Another season…

No longer maintaining this blog, but you can see my latest pix on my instagram feed.. see link in the menu

Day 150 !!!!! May 5

I reached my goal today !!! and i'm really happy about that. It was a fantastic winter, both for the snow pack and for me personally. John had better things to do this morning, so I headed to Stowe on my own with Nikola, my Tesla... I have to say, this made the commute super …

Day 149: May 4

For my penultimate ski day I headed to Smuggs to see if it was still possible to ski top to bottom... and indeed it was. The icing on the cake was that I got there using no fossil fuels at all, in my new shiny Tesla... There's actually more room in the Tesla than in …

Day 148: April 29

I forced myself to leave work at 5:15pm to go ski at Smuggs and found a few other dedicated skinners... I went up the wrong trail and had to skin over grass patches, but managed to find top to bottom vibration skiing down the alley and Treasure, which had some serious cracks. It was more …

Day 147: April 28

I wasn't super motivated to get to the mountain this weekend, but i got pinged by a young and adventurous friend (Cole) who didn't really have to twist my arm too much, and we decided to meet at Smuggs this morning at 10am. I know Cole from Husky where he was an intern in the …

April 25

I have to admit that I've been rowing instead of skiing... I still will try to reach my goal, but the rowing has been better than the skiing this week and we have rain in the forecast, so it is not looking promising for this weekend... Besides, zen fluid dynamics is better than vibration skiing

Day 146: April 23

Today's skiing adventure started from a top down approach, followed by a bottoms up approach... Top down approach: scouting lines in the notch at 7am Perks of my new job: scouting for ski lines in the helicopter with my boss, Kyle.He even let me drive because he's a daredevil... 7pm: Bottom up approach: Sunset skin …

Day 145: April 21

Easter Sunday brought us 73F in the valley and 65F at Smuggs ! Needless to say, it was sombrero skinning time... There were quite a few people on the mountain, including some small kids skinning up with their parents. Pretty cool! Some deep crevasses are starting to formThis one is about 2 ft deep.I'm using …

Day 144 : April 20

Skiing and rowing!  It was a wet day but I managed to earn 3 runs on Rumrunner, which had been groomed just before I got to the mountain ! Not sure why Smuggs had groomed it since the resort has closed for the year, but it made my day because everything else was bulletproof. Water …

Day 143: April 18

I eloped from work at 2:30 pm to ski at Dewey before having to play taxi parent at 5pm. It was about 50F, with 40 kts wind gusts and looking a little thin, skiing a little thin and I probably spent more time looking for ways to ski around open water than making good turns. …

April 17

Instead of skiing today, I bought a car. Why??? Because this car will be smart enough to drive me to the mountain for dawn patrol, while I finish sleeping... and will not pollute the planet! #protectourwinters

Day 142: April 14

To celebrate my last day before I become a full time engineering geek again, John and I went skiing at Smuggs this morning before the rain... Conditions varied between crusted and corny. The mountain has lost a lot of snow in the past 2 days, and we are starting to see and hear streams running …

Day 141: April 13

It's official, i'm now a part time ski bum and I'll have to ski around work for the rest of the season. To celebrate, I skinned up Sterling in the pouring rain... and since it was 45-50F on the mountain, it was prime sauna conditions. As soon as I got to the top, the rain …

Day 140: April 12

This could very well be my last Friday as a full time ski bum, so I decided to make it last by skinning up really really slowly...😜 . It was 41F in the upper lot at Smuggs at 11am, but the wind was blowing pretty hard from the south and it felt a little cooler …

Day 139: April 11

I started skiing exactly 5 months ago, Nov 11. (except for 1 ski day in October) That means that out of 151 days, I've skied everyday except for 12 days. If I hadn't been so lazy, I could have completed my challenge already... ahha. So I made up for it today by chasing the corn …

Day 138: April 10

I reached my 150,000 ft of uphill skinning today. It was 25F this morning in the Smuggs upper lot with about 10 new snowflakes which added up to maybe 1-2" of new styro snow. Looked like winter, felt like winter and skied like winter... so it must be winter again. I skinned up Pipeline to …

Day 137: April 9

It poured all day yesterday and I needed a rest day, so I took a day off from skiing for the first time in 30 days... But today, we had a 3 hr window without rain in the morning and John decided to take a break from maple syrup production and we went to Smuggs …

Day 136: April 7, Sunday

I went to Smuggs this morning and it was 39F in the upper mud lot. The snow was perfect and corny, with no sticky spots on the main trails. The only sticky snow was found on patches that hadn't been tracked out, so I stayed on the steeps inbound. Skier traffic mixed in the new …

Day 135: April 6

We received 2" of super wet snow overnight, and I decided to skip skinning this morning since it was raining at 5 am. I showed up at the upper lot at Smuggs just before 8 am, and there were no parking spots left, as it was filled with tailgate partiers setting up for the Pond …

Day 134: April 5

The temps didn't really go up much above freezing at the mountain today, so it stayed pretty hard, but I did find a fun surprise in the notch! Read on... I went up the Sterling lift, skinned on the Long trail to the top of Spruce Peak, where at 10 am it was still really …

Day 133: April 4

It didn't feel like April today, with temps barely reaching 32F in the valley and a windchill of -5F at the top of the mountain. After yesterday's meltdown followed by a 30 degree drop, everything locked up solid, and the only skiable surfaces were groomers. I didn't go to the mountain until late morning to …

