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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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On Friday November 3rd, Jay Peak fired up the snow guns on The Jet and Haynes as unseasonably low temperatures continued throughout New England. Jay Peak plans on bumping up their opening to the weekend before the Thanksgiving Holiday and will have plenty of snow to do so, even with the pending warm up next week. All the major players let loose their guns this week to capitalize on a rare shot at prolonged early November snow making. The masses also descended on Jay Peak to capitalize on a chance to ski and ride early season man made snow before the lifts start moving. Where were all these people the past two weeks when Jay had epic late October snow? I have no idea.

While I had prepared myself for Jay to have substantially less snow and worse conditions than my first four days in October, I had not prepared myself for the massive disappearance of snow. Approaching the mountain, Can Am and Power Line (which were both socked with snow last week) bore huge brown spots and disastrously thin cover. The lower slopes at Stateside were no longer skiable nor skinable, so I carried my skis on my pack and began hoofing up Derick Hot Shot.

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To conclude October with my personal best record of four days of skiing, I left work early to Dusk Patrol Jay Peak. My birthday present was sweet indeed as on the eve of the anniversary of my birth, nature offered up excellent turns on a beautiful late afternoon. I could not have asked for a better present than to be on my fourth day of turn earning before October ends. The myriad shades of color spreading across the valley from behind Jay Peak as the sun set was the proverbial icing on the cake.

With the 30th in the books, I have passed my October total for last year and without hesitation can confirm this early season has been and continues to be way better than last year’s early season. While I have not had as much powder depth this year, the lack of consistently deep powder has been more than made up for by the consistently good base, consistently good conditions, and consistently cool weather. I will take consistently great over once in a while superior.

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With two more days left in October and snow still falling at Jay, I ventured out for day number three of the season with plans for a fourth before October was in the books. Despite a decent snow storm the night before, Jay’s open trails were picked clean and wind blown. No worries though as it was still snowing around the summit and as per usual at Jay Peak, the goods were to be found in between the trees. Tree skiing in October? Heck yea!

Austin and I joined up for the drive up to Jay Peak from my house in St. Johnsbury. Occasional flurries near the high point of I-91 got us jonesing but we knew the best was yet to come. Climbing up Route 242, there was a very definitive line between the rain and the snow. Although Jay probably got all rain at one point, they had a sweet change over Sunday morning. Not much snow was to be found in the parking lot, but it was starting to come down when we arrived. By the time we reached the summit, it was puking!

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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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The 2006-2007 installment of the “One run for the Price of None Tour” has begun! One week after a freak snow storm buried Buffalo under a few feet of snow during mid-October, an unrelated storm system slammed into New England bringing heavy rains and cold temperatures. I found myself scrambling to get to the ski shop to pick up my skis and boots Friday night as thunder, lightning, high winds, and heavy rains began. The Northern Greens were about to hit an October jackpot.

Reports coming in the previous night indicated most areas between Mansfield and Jay likely had received a similar amount of snow. Jay Peak was the closest and most accessible option and thus my destination. Friday night, I walked through my “night before” ritual as if the past four months off season had never happened.

The drive to Jay was much as I had expected. Almost no snow with exception of the high point of I-91 North which provided excellent visual stimulation with trace snow and caked trees. Even Troy, VT was completely without snow cover. But sure enough, the snow began just after turning onto Route 242 and increasing steadily as I ascended to the Stateside Lot of Jay Peak.

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My 2005-2006 Ski Season began just over eight months ago on a snowy October 23rd. During the Summer of 2005, I had predicted that October 23rd would bring the first significant snowfall to New England and that I would be skiing that day. What I could not have predicted was the amazing amount of ups and downs my season would take. From epic early season hike-to-ski powder dumps to an injury that put me on the Disabled List for almost three months and then right back into the powder in March and onto some phenomenal late season skiing on the Presidential Range, the season was a wild roller coaster that I hate to see come to a close. Most people will remember the 2005-2006 Season as terrible at best, but I end the season with many fond memories. And I picked a fabulous day to end the season.

Perhaps the worst botched forecast of the year occurred this past week when forecasters suggested that Saturday had a 40% chance of rain and 50% for Sunday. By Saturday, the forecasts had been changed to mostly sunny with highs in the low 80s for both days. But I am glad for the screw up, as I had committed to attending an outdoor party that got postponed due to potential rain. Sweet!

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After many weeks of anxious anticipation, the Mount Washington Auto Road finally opened to the summit this weekend to the delight of many a New England Skier. With exception of Left Gully and Airplane, the East Snowfield currently has the longest continuous vertical drop in New England for skiing. This bright, sunny, and hazy afternoon brought well over a hundred people to the East Snowfields to partake in a final farewell to winter in New England.

Plans to carpool up the auto road were scrapped yesterday due to logistical issues. Since my Saturn does not have low gear, it would not be allowed on the Auto Road. Believing that the Auto Road folks would not look kindly on my sticking a thumb out near the gate, I opted for a one way ticket setting me back $26 big ones. Plans were to either Hitch a ride or hike back down. Fortunately, I was offered a ride by a kind person which saved me the hike down. Since I paid for the lift, I am unsure if this afternoon qualifies for my “One Run for the Price of None Tour.” Doesn’t much matter about the payment as all the turns had to be earned regardless.

Crowds were already filling up the Snowfields upon my arrival at approximately 9:30 A.M. It did not take me long to realize that I had over packed, but without a car to base operations from and a potential hike down, I took no chances on over packing gear. I booted up practically laughing with glee; this looked like it would be damn fun.

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With threats of precipitation, I made the early morning hour drive to Jay Peak (if 9AM can be considered early morning!). Views from Route 100 South and Route 242 West were not impressive. Turns were definitely to be had but not in abundance. I pulled almost everything out of my pack at the parking lot as the temperature was quite warm.

