A
Anonymous
Guest
My first report from Snow (tho not first visit) since my 4/16/04 account of perfect spring conditions/cover....and lifts that had been closed for a week! Haven't been up in the last two weeks. I rarely ski the holidays, but the constant rainouts of late wouldn't have made it too tempting anyway. Was real glad this one stayed snow (and another tomm may add a few ") so I was there at lift opening today.
Today they were reporting 6" from the last 48 hours (mostly yesterday), and the # is pretty accurate, maybe even a little understated in spots. I'd monitored the radar during yesterdays storm and was glad that the snow/mix line never quite reached into S VT but I knew it was not likely to be champagne powda. I was right. The storm stayed snow but obviously turned pretty wet near the end. The inevitable drop in temps as the storm cleared out resulted in a firm surface. Luckily it's not the shiny plexi-crust that we got down here in MA but more of a light chalky windslab-like top layer, easily broken and with true powder underneath and even a dusting on top from some squalls early this morning. Wind was a factor in snow density along with moisture, depending on exposure. When the lifts opened it was still overcast and blowing pretty hard at the top and the North Face was closed until around 1pm (by chance I was standing right there when thry opened it- ok it wasn't exactly like rope drop on the Vail back bowls, but it's still nice when it happens...). By mid-day it was sunny and blue skies.
Most open trails had been groomed and, after a little traffic, conditions on those settled into a nice, fast packed powder with the occasional (& inevitable) icy spots. Untracked took some work to hop thru but there were some nice turns to be had, esp where the trees had tempered the force of the precip and/or wind. It's probably a good thing that the snow fell with some density because as it appears to have fallen on near-bare ground! As a result there is just enough cover to conceal some significant hazards- I had one real good rock hit and hidden gremlins snatched ski poles from me 3 times...strike three snapping the pole in half. I didn't care about the pole (plenty more in the van) *nearly* so much as the fact that it compromised the rest of a really nice line!
Anyway, a welcome day of new snow. Seems most areas are reporting gains from the last coupla days so things should be in real good shape this weekend, albeit possibly with crowds to match (there were some minor lift lines today and I saw a lot of cars heading up). Next week the weather looks ambiguous...but hey what's new??
Today they were reporting 6" from the last 48 hours (mostly yesterday), and the # is pretty accurate, maybe even a little understated in spots. I'd monitored the radar during yesterdays storm and was glad that the snow/mix line never quite reached into S VT but I knew it was not likely to be champagne powda. I was right. The storm stayed snow but obviously turned pretty wet near the end. The inevitable drop in temps as the storm cleared out resulted in a firm surface. Luckily it's not the shiny plexi-crust that we got down here in MA but more of a light chalky windslab-like top layer, easily broken and with true powder underneath and even a dusting on top from some squalls early this morning. Wind was a factor in snow density along with moisture, depending on exposure. When the lifts opened it was still overcast and blowing pretty hard at the top and the North Face was closed until around 1pm (by chance I was standing right there when thry opened it- ok it wasn't exactly like rope drop on the Vail back bowls, but it's still nice when it happens...). By mid-day it was sunny and blue skies.
Most open trails had been groomed and, after a little traffic, conditions on those settled into a nice, fast packed powder with the occasional (& inevitable) icy spots. Untracked took some work to hop thru but there were some nice turns to be had, esp where the trees had tempered the force of the precip and/or wind. It's probably a good thing that the snow fell with some density because as it appears to have fallen on near-bare ground! As a result there is just enough cover to conceal some significant hazards- I had one real good rock hit and hidden gremlins snatched ski poles from me 3 times...strike three snapping the pole in half. I didn't care about the pole (plenty more in the van) *nearly* so much as the fact that it compromised the rest of a really nice line!
Anyway, a welcome day of new snow. Seems most areas are reporting gains from the last coupla days so things should be in real good shape this weekend, albeit possibly with crowds to match (there were some minor lift lines today and I saw a lot of cars heading up). Next week the weather looks ambiguous...but hey what's new??