https://newenglandskiconditions.com/viewreport.php?reportid=3587
It appears that after what seemed like an early spring, winter has returned to much of New England! I headed to Stratton Mountain with a friend yesterday to check out the great conditions resulting from the 2+ feet of snow they received from the storm. All of the glades and many natural trails were opened yesterday, although any untracked snow was skied in quite shortly after opening and I wasn't able to get up the mountain in time to find very many good fresh lines.
I parked at Sun Bowl and took a few warm-up runs on the Sunrise Express before spending most of the morning on the Ursa Express and Snow Bowl Express, neither of which had more than 1-2 minute wait. In fact, I never waited more than around 3 to 4 minutes in line yesterday thanks to Stratton’s high-capacity lifts, but I avoided the gondola until mid-afternoon. Shooting Star was not scheduled to run according to the morning report, but it opened about when I arrived at the mountain and kept spinning until 4:00 with no lines for the most part.
The trail conditions were predominantly packed powder moguls, with occasional bare spots or ice patches. The bumps showed some variation in terms of size, definition and firmness. Black Bear, the Ursa lift line, Frank’s Fall Line, Upper Standard, Upper Spruce, and Upper/Lower Lift Line all had good soft snow; Polar Bear was good in the morning as well. Get My Drift was pretty skied-off and had some of the largest bumps. World Cup had the big and steep Stevek mogul course set up on it. I didn’t ski the course, but got plenty of mogul technique practice on other trails throughout the day!
It was a bright and beautiful bluebird day and I enjoyed taking in the views from around the mountain. There was no wind and the temperatures were reportedly in the high single digits to high teens, but it felt much warmer due to the sun and the workout of skiing moguls for pretty much every run. The sun also had the effect of softening the snow on some trails, which made for some refrozen golf balls or hardpack entering the mix on those trails towards the end of the day once it cooled down.
It was a very fun day overall and I’m hopeful that this snow will stick around a while and help keep the trail counts high as we go into April!
Riding up the Sunrise Express
Rick's Catch 22
Eclipse Glade
Black Bear
Riding up the Ursa Express
Polar Bear
Mike's Way
Upper Drifter
Dancing Bear Glade
Upper Lift Line
Upper Standard
Upper Spruce
Upper Kidderbrook
Test Pilot Glade
Frank's Fall Line
Looking uphill from mid-mountain
Yodeler
The Main Base Area seen from the Gondola
Kidderbrook Ravine Glade
Big Ben
Sunbeam
