Well, you've come to the right place. Here you'll find information and views about Vermont skiing and riding, powder dumps, Vermont ski resort reviews, ski travel tidbits and all-around snow culture from a Vermont skiing enthusiast. I don't work in the ski industry, so what you read in this ski blog is from someone who just loves to get out on the snow! This Vermont skiing blog covers alpine, backcountry and cross-country skiing.
Vermont is well represented on the US Ski Team alpine roster this year. While the A Team comprises well-known talents such as Ted Ligety, Scott Macartney, Julia Mancuso and superstar Lindsey Vonn, skiers with Vermont ties are found on the B and C Teams, readying for their steps onto the podium.
VERMONT SKIERS ON B TEAM / MEN
Tim Kelley (5/20/86; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club)Cody Marshall (11/15/82; Pittsfield, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)Jimmy Cochran...[Read more]
I must be getting hungry. Perhaps that's why I'm dreaming about hitting some farmers' markets this weekend!Farmers' markets are a wonderful resource in Vermont ski country. And increasingly in Vermont, you can graze at one of these markets in the winter as well as the summer months.In the summer you'll find starter plants for your garden, then delicious veggies straight from the farm, fabulous baked goods, locally raised meats and handcrafted cheeses, handmade products and artwork. In the...[Read more]
The US Ski Team has announced some of its rosters for the coming ski season, and as you may expect, they include Vermonters and our neighbors nearby. Many of these skiers are poised to be named to the roster for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The Olympic team will be named in January.
2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team
World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), along with World Cup sprint medalist Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vermont), Kris Freeman (Andover,...[Read more]
Vermont skiers are one fast bunch.This month, University of Vermont freshman David Donaldson of Toronto was named the Male Collegiate Skier of the Year by Ski Racing Magazine. Donaldson is the 21st Catamount to earn male or female collegiate skier of the year honors in the 31-year history of the award. The last Vermont skier to take the title was Greg Hardy ‘08 in 2006.Donaldson won the giant slalom at the 2009 NCAA Ski Championships hosted by Bates College in Maine. He also earned First-Team...[Read more]
Well they've been talking about this for sometime in the Stowe area, and now it's been confirmed: AIG will sell off its venerable Vermont ski resort, Stowe Mountain Resort.
Investors are making bids and apparently there are many groups interested in owning the resort, known for its challenging Front Four terrain and its new, chi-chi mountain lodge at the base of Spruce Peak.
It's rather strange that I, as an American taxpayer, partially own AIG right now because of the government bail-out....[Read more]
It may be springtime, but they're still churning out skiing news on the Internet.
In late April, the nefarious Big Jay trail cutters were sentenced.
According to the Burlington Free Press:
"Paul Poulin, 48, of Derby Line, and Alan Ritter, 47, of Jay pleaded no contest in Vermont District Court in Newport to felony charges of unlawful mischief.
The two received suspended terms of 18 to 36 months. They will serve 60 days with a pre-approved furlough community restitution program, to begin...[Read more]
The recent extraordinarily warm weather in Vermont has been great for biking and yard work, but not so good for skiing. This past weekend I packed up my gear and headed to Stowe. No, not for skiing, but for a wonderful bike tour around town.
Stowe's got a scenic recreation path (about 7 miles long with 11 bridges!) and rather quiet dirt roads. I like to plan out a loop up and down hills and around town so I can take in all the views.
Mt. Mansfield still was snowy near the summit and on...[Read more]
Although official skier visit numbers won't come until June or so, reporters are already getting the scoop on how Vermont ski resorts fared this winter.
Challenges included a nasty economy, up-and-down gas prices, and several thaws that seemed to work hard to spoil the effects of healthy snowfalls.
Here's a Times-Argus (Barre, Vermont) article about skier numbers. It features several prominent Vermont ski...[Read more]
We did it. We were out the door on Easter Sunday by 5:15 a.m.
