NNE Cold Season Thread 2022/2023

[J.Spin]

With the strong snowpack in the area now, I decided to head out to the Nebraska Valley for some ski touring today.  The last time I toured in the Nebraska Valley I was on the valley’s north side, but I’ve now heard from multiple students of mine that the south side of the valley offers some great skiing off the Catamount Trail.  I didn’t have too much information beyond the fact that you can just use the Catamount Trail as a collector trail for the terrain in the area, but it sounded pretty straightforward, fun, and convenient.

I was able to park right at the Catamount Trail parking area on the south side of Nebraska Valley Road, so the trail access was very easy.  It had started snowing around midday, and there was steady snowfall through much of my tour in the afternoon.  Following the Catamount Trail southward, the options for great backcountry skiing are indeed very obvious.  From the trailhead at an elevation of ~1,000’, the trail rises at a moderate grade for about 400 feet of vertical over the course of perhaps ¾ of a mile, and then the terrain flattens out into a relatively broad valley with the main drainage on your left, and steep slopes rising up to your right.  The slopes consist of very open hardwood forest throughout, with tree spacing in many areas as much as 20 or 30 feet.  I couldn’t see all the way to the top of the terrain, but there must be hundreds of acres there with very obvious ski lines, and the fact that there were tracks coming down out of this terrain suggested that it held good potential.  At around a mile from the trailhead I came to the first obvious skin track that headed up off the Catamount Trail into these slopes, so using that was a clear option for some great runs.

I just happened to run into one of my students descending on the Catamount Trail as he and his group were finishing up their session for the day, and he said that if I had the time, I should head higher up because the snow was better.  Being my first time in the area, I did want to take a long enough tour to get the lay of the land, so I continued another mile or so and toured up to around 2,400’.  The snow was indeed even better higher up, but the tree lines weren’t as open as the beautiful looking terrain I’d seen lower down.  The terrain higher up was plenty steep, and certainly offered decent skiing, but I’d say those initial slopes rising from the valley at around 1,500’ are the best bang for your buck as long as the snowpack and snow quality are good at those elevations.

It was snowing quite hard up at 2,400’ when I began my descent, hard enough that I would have been worried about being out there in such weather if I didn’t know the forecast wasn’t calling for sustained accumulations.  The snow had added another couple of inches to top off the snowpack, which certainly helped make the powder even a bit fresher.  Temperatures had been cold much of the afternoon, but on my descent I quickly realized that the freezing level had risen.  I descended out of the heavy snowfall down into mixed precipitation by ~1,500’, and just sprinklings of rain down at the trailhead elevations of ~1,000’.  I was glad that I’d finished my tour by that point because the lower elevation snow was definitely getting sticky and more difficult to ski.

[MRVexpat]

37 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

With the strong snowpack in the area now, I decided to head out to the Nebraska Valley for some ski touring today.  The last time I toured in the Nebraska Valley I was on the valley’s north side, but I’ve now heard from multiple students of mine that the south side of the valley offers some great skiing off the Catamount Trail.  I didn’t have too much information beyond the fact that you can just use the Catamount Trail as a collector trail for the terrain in the area, but it sounded pretty straightforward, fun, and convenient.

I was able to park right at the Catamount Trail parking area on the south side of Nebraska Valley Road, so the trail access was very easy.  It had started snowing around midday, and there was steady snowfall through much of my tour in the afternoon.  Following the Catamount Trail southward, the options for great backcountry skiing are indeed very obvious.  From the trailhead at an elevation of ~1,000’, the trail rises at a moderate grade for about 400 feet of vertical over the course of perhaps ¾ of a mile, and then the terrain flattens out into a relatively broad valley with the main drainage on your left, and steep slopes rising up to your right.  The slopes consist of very open hardwood forest throughout, with tree spacing in many areas as much as 20 or 30 feet.  I couldn’t see all the way to the top of the terrain, but there must be hundreds of acres there with very obvious ski lines, and the fact that there were tracks coming down out of this terrain suggested that it held good potential.  At around a mile from the trailhead I came to the first obvious skin track that headed up off the Catamount Trail into these slopes, so using that was a clear option for some great runs.

