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Currently sitting at a wine bar in Chamonix after 19 hours of travel with no issues. Philly direct to Zurich, train to Geneva, bus to Chamonix, walk. Stopped in the Black Crows store and even though I didn’t buy anything, my new skis were on display in their window and I smiled. Caesar salad at Geneva airport waiting for the bus, charcuterie in chx. The plan is Les Grand Montets tomorrow and then Verbier for 3 days. Maybe Zermatt for the last day.

After the thaw and rain yesterday was expecting everything to be locked in, pleasantly surprised to find pixie dust on corduroy crust morning conditions and views exceeded expectations in a groomer zoomer sort of way Snow stayed grippy and edge able all day as winds and clouds increased enough to shut down the Mt. Ellen lifts and head to Lawsons

Started my morning sitting at the dining room table and heard a crash and the power went out $&@“!!? Gassed up the generator and left, usually get 6-7 hours Got to Blue with gale force winds. Only recognized Oz in the Quad line. First chair , Razors was surprisingly nice after making it past the headwind. I have to remember how fast he skis I got a little close halfway down. Coming soon was a dream with the refresh. Repeat but bump run . New snow was nicely bonded. Main st bumps were nice as well and softened up later. Razors got scalped by the wind but fortunately you could tell where the better snow was and the shiny cord ended. Better than expected! Left 11:45 ish after trying to put some cash on next year’s pass, had to use CC . I decided to go full access next year.

I got you @GrilledSteezeSandwich Hey all…who’s gonna touch the sky at blue mountain this weekend. Bring your sunblock because both Saturday and Sunday look pretty sunny. A little birdie told me that they made snow to freshen things up and conditions have been pretty nice this week so it seems like we may have a few nice days in store this weekend. Get your winter like days in now because the temperatures will rise like the phoenix next week. Speaking of birds perhaps Blue’s resident bald eagles will be out enjoying the sun. I’ll definitely be there Saturday. Sunday is tbd and Monday I’m skiing somewhere (maybe blue maybe somewhere else…not sure yet).

And the Coffee lady is there today. So Johnny Lloyd ahead of me in one of the lift lines So the main street lift wasn’t running, just the quad and challenge express. I always like that because Main Street and switchback are usually pretty quiet. But Main Street express is set up to go in case the crabs increase. Sunny, but pretty windy blowing up the slope.

Likely Sunday. Maybe Monday?

Day 49. More spring skiing with friends.

Enjoy the vibe dude...Looks fantastic..Take more pics than you think you need too..

I had meetings this morning and couldn't ski until 10. I thought it was a repeat of yesterday but a bit harder. The new six stopped forever yesterday and was off today, I saw the snowmobiles go back and forth a bunch so they are trying to fix something. Personally razors is good opposite the others as with all their race stuff it's much harder colder snow.

Say hi to Johnny Lloyd for me, hopefully the crabs stay light

if anybody goes today, that can post up conditions, im all ears. i might stop by on my way up to the poconos. I do see the cams shaking around some.

Either Saturday or Sunday. Leaning towards Sunday since I think it's supposed to be less windy, plus I might catch a glimpse of @toast21602

Was that only his second ski day? Did he go to copper mountain or abasin or somewhere. That’s harsh but you need to follow the rules. At JH I got in trouble with the yellow jackets and red jackets a few times back when I used to ski fast lol

$500 dinner is once a year and I get a good supper and so does atomic Jeff and drinks dessert and was $600 this year cause Nazareth Jay came along. Oh well that’s cheap compared to car and skiing stuff. I can’t even ski this weekend cause I’m still healing but I’ll be out soon..maybe Tuesday or Wednesday when it’s gonna be 69 degrees. Are you gonna be at Blue or camelback on Sunday or are you gonna try to hit both mountains on your geek to geek pass??

Escargood was grate and it's my last day so maybe I'll buy a $500 dinner like @AtomicSkier. Some premium Mer Lot would be radical. I skied groomers, trees, glades, bowls, back bowls, courdoroy, snow, perder, slopes, hills, mountains, steeps, catwalks, adventure parks, moguls, deep perder, soft snow, hard snow, ice, grippy snow, and between bushes.

Had my contacts in instead of using my progressive glasses. Can’t see a thing close up with them. The coffee lady was very nice cause I couldn’t read the little tap to pay device. The snow crabs were delicious.

Conditions are really good this morning. Slopes are pretty firm with the normal amount of small cookies. Things really haven’t softened up yet. The worst slope was razors, that had a mix of hard snow and last night blown snow. Freefall and switchback were probably the best.

Probably coming out this weekend, still getting over the end of trip illness, but feeling about 80% so that should also improve rapidly. I really should try to spend at least one of the days up in Tannersville if I ski both days . . . .

