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Snow envy

Posted Saturday, January 12, 2008
— Craftsbury, Burke, Jay Peak, Bolton Valley, Stowe, Western skiing, Catamount Nordic, Mad River Glen, Cross-country skiing, Alpine / downhill skiing
Snorkeling at the Beav'

Beaver Creek, Colo., issues snorkels to skiers and riders.

If those twits at Heavenly, Vail and Beaver Creek send me one more e-mail ...

Their multimillion-dollar marketing machine keeps sending me mouth-watering photos of the three to 10 feet (that is not a typo) of snow that has piled up on their totally fabulous resorts in the last week. A photo in a Beaver Creek, Colo., e-mail even showed a skier (or what you could see of him) with a snorkel.

Please don't laugh, it just encourages them.

Normally, this would not phase me, but we've been cold-challenged this week here in Vermont. We've had a terrific, terrific early season until we were hit with this “funky weather,” as Jay Peak called it in an e-mail today. We went from fluffy powder to "wet granular" (a term from Bolton Valley’s site) in a matter of about 24 hours.

Now, the low-lying Catamount cross-country center has closed until we get a special delivery of the white stuff. Mad River Glen, Stowe and Jay Peak received a “mixed bag” of precipitation today, including wet snowflakes. Burke Mountain Resort expects to be 80-percent open this weekend, and Craftsbury Nordic Center reports “the skiing is actually very good despite the wacky weather. Will start grooming very early on Saturday to crunch up frozen surface.”

As the temperatures drop, snowguns are being fired up to pump out as much as they can to replenish the snow. And Mother Nature may deliver some sun on Saturday, and maybe a few inches of snow this weekend in the mountains.

Hey, I just heard on “The News Hour” that it snowed in Baghdad today. Baghdad! Our turn must be next!

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