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Boom Boom GROOM!

Rockin’ Ron for Hugh. Let’s do the numbers: ALL 8 Lifts, 71 of 78 trails, 34 groomed trails – totaling 135 acres, and 21 inches of SNOW in the past 5 days… it all adds up to FUN! Today’s forecast is partly sunny skies with highs of 23 degrees at the base and 19 at the summit. So grab your coat, grab your hat, and hit the slopes in seconds flat. Ski U soon!

Grooming Lower Morse Liftline.
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Pushing out snowmaking whales

Lower Morse Liftline is now groomed full width. For the past few days our snowmakers have been filling in the skier’s right on Lower Morse Liftline. Our groomers then took over last night and this morning to provide beautiful corduroy across the whole trail. Thank you to our snowmakers and groomers for all their hard work. We also made snow on Hibernator and Snow Snake last night. Today, we plan to have top-to-bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating, including the Madonna I Lift. We have 57 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. Currently, it is partly sunny and 26 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 0 to 5 mph. Today’s forecast is calling for mostly sunny skies with a high of 39 degrees at the base and 35 degrees at higher elevations.

Lower Morse Liftline
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Snowmaking operations

We are making snow on Lower Morse Liftline and Snow Snake. These trails will be closed today. The way down the bottom half of Morse Mountain is the Magic Learning Trail and Howie’s Wanderer. Today, we have top-to-bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating, including the Madonna I Lift. We have 59 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 28 trails have been groomed for today, including Log Jam, Smugglers’ Alley, and Upper FIS. Surface conditions are machine groomed and variable, with average base depths of 12 to 36 inches. Currently, it is sunny and 10 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 5 to 10 mph. Today’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with a high of 27 degrees at the base and 22 degrees at higher elevations.

I would like to give our mountain ops. props! Making snow near a lift can cause some issues. You want to make snow on the trail and not on the lift. The wind direction and intensity can change at any time. This can put the snow in places you may not want. Our lift maintenance, groomers, and snowmakers worked together to get Lower Madonna Liftline open for us yesterday! Thank you very much for all your efforts!

Lower Morse Liftline
Snowmakers’ hard at work
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Snowmaking and grooming operations

We are presently making snow on Garden Path, Lower Morse Liftline, Midway, Sam’s Run, and Meadowlark. Today, we have Sterling Lift, Sir Henry’s Glider, and Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift open to mid-station. We have 25 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. We received an inch of new snow overnight and 21 inches in the past 4 days. 10 trails have been groomed for today, including Magic Learning Trail and Treasure Run, for a total of 35 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 14 to 40 inches. Currently, it is 5 degrees at the summit of Sterling with partly cloudy skies and winds of 0 to 5 mph. Today’s forecast is calling for mostly sunny skies with a high of 25 degrees at the base and 22 degrees at higher elevations. Enjoy the wonderful conditions!

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Vitamin D and Fresh-E

Rockin’ Ron for Hugh. No, it’s not a Hip Hop group; it’s skiing or riding on a sunny day with fresh powder – 17 inches of new SNOW in the past 2 days! Good on you if you got on the mountain today. For Wednesday, we plan to have 20 trails open with terrain for all abilities. 12 trails will be groomed for a total of 47 acres. Grooming is scheduled for Garden Path and Lower Morse Liftline on Morse – we hope to open those trails soon. Due to grooming operations, Uphill Access is on Madonna only (beware of thin cover). Ski U soon.

ATTENTION BEGINNERS: Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift is open and servicing the Magic Learning Trail and Howie’s Wanderer. Sir Henry’s Glider is also open and offers access to Sir Henry’s Learning Hill (our 1st Timers area).
Luis and Doug – your friendly Lifties at Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift. Luis is from Costa Rica and is here for a second year as a cultural exchange student. Doug has worked for Mountain Ops for many years and this past summer with the Activities Department.
Snow-covered evergreens by the Evergreen Building… that makes sense.

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Clear skies and corduroy

Morse Mountain base area
Lower Morse Liftline

Today’s forecast is calling for sunny skies early with increasing clouds throughout the day, a high of 39 degrees at the base and 33 degrees at higher elevations. Currently it is 25 degrees at the summit of Sterling with clear skies. The clouds rolling this afternoon will bring us snow showers tonight and tomorrow. 4 to 8 inches of accumulation possible tonight and another 1 to 3 inches tomorrow at higher elevations. The Madonna 1 Lift will open at 9:30am this morning. Today we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating, including the Madonna 1 Lift. We have 73 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 31 trails have been groomed for today, including Upper FIS, Smugglers’ Alley, and Snow Snake for a grand total of 123 acres of freshly groomed terrain.

The Nordic Center is open with 15 km of snowshoeing and 17 km of cross-country trails. The ice rink is presently closed.

