Back in VT for all the right reasons, visiting my daughter & family (3 grandsons)for Christmas and a bit of skiing. After Christmas I'll be staying a while. It seems that the rest of the family is not really into mornings, they want to relax for the holidays. I am a man of leisure now. Rest? I rest all the time. The best skiing is early in the morning so that is when I go, by myself if necessary. On 12/23 I skied nearby Catamount Center,
http://www.catamountoutdoor.com/ . The temp when I left the house was -4. Riding lifts in that didn't sound like fun but what a perfect day for XC. Powder everywhere, some set track but mostly I just skied. It was one of the best days of XC I've ever had. Catamount is a gem.
Christmas eve 12/24 rising temps and afternoon rain were forecast so I headed for Mad River early, picked up my senior shareholder season pass and headed out for powder. Mad River Glen - every day in every way better than you thought it would be. Some single runs, some double runs, a practice slope run and a Birdland run.
http://www.madriverglen.com/maps/iMapLarge.php The run of the day was Fall Line to woods detour to Creamery to Ferrett to Glade. The powder was light dry, and in the woods really deep. Simply incredible. I skied into a few spruce traps and left a couple of craters, all part of the game if you like real skiing. Saw a coupkle friends but mostly the place was really pretty empty. Left by 2 as warming took over, 20 deg when I started, 38 w. light rain when I left. It rained with a warm wind all night here in Willston and at least a foot of snow is gone. Skiing is like fishing in that if you don't go fishing, you don't catch fish.