The Skimeister and I woke up early today so that we could get some morning powder runs! We went to Smugglers’ Notch Resort, which was reporting 11 inches of snow in the previous 24 hours. The temperatures were cold — in the single digits — but that made for light and fluffy powder. Plus, we saw blue skies for much of the morning! Bonus!
The whole state of Vermont was in on this storm. From south to north, the ski resorts were reporting powder or packed-powder conditions today. The Nordic ski centers were also celebrating the snowfall.
With the new snow, Smugglers’ Notch ended up dropping the ropes on all its trails today. We enjoyed powdery runs on Upper and Lower FIS, Lower Doc Dempsey's, Drifter, Dan's Ford and McPherson's. On Sterling Mountain, where the lift opens the earliest at 8:30 a.m. (the Madonna I chair follows at 9 a.m.), we skied through the powder on Pipeline and Full Nelson.
This was the best powder skiing I've done so far this season. Still, we need more of these storms so that on the natural-snow trails you don't ski through the snow to the dirt, grass and rocks. And, we did not venture into the glades for that very reason. Patience...
The fresh snow on the trails that had a snowmaking base made for a solid combination. They had groomed some of the popular intermediate runs and to be honest, we tried to avoid those areas as much as possible. No time for groomers on a powder day!
Smugglers’ Notch Resort at a glance
- 8 lifts: 6 doubles; 2 surface lifts
- 78 trails
- Novice: 19%
- Intermediate: 50%
- Advanced/Expert: 31%
- 14 glades
- 5 terrain parks
- 310 acres of trails
- 2,610' vertical drop
- 62% snowmaking capacity
