• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Stowe 3/12: Powder's Back

powderfreak

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
256
Points
0
I set my expectations low and rolled into the Midway lot with Dave at the early hour of 11. Looked like the AIG crowd was in town which meant crowded parking lots, lodges, and increased gondola traffic. Sometimes they act like they own the place...

Dave had skied Bolton on Monday and reported pretty horrific woods conditions and actually convinced me not to go to the Bench first run. He said groomers would probably be the way to go...and I believed him after seeing the talk on this list about the woods being done for a while. So we cruised Perry Merrill. Good, not earth-shattering though. Ice damage looked impressive above 3,000ft but below didn't look like anything we haven't seen earlier this season. There was a distinct line between destruction and just a couple twigs here and there.

That line was right around the Bench traverse.
Upper Chin Clip. Got ice?
http://tinyurl.com/yw6u6c
http://tinyurl.com/29cfa7

Main Angel Food line. Untracked and smooth. This was good.
http://tinyurl.com/2ajj8t

Oh yeah, it was snowing. Steadily. We then decided the Ridge was in order. The Ridge bowls were ever-so-sweet.
http://tinyurl.com/223ll6
Somehow, Dave managed a face shot in 8" of snow and started sporting the powder beard.
http://tinyurl.com/246vft

But this was 8" of dense-but-not-too-dense snow on top of an edge-able, supportable base layer...not bad. It actually inspired confidence. The woods are coming back, baby!
What to do with acres of untracked?
http://tinyurl.com/2ev6ek
Shred it.
http://tinyurl.com/2g2j4c

After skiing a few runs into the notch, we wanted to explore the ice zone.
Nosedive glades were ever so creepy but with plenty of new snow filling in the gaps, it was like skiing through an ice palace back here. I know Jack Frost is here somewhere...
http://tinyurl.com/2znt87
http://tinyurl.com/yvpz93
On the way down, Dave aired the Nosedive/Midway race shack.
http://tinyurl.com/yu49ud
Then we got first tracks down the Midway shots.
http://tinyurl.com/2dssfy
With more fresh down through the Tower 10 glades.
http://tinyurl.com/2e282r

A Bypass Woods to Nosedive run was in order. The trees were decimated up here.
http://tinyurl.com/26hpzj
Normal route to the traverse was blocked.
http://tinyurl.com/yrh4dp
But further down, cut left and into the open spaces. Wander throughout the ice.
http://tinyurl.com/223e3v
Chew the lines.
http://tinyurl.com/25pn2u

But amid the destruction, there is powder. Powder that is slowly filling in the gaps. Its still scratchy in spots but the lines were untracked...and the untracked stuff skied like it should. The ice has still presented some danger in the higher elevations, but its enhanced the experience by throwing us into a new environment. Most of the stuff we skied today was business-as-usual.

Mansfield is still serving it up.
http://tinyurl.com/24w8fq

Yeah, it was good.
-Scott
 

madskier6

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
863
Points
16
Location
Western Mass
Looks great. Thanks for the report & pics. I'll be up there next weekend & it looks like it should be fantastic!
 

ski220

New member
Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Messages
351
Points
0
WOW! Thanks for all the great photos and detailed woods report. I'm feeling a whole lot better now. You just made my day as I've been bumming since Sat.. Wonder what it's like up top?
 

powderfreak

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
256
Points
0
That is nuts. Jay only got 2" out of that system and the woods are shut down.

Really? I'm still under the impression that ski patrol isn't pushing the woods right now, and most of the double black headwalls are still closed...but to me the biggest difference is that no one skied the woods while it was icing or thaw/refreezing. Thus it left a flat, "groomed" like surface in most areas I visited...so while the snow wasn't overly deep (again, 8" max and Dave was managing face shots by playing the wind-lips), but it was definitely skiable and quite enjoyable at that.

Jay's gotta be doing better with some of that clipper upslope yesterday...looked like most spots reported 5" at least this morning.
 

powderfreak

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
256
Points
0
I might be up there over easter, up for showing an out-of-towner around?

My folks are coming up for that weekend...they like to go to the sunrise service so I'll probably be pre-occupied. But if you need a little direction let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.
 

riverc0il

New member
Joined
Jul 10, 2001
Messages
13,039
Points
0
Location
Ashland, NH
Website
www.thesnowway.com
Jay's gotta be doing better with some of that clipper upslope yesterday...looked like most spots reported 5" at least this morning.
Yea, looks like they are in the 4-6" range but they definitely didn't get the stuff you hit at Stowe on the 12th, either that or they grossly under reported at only 2". In either case, still only 60/76 trails open so probably only the low angle stuff is going well, and even that is still likely dust on crust. I am optimistic for this weekend, especially since last week's rain and freeze will likely keep crowds very low this weekend. Ski season is officially over for more than half of the skiing population.
 
Top