Weather: Cold, Windy, Sunny. Since I spent the better part of the first two weeks this month in Puerto Rico, my body just wasn't used to 0 degrees and pretty windy. They were blowing snow like crazy on Gondolier (middle and lower).
Conditions - Variable is the word of the day. The mountain picked up 3-4" (their numbers, not mine, will explain in a minute), but putting a number on the snowfall was pretty pointless. All exposed faces on the top 1/3 of the mtn were pretty much completely wind scoured and borderline bullet proof. Further down the mountain, the fresh snow actually stayed on the trail. It did get crudded up very quickly, but it was nice light snow so skiing was still very easy. The conditions in the trees were excellent, snow blew in quite nicely and it felt like there was 8-10" wind loaded fresh, soft snow. I was not fond of chinclip at all - 6-8" fresh snow on top of bulletproof bumps ... that is just not my style.
The overall coverage in natural snow areas did not seem as well as the last time I skied (late Dec, just before the xmas rain). Particuarly, upper "Waterfall" trail was skiable (not sure if it was open, but ...) in late Dec, but today it was looking very ugly and you'd have to be a real dipshit to ski it. Perhaps this face is very wind exposed, who knows, but it was ugly.
Misc: The hiking trail to the chin area was roped off and there was no visable foot traffic up the trail. I can never recall seeing the chin hiking trail closed off, with no foot traffic like it was today. Maybe the locals know something I don't, but it struck me as very weird.
The gondola didn't open till 11AM today for unknown reasons.
Also of note: Groundhog Day special on February 2nd--$20 lift ticket price, and free Stowe cards to the first 500 people!. No matter what you think of stowe, $20 for all day skiing is a great deal. If you plan on being there, let me know ...
Conditions - Variable is the word of the day. The mountain picked up 3-4" (their numbers, not mine, will explain in a minute), but putting a number on the snowfall was pretty pointless. All exposed faces on the top 1/3 of the mtn were pretty much completely wind scoured and borderline bullet proof. Further down the mountain, the fresh snow actually stayed on the trail. It did get crudded up very quickly, but it was nice light snow so skiing was still very easy. The conditions in the trees were excellent, snow blew in quite nicely and it felt like there was 8-10" wind loaded fresh, soft snow. I was not fond of chinclip at all - 6-8" fresh snow on top of bulletproof bumps ... that is just not my style.
The overall coverage in natural snow areas did not seem as well as the last time I skied (late Dec, just before the xmas rain). Particuarly, upper "Waterfall" trail was skiable (not sure if it was open, but ...) in late Dec, but today it was looking very ugly and you'd have to be a real dipshit to ski it. Perhaps this face is very wind exposed, who knows, but it was ugly.
Misc: The hiking trail to the chin area was roped off and there was no visable foot traffic up the trail. I can never recall seeing the chin hiking trail closed off, with no foot traffic like it was today. Maybe the locals know something I don't, but it struck me as very weird.
The gondola didn't open till 11AM today for unknown reasons.
Also of note: Groundhog Day special on February 2nd--$20 lift ticket price, and free Stowe cards to the first 500 people!. No matter what you think of stowe, $20 for all day skiing is a great deal. If you plan on being there, let me know ...
:shock: :wink: :roll: :evil: