Okemo Mountain: 01/31/2014

I generally don't ski more than a handful of days each season in Vermont, but Friday presented an opportunity to "work" at Okemo with some of my professional associates. I'm always happy to set aside my New York loyalty when my job necessitates out-of-state travel.

I've skied Okemo once or twice over the years and knew what to expect: lots of blue square cruisers and meticulous grooming. Indeed, not only was every trail groomed edge to edge, Okemo's groomers apparently till the snow deep enough to eliminate any trace of ice or hardpack. Wide and free of high spots, gullies and double fall-lines, the trails are inherently suited to both cruising and grooming. Okemo's steepest pitches are probably borderline blue-black at other ski areas. Certainly fun for a day away from the office, the down side is a distinct lack of variety among Okemo's trails.

West Mountain: 01/29/2014

Staying home because it’s too cold to ski would have been the wrong call to make last night. Yes, it was cold (upper single digits), but conditions at West Mountain were excellent. Snowmaking and grooming operations have produced nice packed powder surfaces on all open trails. With the exception of a few times that I skied West during or right after a storm, the conditions were about the nicest they’ve been in several years. The good skiing is not just the result of the cold weather we’ve been enjoying, it’s obvious that a lot more care and attention is being given to creating and maintaining quality skiing surfaces. Granted, I’ve only logged two evenings of skiing at West so far this winter, but last night’s conditions weren’t the result of getting lucky and hitting a good night. Snowmaking, grooming and contouring all seem to be head-and-shoulders above what we’ve seen the past few seasons.

Gore Mountain: 01/25/2014

Chatiemac

Consistently cold - make that frigid - temperatures have really improved the ski conditions at Gore over the past week despite minimal new snow. We lucked out with Saturday being the warmest (we cracked into the low teens) day out of the last 5 or 6, and some light snow (an inch or two) kept the skiing nice and the mountain looking wintery.

Beth and the kids on Chati

Whiteface Mountain: 01/19 & 01/20/2014

A quick trip up to Whiteface is the easiest way for our family to log some ski days away from Gore. It’s closer than most of the Vermont areas, Lake Placid is a great town for an overnight stay, we ski for free with our Gore passes, and Whiteface is the King of Eastern skiing, the Olympic Mountain.

Gore Mountain: 01/18/2014

Conditions at Gore today were much improved over last weekend, with snowmaking and grooming crews doing a nice job re-surfacing the open trails and the mountain looking a lot more wintery. The forecasted 1 to 2 inches of snow for today never materialized – instead we had mostly overcast skies with occasional breaks of blue, temps in the 20s, and no wind.

Beth skiing Uncas this morning