EPIC POWDER AFTERNOON AT SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH

As I took the ferry across Lake Champlain today to Vermont, I considered going to Sugarbush or Smugglers’ Notch. In the end, at the last second, I decided to head to Smugglers’ Notch. They were expected to get more snow, and I hadn't been there in a little while so it just seemed like the right decision. In the end, it proved to be a great choice!

The day started off nice. There was a little snow in the air, and it snowed a few inches last night, which helped spruce up the trails following Thursday’s big freeze. That said, around 2 in the afternoon the sky opened up and it started dumping heavy snow. It didn’t let up the rest of the afternoon. We’re talking the kind of heavy snow where you get on the lift, and by the time you reach the top you’re covered in a layer of snow. It was amazing, especially after the big warm up earlier this week.

Between the warm up and the freeze this week, they only had around 35-40 runs open out of a possible 78. Some of the terrain was closed due to icy conditions, while others were closed due to coverage. The good news, though, was that all three mountains were open. When the day started, there weren’t really any glades open, but by the end of the day they had opened at least one that I saw, which was the Highlander Glade on Sterling Mountain.

I mostly spent the first part of the day on Madonna Mountain. As mentioned, there were no glades open until later in the day, so I was mostly on the groomers, and maybe a natural snow trail here or there. With last night’s several inches of snow, the conditions were pretty good compared to what they’ve been the last few days, though you could still find some patches of ice.

Off the summit of Madonna, you had to take Upper Chilcoot. Upper Drifter, Upper Liftline and the very top part of Upper F.I.S. were closed. Catwalk, which is near the top of the mountain, off Upper Chilcoot, was open and you could only ski Upper F.I.S. off it. Upper F.I.S. is a nice steep groomer, so no complaints there. You could access the very end of Doc Dempsey’s Glades from Upper F.I.S. and I did that. It was fine. The bumps were a little firm in Doc Dempsey’s Glades. Below these runs, the open trails were in good shape, and like I said, conditions were pretty good.

Around 1:30, I decided to head over to Sterling Mountain to see if Highlander Glade had opened. Highlander Glade is fairly high up on Sterling Mountain, and it’s one of the first glades at Smuggler’s Notch to open each year, in my experience, so I know it’s prone to have snow when others may not. Anyways, my first run of the day was off Sterling, and it wasn’t open then, but coverage looked good from the lift, so I assumed it was closed due to firm conditions.

On my return trip to Sterling Mountain, I could see the rope was down and it was open, so I headed straight there. There was powder in there thanks to last night’s snow, and coverage was good enough. There was some stuff poking through here and there, but it was all manageable. There was also some ice, which was also manageable.

After that run in Highlander Glade is when the magic happened: It started dumping snow. The snow was coming down heavy, and stacking up fast. The day went from fun to epic in a matter of minutes. All of the runs quickly transitioned to powder conditions, with free refills. It felt like that was my reward for skiing the icy conditions over the last couple of days. Those final two hours at Smugglers’ Notch today are something I’ll be reminiscing on this off-season. I loved every second of it.

With the snow dumping, I decided I’d just lap Highlander Glade until the end of the day, as it was the only glade open. Each pass through it got better and better, with several inches of fresh powder taking over. The ice from that first run was still there, as was the stuff poking through, but the fresh snow made it all easier to navigate.

Never Quit Skiing,

Lincoln

EPIC POWDER AFTERNOON AT SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH

IS STRATTON REALLY FLAT? I SKIED IT SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO