Stowe 1/16: Best day of the season (a few pics)

[powderfreak]

Best day of the year so far. Lots of blow in, was windy but tracks were filled in on Nosedive and Chin Clip on a regular basis. Blow in on the trails was more chalky but it was pure pow in the woods. No crust except the lowest 300 verts...which left us with over 1,500 verts of the best skiing this season.

Yours truely...Nosedive Glades
http://www.stowe.com/mountain/gallery/blowup.php?id=1524&ref=/mountain/pod.php

And here's my zoomed in version...

My buddy Allan Taylor trying hard to stay off the groomed stuff...
http://www.stowe.com/mountain/gallery/blowup.php?id=1523&ref=/mountain/pod.php

My younger sister was visiting before heading back to college...good day to do so.

Winter is back...First true powder/packed powder conditions of the year.

*Note...I am not paid by Stowe, just someone who's gotten to know a lot of people over there. Today was my sixth ski day out of the past seven days and while cold, its definitely winter snow conditions out there. Yes, there is ice but if you know where to look there's powder and this morning featured some of the best packed powder I've skied in a long time.

 

[reefer]

Very nice powderfreak. Keep up the reports. I usually don't make it up to Stowe til' March, but that can be changed.........when I come I must take some runs with you!

 

[cbcbd]

Hmm... I might just head up there this Sunday... hmmm

 

[Vortex]

Great pictures.

 

[Marc]

Oh my. I've gone weak in the knees.

 

[JD]

I heard dust on breakable crust....wait, you're the same guy that promised all the snow, and I bet you get your stowe tickets for free...Hmmm. How could it be that everyone I know that has a pass there said it is dust on breakable crust? Shameless promotion for personal gain? Hmmm.

 

[Greg]

I heard dust on breakable crust....wait, you're the same guy that promised all the snow, and I bet you get your stowe tickets for free...Hmmm. How could it be that everyone I know that has a pass there said it is dust on breakable crust? Shameless promotion for personal gain? Hmmm.

Time to get over it, me thinks... :idea:

 

[JD]

You're right Greg. Everyone should drive up here, in fact, take friday off, the powder is waiting for you. I'll let PF fill you guys in on conditions from now on in Stowe, he obviously has his finger on the pulse.

This site=resource for skiers.
This report=advertisement for Stowe, and is a lie.
peas.

 

[JD]

reality.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73661

 

[powderfreak]

I heard dust on breakable crust....wait, you're the same guy that promised all the snow, and I bet you get your stowe tickets for free...Hmmm. How could it be that everyone I know that has a pass there said it is dust on breakable crust? Shameless promotion for personal gain? Hmmm.

Were you up on the mountain? The only real crust was on the lowest 500 verts giving 1,500ft of non-crust powder. Everyone I saw said it was the best day of the season on Mansfield and I ran into several groups of friends...the Bypass Chutes were filling in, Nosedive was wind buffed chalk...as was Chin Clip. If conditions were poor, why was it that patrol had opened pretty much everything but the Front Four?

Three of my friends even skied the top half of the Stream Bed and the tracks looked sweet. I'm not really sure of how I can convince you and it is not for personal gain because no one knows I am posting here for one, and two, I'm not on any payroll, I'm not getting any benefits but am involved because I love Mount Mansfield (Stowe Resort and Backcountry) and am up there so often I just started to meet people.

There is so much variability across the mountain that where you are skiing will cause you to have an entirely different opinion of the day than others. I'm reporting what I ski in my posts. A good example are two days in March last year...March 4 and March 16. Both days featured significant mountain snowfall but also wind. The groomers and exposed trails were icy...like ice that people would complain about when the reported snowfall is 10-14" (which was middle ground for these storms) because you see 14" and don't think you'll ski ice. Now, here's my version of both of those days and in my mind they were the greatest powder days northern Vermont has had since 2001. Others remember the day as a big scam.

My buddy Dave blasting down Mansfield before hitting a pocket that fractured and he ended up sliding down a little ways with only his head visible.

And I'm 6'2"...this was the deepest snow I've ever skied, east or west and people are complaining in the base lodge about a lying snow report.

Now March 16 was good, too. A friend had skied ice all the day before and the trails were still icy, so I told him we'd find powder. The rest of the day was the best ski day of his season. Again, we left the icy groomers and found heaven.

Another friend taking a breath between turns.

Myself about to enter the white-room.

I just get mixed feelings because 90% of the time I will find good enough snow to keep me occupied but the comments about Jay and Stowe usually seem the same...they report a lot of snow which doesn't appear to be there. But both mountains often get sandblasted with wind and snow...every storm could be reported as 0-36" but you need to find a middle ground so there are spots set up that are out of the way of the wind and drifts where we can measure what the new snow would be like w/out wind. Its sort of a no-win situation and from what I've seen, I certainly wouldn't want to be in a paid position and be responsible for this sort of stuff.

 

[reefer]

You rock powdefreak. Gotta find it.........................can last years pictures though. Keep the newbies coming

 

[from_the_NEK]

I freaking HATE it when I type a long reply, hit post and get an error :flame: :flame: :flame:

Anyways, to paraphrase what I just lost. Scott is VERY honest in the reports he has posted the last couple of years (both here and on FTO). If you don't want to believe him, fine. More powder for him and he probably isn't going to be too open with showing you the goods if you meet up with him one day at Stowe. The discrepancy between reporting often comes down to how well reporters know the mountain. I can often ski a nearly top to bottom sweet powder run at Jay or Burke while others on the mtn are complaining that there isn't enough snow or that snow reports are false. You just gotta know where to look for the snow and it isn't on Super Cruiser Trail #1,2, or 3. You gotta look harder .

Ctrl-C (before hitting submit this time )