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Mother nature provided absolutely perfect weather and temperature for Stowe’s last day of operation for the season. And skiers and riders came out in significant numbers for the occasion (largely due to the cheap lift tickets for contributing to the Vermont Food Bank canned goods drive). College students from Burlington made up a significant body of the crowds and their obnoxious antics were on display in Caddyshack Caddy’s Day style.

Due to a recent rain/freeze event the day before, bump trails were not skiing well in the morning. So I enjoyed the groomers off the Forerunner. I really enjoyed the cruising, actually. Not normally one to feel satisfied with cruising around at mach 5 on trails rolled out flat as a pancake, I found it tremendously satisfying and enjoying to relax and zip around with a cool breeze and bright sun shine.

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Game on! Last week’s two inches was just a teaser of better things to come. A massive storm system drew moisture out of the tropics and sent cold air racing the Appalachian chain into Florida. Combined with upslope snow fall on the backside of the storm, this is the trifecta of perfection for early season powder dumps in New England. Amazingly, the Catskills in New York received the highest snowfall totals at nearly double Mount Mansfield’s reported 12″ at The Stake. But when all was said and done, Mansfield definitely received more than a foot of fresh and was the best place to ski following the storm.

Austin and I hooked up in West Lebanon and carpooled up to Stowe. Originally, we had been considering Jay which was forecasted to receive more than Mount Mansfield. But the initial snow totals suggested that the upslope did not kick in for Jay like it did for Mansfield. We met up with Greg in the parking lot and skinned up Nose Dive. After an ill advised dabble in Nosedive Glades, we skinned up to the Octagon and prepared for a descent down National.

National usually is a horrible trail to descend featuring irregular spacious mounds of snow with scraped snow in the valleys. National is one of Stowe’s well known “front four” trails but hardly merits its reputation as an expert level trail. The steep drop scares many skiers into throwing the skis sideways and scraping off the snow which then slides into unorganized mounds. Suffice to say, National hardly skis well except immediately following a fresh dump.

Seeing an beautifully untracked line down skiers right, I picked my way through some thin coverage and rocks (which had kept most skiers away) and slid into a slot of bliss. With quads burning and begging for mercy, I skied down National’s powdery bliss spraying powder clouds left and right. Happy Birthday to me one day early. At the intersection of National and Liftline, tracks went everywhere but untracked was still to be found. The tracks a testament to well over a hundred skiers and riders hiking for turns. I finished my first run of the year down Lower National making somewhat aesthetic lines where once there was untracked snow. This is the way to begin a season.

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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.

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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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Originally, I took Wednesday through Friday off to utilize a Ski Club deal on cheap skiing at Stowe. Based on the weather forecast, I bailed on pre-purchasing the three day ticket and went for the single ticket on Wednesdayonly. Essentially, including the Ski Club membership and discounted lift ticket, I paid full price but it was a worth while gamble. If this had been excellent conditions, I would have been skiing three days at Stowe for only $39 per day (which would have included the cost of club membership). Things do not go as planned sometimes.

I used this opportunity to demo the Volkl Mantra in a 177cm at the Pinnacle Ski Shop on the Mountain Access Road. Suffice to say, the Volkl Mantra is one helluva ski. But not the ski I was looking for and I am glad I demoed the ski before I pulled the trigger.

I had expected better conditions today considering all the recent snow but I forgot to take into consideration the high wind earlier this week. Many of the groomers were hard pack with occasional wind blown boiler plate. This is where the Volkl Mantra really wowed me. These skis have Volkl’s typical groomer chewer technology and the last time I rode a ski that ate up hard pack like this was the Volkl Six Stars. The Mantra sure was not at the Six Star level, but was able to really rip the groomers with similar style. This performance enhancement was a harbinger of my verdict on the skis as they compromise too much as a one ski quiver with their stiff, beefy, and damp groomer-ripper esque style.

