Week day update

I was lucky enough to ski two mid week days this week. Another week of four ski days! This has been a great winter. It was cold at the beginning of the week with lots of wind and some snow. Thu and Fri were nice packed powder blue sky days. No ice with firm base at Bolton and 2-3 inches of snow on top. Stowe had more snow but tracked. Again nice packed powder and no ice. Almost all trails were open at Stowe. Hopefully more of the same this weekend.

Bolton:

Rock or frozen whale?

Stowe view once again

Stowe:

Condos and Spruce Peak side

Winter continues

This was another good week. Skied at Stowe wed and thu and then back country trails in Underhill Sat. No big storms this week but a few small ones. Thu at Stowe had 3 inches of new snow and I was skiing untracked powder in Underhill Sat.
On Saturday I started at Stevensville road and went up to the Devils Dishpan. Then Underhill trail->Burt->Skytop. Then lunch at the Trapps cabin and back on Underhill trail. A nice sunny day with great snow. On the way out no one had skied the other side of Devils Dishpan since the last storm. Nice downhill and then breaking trail on the Underhill trail cross over.
On my way back at about 3PM I ran into some trouble. I was back to the uphill that goes back to the Devils Dishpan which is a saddle in the ridge. Instead of just my tracks there were many tracks in this section. People skiing the downhill and then going back up. Somehow I lost the trail and started following some tracks to skiers right of the trail. I was tired at this point and this area kept going up and up. I knew I was too far right but going left was thicker woods and I was already up pretty high. I decided to keep following the tracks. I was getting concerned at this point since there was only 2 more hours of light and I really didn't know where I was. After a lot of climbing I skied down the other side in what was very tight woods for a little while. Where I came out on the ridge was a lot higher than the Dish Pan and probably near the long trail although I didn't see it. It then opened up into some nice glades. I knew I was going West which was the right direction. Follow the sun. Finally at about 4PM I ran back into the trail pretty far down and it was an easy ski back to the car at that point. A great day but a very long one! I could have done without the last big unplanned uphill. Although I had a light I was happy to not use it.

Devils Dishpan

Great snow!

Side of Mansfield from Underhill Trail

Looking out to lake from top of Skytop

Skytop trail

Near Trapps cabin

A few Stowe pictures. Both days were cloudy and light snow. Good for skiing but not so great for pictures.

Mid Feb

On 2/16 I went to Millstone trails in Barre. The snow wasn't as good there as Bolton but pretty reasonable. Part of it is that the trail system there is for walking, snow shoes, skis, bikes so the surface can be inconsistent. Interesting area though with large piles of stones and old quarries every where you turn. Looks like a good place to go biking in the summer. The drive was 1 hour so reasonable to get there.
2/17 found me back at Bolton with more great mid-winter conditions. Even skied some fresh tracks 4 days after the last storm. Skied with Holly, Ben, Stephanie.

Old wood crane-type structure

Steam boiler used to drive drills and other tools

Back to Bolton:

Last run of the weekend - fresh tracks white rabbit