I got up with the sun on this first full day of winter. The sunrise was gorgeous! I drove on over to Stowe Mountain Resort to get some turns in.
It was a lovely morning. At first it was clear, then cloudy and then clear again. The temperatures were downright comfortable (it will be warmer tomorrow!) and I only found wind at the very top of the Fourrunner Quad and the Octagon.
Those of us who got to Mt. Mansfield early gobbled up the "virgin corduroy" (the freshly groomed trails). Then the snow started getting scraped off in the middle of the trails. So where did I go? To the sides of the trails of course! I also found that Tyro was lightly traveled all morning and still had plenty of corduroy to carve long trenches in. Fun!
About half of the resort's trails and skiing acreage is open. We could really use a powder dump to get into the woods and onto more natural snow trails.
I skied off the Quad, the Gondola and the Mountain Triple. I could have also taken a run on the Lookout Double, but didn't feel the need to. I jumped in the singles line and got a bunch of runs in before noon. By then, the trails were feeling crowded so it was a good time to head out. I still had some gift wrapping to do and pie ingredients to pull together for Christmas! (I'm making an apple-blueberry pie with crumb topping. I actually got the recipe many years ago at The Whip in Stowe!)
Are you skiing this holiday season??? If so, let us know how it is where you are!
Happy holidays! Happy skiing!