The Skimeister and I wanted to attend our first-ever Easter Sunrise Service, and it would be atop Sterling Mountain at Smugglers' Notch.
At 6-ish, we loaded the lift with about 70 other people. The light was faint, but it wasn't dark at this hour. People had skis, snowshoes and plain old boots. The lift crept along because they had to extract the non-skiers from their chairs at the top of the lift.
You know it's April in Vermont when on the way to skiing you stop in to look at a lawn mower.
The Skimeister and I saw a used reel mower (you know, the human-powered kind that your grandparents may have had) in Craigslist so we arranged for a look-see. We were lukewarm on the mower, but we really enjoyed our late-afternoon runs at Smugglers' Notch today.
The highest parts of the mountains in northern Vermont have continued to receive some snow. At the very top of Sterling Peak (the only lift...[Read more]
Mother Nature is not ready to let go of winter yet here in Vermont. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, northern and central Vermont ski resorts reported about 7 inches of new snow. For some resorts, such as Bolton Valley, this snow came in time for their final day of operation for this ski season.
Stowe, Jay Peak and Sugarbush ski resorts all reported about 7 inches in the last 48 hours. This morning Sugarbush encouraged skiers to hit the trails early today because "immature snow" (aka...[Read more]
Believe it or not, many Vermont resorts picked up a few inches of snow early this week. I skied in it a bit late Thursday afternoon in the Bolton Valley backcountry trails.
With the warm temperatures and sunshine we have been having it was like skiing through sticky mashed potatoes. But there continues to be a lot of snow in the woods at this higher elevation and we had fun making the most of it. Although, we had to cross a stream to finish our descent on Gardner's Lane. There's a lot of...[Read more]
The Skimeister and I went to Bolton Valley Resort on Friday afternoon for an afternoon spring ski on the backcountry trails. I wasn't completely sure what to expect back there, but the snow was very soft and there was still a lot of it.
I noted that trying to make telemark turns on soft snow that hadn't been traveled recently was challenging. It's much easier when you are doing alpine skiing and you are on well-trodden moguls.
Even still, I was able to make a handful of decent telemark turns...[Read more]
Our Wednesday afternoon ski at Smugglers' Notch, Vermont, turned out to be terrific.
It's that strange time of year when it remains cold at night—setting up the snow so it's very firm in the morning—yet it gradually softens to corn snow and even gets a little slushy in the afternoon. We worked through lunchtime and then headed up to the ski resort to ski in some of that springtime corn snow that can be so much fun.
Every once in a while I'd come upon some slick, hard-packed surfaces. These...[Read more]
We had another gorgeous skiing day on Saturday. It's been an incredible stretch of sunny weather for Vermont!
I wanted to go cross-country skiing so I looked at options that were at a higher altitude, where the snow coverage was still good. In the villages the sun has melted off much of the snow.
I decided to go to Stowe Mountain Resort's cross-country center, which is situated at about 1,500 feet or so. It has remained chilly in the mountains, especially overnight, so I was not in a huge...[Read more]
Today may usher in springtime, but I'm still planning on some time on the snow!
The weather has been lovely and will continue to be for much of the next five days or so. The National Weather Service is calling for increasing clouds on Saturday evening and a chance of rain or snow on Sunday morning (20 percent chance, they say). Otherwise, we're looking at sunshine on the ski slopes of northern Vermont!
It is really nice to be able to ski in light layers and slather on the sunscreen at this...[Read more]
Must be the luck of the Irish. We had a beautiful day of spring skiing at Stowe today!
Stowe had special $35 lift tickets for St. Patrick's Day, so the Skimeister and I — and several hundred other people — made tracks for Mt. Mansfield.
Blue skies ruled the day. We loaded the gondola about 9 a.m. We didn't think the runs off the quad were soft, and we didn't see anyone skiing Liftline or National until late morning.
