Pico, VT 3/24/00

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<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/26/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>With the intense sunshine and warm temps this week, we've switched to our typical springtime half-day mode, hoping to get our normal three hours completed before noon, while there's still some energy left in the knees. Pico was in great shape on Tuesday, with better coverage on some of our favorite trails than we'd seen in a couple of weeks. By Friday, however, conditions were deteriorating quickly, and the lower mountain trails were soupy by the time the lifts opened at 9 am. (I miss the "good old days" when Pico used to start their lifts at 8 am in the spring.) Expressway is pretty well done for the season (unless we get some white stuff in the next week or so); Upper KA is showing patches of dirt, and the Upper Pike is pretty much mud, ice and rocks. Most of the mid-mountain trails are closed. Forty-Niner remains in excellent condition, and the three low-mountain trails are still very good (early in the morning, that is). <BR> <BR>One chairmate Friday had skied Killington Wednesday and Thursday. He reported great snow coverage in the basin but concurred that things were warming up so quickly all week that he and his party were having a tough time trying to deal with the gloppy-glue in the afternoons. Well, hopefully the temperatures will ease up a little this weekend, but my advice to everyone is don't put off a trip to the mountains, and get there early!