Spring Skiing in the Sun

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Time to hang the buckets.

Open, 26º at 7am. Forecast high 43º. Another beautiful sunny day for a ski.

Great spring skiing. Hard and fast in the morning. Slow and soft as the temperatures rise and the sun softens. the snow. There is a time during the day when in the shade is still fast and in the sun is slow. There was a least one spectacular face plant yesterday, it was a 5 year old, but he was quite surprised when his skis slowed down and he landed face first in the snow.

Road report: Compared to last Tuesday/Wednesday it is a good. Really the dirt roads stay passable when the the frost can go out slowly. Warm up during the day and below freezing at night. There are a few ruts but they are manageable. We have driven the Pruis Prime in and out and it is low to the ground.

Sugaring report: We are getting close to boiling. The sap tubing behind the sugar house is up, and running. The evaporator is being rebuilt it has a new cement pad, a new blower, a new pre-heater and steam hood. Next comes hanging the buckets. Then building a new sap line down the side of the road at MacCuaigs. The new owners name is Menn and Mr. and Mrs. MacCuaig moved on quite a few years ago. But in Vermont ways it will be known as MacCuaigs for another 50 years or so. Chuck is on his way to town to get some more parts. Sugar makers make many trips to the hardware stores and the maple syrup maker stores. 

Wow, Another Day of Skiing

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This couple and their son skied Friday and Sunday. Loving their new sport.

Open, 30º at 7am. Forecast high 39ª.

Chuck is out grooming. He is going to groom the Turkey, Woodcock, Snow Goose, Grouse, Goshawk and Lower Blue Jay. Good skiing! Middle and Upper Blue will ski as back country. Meaning we are not grooming them today. The skiing on the Middle and Upper yesterday was superb! (As reported by a little bird named Martha)

This seems like a low snow year. Simply because there is not a lot of snow on the ground. For a couple days we had impressive snow banks. But they didn’t last long. The fluctuating temperatures keep melting any extra snow. And lots of the precipitation has fallen as rain. If that had all been snow…. 1 inch of rain is equated to 12 inches of snow. (More or less depending on the temperature)

  • We have had 96.1 inches of snow this season.
  • A “normal winter” used to be around 150″ of snow.
  • A high snow winter 190″ to 200″ of snow. (Last 200 incher 2000 and 2001 each season, 2 years in a row)
  • An old fashion normal March snow fall was around 120 inches of snow.
  • The last couple of years March has been low to no snow.
  • February of 2018, so far, 37 inches of snow, 5 inches of water. Using the 1 inch of water to 12 inches of snow. Just in February that would have be 60 inches of snow, Instead of the 37 inches of snow we actually received.  
  • We have always had temperature going up and down, we just used to have more cold, thus more snow falling and then on the ground to work with during the warm spells.

And just for today, the skiing will be good, spring skiing. Get out to ski.

Skiing Today and the Track Is Nice!

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Picture of todays grooming. And it looks good.

Open, 27º at 8:00am. Forecast high 34º.

Ian took the pictures on the Turkey. The skiing looks good. I wouldn’t wait. Get out and ski. He is grooming Woodcock, Snow Goose, Turkey and Grouse. Lower Bluejay and Godhawk are also groomed, with a few small crevasses to navigate around on the last big hill. Come in the shop when you get here to find out if we can just ski some of the other trails as is.

  • Some of the things we have learned this season.:
  • Ski when the skiing is good. Everything else will still be there when you are done skiing.
  • If today is warm, tomorrow will be cold.
  • If today snow is falling, tomorrow could be the “R” word.
  • We love our new groomer.
  • We have lots of friends. Whether they are coming skiing. Shoveling snow. Bringing their friends skiing. Or designing a new web site. We have a friend that loaned us a groomer when ours were both down.
  • Right this minute there is something between our website and Chrom/google. If you are not seeing any pictures on the web site and you are using Chrome as a browser, look the site in Safari or Fire Fox. This is temporary.
  • American Women ski fast.  WOW!
  • We love our jobs!

Arrrgh, Closed Again.

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We are working to fix spots like this today.

Closed, 36º overnight and currently. Forecast high 39º.

Yesterday’s beautiful covering of snow has mostly melted. And the spots that were wet are wet again. 

The weather this year! Warm, rain, cold, snow repeat. We have had so much good skiing and most of it has come on a weekday. Every year is different and this one has been a pip.

Just a little story about a visit we had last weekend:

Last weekend we had 2 snow machines with mom, dad, and son show up looking for gas for the machines. They knew they were not going to make it back to their truck on Rt. 9. They left that morning with no food, or supplies. A credit card to buy gas at the one and only stop, which turned out to only take cash. They continued north and came off the trail and ended up here. Ian  poured the gas we had into their machines. Drove them to Bromley Market to get more gas and some food. They left here with full gas tanks and food in their bellies to get the 30 or so miles back down to Woodford to their truck.

I tell this story because, we all need to do RAK, random acts of kindness and watch out for each other. But, we also all need to be prepared when we leave the main roads and go into the woods.  When you ski here we have your back. I want people to go outside and have fun and be refreshed. Please just remember to be smart.

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