Angus

Berkshire East announced yesterday they are closed until Saturday to preserve snow.

Just arrived home after 11 days out west, it was great trip in many respects including the fact, I ignored NE weather and news of any kind! With that said, how grim do things look after this week up north in ski country - which looks pretty grim but with some chance of something up north at the end of the week? With that said, here is a quick summation of the trip. Two days at Palisades (aka Squaw) - I had never skied in California before and 'wow' to some of the terrain off the KT-22 lift. What a great mountain, you could spend a month skiing there and maybe be able to ski the majority of the terrain they have available between Alpine Meadows and Palisades. After Palisades, flew into DEN and headed to Taos where wind kept us off the mountain for 1 of our 2 days, I hadn't been there since 2006(?) and was real interested to see how it measured up now versus back then when I was a much less competent and experienced skier. They had a great late January/ early February snow-wise but things have been dry since then but what a great mountain. Steeps are very legitimate and it's just a fun mountain with a great vibe. One thing I noticed now with the perspective of having skied all over the west in the last 15 years...it's not a huge place but definitely will keep a very good skier entertained for some time. Next drove up to Pagosa Springs and skied Wolf Creek. Stumbled onto this place a decade ago and had been itching to get back. There was an article in the NYT a few months ago about the place so it's - for better/worse - being discovered. Skied in whiteout conditions the first day and then a blue bird day on the second day. The mountain is essentially 1,700 vertical feet of tree skiing spread across a ridge of 2-2 1/2 miles (also the continental divide). The mountain gets the most snow of any resort in CO. The mountain was forecast to get 2-3' on the first day we were there but I think they reported 12". What was amazing was their ability to run the lifts in crazy high winds. I always recommend this place to people and my second visit did not disappoint. Last two days of the trip were spent one day each at Ski Cooper (Mt. Hale, birthplace of the 10th Mountain Division) and Monarch Mountain. Both days were absolutely gorgeous, cloudless days. Arrived at Cooper after it had received 18" inches from the above referenced storm. This place is a wonderful family mountain. Skis much bigger than the advertised vertical (somewhere around 1,000') feet. The front side of mountain is wide open slopes and trails that have a really consistent 'intermediate' pitch. Also, the vista is essentially a range of some of Colorado's highest peaks. They have recently opened a backside pod serviced by a t-bar which has more expert terrain but it might only be 500-700' of vertical. IMO, definitely worth the visit. Was speaking to an expatriate NEer about the ability to ski the I-70 corridor, Cooper, an extensive cross country system(s) as well as backcountry and thinking I may need to come back for a longer stay. The final day was at Monarch. Another non-destination area which is just up the road from Salida - known for fishing, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Great mountain - again not huge vertical but lots of fun terrain. Unfortunately, one of their chairlifts was on wind hold(?) which services some very steep bowl and trail skiing so probably didn't get to experience maybe a 1/3rd of the area's terrain. The terrain I did ski were essentially 1,000' vertical runs. A really nice mountain and definitely worth the visit. The talk on the lifts in CA, NM and CO was about this winter's funky weather. As one guy said about Colorado, they've had a normal about of snow but between storms there have been warm ups which has prevented them from building base. As of today, I've had 14 days of skiing in the western US and Canada and only 5 days of lift-serviced skiing in the east. Really hoping I can get some good days here at home over the next 6 weeks or so.

Drove west and south yesterday to ski at Catamount (IndyPass) with my son who drove up from Hoboken and was talking about the crazy band of snow that set up from Staten Island over to JFK Friday night. It snowed most of the day with total accumulations maybe 2" (probably generous and including Friday night total) but it definitely helped the ski surface and ambiance. Nice hill - holiday crowd and lift lines were 5 minutes. Some steep terrain in the middle of the mountain with mellower stuff to the sides. You go to these places and see kids who definitely have never skied who follow their friends up the mountain and have no idea how to turn or stop...definitely a few wipe outs and near misses witnessed on the mountain today. There was zero natural snow and you could tell it has been make snow/thaw/rain/snowmaking repeat all season. With the snow that fell and a nice mountain layout, it was a fun day. I guess we call it climatic resiliency. As I said in an earlier post, I really haven't had a bad day of skiing in NE this season. Add to that my morning skinnng at WaWa where the their base easily exceeds 4', I can't complain. The real problem has been the local XC - either out my back door or at the local nordic center. Other fun facts - Catamount terrain sits between Massachusetts and NY so I added that to my list of skiing between ID and MT at Lost Trails and Alberta and BC at Sunshine Village. Stopped at Butternut on way back to the Pike - good holiday crowd and that mountain was bigger than I expected - only been there in the Summer and Fall and never really looked carefully. Headed to Tahoe for 2 days and then 6 days in NM and CO.

