Whiteface

Adirondack trip:

http://hikingadk.blogspot.com/2015/03/whiteface.html

Huntington->Waitsfield

It has been about 40 and rainy in the valley the last few days. Time to go skiing! Went to Carse road and the first 1/2 mile was dust on crust. I knew there was snow up there since I saw the snow line driving over. Sure enough as soon as I started to go uphill the base turned to good snow and there was about 1 inch of powder on top. As I went up toward Huntington Gap the powder turned to about 3 inches. Prefect for fast uphill and downhill. Went just past Sugarbush North in Waitsfield. You could see Mad River and Sugarbush North through the trees. Great mid-winter conditions. The temperature was about 15 at the start going up to 20 or so.

snow in the neighborhood. The pictures below are taken 30 miles away on the same day.

Poles are not touching the ground

Mad River seen through the trees (lift line)

Spring? No... winter.

Bolton revisited

It was so good on Wed I decided to go back country skiing at Bolton once again after work. When you can get a 3 hour ski in after work in great conditions you really have to do it. This time I brought a camera:

Up Heavenly highway

View South from Heavenly Highway

Stowe view

Out on downhill trails for a little while

Back in the woods

Devils Drop looking back up

Prayer flags - Cliff Hanger

End of the day

When in doubt: GO!!

In the valley yesterday it rained and was about 40 degrees. Last night it went back to below freezing temps and stayed there today. I didn't think the skiing would be good but decided to go anyway. I went to Bolton which starts at 2000 feet and goes up from there. Another world. Instead of rain they got 2-5 inches of new snow on top of a 4+ foot base. Fresh tracks going down Devils drop, Georges gorge, and cliff hanger. Great winter skiing. Got to Bolton at 4PM and got back to the car just before 7:00 as the sun was setting. A pretty long ski with two uphill trips. Being able to do this after work almost makes me want to continue working!

=>Bryant cabin=>Heavenly highway loop=>Devils drop=>Georges Gorge=>Cliff Hanger=>Telemark=>Bryant cabin=>Gardiners lane

Bolton - downhill skiing

I have spent a lot of time in the Bolton area back country skiing but haven't been downhill skiing there with lifts in a long time. It isn't a big mountain but has a lot of good terrain and a variety of woods trails. Also some short steep sections that I didn't know existed (Preacher woods).
A fine way to spend a Monday.

Whiteface Mtn NY

Mansfield

Winter still hanging on

Honey Hollow

We thought the conditions could be marginal on this day. It had been above freezing earlier in the week and then got colder. Luckily it was warmer than predicted in the morning and the snow warmed up enough so there was about an inch of soft snow on top of the base. Very nice! Started at Camels Hump Ski Association and headed up to Lions Ridge. We decided to go around the Lions Ridge loop since we had already done most of the uphill and we had plenty of time. We got a good view of Camels Hump from Lions Ridge but the clouds moved in when we finished the loop. The ski from Lions Ridge down Honey Hollow is almost all downhill. Maybe 4 miles of downhill. It is a pretty wide trail so plenty of room to turn. March has been good!
Some of the pictures taken by Jill:

Mad River -> Sugarbush South

I think this is known as the Monroe Skyline. We started early so we could get up Mad River before the lifts started. We made our way up freshly groomed trails as the sun came up. I found that going up a groomed trail is harder than going up hills in the woods. The skis didn't grip as well and there was some sliding back. We made good time to the Long Trail just off the summit of Stark Mtn. From there we headed South. There is a lot of snow in the mountains still! Probably 6+ feet. The trail markers were just above the snow and probably a number of them were below the snow. The trail was narrow since you were 6 feet higher up in the branches. I had been on the trail last summer and it was a different world!
The next mountain on the ridge after Mad River is Mt Ellen. The trail got harder to follow and narrower as we continued South. The ridge drops off on both sides so you can't go too far wrong but we did end up off the trail a few times. At one point while we were looking for the trail we skied through and area where the "trail" wasn't wide enough to get both skis through at the same time!
After Mt. Ellen we continued into the Sugarbush South ski area. The first lift you get to is Castlerock. We decided that was as good a way down as any even though Castlerock is all black diamond trails (steep). You can continue on the Long Trail to get to Heavens Gate and other parts of the ski area. The trail eventually goes to Mt. Abe and Lincoln Gap.
After a day of all powder and too much snow we headed onto the lift fed trails. The trail we went down had good snow on the sides but some scraped up areas and firm snow in the middle. All in all it was pretty nice skiing once we got used to skiing moguls on back country skis.
There is a bus that runs from the base of Sugarbush South back to Mad River. We took that after resting up a bit in the bar.

Sunrise heading up Mad River

Wade, Jill, Denis

No shortage of snow!

Top of Castlerock

A little mogul skiing at the end of the day