Stowe 1/12: Powder in the Trees

[powderfreak]

Emailed Jimmy too late so couldn't meet up with them this Friday afternoon,
but sounds like they found some good snow over at Spruce per Jim's report.
I was going to head over there as mountain ops said the snow over on the
Sensation Quad was some of the best they've made so far this
season...interesting that Jimmy and Scotty D thought the snow was really
good as well. Should've headed over there...but I was too busy doing recon
for the upcoming storm. Seeing what's covered now, what's skiable now, and
what'll be real good if it snows 6-12".

I ended up skiing several tree runs that featured the best, most interesting
skiing I've had since October. Mansfield's getting ready and one more storm
might open up a lot more stuff.

I brought the skins and AT set-up so I could really do some exploring to see
what lines were opening up...and I've now got a decent hit list for Monday
or Tuesday. Also, got some real, powder turns in on an area of the mountain
I discovered at the end of last season. Snowpack in there was near 20" at
3,000ft (stake actually appeared to be under-reporting what I was finding in
the high elevation woods, or maybe it was just this location), and down to
8-10" at 2,000ft. The 8" from squalls the other day had settled down to a
creamy 4-5" on top of a pretty sweet foundation.

Looks like winter again on Manny.
http://tinyurl.com/y5not2
http://tinyurl.com/sezdb
http://tinyurl.com/usqam

Chin Clip was closed, but was in the best shape I've seen it all year. I
hope they keep it closed over the weekend as its really nice now, but send a
few thousand people down it and we'd be back to bare ground. But for one
person, it was nice.
Upper: http://tinyurl.com/vueoh
Lower: http://tinyurl.com/y47hxn

Woods at 3,000ft:
This is more like it! http://tinyurl.com/y3puj6
http://tinyurl.com/tg6r6
Mmmmm... http://tinyurl.com/yybmls
One might think there's a decent base in here. http://tinyurl.com/vn5xp
Ahhh, the Ballroom: http://tinyurl.com/y7sstn
Plenty of fresh. http://tinyurl.com/suwxq

At 2,5000ft, it started getting thinner but the Mansfield woodchucks would
not leave me out to dry. Golden paths of fresh were found.
http://tinyurl.com/tr4tr
http://tinyurl.com/uukgk
Thinner still, but also skiable on the glaciated base. Snow got manky as I
neared 2K feet in elevation.
http://tinyurl.com/yxj54n
http://tinyurl.com/y5ujzb

I took my time, skinned around, hiked around, side-stepped certain lines to
pack the base in anticipation of new snow...and left the mountain knowing
where the lines were skiable and where they were not. I will say this, 90%
of the woods are NOT ready. The stuff in the above photos were very
localized areas I have stumbled on in the past, but apparently no one else
had been near them this season. I know the three lines I burned in my
memory, will be very, very nice if this storm comes through. One line I
stumbled on, I actually followed it back up the mountain to its origin and
made a plan of how to get there. Many of you likely recognize or know the
general area I was around today, but compare the open powder fields from
above with what the majority of the region looks like...
http://tinyurl.com/yygn56
http://tinyurl.com/y6frbo

So, who wants to ski on Monday and Tuesday?

-Scott

 

[billski]

oooooh LA LA! Thanks! Heading over there but not till Friday......

 

[eatskisleep]

Awesome trip report and photos!

 

[jcjust]

best places in NE

Hey Scott:

I'm going to be skiing NE for the first time. I'm staying Williamsburg (NE corner of Mass) and I'm wondering where I should target to ski. I'm expert and will be skiing with an intermediate. We'll be skiing Feb 3/4 weekend. Where is my best chance of finding decent conditions in a year like this? I'm a midwest skier who goes to Utah once or twice a year for real snow.

thanks for any tips you can pass along.

Jim
Madison, WI

PS finally got snow last night 4-5". 10 days ago I biked 40 miles. Weird year.

 

[powderfreak]

Jiminy Peak will be right nearby, and although the natural snow is lacking in central New England, I've heard good things about Jiminy recently. I grew up skiing there and its a good spot for an intermediate but they've made some huge capital improvements. If you want to get a lot of skiing in, the six person high speed chair is one of the fastest lifts I can think of in the east...the downside is, Jiminy's a smaller mountain so fast lifts means you'll cover all the terrain quickly.

Mount Snow will be relatively close by right over the border into VT and most of the southern VT resorts (Mt Snow, Stratton, Okemo, Bromley) have similar terrain and fast lifts so I'd just see how much is open when you arrive.

Not sure if that's any help but since I moved up here I sort of lost touch with the happenings down south...I'm sure some of the Albany area folks could help you out if they see this post.

-Scott

 

[jcjust]

thanks!

Thanks for the info, Scott. I'm OK with driving up to Stowe, Killington or Lake Placid if those areas are much better. I know the larger resorts get pretty busy on the weekends. Any thoughts? both stowe and Killington show good conditions on their web sites but I also know those can be more fiction then fact.

Thanks again for your help. Nothing like a local!

Jim