Stowe 12/6

[powderfreak]

>726 PM EST THU DEC 06 2007
>STATION PRECIP TEMPERATURE PRESENT SNOW
> 24 HRS MAX MIN CUR WEATHER NEW TOTAL SWE
>MOUNT MANSFIELD 0.36 10 -3 8 6.0 40

35" four-day total. I'm not going to lie, it was incredible up there today.
It just kept snowing lightly all day. My buddy, Dave, has gotten a late
start but picked up his pass today...he was impressed and thought he was
starting the season in mid January rather than December 6. Most of the
stuff I skied on Tuesday was filled in again and unskied areas provided
instant face shots. Still need to proceed with caution in the woods but
they are skiable. Above 3,000ft is game on and we ran about 6-7 laps of
Bypass chutes to ND Glades down to Cliff Trail. Plenty of untracked was
found and the ND Glades almost don't have enough pitch for this type of
snow. Several times one could be stopped facing downhill in drifts. The
scenery was almost surreal with ice, rime, and snow caked trees on the upper
mountain.

Nosedive was officially open today (was it open yesterday?) and so was
Bypass...essentially opening up that entire side of the mountain. Nosedive
skied like velvet...small bumps and skier packed powder with no ice until
you got to lower Nosedive where they were making snow. I must say, in these
instances MRG's lack of grooming/snowmaking make far better trail
conditions; Nosedive is one of a few open trails that haven't been groomed
recently when its usually groomed (almost nightly) during the heart of the
season...I'm not sure if its seen any work yet this season. There's no ice
under the snow but there's also more than enough snow that's been packed by
skiers and riders; when you crank a turn you get a spring-like soft rebound
from the snow surface.

We didn't have a camera today but I wish we had...its pretty easy to get
great, eastern powder shots in this type of snow. The gondola is scheduled
for Saturday and they were making snow on the lower half of Perry Merrill.

-Scott