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Stowe 12/19/2012

Huck_It_Baby

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Oct 11, 2010
Messages
1,264
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Location
Colorado
Stowe
Powder/Packed Powder/Hard pack/Ice

I was hoping Tuesday night would drop a few inches of snow on the mountain but really wasn't too sure what to expect. Driving up 108 I could slowly start to see the snow on the ground increase as I got closer to the resort. My phone starts going off with facebook updates from various resorts. Stowe and Smuggs reporting 3-5 on top of the new snow they already had prior in the week.

Pulled into the lot around 8am and it's snowing hard which kept up all day for the most part. I jumped on the Quad and took a run on Nosedive. Powder the whole way down. There were other tracks but I found untouched snow and it was awesome!

No lift lines all day. Ski down, ride up.

TONS of snow in the trees on the upper 1/3 of the mountain! I got to explore a number of places in the woods and found some SWEET pine trees with wide open lines off of Bypass and Nosedive. Not super steep but so much fun...lots of little knolls and features to pop off with small drops here and there. I think I was the only person in there making tracks.

The snow was deep enough that I had a couple face shots. I'm laughing out loud the whole way down behind my mask.

I noticed a number of people ducking ropes here and there. So like a good poacher I followed suit and just kept skiing powder all day. I was happy to start learning Mansfield a little bit. Discovered some great tree lines near the boundary by toll road and a few other zones. They needed a little more snow since it was steeper but good to know where to go after next dump.

As the day went on the base seemed a little warm. The snow on the trails on lower half of the mountain felt a bit sticky. Somewhere around 2:30 or so it seemed like the falling snow was turning to a slightly freezing rain. The kind that freezes on your goggle lens and makes it impossible to see. Trails were getting a little skied off and patches of ice showed their ugly faces.

I called it a day around 3pm given the freezing rain and that my legs were getting tired. I started skiing a little sloppy. No need to smack a tree while skiing alone in the woods.

A couple miles away from the mountain and things changed back over to rain. What a difference that elevation makes. So much snow on Mansfield right now. Hopefully more to come!


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C-Rex

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Mar 4, 2010
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Enfield, CT
Nice report! I'm super jealous! I've been in those pines you're talking about below Nosedive. Very fun area! Glad you caught a great day!
 

Huck_It_Baby

Active member
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
Messages
1,264
Points
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Location
Colorado
How has the snowfall been in the last couple days since this report? I'm thinking about Stowe this weekend.

Phenomenal! 20+ inches this week on the upper mountain. 5-6 inches last night. Today pictures from the base showed plowable snow in the lot. They opened up at least 20 new trails since Wed.

Might be a little mix precipitation going on right now and then Saturday another storm. NOAA says 2-4 during the day and 3-5 during Saturday night at elevation. I am thinking Sunday is going to be good BUT HIGH winds so who knows if the lifts will be all running.
 
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