Ah, March. It can be an amazing snow month both here in Vermont and in the West. (I'm typically out for a western ski week at this time, but not this year, unfortunately. We're keeping to a budget!)
But with the recent cycles of cold and snow followed by warm weather and rain, Vermont's snowpack is now shrinking. On Saturday, the warm temperatures made for some terrific spring skiing at Smugglers' Notch. I just hope that we can get some more snow and cold weather to keep us skiing in corn snow through April, as we did last year.
The Skimeister and I arrived shortly after the lifts opened at Smuggs. We wanted to get some runs in before the crowds arrived. As it is in the spring, the snow was very hard packed during those morning runs. It made you remember what those metal edges are for on the sides of your skis and boards.
The sun took its time making its appearance, but when it did the day became glorious: warm temperatures (it felt so good to not wear a balaclava!), blue sky, good friends to ski with, and snow that softened with each run.
Of course, other people knew the day was going to be a sunny one so the lift lines began to get long. Smugglers' Notch has older double chairs that keep crowds in lift lines on busy weekend days. But we had snuck in several runs in the morning so hanging out in line in the sun while chatting with friends was not all bad.
Our favorite runs were taking upper FIS to lower Doc Dempsey's glades. This was an exercise in extremes, as FIS was still very hard packed with icy spots, while Doc's had wonderful, soft moguls. From there we would descend to Father Bob's, which is a less-traveled, wide run back to the lifts. The snow was quite soft down here, making it fun for carving long turns.
The more popular intermediate trails were challenging because of the number of skiers on them. At times it was like I was running a human slalom course. You had ski instructors and families doing wedge turns across the entire slope (really dangerous), as well as teenagers and young ski racers bombing down the trail in straight runs. I was keeping my eyes open!
Off of the Sterling lift, we enjoyed skiing Pipeline to Harvey's run, which I had never skied before. It had softened up and it was fun! One time we then skated back up to Full Nelson, which had steep, soft bumps. The next run we continued on Harvey's and again swooshed our way around soft, spring moguls. This is what makes spring skiing such fun!
Signs of melting were all around. We had skied Smugglers' two days earlier and it is amazing what the warmer temperatures did to the snow. Dirt, grass and stumps were more visible in the woods that we had just skied two days before!
I still have some more skiing to do, Mother Nature, so please take it easy on our snow!
