powderfreak

Snowmobile trails looking pretty damn good these days. I've seen huge groups moving through the VAST network that goes through the fields in town. Saw a bunch of them in Morrisville at the gas station too.

Mind blowing how good the skiing is. From zero to hero in like 5 days. Boot deep fluff from last night and today on top of the big storm snow. Still ripping fluff from the sky.

It is cranking up here right now. 1”/hr fluff.

You guys all trying to field a basketball team or something? Ha, props to all for that. Must be awesome watching them learn to ski/ride.

Up to about 3.5” new snow in town. Total winter wonderland with the fluff stacked up.

It snowed last night. Eyeballing ~3” outside in town? Groomer up at mountain estimated 6-7” there.

Snowing nicely here this evening. Means only good things for the ski area when it's fluffing down in town.

Wow.

We've had the persistent flurry going on after the period of light snow that dusted things up around 4pm. It looks like we have more moisture approaching from the west. I like when Lake Ontario is also adding moisture to a great snow growth profile. It results in fluff but can also be localized depending on the moisture stream. 30dbz on composite moving through can leave a quick half inch to inch in a short period of time. BTV NWS latest forecast map for the next few days with several rounds of snow. Large DGZ zone in the moisture, should be able to pile up some fluff on the Spine through Friday morning.

Yeah 40" is the rule of thumb for more confident tree skiing. Obviously the type of snowpack does matter. I remember in early December 2010 we got a 30" upslope event that was blower powder. Folks were shattering their femurs despite a good snow depth number because they were skiing on essentially 10" of snow topped with fluff. That was the storm with a high-profile leg break from the shark fin on Upper Liftline above the Haychute. Dude screaming in absolute agony while folks were riding the Quad not 20 feet above him. Leaves an impression on you. I've always thought the real barometer is more "effective base depth".... what is the highest snow depth that your ski sinks into the snow on a turn? Just 24" at the stake with a bulletproof crust followed by 6" of snow can be a very confident snowpack. You know if you don't see something, you likely won't hit anything because the crust is so stout. As a skier, the real question mark is when you don't know how far into the snowpack you'll sink, and when you can't see indications of submerged objects.

We call that a "Healthy D" on the snow report.

Always need to tread lightly and cautiously. Read the snowpack and adapt. I feel like today, after a cold night and some minimal settling (whatever was possible given the high QPF) the snowpack felt more supportive. I wasn't expecting it to ski as it did, I thought it would be much more sketchy. But I've been wandering around on skis on Mansfield for a long time and that sixth sense definitely helped today. We found the perfect mix of snowpack and terrain choice for some damn good skiing. But yes, it's very easy to get hurt bad if you are over-aggressive for the snowpack/conditions. It's definitely about reading the situation and adjusting when traveling in the mountains.

Have run into him a couple times over the past week in the base area. Always good to see but haven't skied with yet this season.

Some people just don't do uncertainty in weather. It's either yes or no. Pick a side and stick with it.

Great morning on Mansfield. That storm was a true game changer. Can't say it enough. Obviously could add another two feet to cover up more shwack and make it less brambly, but still, adding up to 2.0" of water equiv to the mountain was a great shot of base that for the most part has made the trees a lot less sketchy than I thought they would be.

There are so many weenie zones around here. The town of Stowe has so much variation. Like today up the Sterling Valley, there was in the 18-24” range on the ground in that 1500-1600ft. Folks that live in Sterling Valley always talk about how they get double the snowfall other parts of town get. Same with Nebraska Valley. I have 12” on the ground and this part of town has 20” easy. It would be great to have like a dozen observers around town, ha.

Nice afternoon exploring winter in Stowe. Sterling Valley got crushed with snow in this last storm. They are the north end of town of Stowe. Pretty consistent 18-24” depths at 1500ft. Deep winter.

I still firmly believe it’s the lift capacity over here for the lines, not crowds. Wildcat/Attitash definitely on the rise with Epic Pass and probably the VT travel regs are pushing some that way. I’ve been taking the Gondola this morning. I can see how it’s frustrating to some, but like I am typing this from the Gondi and for 8 people to get on it took 6 cabins! Singles and a couple doubles. 8 people per cabin normally but this year right now I just watched 6 cabins come through to take 8 people up the hill! The trails are completely empty, can ski top to bottom and not see anyone until the line at the bottom. The Gondola is averaging under 2 riders per cabin.

This is where skiers and riders get the stereotype of being one of the most entitled groups of people out there, ha. And I say that with love and that I am in it too sometimes when I don’t step back and realize... “it’s just sliding on snow.” So much complaining about a leisure activity sometimes. I try to block it out, haha.

It’s been a Stowe constant as long as I’ve been here. The crowds will back up at the FourRunner for the shiny high-speed lift. And forgo the slow double chair that goes to pretty much the same place. I always try to highlight it to people because I have no sympathy for people complaining about a lift line when right next to it there’s a chair with no line. Here I am skiing past the line recently, and skiing right onto the Double with no wait.

What those people don’t know if there’s a fixed grip double chair right next to that (Lookout Double) that is open and goes to the same place...didn’t have a line all weekend. But Sunday of MLK Weekend during a monster snowstorm and we never came close to actually running out of parking or having any traffic issues... rare. Was very light on the whole compared to normal. Last 5 years MLK weekend is people parking in town and riding buses up if the traffic moves at all.

Diamond dust this morning. Good to see. “Take me to your leader...”

Estimated snow totals based on recorded totals and radar estimates over the last few days. Synoptic plus meso-scale. Certainly not perfect.

That still is mind blowing and I don’t think it will ever change. The most I ever witnessed was back when I really skiing all day, every day. 2016-17 was something like 108” in around 3 weeks at the High Road 3kft board. I checked it at least 5 days a week per winter in that stretch of years...morning and afternoon (~8-9am/4pm). To witness that level in the Boston area, highly populated... is insane.

That's the only reason I had ever heard of Randolph, NH prior to Phin, ha. I'll have to hit that sometime, it's just so hard getting out of this area for me in the winter. And yeah, for sure the Whites and Adirondacks have more rugged alpine terrain. Without a doubt. Though the terrain off Mount Mansfield's summit ridge and the zones into the geographic Smugglers Notch on both sides can and does kill skiers/riders, unfortunately.