random flakes just began to fall in concord ma but our roads are prepped for the incoming 12-24"

Been working all day and trying to pay no attention to the weather but have been daydreaming about the local nordic center opening Wednesday and getting a good stretch of skiing in before I head west next week. As currently forecast, they aren't opening. stinks.

Couple of days in VT. Thursday skied at Killington on about as nice an early February as you can imagine. Everything on the mountain that got time in the sun softened into an almost corn surface. I don't ski Killington very often and over the last 15 years, it has only been Superstar bump skiing in early May. It was fun to poke around the mountain and remember all the good terrain I am missing. Coverage is pretty good throughout the mountain. Friday driving home stopped at the Green Woodlands Foundation Nordic center in Dorchester NH. Have heard good things about this place but was blown away. Google it. Surprisingly good pack. Driving from Woodstock over to Dorchester, there is not a lot of snow in West Lebanon/Enfield and I was wondering what I'd find but there is between a 18-24" on the ground. Strangely, in a pretty poor winter, I've now had four very good days of alpine skiing in NE.

Great place. Not sure how old you are but think Sugarloaf before Les Otten! Kind of a Wildcat feel but I've found the snow and terrain to be consistently better. The glade skiing is some of the best in the east IMO - see my January 18 post. I've stayed at the Rangeley Inn - it's fine - there are some pretty good restaurants/bars in Rangeley and Oquossoc. The area is a huge snow mobile area. They have a t-bar that if upper mountain lifts close, you can still ski some pretty good terrain. I highly recommend.

Funny, I participate on this board b/c although weather fascinates me, I'm here b/c I love the outdoors. One of my takeaways of GW around here is greater variability - feast/famine sort of - lack of consistent snowpack or ice on ponds so the local nordic center can stay open or I can skate outdoors on a regular basis is ruining my winter enjoyment.

A bit earlier this morning...wonderful to see the sun.

Took me a while to figure out that was Sunapee. I stopped by Winnisquam yesterday on way home from WV and the north end of lake is not fully frozen - a stretch of a mile or two in the middle is but the wide part of the lake that Laconia abuts is wide open. I'm headed back west to ski in California, NM and Colorado on the 21st of the month and would be disappointed to have only a few days locally to xc ski beforehand. Hoping whatever this pattern brings helps southern CO and NM where I'm headed. Snowing today at both Taos and Wolf Creek.

Skied at Waterville Valley today. Poor visibility but good snow. Base is not deep and did not venture into the woods and not sure I would right now but it was a good day. Talking to an employee, it sounds like the gondola from the town center is a go plus some additional trail expansion.

Yup. I made the observation this morning on the board that I had expected more snow at Wachusett but felt like there was only 6-7" at the summit. I've only skinned 4x this year so far...Twice in December and it was depressing. The predominant sound was running water on the hill but I went last Wednesday and this morning and both times there has been snow falling and it has been quite nice.

Where were you? spent xmas there.

Hah - I took some video from that spot this morning...you have better visibility than I did.

took a couple of runs up/down Wachusett this morning. Their snow report is saying 5" probably a bit more at the summit. Went to bed last night thinking there would a lot more when I showed up this morning but you could tell at the base it was mush. Weird stuff falling when I left - not snow, not sleet, kind of like graupel but not really!

I did midnight madness there probably 20 years ago. It's when they went to 2am. I was getting ready to leave right after midnight when a cold front came through and dropped an inch of the lightest powder - kept me going almost to the end. I got to bed sometime around three and had to get up the next morning early - that was difficult. Back then it was a big college crowd. Lots of fires around the mountain and lot of drinking. I assume things are much calmer now.

