Hugh's Views - Smugglers' Notch Vermont

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12 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours

Posted December 7, 2018 at 3:58 pm

Deep powder

Today was simply amazing with all the great snow that we have been receiving in the past week. We received 29 inches of new snow in the past 6 days bringing our season snowfall total to 115 inches! Everything is skiing and riding so well right now, that being said the snow in the trees is really deep. My first run of the day was Upper Exhibition. It was so much fun letting my skis run as they floated through the fresh snow.

Lifts and Trails

Boom

For Saturday we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 4 lifts operating; Madonna I Lift, Sterling Lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider. We now have 65 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 22 trails will be groomed for tomorrow, that’s a grand total of 91 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 20 to 50 inches.

Snowmaking

Our snowmakers are taking full advantage of the cooler temperatures. Tonight they are busy on Midway, Lower FIS, Lower Madonna Liftline, and around the Base Lodge.

Weather

Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for partly sunny skies early with a chance of snow showers later in the day. Temperatures will be between 6 and 21 degrees.

Events

24th Annual Brewfest, Part 1 is Saturday, December 8th in the Meeting House

Vermont has the highest number of breweries per capita. Our BrewFest highlights some of our state’s excellent breweries plus regional favorites and craft ciders. Enjoy samples from Sam Adams, Angry Orchard Cider, Sierra Nevada, Stone, Rogue, and more. If your tastes run closer to home, don’t miss samples from Vermont’s own Citizen Cider, Magic Hat, Boyden Valley, Shed, Otter Creek, Switchback, Woodchuck Cider, Long Trail, Halyard Brewing, 14th Star, Zero Gravity, and Fiddlehead. More breweries are being added; stay tuned! A DJ spins the tunes and the Mountain Grille puts on a tasty appetizer buffet. 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm in the Meeting House. Tickets are available at the door; $22 entry includes 8 samples, munchies, and a souvenir sampling glass. 21 & older, please. BrewFest group lodging packages are available for groups of 20 or more; please call 800-521-0536.

Plan a return visit for Spring skiing — BrewFest Part 2 is March 30, 2019

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Powder Day

Posted December 7, 2018 at 9:52 am

We received 6 to 12 inches of new snow last night and this morning. The snowfall that we received was an upslope snow event.

The National Weather Service defines an upslope snow event as:

These are highly localized, possibly high impact events that affect the region. Upslope precipitation, in general, is produced by cool moist air being forced up the mountain slopes, and in this study, on northerly to westerly winds. Depending on the details of each event, impacts can range from only a few inches along the peaks of the Green Mountains to a highway-closing 1 to 3 foot snowstorm along the western slopes of the Green Mountains and even into the Champlain Valley. One of the main factors in these events is the terrain of Vermont, as shown in Figure 1. The Green Mountains, with peaks as high as 4395 feet (Mount Mansfield) run primarily north to south through the central portion of the state and are one of the main contributors to upslope snowfall in the state. Research by: Michael Muccilli, Meteorologist, NWS Burlington, VT

Amazing conditions

Sterling Mountain is 100 percent open! This weekend we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 4 lifts operating, the Madonna I Lift, the Sterling Lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider.

Snow Sport University Ski Instructor Matt McCawley goes deep on Upper Exhibition

Nemo floating down Upper Exhibition

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100 inches of snowfall this season so far!

Posted December 5, 2018 at 4:08 pm

Upper Exhibition on Sterling Mountain

We received 2 inches of new snow overnight, 14 inches in the past 4 days, and 76 inches in the month of November! The start to this season has been one for the record books. We are adding to all the natural snowfall. Last night and today we made snow on Morse Mountain. Our snowmakers moved up to Madonna Mountain this afternoon. They are presently making snow on Mulcahy’s Link, Lower FIS, and Lower Madonna Liftline.

Lifts and Trails

Tomorrow we plan to have the Sterling Lift and Sir Henry’s Glider operating with 32 trails open. 8 trails will be groomed for tomorrow, including Upper Rumrunner and Lower Exhibition for a grand total of 31 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are machine groomed and packed powder with average base depths of 14 to 48 inches. The Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift will open this Friday, December 7th and will remain open for the rest of season. This weekend we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding with 4 lifts operating, the Madonna 1 Lift, Sterling Lift, Sir Henry’s Glider, and Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift. We plan to have 60 trails open with terrain for all ability levels.

Weather

Currently it is 20 degrees at the summit of Sterling with light snow and winds of 0 to 5 mph. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for scattered snow showers an inch of accumulation possible with temperatures between 17 and 30 degrees.

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Early morning groom

Posted December 2, 2018 at 7:21 am

Lower Morse Liftline

We received 1 to 2 inches of new snow overnight, 30 inches in the past week, and 88 inches this season so far. We have 65 skiable trails and 37 lift accessible trails open today. The Madonna I lift is presently on wind hold. Today we plan to have 3 lifts operating: Sterling lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider. 15 trails have been groomed for today, that’s 63 acres of freshly groomed terrain.

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Sea of Clouds

Posted December 1, 2018 at 5:14 pm

Into the mist

Today was another wonderful day to be out on the slopes. The Madonna I Lift opened again and Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift opened for the first time this season. Tomorrow we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 4 lifts operating and 65 trails open. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 14 to 48 inches. 15 out of the 65 trails will be groomed for tomorrow, that’s 63 acres of freshly groomed terrain.

