Trip Report - Stowe, Vermont - 18 Dec 2004

I skied today at the Stowe Mountain Resort cross-country center.
Conditions were good to very good (on my trip report scale of poor,
fair, good, very good, excellent). All the major trails, and almost all
the minor trails, were open and groomed. ("Skidder" was not open.) The
snow was hard packed but not icy, making for fast conditions on even
some slight inclines. The steeper trails (e.g., Bear Run, Houston, and
the "corkscrew" portion of Stowe Derby) were a lot of fun if you like
fast roller coasters. Tracks were set almost everywhere that you would
want them, but on some of the more heavily used sections, the tracks
were getting worn down to the point where you could just barely consider
them to be tracks. Fortunately, there is a little bit of snow in the
forecast for each of the next few days, which should make the conditions
a little softer and friendlier.

Lew Lasher
Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thanks for another of your excellent reports.......I was actually a little
surprised that conditions were that good. I had been concentrating so much
on the Quebec City area that I thought areas further south missed most of
the snow. Someone recommended Haliburton Nordic Trails in
Ontario.........I spoke to them yesterday. They say skiing is excellent
with 1 to 2 feet of snow. They seem to be in the path of several, at least
minor storms for the next few days. One little thing on the horizon that
doesn't bode too well is a rain storm for New England and even Quebec for
Wed. or Thurs. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

Mark
"Lew Lasher" wrote in message
...
I skied today at the Stowe Mountain Resort cross-country center. Conditions
were good to very good (on my trip report scale of poor, fair, good, very
good, excellent). All the major trails, and almost all the minor trails,
were open and groomed. ("Skidder" was not open.) The snow was hard packed
but not icy, making for fast conditions on even some slight inclines. The
steeper trails (e.g., Bear Run, Houston, and the "corkscrew" portion of
Stowe Derby) were a lot of fun if you like fast roller coasters. Tracks
were set almost everywhere that you would want them, but on some of the
more heavily used sections, the tracks were getting worn down to the point
where you could just barely consider them to be tracks. Fortunately, there
is a little bit of snow in the forecast for each of the next few days,
which should make the conditions a little softer and friendlier.

Lew Lasher
Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts

I skied today (Sunday 19 December 2004) at the Trapp trails. Conditions
were similar to, but slightly better than, those at the Stowe Mountain
Resort. Almost all the trails were open. The only trail I saw that was
closed was the "Chute" section of the Haul Road (but the Chute Bypass
was open and in very good shape). At lower elevations, conditions were
noticeably worse in a couple of places (including one very bad section
on Ayers Track that I reported to the staff, and they said they'd send
someone over to shovel snow onto the trail). Both SMR and Trapp could
really use even a couple of inches of snow to cover some of the trail
anomalies (dirt, twigs, and ice bars). No snow yet today, but the
forecast still says there may be some later this afternoon ...


Lew Lasher
Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts

Lew.....keep us posted.....particularly now that they are predicting a warm
rain event (even in Quebec) right before Christmas.......I can't believe
that it will get to +13Celsius, in Quebec City..according to The Weather
Network.

Mark
"Lew Lasher" wrote in message
...
I skied today (Sunday 19 December 2004) at the Trapp trails. Conditions
were similar to, but slightly better than, those at the Stowe Mountain
Resort. Almost all the trails were open. The only trail I saw that was
closed was the "Chute" section of the Haul Road (but the Chute Bypass was
open and in very good shape). At lower elevations, conditions were
noticeably worse in a couple of places (including one very bad section on
Ayers Track that I reported to the staff, and they said they'd send someone
over to shovel snow onto the trail). Both SMR and Trapp could really use
even a couple of inches of snow to cover some of the trail anomalies (dirt,
twigs, and ice bars). No snow yet today, but the forecast still says there
may be some later this afternoon ...


Lew Lasher
Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts