I skiied Stowe this past Tuesday - Thursday, took Friday and Saturday off and was back out there today. I didn't get going till about noon (trying to avoid the crowds) and I did a pretty good job of that. Didn't wait more than 5 minutes for the quad and the gondi was walk right on in the singles line.
Conditions were somewhat remarkable. The major avenues (upper Perry Merril, Lord, North Slope) didn't were all still in very decent shape given that the parking lot was full when I got there and I assume it was full yesterday too. There was definately icey spots on all groomed trails, but they were all easily managed. Upper gondelier was very scraped off, to the point of rocks, etc showing through, but this was the case last week and they really need to blow some snow on that portion of the hill.
The conditions on the natural snow trials were kinda funky. As I was the case last week, I am still not a big fan of Chin Clip. It was really ugly today ... I was actually hoping that some of the new snow would have bonded to the base, but the opposite was true - rocks were showing in many areas on the first pitch, with somewhat soft bumps seperated by glacial ice. The nosedive glades were definately skied off, but still pretty soft and pretty much fun to ski. One thing to note there is that the ski out is getting pretty ugly. I also hit upper National from just under the headwall, and it was pretty nice. Definately not much skiier traffic and good snow, depsite some ice. Getting over there was a little strange, though, as you had to go through the thicket of small shrubs on skiers rt of liftine to access the better snow. I really have to wonder if they will even get the headwall open at all for the rest of the year, right now it is just a sheer ice drop, about 20 feet down, pretty much vertical. The ungroomed / no snow making section of Lord was pretty bad, I think they just opened it this weekend. It was very firm and had poor coverage.
My favorite run of the day was hayride, not surprising as it usually ranks high on my list. The rt side had very soft man made bumps / crud, lots of fun to play in. The left side was groomed and firm, fun for ripping it up. Centerline was also pretty good, it has some little linked bump on top, which got spread out down the way, but still fun.
On Wednesday, I didn't get out till the afternoon (had to fix my boot situation) and only skied for a few hours. The best run I had was down Hackett's Highway (under the triple chair). The snow was very soft, all natural, still quite a bit of pow left. It's a short run, and I took a nice fall at the bottom, but it was a hell of a good time.
More than anything, we all need to hope for a nice, heavy base building snow fall. I'm not even sure getting dumped on will vastly improve the conditions on certain trails, but it will definately help the rest of the mountain and the woods. Unfortunately, I don't see that in the cards.
So, who is coming up here on Wednesday, when it's $20 lift ticket day?
Conditions were somewhat remarkable. The major avenues (upper Perry Merril, Lord, North Slope) didn't were all still in very decent shape given that the parking lot was full when I got there and I assume it was full yesterday too. There was definately icey spots on all groomed trails, but they were all easily managed. Upper gondelier was very scraped off, to the point of rocks, etc showing through, but this was the case last week and they really need to blow some snow on that portion of the hill.
The conditions on the natural snow trials were kinda funky. As I was the case last week, I am still not a big fan of Chin Clip. It was really ugly today ... I was actually hoping that some of the new snow would have bonded to the base, but the opposite was true - rocks were showing in many areas on the first pitch, with somewhat soft bumps seperated by glacial ice. The nosedive glades were definately skied off, but still pretty soft and pretty much fun to ski. One thing to note there is that the ski out is getting pretty ugly. I also hit upper National from just under the headwall, and it was pretty nice. Definately not much skiier traffic and good snow, depsite some ice. Getting over there was a little strange, though, as you had to go through the thicket of small shrubs on skiers rt of liftine to access the better snow. I really have to wonder if they will even get the headwall open at all for the rest of the year, right now it is just a sheer ice drop, about 20 feet down, pretty much vertical. The ungroomed / no snow making section of Lord was pretty bad, I think they just opened it this weekend. It was very firm and had poor coverage.
My favorite run of the day was hayride, not surprising as it usually ranks high on my list. The rt side had very soft man made bumps / crud, lots of fun to play in. The left side was groomed and firm, fun for ripping it up. Centerline was also pretty good, it has some little linked bump on top, which got spread out down the way, but still fun.
On Wednesday, I didn't get out till the afternoon (had to fix my boot situation) and only skied for a few hours. The best run I had was down Hackett's Highway (under the triple chair). The snow was very soft, all natural, still quite a bit of pow left. It's a short run, and I took a nice fall at the bottom, but it was a hell of a good time.
More than anything, we all need to hope for a nice, heavy base building snow fall. I'm not even sure getting dumped on will vastly improve the conditions on certain trails, but it will definately help the rest of the mountain and the woods. Unfortunately, I don't see that in the cards.
So, who is coming up here on Wednesday, when it's $20 lift ticket day?