Up to 16 inches of powder reported at Vermont ski resorts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 04:54 PM
Come and get it! Vermont just enjoyed a nice snowstorm this week with up to 16 inches of powder (so far) covering our cars, homes and mountains. Yeah!
I admit I love to sweep off my car after a snowstorm. Hey, I'm a skier!
I persuaded the Skimeister to take an hour break from his Web development work this afternoon to do a nordic tour at Red Rocks Park here in Burlington. It's a wooded park that is situated on a bluff overlooking Lake Champlain.
It's pretty amazing that you can be within walking distance of an industrial park (which is home to Burton Snowboards), shopping centers and busy Route 7, yet in this South End park you can get away from it all.
The trees were coated with snow with some good moisture content. The snow clung to the branches of the hardwood trees to take on the appearance of delicate white coral.
At the two overlook points along Lake Champlain, we paused to watch the waves slowly migrate chunks of ice along the shoreline. The broad lake is not frozen over--only some of the bays are--so the waves were moving mini iceburgs around the lake.
We ran into other cross-country skiers, snowshoers and people who were walking their dogs. People seemed to share our upbeat mood, enjoying the fresh snow in the park.
Later this week I'm planning on alpine skiing at Bolton Valley. I'll let you know how it is up there.
And next week I will ski Utah for the first time. I'm really excited about that. If you have been to Alta, Snowbird, Solitude or Brighton, let me know what to look for at these resorts: favorite runs, short lift lines, fun apres ski spots, etc.
But for now, I need to work a bit to pay for that Utah trip. Hey, it's still snowing!
Filed in: Alpine skiing, Backcountry skiing, Cross-country skiing
1. Nicole Ballinger | Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 09:36 AM
OK, Skimaven, since you asked... based on one day at Solitude and one at Brighton, here are some suggestions.
Solitude-- lovely and uncrowded everywhere, but if it seems tracked, check out the woods to skiers right of the Sunrise lift. Fairly tight trees by Utah standards, but pretty open for VT. You'll end up with a short traverse back on the nordic trails. We also found fresh tracks 4 days after the last storm by traversing out to the boundary chutes in Honeycomb Canyon. No lift lines anywhere!
Brighton-- what a find! I was expecting a lot of crust yesterday, since the day before was 55+ and sunny. Amazingly we found soft snow in the woods off snake creek express and the snake bowl. Over on the Milly lift, scree slope and lone pine were fantastic, open and steep enough to really get my attention. In my Eastern mindset, I kept anticipated the dreaded backside ice on bumps, but it was not to be found! We did have to watch out for crust on the SW facing slopes though, as expected. No line either. I suspect it will be busier today though, since 12" fell last night. We'll be at solitude catching the first lift in an hour!!!