Ordered some fine wine and escargot at Lancelot. That shit was dope. Only $44, what a bargain. @Ski2Live Live2Ski would suggest a fool and money soon departed. Too bad I didn't have a coupon to save $3.50

C1er was the only person I saw in the house. 7 busses from East Penn but they went tubing. Snow particularly on the main st side was perfect. Soft up top with hyper grip on a super fast hard layer underneath. Absolutely supersonic and the real treat was with good snow and nobody around you could send the airs to the moon. I did Raceway, mid, lower three times in a row to get floaty on the riser airs. Main was just as good and just as fast, switch a little firmer from the shade but you could send the risers to the ISS. The razors side was a bit harder snow and razors itself was a no go one as it was closed but mostly as it looked like the surface of the moon. Challenge and Coming Soon were more like the main st side and it is so nice to not have to put the brakes on. Shit was top notch and so was Tuesday with Atomic, if you can get out the last couple have been surprisingly dope. The bad news is the hill did take quite a hit, there are spots all over and the upper left side of sidewinder is gone though they could push the humps. With the weather coming up I think the clock is ticking.

Yeah that's just not right. When I'm at a ski resort the wait should be less than a minute. I'm probably quitting early Friday, I'm not doing those stupid long lines. Today was grate tho. There were no lines. I even rode the gondola solo and also once with some hot babes. Also skied nearly open to close which is a rarity for me. I was in the zone today. Yesterday we got some perder. I think like 8 inches. I skied the famous Back Bowls(tm) which was sickbird. We found some gnarly glades which was rad.

On Monday I got super triggered. This one chairlift ended up being like a 15 minute wait. Every few minutes some gapers would screw up and stop the lift. I got big mad. It was worse than Camelback. That was total BS. Today was grate, 2 or 3 minutes waits at teh liftz

This is more of a food/travel report.. Are you skiing at all?..No trail reports..

Some grate pictures with my brahs

Drove up late last night, stayed in Lake George and then to Bolton valley this morning. Rode there from 10 to 2...only hit Wilderness lift this time. Vista wasn't running and I mainly did Timberline side last time. A ton of snow in the trees and soft snow on the rest of the runs. Outlaw woods probably had the best snow of the day

15 different places I think? Yeah only one indy pass redemption per day but the only indy place I paid for was Dartmouth. All the other tickets were less than 50 each except for Pico.

Day 47. Everything hard as granite all day, including a damned normally-groomed area that I like to hit, but you can't exit once you get there and it wasn't. Rock hard mush in lumps, chunks, and ridges. Glad I survived that mess. Did find skiable trails here and there.

Catamount...pretty fun place, better terrain than Butternut and surprisingly good conditions. The amount of signs around the double black runs is comical. Still some fresh cord at 2 pm. May do a few more runs after a BBQ chicken sandwich and dark and stormy and then back to PA

I'm at Butternut this morning. Pretty fun mountain, 1000' vertical and empty. Not much challenging terrain but the awesome grooming makes up for it. I'll do a few more runs then stopping at Catamount for a bit

After S6, it was about 2 45...decided to hit another community t bar hill. Ascutney. T bar only runs like 450' vertical but you can skin up much higher if you want. Cool terrain, conditions surprisingly not too bad. Got 4 tbar laps in before they closed at 4....now at Treehouse in Deerfield for beers and pizza

Saskadeba/Suicide Six...cool place but unfortunately all the trees runs and natural snow trails were closed due to the ice. Hit all the open runs in about an hour...did the face and one other run a second time and headed out. Very cool terrain for a small mountain, wish conditions were better for the trees

Rode pico from 9 to 1. It was cold and sunny, conditions ranged from leftover powder to ice, but for the most part, the snow was good given the weather the past 2 days. Started off on Golden express, then over to the outpost pod, then some runs on the Summit express. Doozie off of outpost was a fun tree run. Also dipped into Pico glades. Never Summer had a demo tent so I rode their boards all morning. Got a bratwurst to go and ate at the car before heading to Saskadena Six

The six had good short tree shots back at least way back and out the back is a cow pasture kinda farm thing. They should have kept the name though I think, nobody comits suicide because of the name of a tiny ski resort in Woodstock.

Back to the hotel in Southern NH, I hung out for a bit and decided to get a brisket sandwich at 603 BBQ in Concord. Some of the best brisket I've had...just on a regular potato roll but I actually prefer that over a thick kaiser roll or whatever. Took my sandwich next door to Lithermans Limited brewing and had a pale ale with my sandwich. Then I hung out at Feathered Friends Brewing, which is a bird themed brewery I guess. Live music, dogs, pretty cool place. Chocolate peanut butter stout was really good, but all the beers were great. interesting artwork in the bathroom, especially the teabagging art. Trying to hit ski areas that I haven't been to, so tomorrow's plan is Pico until early afternoon and then maybe Saskadena Six for a few hours on Indy pass

After panang curry and Thai spring rolls and browsing the thieves of the week. I drove the 20 minutes to Dartmouth skiway. Pretty crowded parking lot but no lift lines. The terrain there is pretty fun, but I only got to hit the Holts ledge side for 6 runs. Soft snow, kinda slow...Don Wardens was closed for racing. After one run, my back binding felt pretty loose. The ankle strap broke in half but the hard plastic part was still working. Made for some funky turns but it was raining at that point so I didn't bother going to get another board from the car. I'd like to get back here on a weekday and check out the rest of the trails, but looking at the map, Holts looked like more fun

