Gore Mountain: 03/23/2013

We certainly have had a stretch of nice skiing over the past month. After last winter, who would have thought we'd be enjoying such great mid-winter conditions this late in March?

I'm sure I've blown whatever (dubious) credibilty I had through over-use of the descriptors "awesome" and "great" over the past few weeks, but here we go again: the skiing on Saturday was awesome. Perhaps not quite as awesome as the lucky skiers who got out during the foot-plus storm on Tuesday and the several days that followed, but still great.

Chatterbox warm-up run

West Mountain: 03/20/2013

Quick update from skiing at West last night. Since it's probably my last Wednesday night at West for this year I brought Daniel along with me. Homework? What homework?

It always seems odd at this time of year to go "night skiing" before it actually gets dark. Since we started skiing around 6:30, we got in a bunch of runs before the daylight completely faded. As you can see from the photos, it felt like we had the place to ourselves. You would think it would be easy to meet up with people, but it took us until our fifth run to hook up with the rest of our Wednesday night telemark gang, and we skied with them until last chair just before 9pm.

Daniel skiing Midway. Yes, that's a cape.

Gore Mountain: 03/16/2013

Sometimes "surprise snow" is the best. I must have been too busy celebrating pre-Saint Patrick's Day Friday night to pay attention to the weather radar because Gore's conditions report caught me off guard Saturday morning with its report of 8 inches of new snow.

Mid-winter conditions at Gore this weekend

Gore Mountain: 03/09/2013

It’s back to earth after last week’s Big Sky trip, but great early spring conditions at Gore over the weekend at least softened the landing. Several inches of new snow Thursday night, followed by bright, cobalt blue skies and temperatures in the 40s produced ideal snow conditions on Saturday. While the sun softened the trails into hero corn, the woods and north-facing exposures stayed relatively dry and almost powdery.

Shady glade, nice snow

Big Sky, MT: 02/27 - 03/02/2013

We upped the ante for this year’s “guys’ ski trip” and headed to Montana for 3 days of skiing at Big Sky and a day at Bridger Bowl. Although I used to ski out West regularly, it’s been 10 years since my last trip. As much as I love Eastern skiing, that’s a long time for an avid skier to go cold turkey on the terrain and snow conditions that can only be found in the West.

Gothics Mountain, cable route: 02/23/2013

Spectacular in any season, the High Peaks of the Adirondacks may be at their best in winter. No bugs or mud, fewer hikers, and the trails are smoothed out under a (hopefully) deep snow pack. But to me, the real appeal of winter climbing is the chance to experience the harsh conditions that are a reminder that this is a place where nature calls the shots and man is just a visitor. We got a nice taste of that climbing Gothics on Saturday.