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Snow-filled, laid-back backcountry turns in Stowe, Vermont

Posted Saturday, March 18, 2017
— Backcountry skiing, Stowe

The snow has been amazing this week so we were thinking the ski resorts might be bonkers today. Instead, we wanted to enjoy the quiet, snowy woods and deep blue sky so we headed out to earn our turns this morning.

We went to play in the woods in Stowe's Sterling Forest. This area features a network of trails on the east side of the Sterling Range. The Catamount Trail also runs through this forest.

We skinned from about 1600 feet in elevation up to about 2800 feet and found the snow got lighter/less dense as we ascended. It was so warm that we didn't have to rush when we made the transition from skins mode to downhill mode. The sun felt great!

Our highest turns and those that we made in the shade were definitely the best! We could gently hop through the snow — so much fun! The lower elevations and especially areas where the sun had hit on Friday offered thicker/heavier snow — sometimes with a sun crust.

We stopped quite a bit to savor the snowy turns and the beautiful day.

We're so thankful that Mother Nature delivered more snow to keep us skiing into springtime! The snow at the stake atop Mt. Mansfield was back up to 101 inches on Friday. Check out the graph, which featured a big dip during our "early spring!" The link is on our <link internal-link internal link in current>Vermont Snow Reports page.

Are you getting out on the snow this weekend???

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