Main content

New snow in VT, and skiing competitions, near and far

Posted Friday, February 20, 2009
— Bolton Valley, Sugarbush, Trapp Family Lodge, Backcountry skiing, Cross-country skiing, Alpine / downhill skiing, Ski racing

Ski jumping champ Lindsey Van.

Jimmy Cochran on the race course.

Wow—along with some amazing new snow (it kept snowing yesterday in the mountains of Vermont), there are some hot skiing competitions happening here and abroad, as well.

As for the snow, Bolton Valley is reporting an overnight total of just over a foot, on top of the 6 inches from yesterday! Sugarbush is also reporting 17 inches in the last 48 hours. Yeow! I'm going to have to go out for a "business meeting" in the backcountry this afternoon.

Check this NOAA site for details on additional snowfall around Vermont, updated each morning around 10:30 or so:
www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/html/climatemaps/climatemaps.shtml

The famous Stowe Derby takes place this Sunday in Stowe, Vermont. More than 10 miles from near the top of Mt. Mansfield into the village. More than 3,000 feet of vertical drop. Up to 1,000 competitors. And you can use only one pair of skis.

The race dates back to 1945. Racers start at 9 and 10 a.m. and noon, depending on their race type. Here's the map of the course:
teammmsc.org/stowederby/stowederbyspecifics.html

Coming soon is the 2nd Annual Catamount Trail Backcountry Challenge Race and Tour on Sunday, March 1. The 16-kilometer event has a mass start at the Trapp Family Touring Center in Stowe and a finish at the Bolton Valley Nordic Center via the Catamount Trail. (The Bolton-to-Trapp trail.)

Participants will encounter a 2,300-foot vertical climb from Nebraska Notch Road to the highest elevation on the Catamount Trail before descending 1,300 vertical feet to the Bolton Valley Touring Center. Better eat your Wheaties.

FIS Skiing World Championships

The very first female world champion for ski jumping is...an American! How about that! Ski jumping is dominated by the Europeans—specifically the Scandinavians, so this is quite a feat.

Lindsey Van—not Vonn like the downhiller (isn't that weird?)—jumped 89m and 97.5m on the 100-m hill in the Czeck Republic, attaining a speed of 89 kil/hour. She hails from Park City, Utah. This is the first world championship held for women in this sport. It's about time, huh?

Earlier this week in Val d'Isere, the U.S. Ski Team's Jimmy Cochran of Vermont's famous Cochran family blazed to the fastest second run to finish tenth in slalom as the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. And last Friday, Ted Ligety of Park City skied from ninth place to take the bronze at the World Championships giant slalom.

Lindsey Vonn—the 2008 World Cup overall and downhill champion—swept gold in super G and downhill at the World Championships earlier this month. Superstar Bode Miller of New Hampshire had his best showing in the downhill, taking 8th place. Hey, the guy can't win all the time.

Damn, we Americans are really starting to shine in skiing!

Share This Blog Post

 

Post a Comment

No Account Needed! To post a comment without any kind of account, you can type in a name, nickname or trail name and an email (which we do not collect or use) then select "I'd rather post as guest." We'd love to hear from you!

Link to get a Protect Our Winters membership

 


Fresh snow in the woods

Thank goodness the snow is back!

Posted 3/13/24

Thanks to a rather long-duration storm, some of Vermont's higher elevations saw 2 feet of snow through Monday. This was a very welcome development! The first wave of snow was heavy and wet, while the…

Skier in pink makes a turn in knee-deep powder

Enjoying some fluffy new snow in northern Vermont

Posted 2/18/24

So grateful for new snow! At higher elevations in northern Vermont, we've seen quite a bit of fluffy new snow in the last couple of days. Above 1600 feet or so there's often a decent, frozen base, as…

Late-afternoon Nordic ski in soft snow

Posted 2/9/24

With Saturday looking like it will hit 45 degrees at 2,000 feet with possible rain showers in northern Vermont, it was time to hit the cross-country trails today! We took a late-afternoon ski at…