Okemo : Conditions March 4/5

Saturday was a little cloudy with some gusts, but pretty good machine groomed snow. Very well buffed and it makes it easy to ski quite fast. I skiied mostly on the Northstar runs since I was kind of a in a hurry to get vertical in quickly. World Cup was in rocking shape. Later on we spent some time skiing the green runs near the base.

Sunday was a bluebird day that started getting overly warm as the day went on; the parking lot was muddy and I measured 34F temps down there. The problem with that is that melting/refreezing cycles are what causes icy slopes. The temperatures are forecast to steadily rise all week in Vermont, which could put a halt to the nice mini revival we've had for this backloaded winter. I can not complain too much -- I've had 5 days in the last 9 out on the slopes. It sort of makes up for January. On a sidenote, the run Defiance was in brilliant shape again, one of the best I can recall in many years. For whatever reasons (it's not a top to bottom run, prior deaths, and it's a shunt off World Cup) it never seems to have people on it. It's not a natural run to ski over and over (mostly its a great access to the Fall Line lift) but on a busy day for the North Star you might as well lap that using the Fall Line lift, especially from in the late morning when the crowds are the worst.

I won't be up there again til the 25th, and historically that has been a weak weekend for surface conditions in Southern Vermont, except for last year which was a notable exception. We'll keep our fingers crossed and think snow. For a variety of reasons, I'm pondering the thought of a post Easter trip out west to get some last runs in this year. Usually Easter is the formal conclusion of my ski season, but this year I just don't feel like I got a full plate of vertical.