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April 1-3, 2017, Southern VT environs

4/1/17
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Posted by kamtron on 4/3/17 6:14am
I flew from Seattle to Vermont for a friend's bachelor party. The plan was a party/ski weekend at Okemo with possible backcountry skiing today, and the weather really delivered. 16" of dry snow fell between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. Okemo was fun, especially the ski-in-ski-out aspect of our condo. We skinned up for freshies on the storm day and patrol even let us sneak under the rope from the top of the lift for lap 2 before it was opened. Only downside of Okemo is the overall flatness. After the storm day, conditions changed for sunny Sunday where we skied slushy bumps for a few hours. The bachelor party was minimally debaucherous, except I cannot handle all these 7% Vermont IPA's.

We debated many options for our touring day today, including Mt Washington (avalanches?) and the new RASTA trail system (is there snow?). We went to enjoy the sweet uphilling at Suicide 6 instead, mostly because it was only about 15 minutes away from Nate and Ross's respective houses. 3 x 625' laps of creamy mush was enough for us and the dogs.

Pics are from Suicide 6, a historic, small ski area I had not visited before. The pitches are better than anywhere we found at Okemo. They do have snowmaking, which is good if you are looking to ski around 550 - 1200' right now.
Looks good!  I just moved to WNY in the fall and am still in either the denial or bargaining phases of the 12 steps ;).  There's some relief around here, but snow was more miss than hit this year.  The Dacs are promising but not really day-trippable. It would be just as far to drive to the Greens.  Beta is appreciated.

WNY is pretty far from the action, perhaps the Canadian destinations might be closer?  If you are going to make the drive, Jay Peak is about the best place on the east coast: normally lower density snow, normally significantly more volume, excellent terrain, very reasonably priced lift tickets, they even have an awesome 85-degree water park.  I heard this off-season they are upgrading their tram to handle more people and to travel faster - I think it was a 3-5x increase in volume. 

Regarding the snow this year, it has basically been the best its been in longer than anyone can remember; I think Stowe and Jay Peak had more snow than in the past decade.  Good think you were not here last year, that would have been something to complain about. 

We are indeed far from the action, it seems.  WNY has got snow (200+ inches of lake effect/year) on Tug Hill and the Chautauqua ridge, but there isn't much terrain there.  That I've found.  I will have to check out Jay sometime.  Closest terrain is Canada is Mont Tremblant, basically equidistant to Jay, but doesn't seem nearly as appealing.

I had just got into backcountry skiing when I moved away from VT, but there were some cool spots around Mt Mansfield and Camel's Hump that I visited mid-winter. For a NY'er, I imagine the Dacks would be the most appealing. You've got the various slide paths to ski in the Keene valley area. There are some family oriented ski hills like Big Tupper as well as Whiteface (Iceface---although apparently there are some rad sidecountry slide paths there too). As for VT, I think Jay, Stowe, Sugarbush, Killington, Smuggs, and Mad River all have terrain that's worth it. Just a question of how far to drive. If I had a small ski area near my house, I'd be psyched to use it as a fitness uphilling spot.

author=andyrew link=topic=38243.msg155004#msg155004 date=1491418059]
We are indeed far from the action, it seems.  WNY has got snow (200+ inches of lake effect/year) on Tug Hill and the Chautauqua ridge, but there isn't much terrain there.  That I've found.  I will have to check out Jay sometime.  Closest terrain is Canada is Mont Tremblant, basically equidistant to Jay, but doesn't seem nearly as appealing.


West side of mansfield out of underhill state park is pretty reliable for touring - outside of that you pray and wait for resorts to close and poach leftovers.  Vibes - I am doing the opposite move to avoid this cycle again.

Lots of feels in this thread! I grew up in VT and lived there through college. Didn't get into touring until moving west, but have dabbled on trips and talked to friends back east.

VT: Tear drop trial on backside of mansfield, once a secret, now far from it. Great skiing. Lots of touring off the top of mt. mansfield and you can skin up under the gondola before opening as a great means of accessing the terrain above treeline that drops into the notch (read hellbrook). RASTA trail system is cool if snow is good! Big Jay is great touring and can be accessed from the resort with a hitch back from the road. Finally, Bolton valley side country is top notch and closest to Burlington.

NH: Whites have the best terrain in the area, but you have to watch snow and WIND. Avalanche terrain. Perhaps best in spring for longer corn runs.

The gf and I have long toyed with the idea of moving back east for community, family, and quality of life especially with the swell of pugetopolis, but the cascades are one helluva magnet.

author=wcurchin link=topic=38243.msg155047#msg155047 date=1491584511]
VT: Tear drop trial on backside of mansfield, once a secret, now far from it. Great skiing.