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“Damn, I wish it was still October.” Not often are these words spoken in New England by skiers. But based on short and long term forecasts, there is a distinct possibility that October will have been a better month to ski New England than November. Which is not to say that the skiing on Mount Mansfield on November fifth was not more than satisfactory and excellent for November. But it sure was no October 2006.

Austin, Marc, and I all arrived at the Gondola lot early Sunday morning for some skiing on Mount Mansfield. Snow Guns were firing hard on Upper Nose Dive and on the other side of the mountain. We opted to ascend via Nose Dive and make plans for the descent once we were higher up. A short hike up Nose Dive was required before we could put skins to the snow and beginning skinning. Snow coverage was still substantial and wall to wall after a short hundred vertical feet of dry land. It is still hard to believe how much snow has stuck around for so long considering the date!

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An October to beat all Octobers keeps pumping snow into New England. Upslope snowfall has been pilling up at The Stake on Mount Mansfield. With seventeen inches reported as of last night with more snow constantly falling, I made my way up the access road to Mount Mansfield for my second day of skiing this season. If the weather outlook for this weekend holds, I will be skiing into November already having skied four days.

Planning the work schedule around skiing is quickly becoming my MO for scoring powder days and great skiing. Especially in the early season when one or two days means the difference between a few inches of fresh versus grass. With the unseasonably cold temperatures and week long never ending small snow blasts in the mountains, I hardly had to worry about skiing grass! This morning found me in Northfield, Vermont, a small town just a short drive south east from the state Capitol Montpelier. After finishing up work around 1:30 P.M., I made haste to Mount Mansfield. No signs of snow fall were to be seen along the Access Road. The snow began at the ski area and got progressively deeper as the vertical increased.

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Without a cloud in sight, the warm sun shone brightly on Vermont’s highest peak as I approached Mount Mansfield. Blue bird skies were the rule with a slight breeze blowing keeping things cool. At the office, everyone looked longingly out the windows all day long. I had enough looking at 3 P.M. and headed over to Mansfield for some turns. The One Run For the Price of None Tour marches on to the beat of a different drummer.

Pulling up to the Gondola Base Lodge, I noticed several skiers sliding down Gondelier. The skiers took Rimrock for their last run and for their adventurous spirit, they earned a walk back to the Forerunner side from the Gondola Lodge. I doubt it was worth the effort for them but hiking would be more than worth the effort for me!

I skinned up Gondelier in its entirety before bending around the Waterfall up Perry Merrill. Gondelier was covered mostly well except the halfway point sporting a big stretch of grass down the center and 5-10 foot patches on either side. Everything else was wall to wall with enough snow depth to last another week at least. One switchback was excessively dug out by a Snow Cat as seen in one of the pictures.

This was my second time hiking up Mansfield under the Gondola and it continued to amaze me that this short and quick hike accesses 2000 vertical feet. The hike goes by very quickly and is probably the easiest 2000 vertical feet that I have ever hiked.

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I could not have picked a better first day to ski Mount Mansfield! I have no room to complain since tickets were $15 with two canned goods, but the morning got off to a TERRIBLE start with a 20+ minute wait at the ticket counter. Stowe may have a new POS system that was not working too well. Only three out of four ticket windows were open and operating terribly slow. Cashiers were hand entering all the credit card info. Customers putting fifteen dollars on a credit card and not consolidating group purchases also substantially contributed to the backup. After the ticket line fiasco, I was more than ready for some turns in fresh snow!

The Forerunner Quad was running with an average wait time of about 5 minutes. Not too bad considering the gondola wasn’t running and they were busing folks in from Spruce Peak as the Mansfield lot was packed. Snow was falling in the morning and never stopped throughout the day but I would suspect total accumulations were low today. Maybe an extra inch or two. Low visibility and poor light throughout the day.

Screw warm up runs! Let’s see what all the hype is about regarding the fabled Front Four. I took three runs down Liftline and one down National to start my day and I Was not impressed with the trails themselves. Neither were excessively steep and both are rather wide. Unfortunately, Goat and Starr were roped and were the two trails I was most interested in giving a rip.

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