After hitting the snooze button a few times, we got ourselves up and out the door this morning for some New Year’s Day skiing. We made our way to Smugglers’ Notch Resort to enjoy some new snow, which seemed to be a special delivery to celebrate the new year. (Thanks, Mother Nature!)
The trails were mostly packed powder and powder. It was fun playing in the new, shallow powder! We sought it out at every opportunity.
Our favorite runs of the morning were a bit off the beaten path: Upper Treasure Run and Thomke’s on Sterling Mountain, which is served by a double chair ascending to 3,040 feet. We also enjoyed Upper Chilcoot and Lower FIS on Madonna Mountain. Madonna is the highest peak at the ski area at 3,640 feet. It is served by two double chairlifts.
This morning Smuggs reported three inches of new snow overnight and 11 inches new in the past three days. This came out of a weird and rather prolonged storm system that also included mixed precipitation. In fact, while skiing this morning we gained a light, frozen glaze on our ski clothes, goggles and helmet. It reminded me of glazed donuts!
It was a great morning of making turns in the new snow. The trails with snowmaking had excellent coverage while the newly opened natural snow trails had some rocks and grass to avoid on steeper pitches. We hardly waited in line for the lifts! Bonus!
Everyone out on the hill today was having a ball — families with kids making sweeping turns, people in ski school lessons practicing new skills, snowboarders, telemark skiers and more. We were all making the most of the new snow that ushered in our new year.
Here’s to a snowy 2020!
Smugglers’ Notch Resort, Vermont, at a Glance
- 8 lifts: 6 doubles; 2 surface lifts
- 2,610' vertical drop from top of Madonna to the Village
- 78 trails
- Novice: 19%
- Intermediate: 56%
- Advanced/Expert: 25%
- 310 acres of marked and patrolled acreage
- Additional 750 acres of unmarked and unpatrolled wooded terrain
- 5 terrain parks and 1 learn-to-snowboard park
- 62% snowmaking capacity