Not sure if I agree whether Teardrop was ever a secret (it's a cut ski trail!) but there are still some others around that side of Mansfield. I will say no more.

Very cool. I remember my first experience skiing bottomless powder at Jay Peak. Butternut Mtn for life :)

Thanks for this thread! With an impending move to western Maine this summer (to ~ 40 miles south of Sugarloaf, <2 hours to the Whites), it's encouraging to see some enthusiasm about east coast BC. Does anyone know terrain or have suggestions for eastern NH/western Maine?

David Goodman's series of books are a great resource for NY, ME, VT, NH, MA BC skiing.  Good beta on what's to explore.  At least 20 years ago!  You'll see a pattern, most of the summer hiking trails can (and should!) be skied.  The gems are the  1930's CCC trails scattered around NE, a large number becoming ski areas (Stowe has a bunch), while others lost to memory (but I'm sure not turns). 

Western ME has some great BC skiing available to you, especially the northern NH Presidential's.  While when hiking a chain of the 4,000ers in western ME I remember a certain "lost" ski trail system near a resort in ME.  Not Sugarloaf, but more near the NH boarder.  A few breadcrumbs for you. 

There is a huge amount of BC skiing in NE, but it's quality, of course, is all dependent on the weather. 

These reports always bring out the nostalgic expats - like me.  Welcome to the PNW when you make the migration we all made for near year-round good skiing.  But yeah - the place and people back in NNE are top notch and I never stop feeling the pull.  I was lucky enough to grow up spending large chunks of time in Western ME, and later to live in VT for 8 years and spend one year at the Eastern Bloc condos at the base village at Bolton Valley when they changed ownership and the resort didn't open.  About six of us had the place to ourselves.  The key to the East is to know the weather and where the above treeline fields leading to the less traveled cut trails or bladed areas are.  In VT, Bolton and Mansfield have several beauts but Big Jay and Camel's Hump do too, as do others.  The skin up the groomed trails at Stowe to access the Nose and the Chin areas is really sweet.  As far as Western ME/ NE NH, the Northern Presidentials and Grafton Notch, the Bigelows, Rangeley, Carrabassett, and of course Baxter/Katahdin.  The big trip is the Chic Chocs in the Gaspe.  All best done with local knowledge relationships.  Good luck.  The good people there will show you the way.

Headed back to VT for 10 days Wednesday. Spent 4 years at Burke and Jay. Will be back at both plus some action in the Whites.

author=T_Scheib link=topic=38243.msg155115#msg155115 date=1491881990]
Headed back to VT for 10 days Wednesday. Spent 4 years at Burke and Jay. Will be back at both plus some action in the Whites.

Nice, they are really having a snowy Spring. Report back!

author=wcurchin link=topic=38243.msg155047#msg155047 date=1491584511]
The gf and I have long toyed with the idea of moving back east for community, family, and quality of life especially with the swell of pugetopolis, but the cascades are one helluva magnet.


I sometimes feel the same way, but believe me east coast is plenty swelled -
quality of life is much better out here. Bagged Mt. Washington from Boston on a day trip a couple weekends ago but it was a haul. You'll spend twice as long in the car driving to the mountains. Today I skied the Slot an hour from home and it was better than any line in the Presidentials today.

Hey Andrew,

I grew up in WNY (Orchard Park) and live in Everett now.  Not much for bc skiing in that area.  Some hills and cow fields, and meadows.  Some ice climbing in the Niagara Gorge.  'Daks are great but a long haul best suited for a 3 day trip at a minimum IMHO.  At least there's some new breweries opening up out there.  PM too.

author=gscruggs link=topic=38243.msg155512#msg155512 date=1493414770]
I sometimes feel the same way, but believe me east coast is plenty swelled -
quality of life is much better out here. Bagged Mt. Washington from Boston on a day trip a couple weekends ago but it was a haul. You'll spend twice as long in the car driving to the mountains. Today I skied the Slot an hour from home and it was better than any line in the Presidentials today.


Being from VT (across the Greens from Curchin), I guess we might have different histories. VT doesn't have so many people, and I grew up 15 minutes from the local Middlebury Snow Bowl. However, the magnitude and majesty of our Northwest ranges is on a totally different level. Where else can we get beautiful corn through July and even August? I do get nostalgia when I go back to VT's rolling hills of sugar maples. It's quiter there than in the big city. Maybe I just have to move to outside the hustle-bustle, closer to the Cascade foothills.

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2017-04-03 13:14:26