Cochrans is usually only open late afternoon/evening during the week. They normally have $ 5 Fridays from 3 to 8 but their hours this past week were 9 to 4 with it being VT vacation week. I enjoyed it there way more than I expected. Pats was a fun place but really crowded. Still cool to check out. I actually hit that instead of Ragged expecting less crowds but that didn't work out I'll post a Dartmouth/brewery report in a bit

Hit Pats peak in southern NH this morning. Really crowded but it's a pretty well run mountain and fun for a few hours. Grooming was good, especially on the cascade basin side. Some nice trees off of the hurricane trail but icy so I didn't spend much time there. Getting some Thai food at the place @Johnny Law recommended and then I'll hit Dartmouth skiway until they close at 4

After Bolton, I drove the 15 minutes to Cochrans ski area. Small place with like 350' of vertical but it's a cool non profit place and for 19 bucks, I wanted to check it out. They have a t bar and a rope tow. No lift tickets, just the honor system whether you pay or not. Underprivileged kids pay nothing or whatever they can afford, which is cool. Grooming was actually really good and I had fun. Only complaint was the t bar lifty playing Nickelback repeatedly. Did 6 runs and now at Zero Gravity Brewing in Burlington.

Vt on presidents is like a UN meeting and as such I was looking for a place to beat the crowds. Trackbiker or someone had mentioned the Bowl last week and it clicked in my head that Saturday would be Winter Rodeo. Imagine a frat party at a ski mtn or Mt Rose's beer fest but with less drinking. The day starts with a big Gs race for all the local colleges and considering who they are that is some very good skiers. Then by about noon the dj comes out and everyone really gets going. I don't know what the ratio is at Middlebury but had I known about it in my teens I would have flunked out of there for sure. Partying aside the bowl delivered the goods, from bell to bell I never waited in line and the trails were mostly empty. The snow was a mix of super grip groomer and chundery off trail. The off trail was deepish but not easy to rotate in. The groomers at the bowl are generally good however their grooming is on par with a college hill and the real star is the tree zones. My favorite is big tree off 11 but all of it was good tail gunning super soft. Liftline was the classic VT mix of excellent and shit all at the same time and I lapped that until my back said no more. I cannot speak highly enough about the bowl. You want to get away from it all or experience what magic was like before it became magic I say give the bowl a long look. It's lifts are slow and the vert nothing to write home about but it's classic VT skiing which is sadly becoming a dying art.

Ragged is much bigger, newer and nicer. The lifts are old and slow at the skiway and the lodge is small and old. That said while I had good days at both I preferred the skiway mostly due to the history and it's like a trip back in time. Ragged is also very rolly and I prefer my trails to pour it on and the Don Schuss had a bit more hill. Honestly you could do both in the same day no problem. I had skied every trail at the skiway in like 2 or 3 hrs and Ragged would probably be more like 4 or 5 hrs. The skiway too is like $40 or something, i spent more on merch than the ticket. Ragged has a small main parking lot and while it won't be killington or something I would bet it will be significantly busier than the skiway. I would check the skiways website to see if they are racing. It's mostly used as gates practice for Dartmouth/Ford Sayer and there can be alot of them plus it will close the Don Schuss . Best food nearby in my opinion is Tuk Tuk Thai, they have two locations but if you like Thai that's the best I've eaten in VT, NH or ME.

2/19 Dartmouth Skiway I have mad meetings this afternoon and could only swing a half day so I wanted to peep somewhere a bit more intimate. My first memory of Dartmouth is rich wanna be investment bankers booting and rallying but only a bit after that was I wanted to ski Dartmouth Skiway. The logical question is why ? It's like 900 vert and has two old mad slow lifts.....because it's literally ski history, short of getting a DeLorean and going back in time this is as close as you can get. The skiway is two pods across the street from eachother so I started on the Holt side as I wanted to ski their big race trail Don Warden Schuss. They only kinda groom and blow snow so I figured this would be by far the best and I was not wrong. A razors like wide strip of perfection, unlike Ragged it pours the steep on. When you get to the point were most trails ease off it goes even steeper. I ran this like 10 times it was sooo good and had that dramatic background that makes you feel like your movie skiing. On the natural snow only trails like lift line the snow was hyper hyper dry and slow which was good because there is a solid layer you can't get through so the surface is quite firm. After I skied all the Holt trails I went across the street to Winslow. This seems more like the noob area and the lift stopped about 5 times per ride. More rolling blues and greens this was set it and forget it territory where I wasn't even warming up down the hill. It honestly felt like a step back in time, super cool place to ski.

Unfortunately my brah got a 28 day Epic Pass suspension on Tuesday for going out of bounds. As we all know, Vail just doesn't have enough terrain in bounds.