Gondolier and Perry Merrill were already quite soft. We took a number of...[Read more]
On Sunday I went to see if there was any snow at the Smugglers' Notch cross-country center. Nope. None. Nada. The sun had melted many areas and what little was left was all ice.
For some reason the attendant at the nordic center didn't realize that there wasn't enough snow to cross-country ski on. They were renting snowshoes, which weren't really needed either; you could just walk the trails in some decent boots. The Smuggs Web site also made it seem like there was plenty of skiing there. I...[Read more]
Saturday was a warm and sunny day to strap on some skis. Enjoy our photos from Trapp Family Lodge Nordic Center, where spring conditions prevailed and the sap buckets were collecting maple sap. The snow cover was very good, and conditions called for waxless skis or Klister wax (very, very sticky stuff!).
In the afternoon we stopped in to see what was new at the West Branch Art Gallery, next door to the Rusty Nail. We then had a maple latté at the Stowe Coffeehouse near the...[Read more]
Well this looks like it will be a lovely spring skiing weekend here in Vermont. If you look at the weather report, you see a bright sun smiling back at you day after day. Very nice.
We'll probably go to Stowe, Vt., to do some nordic skiing at one of their cross-country ski centers. (There are a handful to choose from!) I'll be sure to pack sunglasses and sunscreen, and some snacks to enjoy in the sunshine somewhere. Doesn't that sound great?
Have you noticed that sleds have become more...[Read more]
I enjoyed the rare treat of skiing above the clouds today. This doesn't happen too often in Vermont. It is very impressive!
We arrived at Smugglers' Notch for a morning of some skiing and thought it was going to be a cloudy day. The weather report had called for partly sunny skies, but it didn't look like it from the base lodge.
About two-thirds of the way up the Madonna I chair, the sun started breaking through the foggy clouds. We broke through to bright sunshine and we could look down over...[Read more]
Ah, March. It can be an amazing snow month both here in Vermont and in the West. (I'm typically out for a western ski week at this time, but not this year, unfortunately. We're keeping to a budget!)
But with the recent cycles of cold and snow followed by warm weather and rain, Vermont's snowpack is now shrinking. On Saturday, the warm temperatures made for some terrific spring skiing at Smugglers' Notch. I just hope that we can get some more snow and cold weather to keep us skiing in corn snow...[Read more]
Today was a gorgeous day to be on the slopes in Vermont. The Skimeister and I bought the Bash Badge Plus at Smugglers' Notch this season, which gives you free early- and late-season skiing (and $25 tickets in between), so we rearranged our work to hit the mountain for part of the day—sans credit card.
There is still a lot of snow up there. The snowfall from a couple of days ago still clung to the shady side of trees, and the snow was still rather soft to ski through in glades that do not get...[Read more]
The sun shone brightly today on northern Vermont, so the Skimeister and I burned off some steam by taking a lunchtime nordic ski at Catamount Cross-Country Center in Williston, Vermont.
What a gorgeous afternoon it was. The blue skies and the warmth of the sun were fantastic. The snow coverage—not so good. Unfortunately Catamount is at a lower elevation here in the Champlain Valley so it got a few inches of that fluffy snow yesterday, but there was nothing underneath it. The previous warm,...[Read more]
TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 9 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHERAMOUNTS IS EXPECTED BY TUESDAY MORNING ACROSS CENTRAL ANDNORTHERN VERMONT...INCLUDING THE WESTERN SLOPES OF THE...[Read more]
The weather highs and lows are affecting my mood. Tuesday I was thrilled with an amazing powder day here in Vermont, but now it's likely to rain tomorrow—even at higher elevations—before it turns back to snow in the mountains.
Argh!
Well at least we have a substantial snowpack. Check out this NOAA page for the latest snow depths, which includes 87 inches at the stake on top of Mt. Mansfield! (Let's see: 87 divided by 12...hey, that's over 7 feet!)
After Friday's rain, the temperatures will...[Read more]
