Smuggs: Exploring

Smuggs from Chilcoot

The snow forecast was a bust with barely an inch of fresh. But the forecast wasn’t for much more and I hadn’t planned on a powder day. Word on the ‘net was that Smuggs was solid packed powder despite not much new snow during the last two weeks. So I did as I do when the snow is packed and the powder has long since been tracked: I go exploring.

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Smuggs: Negative Temps are Better than Lines

Mansfield from Madonna Summit

The past two months have been off the rails at work. I haven’t been able to enjoy the storms of the past month. I haven’t been able to enjoy much of anything. Endless twelve hour days and unrelenting stress culminated with a twelve day work week. I was exhausted physically, mentally, and psychologically.

Going into this weekend, I had given up on the idea of skiing Saturday. I needed rest. I needed to stop. I needed anything other than yet another 5:30am alarm and five hours round trip behind the wheel. But seeing the new snow reports trickling in Friday afternoon, I realized that I needed to not let lingering effects of work stop me from enjoying my passion.

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Smuggs: Just for the Historical Record

I wasn’t feeling it today. The snow was wind blown and stripped. A little wind blown natural snow remained from the powder day two days ago. But for the most part, any remaining snow was blown clear of the mountain. The wind was fierce, the snow was wind blown packed, and I was feeling tired and uninspired. I packed it in after two runs due to exhaustion and fatigue. An entry just for the historical record if there ever was one.

Smuggs: Powder Frenzy

Smuggs Chute Skiing

The Big One. A well promoted storm providing several days notice for metro skiers to plan and preposition. The biggest storm of the season followed a storm blackout lasting several weeks during a below average season. All the ingredients for a powdery frenzy. Two feet of fresh was in the forecast for all of northern New England. A vacation day was a given. But the decision on where to go was agonizing.

Despite friends going to Jay and Mad River Glen, I ruled out those mountains due to fears of wind holds at Jay and crowds at Mad River Glen. Cannon was a storm bullseye but I had vouchers to burn. Smuggs seemed like a good option as it wouldn’t attract many metro area skiers due to its remote location (and I haven’t had a good Smuggs powder day this year).

Smuggs received two feet of snow during the storm and the locals were restless. I didn’t arrive in time for the Sterling Double’s early opening. So after waiting fifteen minutes for a ticket (only two windows open on a powder day: W-T-F), I lined up at the rope for M1. The lift was delayed but worth waiting since Sterling had already sent three cycles up the mountain. Eventually, ski patrol approached the rope saying “be cool, guys” which prompted everyone to immediately duck the rope.

I was on the fifth or sixth chair and assumed most skiers would go for Liftline so I opted for F.I.S. instead. As expected, no one had skied it yet by the time I got to the lip. I dropped in. *POOF* Knee deep powder every turn, face shot after face shot, all the way down Upper F.I.S. The trail had been groomed flat the previous evening so there were no bumps to contend with. I opened up the skis and went for it. Amazing!

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The Honeymoon Resumes at Smuggs

This past January was a horrible month for me personally, sub-par skiing was not the worst aspect. But with only four days of skiing including one terrible day, it was a mostly forgettable month of skiing as well. After two exhaustive weeks at work including a 13 day work week and a significant number of 12-15 hour days, I was ready for some fun.

I was expecting a decent amount of fresh powder with limited terrain. What I got was a decent amount of terrain with limited fresh powder. The official report came in at four inches but it was unevenly distributed with very little at the base and perhaps a little more at the summit. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to open up Freefall (for an hour), Liftline (excepting the steepest pitch), and many upper mountain off map trees. It was not what I expected but I was not disappointed.

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