This weekend the featured beer for the apres sports parties at Bootlegger’s and the Black Bear Tavern is Pabst Blue Ribbon.

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Morning Moon making snow

Rockin’ Ron for the Legendary Hugh Johnson. Last night and into this morning our trusty Snowmakers were busy on the Lower Morse Liftline and Snow Snake trails. Meanwhile, the ever-popular Grooming Crew was driving and tilling up and down 30 trails to bring us 123 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Hey Expert Skiers and Riders – both Upper FIS and Smugglers’ Alley were groomed! Time to hit the slopes.

Morning Moon over the Village. Snowgun on the right.
Groomer goes zoom.
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Good morning

Lower Morse Liftline

We are presently making snow on Curley’s Cutback, Log Jam, and Hibernator. These trails will be closed today. We received a dusting of new snow overnight and 24 inches in the past 8 days. Currently, it is cloudy and 12 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 5 to 10 mph. Today’s forecast is calling for cloudy skies with snow developing late in the day with a high of 27 degrees at the base and 20 degrees at higher elevations. Tonight’s forecast is snow showers with 1 to 3 inches of accumulation possible. Today we have top-to-bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating, including Madonna I. We have 67 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 28 trails have been groomed for today for a grand total of 119 inches of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are packed powder and machine groomed with average base depths of 8 to 30 inches. It’s going to be a little chilly Friday and Saturday. Today and Sunday will be more suited for the fair weather skier or rider, just saying.

The Nordic Center is open with 15 km of snowshoeing and 17 km of cross-country trails. The small ice rink is also open.

This weekend the featured beverage for the apres sports parties at Bootlegger’s and the Black Bear Tavern is Woodchuck.

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99 acres of freshly groomed terrain for Thursday

Summit of Sterling Mountain
Lower Morse Liftline

It was pretty foggy today, with mixed precipitation turning to snow. The temperature was slowly falling throughout the day. Tonight we plan to make snow on Upper Chilcoot and Waterfall. We received a dusting to an inch of new snow on the top of Sterling. There is a winter weather advisory starting late tomorrow afternoon and ending late Friday afternoon. We could see a storm total of 6 to 10 inches of accumulation possible! Currently, it is 26 degrees at the summit of Sterling with flurries and winds of 10 to 20 mph. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for partly sunny skies with a high of 28 degrees at the base and 26 degrees at the summit of Sterling. Tomorrow we plan to have skiing and riding on all 3 mountains. We plan to have the Madonna II Lift, Sterling Lift, Village Lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, Morse Highlands Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider all operating. We have 38 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 22 out of the 38 open trails will be groomed for tomorrow, including Smugglers’ Alley, Magic Learning Trail, and Lower Madonna Liftline for a grand total of 99 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are machine-groomed and variable with average base depths of 6 to 24 inches.

The Nordic Center is open with 9 km of cross-country skiing and 15 km of snowshoeing.

This coming weekend the featured beer for the apres sports parties at Bootlegger’s and the Black Bear Tavern is Labatts.

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Great day on the mountain

Sterling Pond with Mount Mansfield in the background
Heelside carve on Lower Morse Liftline
Thomke’s Express with clouds in the valley
Sterling summit
View from Midway

The day started with all 3 mountains covered in clouds. It did not take long before the sun burned the clouds off and we had bluebird skies. I skied over to Sterling from the top of the Village Lift this morning and the views were amazing. I spent some time on top of Sterling soaking in the beautiful sunshine and views. The clouds in the valley looked like water and the mountains were islands. Tomorrow we plan to have skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with the Madonna II Lift, Sterling Lift, Village Lift, Morse Highlands Lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider. We now have 33 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 18 out of the 33 open trails will be groomed for tomorrow for a grand total of 81 acres of freshly groomed terrain. We are presently making snow on Lower FIS, Lower Madonna Liftline, and Mulcahy’s Link. Tonight and tomorrow we plan to move the snowmaking operations over to Birch Run and Lower Rumrunner. Birch Run and Lower Rumrunner will be closed tomorrow due to snowmaking operations. Surface conditions are machine-groomed and variable with average base depths of 6 to 24 inches. Currently, it is cloudy and 15 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 10 to 15 mph. Tomorrow’s forecast is partly sunny skies with a slight chance of a snow shower. There will be a temperature inversion tomorrow. The high temperature for the summit of Sterling is 31 degrees and the high temperature for the base area is 23 degrees. This is one of the reasons that we will be making snow tomorrow on Birch Run and Lower Rumrunner.

Uphill travel is open on Morse Mountain from 5 pm to 10 pm Friday through Wednesday. Morse Mountain is closed Thursday evenings due to fireworks and Cat Trax Tours.

Madonna and Sterling are presently closed to uphill travel until we have more trails open. Stay tuned for updates.