Main content

Early Easter morning on the ski mountain

Posted Monday, April 13, 2009
— Smugglers' Notch, Spring skiing, Food, coffee & après ski, Alpine / downhill skiing

Spring snow showers drift toward Smugglers' Notch, Vermont.

After Easter Sunrise Service, the pastor skis with his guitar.

Families sled, ski and slide down the mountain after the service.

Sunday was the last day of operation for Smuggs. <sigh>

[<link post warm-weather-and-easter-sunrise-services-at-vermont-ski-resorts external-link-new-window sunrise>For Easter 2010 sunrise service information, follow this link.]

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.

I dressed for winter conditions and I'm glad I did. It was very cold. Most everyone stayed warm in the Top of the Notch hut before heading outside for the service. The nice pastor actually tried to play guitar to accompany our songs! It was the world's fastest service, clocking in at under 15 minutes, I'd say.

The sun was straining to shine through the clouds as it poked up over Madonna Mountain. An early morning on top of a mountain has the potential for some spectacular color and views. Not spectacular today, but it was a neat way to spend Easter morning.

After having such great spring skiing recently, we only took one run down the mountain. The snow had frozen up overnight and it wasn't budging. It made for what I call "noisy skiing."

Families were walking or sledding down the ski slope, or just sliding on their snowpants. Not something that you see everyday on the ski hill!

We saw a mix of snow showers, shadows and brighter sun later in the morning as we warmed up over hot coffee and a yummy breakfast at 158 Main in Jeffersonville.

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…