Middlebury, Vt.

Life in the middle of Vermont.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

"Snow Reports" from Mad River Glen

With this past winter having been having been the winter-that-wasn't, the folks at Mad River Glen managed to come up with some amusing language to describe the consistently sketchy conditions. Here are some selections from the daily snow report:

From late March as it got warm:

"Skiers may have to get a little creative when picking their line. "

[In the wake of a big rainstorm, followed by sub-zero temperatures]: "If there ain't fish underneath, it ain't ice." Also, "We will be 'skiing' on 12 trails."

From early spring: "The conditions deteriorate as you reach the lower half with areas of 'dust on crust' along with the odd ice flow."

After two days of rain-- "We are closing the mountain today to allow it to drain."

Description of the conditions after there were 4 inches of new snow on top of frozen granular:
"Loud powder."

And a longer classic:

"Today we plan on skiing on at least 15 trails off of the Single, the Sunnyside Double, and the Handle Tow, all with a frozen granular skiing surface that is best described as 'intermittently edgeable.' … If nothing else it will be in the 20's today and it should be a pleasant to spend time on the mountain. If you are wondering why all the steep stuff is closed all you have to do is ski the ungroomed part of Catamount to get a sense of what you are missing."