Day 132: April 3

I had to drop off the Chickadee at EHS this morning, so I decided to go see how the conditions were on Teardrop, because I didn't feel like riding lifts today and I wanted a bit of solo time in the mountains. I got to the deserted trailhead at 7:20 and it was 33F, but …

Day 131: April 2

I had to go see about a new hobby this morning, so I didn't get to the mountain until 11am, but it was just as well, since snow and ice needed to soften a little. I was planning to ski my target chute in the notch, but conditions are still not quite right for my …

Day 130: April 1

We received 18" of new snow, all light and fluffy, and I skinned up to the top of Madonna in 22 minutes (2000 ft, 1.8miles) and after that, I skied the headwall and did a double back flip followed by a 1080 flip flop twister with front grab. It was an awesome day. April fools.... …

Day 129: March 31

The sun and the birds woke us up this morning and after breakfast on the porch (where at 7am it was 55F and sunny), we decided to head to Smuggs to take a few dry runs before the rain started. Temperatures were predicted to drop throughout the day, and the rain was going to change …

Day 128: March 30

Since it was raining this morning, I had very little incentive to go skinning in the rain for the second day in a row, so I slept in. It was 50F this afternoon when I skied to the sugar shack and the snow was nice and corny in our woods. We've lost a bunch of …

Day 127: March 29

It was 39F this morning at 7am in the upper lot at Smuggs, and I saw a couple other dawn patrollers skiing down while I was making my way up Sterling. Conditions were relatively soft and very humid, since it was raining, but the rain stopped once I made it to the top. I did …

Day 126: March 28

John stayed home to collect sap and boil the sweet stuff today and therefore, I decided to go on a bumpfest mission. When I got to the mountain, it was 35F in the upper lot at Smuggs. The runs at Smuggs were a little hard early in the morning, so after a few runs, I …

Day 125: March 27

To celebrate another milestone day, and because the conditions were perfect, John and I decided to go skin the Mansfield ridge and ski down one of the chutes near the Chin. We parked in the upper lot at Smuggs just before 9am, and it was 23F, but quickly warming in the spring sun. After making …

Day 124: March 26

It was an invigorating 10F this morning at 7am in the upper lot at Smuggs, and I decided to skin up Snake Bite and its moguls to keep warm. I did use my lighter skis to make it easier. There were 2 other cars in the lot when I started skinning, but I didn't see …

Day 123: March 25

Even if there was 2" of new snow this morning, we took a break from dawn patrol and we let it warm up a little before heading to Smuggs. It was 23F when we arrived in the upper lot at 10am. We had to put up with a blue sky, plenty of sunshine and virtually …

Day 122: March 24

John and I arrived at the Smuggs upper lot at 6:50 and it was 23F, a nicer number than what it had been in Bakersfield: 11F. We skied down to the M1 base, installed our skins and proceeded to Shakedown via Link and Drifter. We were going to cash in on some fresh powder since …

Day 121: March 23

Powder Day !!! today is Saturday and it should have been a Thursday for reduced liftlines... Smuggs reports 23" in the past two days (feels like it too ! ), and I've measured 14" on the picnic table at 800ft elevation. We got an early start for John to plow the driveway, but we still …

Day 120: March 21

Here's to another milestone day! To celebrate, I decided to skin up Madonna and because I saw that Shuttle had been groomed last night, I decided to switch things up a bit and go up from the upper lot using Treasure, Shuttle, and Drifter. Most often when I go up Madonna, I use Chilcoot (on …

Day 119: March 20

Another awesome bluebird day today... it was 12F in the upper lot of Smuggs at 7am, but the temperature quickly went up with the sun, and by lunchtime, it was already 40F, and the snow was getting corny.... Skinning up under the quiet lift... I skinned up Treasure today to change things up, and it …

Day 118: March 19

Another gorgeous bluebird ski day, albeit still on the cold side... Since it was too cold for maple sugaring, John decided to join me today and we skied at Smuggs and Stowe. At 8:30am, it was only 14F at the Smuggs upper lot, but by 1:30pm, the lot was getting pretty muddy due to solar …

Day 117: March 18

We now have more than 12 hrs of daylight and we are gaining 3 minutes every day ! but it didn't feel like spring this morning, because it was only 10F when I pulled into the upper lot at Smuggs at 7am. Gorgeous morning, but a little crisp... I skinned up Jolly Roger and because …

Day 116: March 17

John wanted to skin up today so we stayed in bed this morning and decided to go for a sunset tour instead. However, when I checked the resort update this morning, they reported 4" of new snow. I was a bit peeved about missing out on fresh powder turns, and I suppose that was my …

Day 115: March 16

We have officially seen it all this week: hurricane winds, sleet, styrosnow, powder, mush, corn, water and now icy crust with 3 new snowflakes. And with yesterday's 50F temp at the top of Mansfield, the snowpack lost 10" in one day, and was at 107" yesterday afternoon. The temps are dropping and tomorrow, we'll have …

Day 114: March 15

Today's expedition was on our land to help out with collecting sap and the sugaring process... and obviously, I'm doing this on skis! The skiing was actually better than expected (most places), and I got to water ski as well, which was interesting... Check out today's skiing conditions here Water skiing counts too. I usually …