The Jet featured several broken patches, the largest one was just above the mid-point of the trail. Above this large patch, the snow pinched to climbers left, then broke apart before pinching climbers right and then pinching again climbers left. Essentially, there were two really small patches up top, a decent middle patch, and a nice wide open bottom patch. With exception of the bottom patch, most of the Jet was too broken up to get a good rhythm going. I did manage to only click out of my skis once on the descent from the top of The Jet.

Next I headed over to Haynes, which did not have as much vertical but did have much better continuous snow allowing for much more interesting skiing. Climbing up Haynes and the Jet after my last few climbs over on Washington was humorously easy in comparison. It is amazing how much steeper the most mellow slopes of Gulf of Slides and Tuckerman Ravine are in comparison to a typical black diamond pitch at a ski area. Turns down Haynes were fun but I did not have the heart for a third run. After the snow ran out on Haynes, I clicked out for a short hike and then skied over snow and grass until the snow ran out near the bottom of the trail. Desperation perhaps or just plain laziness. Or both.

Photo Gallery

Sometime during the halfway point of my third run down F.I.S. at Sugarbush yesterday, I recalled that due to the injury and other variables, Saturday was my first day of the season pumping out big bumps on a steep slope. Also at about the same time, I realized I needed to save some leg for Tuckerman Ravine the next day. But I am never one to save up potential energy for potential good skiing when I already AM experiencing good skiing. So three more F.I.S. runs later…

I got the days backwards this weekend. I figured Sunday would be warmer and the Ravine would experience less freezing over night so I thought it would be the better day for the Ravine despite tiring my legs out on Saturday at da’ Bush. Turns out it was too hot on Sunday so I should have reversed days. Not that the skiing in the Ravine was not fantastic, but hot days are not fun for lugging forty pounds of skiing equipment a few miles.

The parking lot was slammed more than the previous week’s Inferno Race, likely due to perfect weather this weekend and less than acceptable snow conditions the previous weekend. I tossed the skins in my bag based on a report indicating traction on the upper third of the TRT would have been helpful. Glad I did, as my fair weather hiking sneakers did not like hiking up the snow. I switched over to skins about 100 verts above the second bridge and only needed to take off the skis once until reaching HoJo’s, woo hoo! Better traction and less weight for around a quarter of the hike to HoJo’s is cool by me. Next weekend I would not have bothered.

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After three glorious days of bright sun shine and warm temperatures ideal for corn snow, the weekend delivered a horrible blow to Mount Washington in the form of an evening freeze, overcast skies, and no softening in sight. Far from ideal conditions for the annual Inferno Race sponsored by the Friends of Tuckerman, the race would go on and so would my tour.

I arrived at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (PNVC) shortly after 7 A.M. anticipating the huge crowds the events draws. However, I obtained front row parking at the Gulf of Slides trail head with plenty of spaces remaining on both sides of the lot. I managed to escape the crowds and secure a primo parking spot by getting a slightly earlier start than normal. Starting too early might not have allowed the snow to soften up sufficiently; but alas, there would be no softening of the snow today. The weather forecast had predicted partly cloudy skies warming to the mid-forties but the mercury combined with the wind chill likely never pushed out of the thirties.

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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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What is better than one bluebird day on Mount Washington? How about two straight bluebird days on Mount Washington?! After last Sunday’s epic day in Tuckerman Ravine, I figured my best days of the season were behind me as the snow cover began to recede. But Gulf of Slides had more than enough snow to delight under a canopy of blue. Warm temperatures and bluebird skies dominated the afternoon as we found ourselves thinking at times that it was actually too warm.

At 8 A.M., I met up with Jim and Sled at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. The sky was completely bluebird with temperatures on the rise. We discussed what to leave behind based on the warm temperature and the desire to travel as light as possible. Essentially, the more we decided to leave behind the better. Almost no extra layers besides our base layers were truly needed though Sled and I donned the wind shells for the descent.

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Driving through Jefferson on Route 2 passing by people ascending the stairs to their houses of worship, I spotted the white caked peaks of the Northern Presidentials dead ahead. While the faithful of small town northern New England filled into their neighborhood churches, the skiing faithful of New England descended upon the Mecca of backcountry in New Hampshire.

My church is the snow covered mountains and the stairs leading up to the church are skin tracks. I worship the snow and get down on my hands and knees to pray when I am ascending the steep boot ladders. My deity of choice is the Earth which brought me here and can take me out when ever it deems I have had my time to enjoy life. At which point I will rejoin the Earth and have my ashes dumped out across the mountains I worship. Today would not be that day though.

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In hind sight, I should have Dawn Patrolled this tour. But the storm went by faster than I had anticipated which resulted in no snow during the morning or afternoon. My timing was all out of whack. I left work early to go earn some turns down the road at closed Burke Mountain. I arrived to find a snow covered Burke Mountain begging for turns to be made on any untracked line I desired.

The untracked was not exactly powdery due to a warm afternoon baking under the sun. I was in a race against the time of consolidation when I first began skinning. But I slowly shook off my haste as untracked is untracked regardless of consistency. The snow was moist but not completely wet and packed down, but rather wet with a little fluff which is an odd combination. It looked like fun as it proved to be.

I tracked up Lower Warren’s Way to Bear Den to Willoughby on the skin up. As I approached mid-mountain, I noticed the wet snow was slightly slabbed on the surface of open slopes with a more powdery and lighter consistency on skier’s left under the trees. Duly noted for the descent! Four inches of the thick consistency stuff was the rule with deeper pockets occasionally. I suspect Burke picked up six inches at mid-mountain before the snow began consolidating.

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