Angus

drove up to Black Mountain (NH) this morning for a half day session using my Indy Pass. First time on alpine skis this season. Morning was very brisk with clear skies but mount washington was obscured by the time I left around 1:30. Wow, the amount of snow they have made is incredible. Huge whales 20'+ all over the place waiting to be pushed out and they were making snow all day. I did not ski there last year but have been monitoring the news - both the good and not so good! - Hats off to the new management/ownership team. Place was totally different than my previous visits. Really fun day and my back felt pretty good best of all.

Everyone loves a good snow storm but the ice skating on the local ponds is outstanding right now even with the small layer of snow. I would love a good base of snow for xc skiing locally but give me good consistent cold for ice.

I drove up and hiked to the summit this AM. Funny, there was a dusting of real snow that was protected from the sun. They made snow today until about 930ish. Went into the lodge afterwards and tried to purchase my uphill pass but it's not for sale yet.

I saw that this AM. I figured they hadn't even started making snow. I think I heard they plan to have the new summit lift online by December 8. I guess that took pressure off making snow to summit.

@mreaves thanks for posting that story. As much as I love skiing - and Bolton Valley is pretty unique b/c of combo of nordic, backcountry and lift-served all from the parking lot - I would never want to be in the ski business (put my capital at risk!). Been watching the webcams at Killington - pretty impressive rollout of terrain. They are now making snow in the beginner area (Snowshed).

My parents live in Norwell, I live in Concord (MA) - was visiting there last week. Crazy difference.

Hiked Red Hill in Moultonborough this afternoon. Easy hike with good views of Winnipauskee, Squam and Southern Whites. Tomorrow plan is to hike Willard in Crawford Notch. Swam for 20 min in lake in the morning - still pretty comfortable. You can tell the foliage is suffering from drought. Very, very dry.

Road the Northern Trail yesterday from Franklin up to Danbury and back - lots of leaves on the ground with many others looking they will soon be on the ground.

Getting back to Aosta Valley, IKON announced today... IKON Pass holders will now have access to Courmayeur Mont Blanc, Cervino Ski Paradise, La Thuile Espace San Bernardo, Monterosa Ski, and Pila, all of which are located in the Valle d’Aosta region. I skied Courmayeur, Pila, La Thuile (& the connected French resort) and Cervino which is the Italian side of Zermatt and interconnected. All were outstanding.

That's a good deal for NYC Metro folks.

On my bucket list.

renewed both my IndyPass and Ikon. Planning maybe two trips out west - Palisades again for a week and ?. And then another trip to Europe with a tour maybe this time along the Austrian-Swiss border - Silvretta Alps Traverse. I need to get my back situation under control, re-injured it in early June and was in bed for almost a week.

IndyPass just posted they have added Pila!

Have driven by the affected area a couple of times over the past few days and the damage is quite impressive. Lots of mature oak trees broken 30-40' above the ground.

Ripping good now. Dog is a basket case!

Yup. sitting on the shores of Thompson Lake and the dog is panting and becoming dishevelled! Can hear the the approaching booms!

On my ski trip, we did Aosta Valley, Chamonix and Zermatt. Fell in love with Aosta Valley. Beautiful valley with middle age ruins and vineyards. Friends are mountain biking there next month. I've been thinking of going back at some point and renting an apartment for a few months. By car, you can hit 15 or so ski areas within 90 minutes or less.

I'm pretty familiar with the Texas Hill country. Frankly, a spectacular area with rivers, springs, rolling hills and limestone cliffs. The area is home to many summer camps which families attend generationally. The storms that build up in this area are crazy. When I lived in Austin in the 80's there were a # of times when I would look west and thought the end of the world was coming due to the approaching storm intensity.

yeah, that's why no one goes there in the summer and coastal property is so cheap.

Retired in December and it's great. Entered the water today at Winnisquam for the first time (other than put the dock in on Memorial Day which was miserable) and it was actually quite - surprisingly - comfortable.

Put the dock in yesterday on Winnisquam. Been doing it for 40 years, took me 3 hours to warm up afterwards. About the worst anyone could remember.

Dreading putting the dock into the lake this weekend. Looking like upper 40's water temperature. Painful.

On Day 5, after skinning up the serpentine wall, we crossed a glacier, did another technical climb, and then skinned up the Pigne d'Arolla which had views of the Italian and Swiss Alps (you can see the French Alps from there too). This photo (bottom photo) looks east towards the Matterhorn. Frankly, one of the most spectacular spots imaginable (even when shared with 20-30 others!) The other photo (middle) is day #6, looking at the 'west' side of the Matterhorn. It took us 2+ hours to descend from the Col de Valpeline (3,500m) past the Matterhorn to reach the outskirts of the Zermatt ski area where we stopped had one of the best beers of my life. The Matterhorn looks very different from the different sides - not surprisingly but we are so use to seeing the photo below from the village of Zermatt.

Both pictures taken from the Dix Hut. Mount Blanc De Cheilon (bottom photo) was directly across the from the hut. We would start day #5, by skiing down and then skinning up the Serpentine Wall (top photo) on the left side of photo. The serpentine wall is just left of Mount Blanc De Cheilon, i.e. put the two photos side by side and you have a perfect landscape.

Day Two started by skiing down the Argentiere Glacier then a combination of technical climbs (crampons/ropes) and touring across two glaciers. The bottom picture is the last glacier we crossed at the end of day #2 as seen from the Trient Hut. At the end of day #2, we (5 of the 6) were all questioning our ability to finish. It was a brutal day. The top picture is looking down at the Prafleuri Hut (look carefully in middle of picture) where we spent night #3, we had just skied down a glacier and had some 'interesting' skiing left to get to our bed.