End of Jan Stowe

This was one of the better days of the year so far. Conditions were great coming out of the weekend and then it snowed about a foot tue night at Stowe. I got there in the AM and it was nice light snow and unlike the aftermath of most storms it wasn't that windy. It was snowing more off and on during the day. There was some clearing as the day went on. Found some new-to-me woods to the left of Nose Dive. Talked to someone on the lift who did a two month car trip to all the ski areas on the Mountain Collective pass. Sounds like something to put on the list!

Camels Hump Ski

When we got to the parking lot at CHSA it was WINDY. We quickly got into the woods where it was manageable. The snow was crunchy lower but nicer the higher up you went. We went Dead River run to Lions Ridge and then down Woodchuck Ramble. Lion's Ridge had nice snow and the top half of Woodchuck Ramble also. We saw what must be Jeff's new Yurt on the way up. It started snowing early on in the day and kept going so the mountains probably got 3-4 inches by dark?

Lucy staying ahead of the pack

Carolyn decides to take a short cut into the yard

Quick recovery

After the big snow storm a week ago we had rain last Thursday. A fair amount of rain and above freezing all day. I went to Bolton today not expecting much. Somehow they had already recovered. They probably got a few inches at the end of the rain Thu night. There was a fresh 4 inches from Fri night when I went today (sat). Some places were great with nice powder on top of a nice base. Other places the base was crunchy. All in all a nice day and much better than anticipated.
Went with Ann and Hope and two other people up to Paradise Pass and White Rabbit. Then I took a run by myself on George's Gorge and took a left at the prayer flags. Nice down there with fresh tracks and a nice base.

Craftsbury

The Burlington Ski and Outing Club organized this trip to Craftsbury. It snowed 1.5 feet on Sunday and the trip was Monday and Tuesday. Good timing! Great snow, of course, but also very cold. Monday it was still snowing most of the day. The lows were around -15 and the highs were 5 on Mon and around 10 on Tue. Tue the sun came out and it was a bright sunny blue sky day. Even though it was -10 to 10 degrees while we were skiing it felt very comfortable and the visibility and views made it a much nicer day than Mon.
Craftsbury is a nice place to ski and getting nicer as time goes on. The ski center lodge was new maybe 5 years ago and the dining room had a major upgrade this year. The trail maintenance is exceptional. You don't hear or see the groomers much but somehow almost every trail you go on has been freshly groomed.
All of the pictures below are from Tue. Monday wasn't a picture day since we were still in storm mode.

Moon setting in the AM

Typical trail at Craftsbury

Low flying wood peckers?

Pictures taken by Erica:

Back to Ken photos:

Ski jump?

Off the groomers was a little too much snow!