Angus

Where were you? spent xmas there.

Hah - I took some video from that spot this morning...you have better visibility than I did.

took a couple of runs up/down Wachusett this morning. Their snow report is saying 5" probably a bit more at the summit. Went to bed last night thinking there would a lot more when I showed up this morning but you could tell at the base it was mush. Weird stuff falling when I left - not snow, not sleet, kind of like graupel but not really!

I did midnight madness there probably 20 years ago. It's when they went to 2am. I was getting ready to leave right after midnight when a cold front came through and dropped an inch of the lightest powder - kept me going almost to the end. I got to bed sometime around three and had to get up the next morning early - that was difficult. Back then it was a big college crowd. Lots of fires around the mountain and lot of drinking. I assume things are much calmer now.

That would be a brutal slog. Yikes.

just back from ice skating on a local pond. Nice black ice. Bunch of kids playing hockey. Nice. Temps stayed a little cooler than forecast and keep the ice perfect.

Drove up to Bolton today and skied from 9 to 3 with only a 10-15 minute break. It was cold - an understatement. When I got back to car, needed to run the floor heater for 5-10 minutes in order to get my boots off. Lots of snow but you can see signs of the December event. I hadn't skied mid winter at Bolton probably in 14-15 years. Skiing alone, I was judicious where I went into the woods but I notice a big difference between Wednesday at Saddleback and today was the lack of sustained pitch at BV. Either way, had a good time but those 6+ hour driving days are tough!

drove up to a friend's house in Brunswick Tuesday night in the storm and skied with him yesterday at Saddleback which was reporting 10" new. This marked our 42 year skiing in Maine together. Saddleback was reporting nearly 100% open which is true. The winds were blowing pretty good and with temps in the single digits, it was old school cold - just like our first day 42 years ago (which was actually record breaking, unbearable cold). The new snow had been deposited in the woods by the winds and that's primarily where we skied. Snowmaking was happening around the mountain throughout the day and I noticed the snow color had a brownish tint to it which I'm guessing reflects all the sediment in their snowmaking ponds. We primarily skied the Kennebago lift so stuck primarily to Dark Wizard and Intimidator glades. We ventured twice onto trails up there - Warden's Worry and Family Secret - and the snow was this very weird hard/ice pack - I described it as 'corral' - that not edgeable followed by deposits of deep, drifted snow. Anyway, the woods had excellent coverage - very few roots, rocks and stumps showing so that's where we stayed. In some ways, pretty amazing they could be nearly 100% open - but conditions were sketchy on the ungroomed terrain. A good day #1 of NE skiing.

couple of observations from yesterday's cross country tour off the Kancamagus. Parked on Bear Notch Road and skied the Nanamocomuck Ski Trail until meeting and continuing up the Rob Brook Road trail. We skied a good two to three miles past where the Rob Brook Trail intersects the Sawyer Pond trail before turning around and returning to the car via the same route. The Rob Brook trail is part of the snow mobile network up in this area and there was a good volume of traffic. The elevation is probably between 1,400-1,700' and found 14-18" of snow on the ground with all the streams full and running. The snow on the ski trail was essentially a couple of inches of fresh snow on top of a pretty beefy ice crust. Since we were breaking trail, it was pretty marginal. Once we joined the snow mobile network, the trails were groomed and it was fantastic skiing. The snowmobilers were very courteous, slowing down when they came upon us. We were skiing off to the side of the trail so never impeded their way which I'm sure they appreciated. I think there must be a snowmobile riding cos. in Bartlett that comes up Bear Notch Road and then joins the network via Meadowbrook trail/road b/c we had several caravans of 8-10 snowmobiles pass us on multiple occasions. Not being a snowmobiler, it amazes me the amount of exhaust those things spit out. The group I was with were all surprised by the amount of snow on the ground. We literally had thrown snowshoes, skis and hiking boots and traction into our cars not knowing what to expect. It was a great day and pleasantly surprised. My one complaint - a 30+ minute drive from the Lincoln 93 exit to get past the main parking lot at Loon. Bumper to bumper crawling traffic - horrible. When we got to the parking lot, there was a sign out saying the parking lots were full. I had noticed they were sold out on their website and I would have been pissed if I was a skier with a ticket.

Prior to last season, I went up to Watatic and scouted things out hoping I'd get up there but so far nope. It was pretty impressive how the locals have kept things cleaned out. Definitely would like to ski some fresh snow over a pretty bullet proof base though. With that said, I've had two great days of nordic skiing at Great Brook in Carlisle. One of the local weatherman agrees.

Wildcat is a great mountain. Basically, had the NE pass so I could ski there but the place got zero attention from Vail. Really sad. Spring skiing there is especially good with the views and high elevation.

How appropriate for potentially Belichick's final game.

btw: I took a fall on my head while skiing Whitewater on Sunday in my new helmet that otherwise would have been bad news. I was making a jump turn and hardly moving but fell forward and my noggin was the first thing that hit the slope...

I would never ski without a helmet. For both safety and comfort reasons. They are so much warmer than a hat and provide protection from not just a hard fall but the random branch. My son took a hard fall at Stratton maybe 15 years ago on a steep, icey slope that would have scrambled his brains if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. I will actually be wearing a new Mips technology helmet tomorrow when I hit the slopes in BC.

Headed to interior BC XMAS day but have definitely had to scramble over the last two weeks changing plans which now includes a lot more driving and skiing further east. Now plan to ski Panorama, Kicking Horse and Lake Louise the first 5 days and remainder of days still are TBD due to snow situation. Had originally planned to stay in Nelson for bulk of the trip. On the ski thread I mentioned what hurts is being in Lech last year with marginal snow conditions - they already are reporting almost 3 meters of base on the slopes and looking at the webcams this morning there was a full on blizzard happening in the alpine.

Saddleback just announced they will resume ski operations on Saturday. Not sure if anyone else has seen the video of the cliff trail at Stowe from this AM - bonkers. Screen shot of a social media post...this went on for quite a distance.

just looked at the sugarloaf webcams...you could whitewater kayak down the stream that runs thru the village. The one webcam that is working further up the mountain makes things look pretty ugly.

been watching their webcams - crazy amount of snow in that area this season and last year at xmas it was very low tide but the mountains are spectacular either way. Funny, the utilities frankly don't diminish the vistas. That picture is the village of St. Christoph - just up from St. Anton and on the way to Zurs and Lech. Of course, headed to BC this xmas and watching it rain on the webcams this morning! See a pattern!

frozen falling at summit of crotched per webcam not the case at the bottom of hill.

Artic Fox - the only native mammal in Iceland. https://guidetoiceland.is/nature-info/the-arctic-fox

Buy alcohol at the duty free in the airport. I couldn't understand why people were leaving the airport with carts full of booze when I arrived. Very beautiful place.

and Wildcat doesn't have the summit lift running today - not sure where they made snow but having ridden the mid-mountain lift (old and slow) in similar storms - skiers/riders are probably feeling mixed blessings

snowmaking in process at the summit and base of Wachusett. May need to drive up and get my uphill touring pass today.

just saw a post that Sugarloaf opens tomorrow with the SuperQuad running which is listed at almost 1,800' vertical feet. Basically, Tote Road top-to-bottom with a few off ramps but that's 3.5 miles long.

making snow at Wachusett this morning.