Stowe 11/7

[powderfreak]

I apologize for the pictures being in tinyurl.com form. I wrote this for skivt-l and wanted to post it here as well...too tired tonight but i'll try to put the pictures in the post tomorrow.
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Today, some great early season turns were had on Mount Mansfield. She was
wearing her full white dress for the first time this season. I didn't
expect to be able to skin right from the Midway parking lot. 2" of dense to
wet snow was found at the Midway lodge, with anywhere from 5-10" on the
upper mountain. The few inches of new snow last night and this morning was
a much lighter consistency than the dense snow from two nights ago. The top
1,000 verts were sweeter than expected. The bottom 1,000 verts were still
better than expected but featured more cautious skiing than up top.

Our route featured a skin/hike up Lower Perry Merrill.
Tyson hikes ahead...
http://tinyurl.com/2hufg9
A little further up PM...
http://tinyurl.com/ynre8g
http://tinyurl.com/25mwm6

We thought Chin Clip might be sweet knowing how the snow collects up there
near the Chin/Notch but a last minute decision led me to think Nosedive
might be the best combination of pitch and length above 2,700ft (where the
snow noticeably increased in quality).

So we took Rim Rock with around 5" at the start.
http://tinyurl.com/28zryy

Cliff Trail had seen moderate traffic.
http://tinyurl.com/ynpk2z

At the junction with Upper Nosedive, it was full on winter. Fading light,
flurries, and lowering clouds decreased photo quality up there.
http://tinyurl.com/2687fj

Tyson wanted to ski so bad he couldn't wait for the top and decided to rip
some turns below the last ND switchback. There was a decent amount of tall
grass but it skied amazingly well; felt like mid-winter powder on turns when
you didn't hit anything.
http://tinyurl.com/28p6lr
http://tinyurl.com/yp63mx

Octagon.
http://tinyurl.com/2asggh

It had gotten pretty dark on the trip down so only a few action shots on the
upper portion. We met up with our buddy, Keith, here. It was blown in to
boot deep in several spots on Upper Nosedive...and it felt like tree skiing
with the brush...shoot for the clearings.
http://tinyurl.com/ypf7zn
http://tinyurl.com/2c83xx

http://tinyurl.com/25rtdd
http://tinyurl.com/2etvuf

http://tinyurl.com/ys43g5
http://tinyurl.com/252bt8

I didn't think skiing today was going to be a real option 48 hours ago... I
can't believe its here. It felt really good to go skiing.

-Scott

 

[RIDEr]

Wow, didn't think that Stowe had that much snow from the recent storm... way to go.

 

[JD]

Mansi sucks, don't come here.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice report..I miss Stowe..it was nice having that as my home hill for 4 years but I also like being a tourist..

 

[bvibert]

Nice, detailed report, with pics , as usual Scott. Thanks!

 

[Marc]

Thanks for that and the pictures!

Great write up. Short, to the point and full of pictures.

 

[severine]

Great report! Complete with pics even!

 

[Greg]

Thanks for the report and pics. Awesome.

 

[ajl50]

Looks like a great start to winter...
Keep it up.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

again,,,,,why do i live on long island????

 

[riverc0il]

again,,,,,why do i live on long island????

Choice?

 

[JohnGD33]

I feel the same way about PA

 

[ckofer]

Damn, now I just want to drive north and visit some snow even if I don't ski it.

 

[powderfreak]

Thanks for the comments guys. I heard mountain ops said there had to be 60+ people hiking the mountain to ski today. My legs are sore today