Upper Drifter

Forecast

Tonight’s forecast is calling for snow and mix 1 to 2 inches of accumulation possible. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for snow and mix early then a chance of some rain later in the day with temperatures between 29 and 41 degrees.

Mount Mansfield above the clouds

Some air time on Shuttle

Tony enjoying the nice conditions

Ken carving it up

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Madonna, Sterling, and Morse open!

Posted December 1, 2018 at 9:44 am

Upper Madonna Liftline

Upper Exhibition on Sterling

Fresh tracks on Morse

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A Snovember to Remember

Posted November 30, 2018 at 4:27 pm

Strawberry Fields

Top to bottom on all 3 mountains

Weather permitting we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 4 lifts operating. Tomorrow the Sterling Lift will open at 8:00 am, the Madonna I Lift will open at 8:30 am, and Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift will open at 9:00 am. Our trail count just doubled going from 32 to 64 trails! Sterling Mountain is 100 percent open. Madonna Mountain will only have Gary B’s, Ruthie’s, Shire, and Bermuda closed tomorrow, yes we plan to have all the double black diamond and triple black diamond trails open! Morse Mountain will have Garden Path, Magic Learning Trail, Wanderer, Lower Morse Liftline, and Sir Henry’s Learning Hill open.

Black Bear

Weather

Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for mostly cloudy skies with temperatures between 21 and 33 degrees.

Conditions

20 out of the 64 open trails will be groomed for tomorrow, including Upper Drifter and Smugglers’ Alley for a grand total of 81 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 14 to 40 inches.

Practice Slope

Quality Family Time

Rime ice on a tree branch. Soft rime formations have the appearance of white ice needles and scales; they are fragile and can be easily shaken off objects. Factors that favour soft rime are small drop size, slow accretion of liquid water, high degree of supercooling, and fast dissipation of latent heat of fusion. The opposite conditions favour ice with higher densities, such as hard rime or clear ice

Sterling Rock

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Top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains this weekend!

Posted November 30, 2018 at 8:36 am

Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift

This weekend we plan to have 4 lifts operating, the Madonna I Lift, the Sterling Lift, Sir Henry’s Glider, and the Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift operating! Our trail count will double with the additional lifts operating this weekend. We are presently making snow on Upper Chilcoot and Waterfall. Today we have the Sterling Lift and Sir Henry’s Glider operating with 32 trails open. Sterling Mountain is 100 percent open. Sir Henry’s Learning Hill is groomed and open for beginners. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 16 to 48 inches. Today’s forecast is calling for increasing clouds with temperatures between 20 and 34 degrees.

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How Now Pow Hound?!!

Posted November 27, 2018 at 11:56 am

Deep Powder on Sterling Mountain. Photo by Hugh Johnson.

Rockin’ Ron Carter for Hugh. This has got to be one of the best Novembers on record, at least as far as snow goes… 66 inches of total accumulation and counting! More snow is in the forecast as well. I was talking to Mike McAdoo of Mtn Ops and he said today’s wet and heavy snow will definitely help out the base. All the trails on Sterling Mountain are open today. We anticipate Madonna I running this coming weekend. Grab your skis and boards and hit the POW NOW!

Chair lift? All the chairs, even the big one in the Village, were covered in snow! Photo by Rockin’ Ron Carter.

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Fantastic start to the season!

Posted November 24, 2018 at 1:01 pm

Leigh finds the goods in the woods

Tons of Terrain

Today we had 58 trails open for experts and intermediates. Sir Henry’s Learning Hill is also open for beginners. We are 74 percent open which means that we have 240 acres of trails open and with our open woods policy that brings the total to around 700 acres! Woods between open trails are also open terrain. If you ski or ride in the woods you should be an expert and stay in groups of 3 or more.

Great Conditions

I ran into my good friend Leigh this morning in Parking Lot 1. We had a blast skiing Madonna and Sterling. We warmed up our legs skiing Upper Exhibition. We jumped into the woods for our next run and were blown away with the amount of snow. We headed up Madonna next to take on Freefall and the Black Hole. We skied Freefall from the top and then cut into the Black Hole. The snow in the Black Hole is really deep and I was able to find some sweet fresh turns.

Upper Exhibition

Tonight’s events

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm – Join us on the Village Green for a Hot Chocolate Warm-up and Bonfire with Mogul Mouse and Goodtime Charlie, s’mores, glow sticks and wine tasting with Boyden Valley Winery.
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Post Thanksgiving Day Dinner at Morse Mountain Grille.
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm – Cirque De Fuego, Vermont’s premiere fire performers.
6:15 pm Fireworks over Morse Mountain and Santas arrival.
6:45 pm – 7:30 pm Join Santa in FunZone 2.0 for cookies and lemonade .
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Game Show Showdown in the Meeting House

Tomorrow

Sunday we plan to have both the Sterling lift and Sir Henry’s Magic Carpet operating with 32 trails open. 9 out of the 32 trails will be groomed for tomorrow, including Smugglers’ Alley for a grand total of 32 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for a chance of mixed precipitation with temperatures between 32 and 40 degrees.