Day 100: Feb 28

For this milestone day, I was treated to a fantastic bluebird day. It started off really cold, at -2F in the upper lot at Smuggs, at 7am... but since I'm a on a quest, I just skinned up faster to help out on the global warming front. The sun is faster to the top than …

Day 99: Feb 27

Faut faire du ski croute que croute! 3F ... pas de vent. Nuageux. Butler lodge trail and bushwhacking... y'a pas de mauvaises conditions, y'a des mauvais skieurs... je fut mauvaise aujourd'hui...

Day 98: Feb 26

Bonne fete Pierre! Les jours se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas. At 11am, the temp was 5F with windchill at-49F and I erroneously decided to go see how the snow was in the notch. I should have gone to Dewey, but I didn't feel like driving the extra 15 minutes... I froze my butt …

Day 97: Feb 25

Powder Day at Le Massif !!! I woke up well before the alarm this morning because I was so excited to cash in on all of the powder, and at 6:05am, Hazel and I were having breakfast at Cora. Breakfast was pretty awesome, and that is why the teenager is smiling at this ungodly hour... …

Rainy day: Feb 24

The view from the bedroom this morning says it all... When it looks like this in the morning, I hit the snooze button... Not only did I hit the snooze button, I also decided to elope in search of powder... and I didn't have to work too hard to convince a young and cool accomplice! …

Day 96: Feb 23

Sun...32F... no wind... I went looking for adventure and a fresh canvas in the notch this afternoon and I found it... along with some heavy snow and surprising glades. Snow reserves Dan's trace got a lot bigger The chainsaw has been here... Shhhh....

Day 95: Feb 22

I put on my little girl scout outfit to celebrate Baden Powell day today. Not! I remember having to wear my "jeannette" uniform to school on this day when I was a kid, and because that involved a skirt and a very stupid yellow necktie, it always irritated me to the highest degree. Therefore, I …

Day 94: Feb 21

We received about 3" of semi sticky snow on the picnic table with Jay reporting 7" , Smuggs 4", and Stowe 2", but I couldn't motivate myself to drive anywhere this morning so I stepped out on the porch and into my backcountry telemark skis for some exploring... It started out pleasant enough (32F), but …

Day 93: Feb 20

I felt like going exploring today, so I decided to go see how the skiing was around the Butler Lodge trail on Mount Mansfield. I had been wondering about this for a while now, so I figured that it'd be a fun little adventure. It was 19F when I parked at the end of the …

Day 92: Feb 19

It was another cold day (2F) with N winds (-25F windchill), so I decided to elope into the woods of Big Jay mountain, where I knew I would be fairly well sheltered, and most importantly, I would be able to find a lot of untracked powder, because it takes some effort to get there, as …

Day 91: Feb 18

The snowpack at Mt Mansfield stake was at 100" yesterday and more fell today, so it will probably be about 105" at tonight's report. There's only been 18 seasons since 1955 where the snowpack reached 100". It is an awesome year to be a ski bum. The graph below shows the snowpack at the stake …

Day 90: Feb 17

Steve met me at the base of the Madonna mountain at 6:45am and we went "Brrr...brrr" to each other, as it was a crisp 2F. I was grateful that there wasn't much wind, but I still had to use my buff as a chin warmer on the way up. The photos are in sequence as …

Day 89: Feb 16

Today was another windy day with about 15kts - 30kts (gusts) from the NW, but it was 27F and that kept the conditions manageable, but I still started skinning with my shell and mid-layer. Steve the snowboarder met me in the upper lot at Smuggs at 7am and we had a leisurely stroll up Sterling …

Day 88: Feb 15

Now that the bullshit is over, we got on to more serious things. Like this: http://trumpdonald.org/  Or this, at Dewey mountain: Going to... My line My skis in my line 27degF, 50kts SE winds.

Day 87: Feb 14

Roses are red, violets are blue, and skiing is best. We didn't need to celebrate V-day because it's Valentines everyday for us lovebirds. But we did go skiing and it was awesome. Take that, cloudy days!

Day 86: Feb 13

Powder day ! School was cancelled, but the chickadee didn't feel like skiing, and John didn't feel like skinning up and I didn't feel like driving +3 hrs to Stowe in a snowstorm and Finn had to go to UVM. The ski bum chose to skin up to Stowe and I left the house at …

Day 85: Feb 12

We are getting 12-18" of powder tonight and tomorrow - yippee! Therefore, today was the last day of a whole week of crappy conditions and to celebrate (!) I drove to Stowe like a tourist and a gas guzzling american. During the drive, I calculated that the extra 60 miles of driving, instead of skinning …

Day 84: Feb 11

Today is my half birthday.: I'm 48.5 years old today and that is a great reason to celebrate and eat chocolate cake. Therefore, I decided to skin up Madonna mountain to earn my cake and my turns. Two for one deal. It was 9F in the parking below the M1 lift at 7:10 am, the …

Day 83: Feb 10

We had another sunset date this afternoon for the geriatric duo. It was a clear and crisp day, just like yesterday, and at 4:15pm, it was 19F with a little bit of wind from the NW. We decided to skin up Morse mountain at Smuggs, and it was a pretty mellow and relaxing affair, as …

Day 82: Feb 9

John and I decided to go for a sunset date today, on Madonna mountain at Smuggler's Notch. We started skinning up after the lifts closed at 4pm and reached the top of the M2 lift right as the sun was setting. It was pretty and spectacular. The colors were so beautiful that I wanted to …

Day 81: Feb 8

There was a brief window of opportunity this morning, between rain and dropping temps, where the conditions were soft enough to venture in the woods on skis. So I did. The sun also came out. It was a real party. Looking crunchy (read: icy) in the open fields.... I went from supportive crust to bumpy …

Day 80: Feb 7

Crunchy conditions in the Northeast to say the least... It was 32F in the Smuggs parking lot at 7:15 am, and I was wondering what I was doing there... We received about 1" of ice last night - I was hoping for snow - and that sealed the surface and made everything bullet proof. The …

Day 79: Feb 5

We needed to bring the chickadee to high school for 7am, so we decided to go skiing at Stowe from there, and we got to the lift just as it was starting up. In the parking lot at 8am, it was a balmy 46F ! It was really cloudy, and visibility on the top third …

Day 78: Feb 4

East coast skiing lives up to its reputation today... If you remember, 4 days ago, it was -25F with windchills in the -50s... It rained overnight and it was +41F at the upper lot at Smuggs this morning (with a pretty big temperature inversion: 32F in Jeffersonville). The groomed runs were a little crunchy, but …

Day 77: Feb 3

We received another 5" of snow yesterday and we didn't even get up early to go get it... turns out the geriatric skiers were lazy today and we decided to go for a mellow xc ski tour to our cabin on Fairfield pond. It was 20F without a breath of wind. The surface conditions were …

Day 76: Feb 2

The second half of my 150 ski days challenge started off with a fantastic day in the backcountry with Steve and Nick today. But before that, the sunrise from my bedroom was a good omen. View from the bedroom this morning: apple orchard and the half buried green house! We met at the Dewey trailhead …

Day 75: Feb 1

Half way mark on my 150 ski days challenge! 70k vertical feet uphill and 415k vert feet downhill and the snowpack is 98" on Mt Mansfield. A good season so far! John and I drove to Stowe today where the windchill was -25F but it was a very pretty bluebird day. We froze for a …