That would be a brutal slog. Yikes.

just back from ice skating on a local pond. Nice black ice. Bunch of kids playing hockey. Nice. Temps stayed a little cooler than forecast and keep the ice perfect.

Drove up to Bolton today and skied from 9 to 3 with only a 10-15 minute break. It was cold - an understatement. When I got back to car, needed to run the floor heater for 5-10 minutes in order to get my boots off. Lots of snow but you can see signs of the December event. I hadn't skied mid winter at Bolton probably in 14-15 years. Skiing alone, I was judicious where I went into the woods but I notice a big difference between Wednesday at Saddleback and today was the lack of sustained pitch at BV. Either way, had a good time but those 6+ hour driving days are tough!

drove up to a friend's house in Brunswick Tuesday night in the storm and skied with him yesterday at Saddleback which was reporting 10" new. This marked our 42 year skiing in Maine together. Saddleback was reporting nearly 100% open which is true. The winds were blowing pretty good and with temps in the single digits, it was old school cold - just like our first day 42 years ago (which was actually record breaking, unbearable cold). The new snow had been deposited in the woods by the winds and that's primarily where we skied. Snowmaking was happening around the mountain throughout the day and I noticed the snow color had a brownish tint to it which I'm guessing reflects all the sediment in their snowmaking ponds. We primarily skied the Kennebago lift so stuck primarily to Dark Wizard and Intimidator glades. We ventured twice onto trails up there - Warden's Worry and Family Secret - and the snow was this very weird hard/ice pack - I described it as 'corral' - that not edgeable followed by deposits of deep, drifted snow. Anyway, the woods had excellent coverage - very few roots, rocks and stumps showing so that's where we stayed. In some ways, pretty amazing they could be nearly 100% open - but conditions were sketchy on the ungroomed terrain. A good day #1 of NE skiing.

couple of observations from yesterday's cross country tour off the Kancamagus. Parked on Bear Notch Road and skied the Nanamocomuck Ski Trail until meeting and continuing up the Rob Brook Road trail. We skied a good two to three miles past where the Rob Brook Trail intersects the Sawyer Pond trail before turning around and returning to the car via the same route. The Rob Brook trail is part of the snow mobile network up in this area and there was a good volume of traffic. The elevation is probably between 1,400-1,700' and found 14-18" of snow on the ground with all the streams full and running. The snow on the ski trail was essentially a couple of inches of fresh snow on top of a pretty beefy ice crust. Since we were breaking trail, it was pretty marginal. Once we joined the snow mobile network, the trails were groomed and it was fantastic skiing. The snowmobilers were very courteous, slowing down when they came upon us. We were skiing off to the side of the trail so never impeded their way which I'm sure they appreciated. I think there must be a snowmobile riding cos. in Bartlett that comes up Bear Notch Road and then joins the network via Meadowbrook trail/road b/c we had several caravans of 8-10 snowmobiles pass us on multiple occasions. Not being a snowmobiler, it amazes me the amount of exhaust those things spit out. The group I was with were all surprised by the amount of snow on the ground. We literally had thrown snowshoes, skis and hiking boots and traction into our cars not knowing what to expect. It was a great day and pleasantly surprised. My one complaint - a 30+ minute drive from the Lincoln 93 exit to get past the main parking lot at Loon. Bumper to bumper crawling traffic - horrible. When we got to the parking lot, there was a sign out saying the parking lots were full. I had noticed they were sold out on their website and I would have been pissed if I was a skier with a ticket.

Prior to last season, I went up to Watatic and scouted things out hoping I'd get up there but so far nope. It was pretty impressive how the locals have kept things cleaned out. Definitely would like to ski some fresh snow over a pretty bullet proof base though. With that said, I've had two great days of nordic skiing at Great Brook in Carlisle. One of the local weatherman agrees.

Wildcat is a great mountain. Basically, had the NE pass so I could ski there but the place got zero attention from Vail. Really sad. Spring skiing there is especially good with the views and high elevation.

How appropriate for potentially Belichick's final game.

btw: I took a fall on my head while skiing Whitewater on Sunday in my new helmet that otherwise would have been bad news. I was making a jump turn and hardly moving but fell forward and my noggin was the first thing that hit the slope...