Category: 2010-2011 Season

2010-2011 Season, April, Whiteface

Dacks Day 1: Whiteface & The Slides

Harv in Slide 1

More than just another area to cross off The List, Whiteface is a “must do” for any serious northeast skier. Many sources designate Lake Placid as a premier northeast skiing destination. Ski Magazine ranked Whiteface number one in the eastern United States (and Whiteface won’t let you forget it). Two-time site of the Winter Olympics, Whiteface boasts the biggest vertical drop east of the Rockies and is host to the only on map slide skiing in the east. It looks great as marketing fluff. But how does Whiteface actually stack up?

Quite well, actually. Despite premonitions of disappointment, I tremendously enjoyed all that Whiteface has to offer. The mountain continually surprised me throughout the day. It is more than just a steep groomer paradise and is well billed as a premier destination in the northeast. The vertical drop is truly impressive even accounting for the long run out serviced by the aptly but unfortunately named “Face Lift”.

While top to bottom leg burners can be skied via the two quads, the best policy seems to be lapping the three fixed grip upper mountain lifts and reserving the detachables for moving out of the base area. During our visit, the Little Whiteface Double was off line. But with our attention was focused on the Slides, we primarily skied off the Summit Quad most of the day with occasional excursions on the Cloudsplitter.

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2010-2011 Season, April, Mad River Glen

Mad River Glen: All Options on the Table

Tree Skiing at Mad River Glen

Today featured a little bit of everything from powder to packed powder, scraped bumps to corn bumps, variable snow to mank. Things got started in incredible fashion with untracked powder in the trees–almost deep enough for Powder Day status. After my first run, I changed skis to my powder boards. Trees were excellent with great coverage and occasional untracked lines yielding four inches or more of somewhat fluffy snow up high. The trails were well covered with many liftline cliffs (including Birdcage) open; amazing coverage for April 2nd.

Tree Skiing at Mad River Glen

As the morning progressed, the air got warmer down low and stayed cooler up high. The mank level slowly worked its way up the mountain. By late day, trees off the Sunnyside were too manky for my tastes. So I abandoned the woods for a top to bottom down Chute to Liftline. After hitting Cannon on Friday, my legs were failing to deliver a back-to-back bell-to-bell performance. I bailed to the ladies tee on the Liftline cliffs and opted to call it a day before I hurt myself.

2010-2011 Season, April, Cannon Mountain

Cannon: Jokes On Us, but We Are No Fools

Cannon Trees (Horizontal)

The joke was on skiers this April Fool’s Day. Two day out prognostications looked epic but subsequent forecasts shifted the storm further and further east. By last chair on Friday, the ten hour total for Cannon was only four inches. It was still snowing when we left, but totals will surely fall short of predicted amounts. Maine is no fooling this weekend while the rest of New England looks like chumps.

While today was not a powder day, we more than made the best of great late season conditions at Cannon and had an awesome day. Early turns were best on moderate angle groomers that had collected an inch or two of fluff over firm. Steeper pitches yielded variable patches of fluff and scraped hard pack. Bump troughs also were firm hard pack. The best snow was on open trails of gentler pitch.

In the Trees

After lunch we went exploring and found good snow in the upper mountain trees. Bumps in the trees still had firm hard pack troughs with occasional scrape but were easy to manage. Excellent tight tree skiing was had and the day began improving with every run. We explored further afield and found packed and loose powder delights.

Earlier in the day, I pondered why exactly do I love Cannon so much. What connects me so deeply to this specific mountain? I still can not put a firm finger on the reason. But by the end of the day, I was hooting and hollering with delight as I rediscovered a narrow chute that I hadn’t skied in a dozen years. The conditions were not epic but my turns flowed poetically down an aesthetic line that got me turned on to tight chute skiing years ago. It was as good of an answer as I may ever get; it is always good to come home.

2010-2011 Season, AlpineZone Meet Up, March, Sugarloaf

Sugarloaf: Following the Wind

Sugarloaf

Riding up the Superquad, I noticed that Spillway and Timberline were not spinning. After a quick rip down Lower Winter’s Way to Lower Misery Whip, I found out that King Pine was not spinning. And after a long run out on Cross Haul, I found out that Whiffletree was also not spinning. Looping up and over to the top of King Pine, I found that the new trails off the Brackett Basin ridge were closed.

Today was all about flexibility and patience. Quality snow and good turns could be found, especially after I got past my initial disappointment. With the singles line for the Superquad back to Double Runner, I decided it would be a Double to T-bar day.

Excellent wind loaded snow was found on skier’s left of many trails. The MO for the day was traversing looker’s left from the T-bar and skiing skier’s left on the trails. Spillway, Winter’s Way, Misery Whip, and Ripsaw all offered nice turns, scraped in some places and creamy in others. I found Bubblecuffer to be especially nice. But the run of the day was saved for last as we took Haul Back on Greg’s suggestion which yielded epic wind blown pow.

I was fortunate to meet up with some of the AlpineZone crew after lunch. Skiing solo was okay. But on such a day as this, the company changed the day from somewhat blah to incredibly fun. Skiing with a crew made my day and made the afternoon something special. Last chair came all to quickly and my legs gave out just as the lifts came to a stop.

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2010-2011 Season, March, Powder Day, Smugglers Notch

Smuggs <3

I am so up on Smuggs. I can’t even say the name without smiling and feeling better. Smuggs is one of only three or four ski areas that I connect with on an emotional level. Perhaps the honeymoon is not over yet. But I don’t think that is the case. Despite only having skied Smuggs four times, the connection already runs deep. It’s a special place.

The expansive tree skiing grabs me like no where else. The types of trees, spacing varieties, topography, and vertical all combine to offer an immensely pleasing experience. Much like other Northern Vermont areas, Smuggs tree skiing is a choose your own adventure and the best adventures are often off map. But by thinking outside the pack, there are so many seemingly obvious shots that remain untracked days after a storm.

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