Snow To Be Thankful For?
Posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009
(View from the Green Mountains on Thanksgiving week last year. Photo by Jessie Janowski.)
Since my last update Mother Nature has been a cruel tease to New England. Warm and snow-less weather has dominated our late fall forecasts. Resorts tried blasting McSnow, only to watch it melt under “seasonally mild” temperatures and heavy rain.
Stick Season has been living up to its name in Vermont. Some local skiers have been making the long hike up resort hills to ski a few hundred feet of SnoCone, but I’ve mostly hung back, tuned the quiver, and … waited, for THIS!
“MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT IN SHOWING A LARGE SCALE STORM SYSTEM AFFECTING THE REGION BY FRIDAY AND INTO NEXT WEEKEND WITH WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION…….CONFIDENCE IS INCREASING THAT WIDESPREAD RAINFALL…POSSIBLY HEAVY…WILL AFFECT THE REGION DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY AS THE SYSTEM APPROACHES. AS COLDER AIR FILTERS INTO THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY…PRECIPITATION WILL LIKELY MIX WITH AND CHANGE TO SNOW…ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS WHERE SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE.
“THOSE PLANNING HOLIDAY TRAVEL LATER THIS WEEK SHOULD BE AWARE THAT WINTER CONDITIONS MAY OCCUR ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF VERMONT AND NORTHERN NEW YORK LATER FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. THEY ARE ENCOURAGED TO STAY ABREAST OF THE LATEST FORECASTS ON THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION…AND MAKE PLANS ACCORDINGLY.” (from http://forecast.weather.gov)
Yee-Haw! Is Thanksgiving snow back?! Last year the Thanksgiving week was some of the best skiing all season. Starting on the 22nd, we had an epic dump at high elevation that caught most skiers unaware and sitting in town, where it was snowless.
(My buddy Adam getting some early season face shots.)
The next day dawned clear, cold and bright, with even the most obvious slopes still barely touched by skiers, so we went and hit it again.
(Jacob spooning turns so everyone gets a helping.)
By the 29th, freeze-thaw had killed most of the fluffy powder, but left a bomber base that was refreshed with a few more inches.
(Jen skinning along the Long Trail.)
On the 30th, big wind and more freeze-thaw ended the powdery splurge, but treated us with amazing scenery high on the Green Mountain Spine. It was a great time to get out and burn off some gravy.
(Jessie on ski day No. 6 that week.)
As the forecast above says, “make plans accordingly.” First powder day of the season may be this week; don’t be caught shopping in the mall.
Peter Wadsworth is one of Cloudveil’s Inspired Mountain Ambassadors. In his words: I’m a backcountry skier earning my turns among the weather-worn mountains of New England. I also trail run, climb, race bikes and even show up fairly regularly to a day job. But really, these other things are just enablers for backcountry skiing adventures away from the lifts and crowds.
WADSWORTH!!!! take a shower, man.