I just happened to run into one of my students descending on the Catamount Trail as he and his group were finishing up their session for the day, and he said that if I had the time, I should head higher up because the snow was better.  Being my first time in the area, I did want to take a long enough tour to get the lay of the land, so I continued another mile or so and toured up to around 2,400’.  The snow was indeed even better higher up, but the tree lines weren’t as open as the beautiful looking terrain I’d seen lower down.  The terrain higher up was plenty steep, and certainly offered decent skiing, but I’d say those initial slopes rising from the valley at around 1,500’ are the best bang for your buck as long as the snowpack and snow quality are good at those elevations.

It was snowing quite hard up at 2,400’ when I began my descent, hard enough that I would have been worried about being out there in such weather if I didn’t know the forecast wasn’t calling for sustained accumulations.  The snow had added another couple of inches to top off the snowpack, which certainly helped make the powder even a bit fresher.  Temperatures had been cold much of the afternoon, but on my descent I quickly realized that the freezing level had risen.  I descended out of the heavy snowfall down into mixed precipitation by ~1,500’, and just sprinklings of rain down at the trailhead elevations of ~1,000’.  I was glad that I’d finished my tour by that point because the lower elevation snow was definitely getting sticky and more difficult to ski.

Thank you for the report! I too have only skied the north side of the valley (south facing stuff on the other side of the ridge from Steeple). Good to hear there appear to be options aplenty!

[MRVexpat]

Just got back from Japan. Skiing and food is ruined for me forever. Pics coming soon...

[powderfreak]

Nice little refresh from this past event last 24 hours.

 

[borderwx]

Just a touch of winter up here



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[powderfreak]

+7.8 on the month at Mount Mansfield.

Averages out to 27/15, still cold enough.  Luckily it was during the coldest month of the year.

Snow depth 41”. Average 51”.  Decent depth gains of 31-inches since January 7th.

[borderwx]

Coldest sunrise of the year, so far…

-14F


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[alex]

Amazing  conditions the past few days. Skiing Wildcat today, it’s sooo nice 

[Patriot21]

Backyard thermometer read -10 around 7 this morning

[powderfreak]

Snow keeps coming.  Another fluffer this afternoon.  Snow boards didn't accumulate much but it seemed real deep above 3,000ft board level on top of Gondola.  That top 500 feet was fluffed.

[NW_of_GYX]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

Snow keeps coming.  Another fluffer this afternoon.  Snow boards didn't accumulate much but it seemed real deep above 3,000ft board level on top of Gondola.  That top 500 feet was fluffed.

I posted late last week that I thought favored upslope spots could do 6-12” during this period. Where are you at since last Friday? 

[NW_of_GYX]

Strong signal from op gfs for another good period of orographic snows into mid next week. Euro not quite as robust. We’re into bread and butter season it seems!

[Redmorninglight]

I’ll be up at my camp in the Adirondacks this weekend. Considering headed to Bolton Valley Sunday for a split board rental —earn your turns session. I have been reading @J.Spin ‘s posts about their non-lift served terrain. Anybody have any advice on how all this works? I’m looking at a 2.5 hour drive early Sunday morning and wanted to be sure I have all the details.
Thanks.
Jeff

[dmcginvt]

Best of luck Jeff, Bolton sounds like a good plan and it will be warming up Sunday which like eternal enlightment on your deathbed from the dalai lama, you have that going for you.  I cant speak to it like Jspin can so I'll defer to him.  I feel like I'm on shark tank and you want QVC and should go with Lori.  

[dmcginvt]

Also it's crazy to see it warming up over the past few hours knowing whats coming!  We made it to 27F, it dropped to 25 and now its 29 only to plummet in the next 24 hours.  Looking forward to a squall, blink and you might miss it.  Looks like it's been hitting Jay for a bit now but no idea if it's virga or not.  Also they closed for tomorrow which I think is unprecendented.  I've never heard of a ski area closing because of wind and wind chill preemptively.  I've skied Stowe for 35 years and dont recall it ever happening.  Well wind yes, but not wind chill.  And not the night before. 

