I've been awfully busy lately and haven't gotten to some trip reports. I attended the annual party of the SkiVT-List on Apr. 7 weekend.
http://www.uvm.edu/skivt-l/?Page=.%2Fparty%2Fskimag.html&dir=.%2Fparty While not taking the time to write a TR, this one from a friend is better anyway. Check out his pictures. I still must get to writing up my trip to interior BC at the end of March. Mostly it's a matter of editing and cropping pictures.
From: Scott Braaten
Subject: Re: Smoothest Partee Ever
how ''bout being able to travel from deep winter to spring in the space of 2000 feet? As its been said in a few of the threads...the snow overall far exceeded this skiing weatherman's expectations. I was at the Midway base lodge at 6pm on Friday night watching it pour rain. Uh oh. Then waking up Saturday morning to 19F at the mountain and 25F in Burlington with the previous night's rain frozen to my windshield, I was prepared for the worst. Ice-skating in April. But when it seems like it should be marginal or worse this year, Mansfield has seemed to deliever and exceed expectations. Could just be the way the cards have been dealt this winter, but for all of you that were pleasantly surprised with the high elevation powder in April, now you can imagine why I've been relatively upbeat this year. First run down Bypass and into the woods with Sharon and TOS as others took a warm-up was quite the surprise. What's this? 6" of powder? Higher up it seemed more like 8-10" and that trip up to the Chin and then the Rock Garden was a treat for April. A foot of powder on top of a deep base was up there with best RG run of the season and picking lines through skiers right with Jumping Jimmy, Justin, and Scott D. was a blast. Looking across the Garden and watching Chris, Andy, Sharon, TOS, and Telenaut ripping powder turns down the bowl was great. Stuff like that is what will bring me back next year. No where else in VT can you ride a lift over 2,000 verts and then head hike into the backcountry and ski gullies, chutes, and bowls that would be fun out west. I'm going to go through a few of my favorite photos and add some commentary that stuck with me about the moment. Is this really Vermont?
http://tinyurl.com/qek6q http://tinyurl.com/jnujy Nothing like looking back at the fresh tracks down a bowl.
http://tinyurl.com/hbmfr One group angled lookers right off the top into the natural drainage along the trees and then tracked up the lookers right and middle section of the bowl. Jim, Justin, Scott and I went lookers left around the rocks and down the left edge of the trees. So much fun terrain up there. You can actually see two others in the bowl at the time I took this picture down towards the bottom lookers right. I wish I put more time into getting a good shot here...Jim standing on the edge of the RG and Scott up on the ridge with Justin's skis. The clouds behind Jim show just how high up we're standing and if you look to the left you can see the top of Nosedive. The feeling up there is one of being on top of the world and I wish I had set up the shot a little better. However, it had that pure exploration, adventurous feel to it.
http://tinyurl.com/pr35w Some areas had a rough winter, but southern portions of NY state had it really bad. From Rutland to Albany to State College, PA had half its normal snowfall as did some other locations along the southern tier. At least NYC and coastal regions got to see a historic snowstorm...but there was always that area that was between the coastal storms and the upslope events. Anyway, I think Sharon realized this wasn't Greek Peak anymore. Glad you got to ski some powder Sharon and yes there is some powder in the east, its not all in Utah
Doesn't look like VT does it?
http://tinyurl.com/ka9wl http://tinyurl.com/qxnbx Nice blanket of snow on the trees for April.
http://tinyurl.com/z3bq2 Climbing up towards the Chin, I couldn't believe how cold it was for April. The wind was blasting snow that were constantly filling in any foot prints we just laid down. It was amazing! Breaking trail up the gully I found myself often up to my thighs in fresh snow. Justin, Andy, and Chris were right behind me the whole way (hope I didn't hold you guys up). All in all, it was a fun winter hike in April. Shielding faces from blowing snow.
http://tinyurl.com/khr7l My favorite shots of the poet.
http://tinyurl.com/gtxa5 http://tinyurl.com/h9mln And what can I say about the trip up to the Booger Fields? I saw some weird looks from skiers doing Nosedive as we all got ready to hike up the Toll Road. It was like a half mile long train of Plaid.
http://tinyurl.com/nv4v3 http://tinyurl.com/ngzgj In this picture you can see the snowboarder in the white getting ready to drop in off the Road. That poor kid didn't know what hit him when 30 people rounded the bend.
http://tinyurl.com/ouw6x Thanks everyone for the great day. One that'll help me get through the summer. If there was one person I wished I skied with more on Saturday it was little Conor Bauman. That kid is already great and is going to be amazing in the next few years. Jim and Kathleen, if you're ever looking for a skiing babysitter, let me know
-Scott
