Gore Mountain: 03/28/2015

I can understand how some people may be getting weary of winter. Here it is almost April, and we’re struggling to get out of the 30s most days. And that’s in Saratoga. In the mountains, winter hasn’t even started to think about loosening its grip.

Whiteface Mountain: 03/21/2015

After last weekend’s uninspiring conditions we felt the need for a change of pace, so we headed up to Whiteface on Saturday. Whiteface can be a tough mountain, but somehow we always seem to luck into good conditions up there.

Gore Mountain: 03/15/2015

Perhaps it's just an indicator of how spoiled we've been by this winter's reliably good ski conditions, but if there was a weekend to stay home, this was it. We were in fact going to do just that, but some sort of mild panic set in Sunday morning as we confronted the reality of a winter weekend without skiing. That's right, winter! It's still winter! And skiing is what we do in the winter!

Gore Mountain: 03/07/2015

A quick update from Saturday at Gore. The weekend may have featured winter's last full grip on the mountain, as spring conditions have taken hold since then. Despite a lack of recent snowfall, the mountain skied well with generally edgeable hardpack conditions on the steeper expert trails and packed powder on the lower mountain cruisers.

Stratton, VT: 03/06/2015

Stratton’s faux European base village, well-heeled clientele and excessively groomed terrain are generally not my cup of tea, but I had such a fun day of skiing this past Friday that I’m reconsidering my past bias against the southern Vermont mega-resort. It’s been four or five years since I last skied Stratton. The base village hasn’t changed and there are just as many Connecticut Volvos in the VIP paid parking lot, but I can overlook those shortcomings and appreciate Stratton for its excellent snow conditions and surprisingly varied and interesting terrain.

Gore Mountain: 02/28/2015

A beautiful, cloudless sky took the edge off Saturday morning's single-digit cold. Although the mountain could use some new snow to soften things up, overall Gore is in great mid-season condition. Today was a "boys only" day on the hill for Daniel and me as Sylvie and Beth had a birthday party back in Saratoga.

Steamboat, CO: 02/19 - 02/23/2015

Although our 2 kids have been skiing almost since they could walk (they are 7 and 11 now), I’ve been waiting to do a family ski trip out west until they were both at an ability level that would allow them to fully enjoy the experience. This is the year, and we just returned from 5 days of skiing at Steamboat, CO. The trip couldn’t have worked out better.

Despite being cold and snowy here in the east, it's been something of a lean year out west. Steamboat has been having a better season than many western ski areas, but still the locals were all apologetic about the lack of snow when we arrived. I can’t tell you how many times we heard “you left all that snow to come ski here?”