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Stowe, Jan 20 & 21

KD7000

New member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
332
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Location
Central MA
Date Skied: Sunday Jan 20 & Monday Jan 21
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: Variable

Sunday was a crazy weather day. It started out about 44* out, rather windy. Skies were mostly clear, snow was granular. We got a couple good runs on Mansfield off the quad, then it went on wind hold. We meandered over to the Spruce peak side- crazy winds and a whiteout condition snow squall came in. Nearly all the lifts were on/off wind hold. Right as the squall was finishing up, they reopened one of the lifts and we got a nice run down Spruce on ~3" of fresh snow that had fallen in 1 hour.

The lift lines got stupidly long so we voyaged back over to Mansfield and had some great runs off the double. But the clouds were rolling in & out, temperature dropping, and crazy winds across some of the trails. At lunch time, it got so windy they even shut down the crossover gondola. We had been out since 7:45 am so we called it a day. 2 people in our group stuck it out for a few more hours and said weather conditions mellowed a bit towards mid-afternoon.

Monday: Forecast called for 0* - that, combined with the fact that all the crowds were traveling home, made the place near-empty. With some good layering and no wind whatsoever, it didn't feel cold at all. Sunny clear skies made it feel like we were out in 30* weather. It turned out to be an incredible day to cruise the groomers on Mansfield via the quad and the gondola... too many runs to even keep count. Decent packed powder on top of some rather hard packed snow, but not icy except for a few heavily traveled spots. A couple fun runs through the snow guns, too.

A few dips off trail showed a substantial amount of blown snow in the woods- quite useable, although some danger to your ski or board bases. But much better than you would think given the huge amount of snowpack lost in the big thaw. Monday continued to be a phenomenal weather day with just a few clouds mid afternoon.

--For anyone thinking of heading out that way, they're blowing snow all week, and they seem to get about 1/2" or 1" every night, which is really keeping conditions great up there.
 

billski

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
16,207
Points
38
Location
North Reading, Mass.
Website
ski.iabsi.com
Thanks. This is helpful. Snow groomers know how to make lemonade out of lemons. I plan to be on the hill Friday. Anyone have any more recent beta? Love that minus 15 last night.

Thanks,
Bill
 

snowmonster

New member
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
4,066
Points
0
Location
In my mind, northern New England
I was also at Stowe on both days. Monday was the better ski day -- bluebird in the AM with no wind. Trails off the Gondola were cruising really well. For some reason, Chin Clip was roped off but it was soft and powdery. Glades were skiing well but showing soem wear in some spots. A good refreshing of natural snow will make it great for the weekend.
 
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