it was fun to be back in the race course though I am unsure if it was worth the two hour round trip drive once per week.

• Individual Race Results from Pats Peak Monday Week Nine
• Team Race Results from Pats Peak Monday Week Nine

Cannon got a foot Wednesday and at least a foot into today and it was still snowing when I left the mountain bringing the season total to date (with over a month of potential snowfall left) to an unreal (for Cannon) 214″. Untracked from mid-week combined with last today’s snowfall for many knee deep, and often times deeper, lines from open to close. Powder billowing over my shoulders and exploding into my face never gets old. I didn’t even bother counting the face shots. It would be easy to forget the best of days earlier in the season after a month or three delay, but I think I still remember them accurately when saying today was my best day of the season to date.

Earlier in the week, I had prepared for Jay on Saturday and had planned to meet Nhski for first chair. Last night things changed. Forecasts were leaving Jay out of the storm and the big prize was Ssouthern Vermont through the Northern Whites featuring a belt of snow up right through the notch. Cannon would not come out with the most snow but it will certainly be up there in totals. Last night I decided to bail on Jay and make plans for Cannon instead.

Fortunately, I was able to meet up with some sensational skiers I have had the pleasure of sharing turns with before and make a new buddy as well, sweet. Lifts were on wind hold when we got to the mountain and I was on the fence about heading north to Burke or south to Tenney. Ultimately, I decided to return to Tenney. But shortly after leaving Cannon, I got the call that Cannon was opening, turned around, and still made the 8:30am tram (barely). Sweet!

No pictures today but pictorial evidence is usually lacking on the best of days by design, not intent. When you are skiing boot to knee deep untracked on your favorite terrain, it is hard to slow down and pull out the camera. Today ranks right up there with the epic reports from seen previously this season from Northern Vermont. If Cannon received 300″ average snowfall a year, I don’t think I would ski anywhere else. Snowbanks just south of the notch were so high that you could not see the north bound traffic from the south bound lane. Still another month of the snowy season to go? Bring it on.

With an expected “18-30 inches by Thursday morning” as forecasted by many weather prognosticators, including MRG’s own Josh Fox, this storm bonked early but still delivered a foot of fresh to Mad River Glen. While Wednesday was a spectacular day and well worth a vacation day, it was a far cry from a minimum of 18″. While I had hoped for epic, I was willing to settle for just sensational.

By the time I had bought my ticket and geared up, six dozen skiers had queued up for the Single at 8:30 A.M. I quickly did the math. Given how many chairs were on the line, I was just as well skiing right onto the double rather than waiting for the Single for first run. The line would stay strong averaging an acceptable five to ten minute wait throughout the morning but got down to three to five minutes after lunch.

Ticket window folks were warning of no refunds if the mountain went on wind hold but Mad River kept all three lifts spinning all day despite some occasionally harsh winds. The snow was a dry but dense and wind blown variety that was somewhat grabby yet fast. No dusty light powder on top either but rather solid base building stuff which the mountain needed. Occasionally, I could sink down to the rock hard frozen base when cutting a hard turn through the foot of new snow. This storm will provide a sensational base for the Friday evening event to put the fluffy white stuff on top of.

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While not a good night for the team, I turned in some decent results and had my highest individual finish at 10th overall. Our team leader pulled five of us together for the race but we were hurting with two of our point scorers skiing out west this week. Said team leader also pulled himself together despite feeling horridly ill which effected his performance and our top point man had a bad night. Despite my great performance, the team will probably drop tonight’s race results as our lowest team score of the season.

Too bad my edges were not sharpened for this race. My race skis have have had at least days use since the last sharpen and tune. Despite two good runs, I never felt connected with my skis. I could have done even better had I really been dialed in with a freshly tuned pair of skis.

I really appreciate the layout and design of the tonight’s course. It was the best course lay out all year, in my opinion. Lots of DNFs and DSQs. The course really punished skiers who were too aggressive and not clean. Some of the turns were probably too aggressive for that type and style of course. Two straight gates out of the start got me going much faster than I had anticipated and I was not quite high enough on some of the gates as a result. Many skiers were not even beginning their turns until getting to the gate resulting in some pretty sensational traverses to save the run. My type of course and the results speak for themselves in that it was not most peoples’ type of course.

Individual Race Results from Pats Peak Monday Week Eight

Team Race Results from Pats Peak Monday Week Eight