There was a day in 94 that I rode the gondy and the wind chill was really close to -100 and they closed it like 10 minutes after I got off because the winds came on suddenly.  I was well prepared for it  and it was a true struggle to even move on upper gondolier but by the time I got to the top of gondolier the wind was half of what it was at the cliff house and so therefore was the wind chill, I lived.   Coldest weather I have ever experienced in my life and I was young enough to enjoy it.  There was no more skiing that day.  94 was cold. Feb 94 had -38 in Stowe.  I recall leaving  Berts (the old berts before it burned down) at like 2:30 am ( i wasnt drunk), and I started my 1987 subaru 30 minutes before.  Even after driving to randolph road to give someone a ride home it was still going brrbrrbrrrbrrbrr which is the sound you engine makes when it's that cold, Ill never forget that sound jsut a low hum of desperation.  It simply could not warm up.  I think that's the year the shed burned down too and was an ice castle when the fire dept was done with it, that was January though.  Thanks Pinatubo?

I worked in the race dept running the old nascar course on that trail for years and never had anything like that but no shortage of -25F with high wind stuck there for hours.  What's coming doesnt compare to that cold and yet all this hype.  Im not proud but man am I prone to frostbite in my fingers from those days.  Merriam didn't care, Nick didnt care.  Scott didnt care.  Racers like the cold and we need that 2 bucks.

 

[mreaves]

I remember the -38. I was busted for driving with a suspended license (the result of a youthful indiscretion a couple of years earlier) and had to get a ride to work with my boss. Since he also gave his wife and one of her colleagues a ride to National Life, I was forced to ride in the back of his pickup. It had a cap and he opened the sliding windows between the cab and the cap and gave me a blanket but I’ll never forget hearing the radio reports of the temps that morning and the -38 particularly stuck in my mind. 

[dmcginvt]

I love stories.  Good one mreaves, I cant reply until after this Just started snowing, looks like fun

 

[dmcginvt]

I got some good video, now I have to figure out how to upload/share it

 

 

[mcglups]

Making the weekly commute this afternoon to Berlin and looking forward to seeing ice on the androscoggin river, and hope it stays around into April! 

[eyewall]

I am now living vicariously through you all and my memories of living up there. Even for here it is bad with us now expected to zero out snow wise for the season for the first time since 2005-06.

[#NoPoles]

Not a fan of this. Thank God it is basically just a hit and run scenario and temps back up to mid 30s by Sunday. Mid mountain lodge at Bretton Woods is reporting -17. The wind is ridiculous. The way the cold hits when I go outside, it literally feels like I'm not wearing any clothes even though I'm fully dressed.

[borderwx]

Yowza! That wind is rugged.

Left work 30 min ago it was -12

Just in from running the dog into the woods to do dog business, now -20. Gonna go through some wood tonight

How low will we go?


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[Patriot21]

-24 here at 7am, I saw -22 before I went to bed so it didn't drop much overnight.

[borderwx]

Same here. -24. At least it is still blowin


.

[Patriot21]

13 minutes ago, borderwx said:

Same here. -24. At least it is still blowin


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Lol that wind was crazy. Lots of snap, crackles and pops from the woods.

[Redmorninglight]

-27 at 1900 asl southeastern adk


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[borderwx]

It was -24 on Richford pass (rt 105) with wind blown snow.

Very tundra like.

Lots of fresh deer sign in the woods, pretty amazing how these animals just keep rolling with it.


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[mreaves]

-21 for my low. KMPV only got down to -15. They’re ant usually that much of a difference between me and them. They seemed a few degrees warmer than any of the surrounding PWS sites all day yesterday. Not sure if it’s an issue or just the way it worked out with this air mass. 

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, Patriot21 said:

Lol that wind was crazy. Lots of snap, crackles and pops from the woods.

And more than a few from our house.  
Temp got down to -21 about 8 last night and stayed 21-22 below thru 7 this morning.  Gusts to 40 last evening, uncommon at our forested site.  WCI probably near -50.

[tombo82685]

-31 this morning, lowest wind chill was -49. Had about 2’ of snow this week, snow depth of 16” right now. Season total so far 155”