powderfreak

Snowing to valley floor this morning, no accum down here though.

Just light rain mixed with graupel in the valley with temps upper 30s. Feels pretty shitty outside to be honest, ha. Definitely weather where if below the snow line it's miserable.

I’m surprised you don’t spray paint your lawn deep green this time of year.

It is the chicken pox for Adults, ha. “A reactivation of the chickenpox virus in the body, causing a painful rash. Anyone who's had chickenpox may develop shingles. It isn't known what reactivates the virus.”

Isn’t shingles always in you if you had chicken pox as a kid?

It was all-time. The hill tapped out the season with 8 straight days of sunshine, including 4 straight record highs days. Everyone on social media talking about the time of their lives.

Light snow falling at the office. Obviously not sticking at 36F but hilarious to see after the week of summer.

39/36 -RN Dusting of snow up high.

Over half an inch of steady light rain with one or two very convective downpours. You get a third of an inch in minutes, but then wait hours to get to 0.5"+. Wet and soggy ground continues. As soon as the valley zones were drying out, it rains a moderate amount that leads to ponding.

What’s this liquid falling from the sky?

Wild. Full summer up here. 66F picnic tables and 80F valley under full sun.

It’s so hot. Pulling the snow stakes for the season.

That's all she wrote. Third Sunday in April means it's time to shut 'em down. No one around here can remember a final week quite like this though. Starting Easter Sunday it has just been full on torch with wall-to-wall sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky right now either and temps on same pace they have been the last 5 days. About 70F at 11am in the valley and upper 50s at the summit. Should add another 10F to these again. 4 straight record high temps on Mansfield I think today will be if it can clear 63F at summit (already 58F). I'm sunburnt, tired, and living almost entirely on grilled meat and beer. Almost time to get off the ride.

This is absolutely insane. I cannot believe he survived this in Tuckerman’s Ravine. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrEqc6dLNWM/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

It’s 70 degrees at 9pm in N.VT. MVL has spiked from 64F to 70F with a puff of warm air. The air mass wants to be hot. Mix it out and it’s a summer night with low dews.

Where were the cubs? On the other side? I’ve seen bears close huge distances across ski trails in short order if cubs are on the other side. We had a work truck going up a road, knew of active bear den… mom was two ski trails over… truck got between mom and cubs and Mom was over there faster than a deer can run. To me it’s always interesting when someone who sees bears regularly, in my yard, on my porch, on the mountain, etc is not concerned and has numerous encounters a year… but someone sees a bear running from a car and they are natural born killers? I get the hesitation, they are huge animals. This guy in the backyard last summer had to be 500 pounds. His killer instincts had him sit down when he saw me, shy and unsure how to pass. This smaller guy but still probably 300 pounds was scared shitless when he saw me on the back porch and ran to hide under some evergreens.

Only if cubs or food are involved. Like you said you didn’t know if cubs were involved. There have been 4 in VT history per fish and game. Two were elderly ladies who were feeding beers on their decks, then accidentally got between the bear and its escape route and bear knocked them down. Last year there was a dog that chased cubs up a tree in SVT, woman ran to get the dog, mama bear went after the woman and bit her (non-life threatening injuries).

Yeah the first encounter is definitely unnerving. Over time it definitely shows you their behavior the more you see them. I’ll probably be the one mauled for trying to pet it if it walks next to me. They truly are harmless creatures IMO unless you provoke them. They are like big goofy things that are super smart.

I’ve observed enough of them to know they are generally lazy animals that are smart. The eastern black bear is not a “hunter”… they are an opportunist though. They wander around following their nose for bird feeders, trash, nuts and berries. They’ll pry car doors open, garages, they’ll climb small trees until they snap just knowing they get to eat the seeds/nuts/berries once it’s on the ground. 100% carrying a gun because of a black bear is only going to increase your chance of a self inflicted gunshot wound while the bear watches you. Maybe he’ll sniff you after your dead though. Like the number of YouTube videos of black bears finding hunters in tree stands is staggering. And none of them end badly. I know they are “scary” animals… it’s like a zoo animal in your backyard… but they literally do not give a shit. Just watch their demeanor, they almost seem embarrassed when they find you.

To be honest you did about the absolute WORST thing you could do… which is panic and run from a black bear. Those things could not care less about you. I’d be more worried about any of the other animals you listed. They are like raccoons mixed with a pig, but huge and black. Maybe it’s just seeing them so often, but I’ve been within 30 feet several times and honestly they are much more terrified of us than we are of them. I have never felt threatened by a bear either in the mountains or in the backyard. And the number one rule is not to turn and run from them like a crazy person. They have zero interest but maybe you give them a reason to be interested. Their eyesight is also shit at distance. After like 25-30 yards they are basically seeing shadows, which at that point you are now a fast moving shadow that they think may be a threat.

Taping and retaping… I picture you doing it over and over until all corners are crisp 90 degrees, tape smooth and straight with a level.

We talk about installing window AC units on this forum like it’s actually installing a brand new window frame each time. You lift it up, put it there and close a window on top of it. This isn’t some monster chore that should keep people up at night or even feel relieved it’s done lol. Put them in and out whenever you want or need.

Well if there was a chance you might go weeks or more without needing it again, isn’t it nice to look out the windows or have them open for fresh air? I personally hate having those units in windows. In college we’d take them out all the time and only throw them in during heat waves. It took minutes.

Ha I go short sleeve and snow pants. It’s still too hot but skiing in shorts can be risky. It’s pretty close to that level though. Thigh Vents wide open on pants. You end up sweating anyway. It’s a weird sensation to be on snow and get those puffs of very warm air in your face. Then occasionally you find a small drainage or creek and the temp is 25F colder… before blasting back out into the heat. Mansfield looks to have hit 69F for another daily record. Old record today was 66F in 1968. Snow depth down to 56”.

These days before full leaf out and green up go big more often than not. They can be hottest temps of year sometimes.