3.23.2013 The Thunderbolt Ski Trail

The snowfall in Western Massachusetts hasn't been as heavy as it's been in Kiev lately, but there was still a pretty decent amount of snow on the ground.  It is about two month to the day since Kyle and I made our last trip to Mt. Greylock to ski The Thunderbolt.  

There was actually enough base to cover all of the rocks and grass and then there was about a foot of powder on top of it.  We skinned up The Thunderbolt all of the way until the Big Bend, there we took a side trail to avoid needing to bootpack up the steep section.  This detour added a little bit of distance to the hike up; however, we got some good views of spots to ski in the woods.  Only two skiers and one boarder rode past us on the skin up and two other skiers with a dog hung close with us for most of the way until the detour.  

Skinning up the start of the trail.

Crossing the road that cars can drive up in the summer, we were able to skin up the remainder of the trail right to the door of the lodge.  A few snowmobilers were hanging out in the lodge, but no other skiers were in sight.  One of the guys was nice enough to take our photo before heading back out.

Steez and stoke factors both high.

Cruising down the start of The Thunderbolt from the intersection with the auto road.

Dropping....

Looks like this could be the last good weekend for backcountry skiing before it warms up too much and the cover gets thin.  Who knows, maybe we'll get slammed with another foot of snow and The Thunderbolt will live on a little bit longer into Spring.

44.7247° N, 73.9119° W

Where: Clinton County, New York
When: February 16-17
Why: Presidents' Day Weekend
What: Troy to Plattsburgh. Plattsburgh to Chazy Highlands. Skin to the summit of Lyon Mountain and ski down. Take the ferry to VT and head to Burlington. Ferry to Plattsburgh. Back to Lyon Mountain to explore glades seen from the last descent. Drive to Lake Placid to eat and explore. Plattsburgh for the night.

Conditions? See for yourself.

Skinning up the "Old Trail".

Knee deep at the summit.

 

Kyle scoping out his line through the trees.

First ever cliff drop, albeit small.

Face shots!

Double dropping the pillows.

Stuck in the powder, can't complain.

Finding Nemo

It's four in the morning.  It's illegal to drive on the roads in Massachusetts.  Good thing we are heading to Vermont.  We only pass two vehicles on the road the entire hour and a half drive from Troy to Stratton Mountain, not a huge surprise.  Arriving at the mountain, we find that the "members only" parking lot is not guarded and that the door to the lodge is open even though all the lights are off, great success.  Headlamp on, boots on, skis on, skins on; off we go.  

Untouched snow all around.

I called up Stratton last night to ask about their uphill travel and before/after hours skiing policy and there were no restrictions.  The lady on the phone did recommend a trail to skin up though.  If you know the mountain, then the trail is to the right of the gondola and goes up past the houses on the right and around to the backside of the mountain.  This is green all the way, but way long as it wraps around.  Instead of taking the long way we went up Flukey's Run and took a left on to White Birch, which connected to Lower Standard and Upper Standard under the gondola.

Skinning up under the gondola.  Luckily following snowmobile tracks part of the way up.

After about an hour and a half of skinning we were at the summit and ready to ski down.  A handful of ski patrol and medic staff skied past us, but there was still plenty of fresh powder to go around.  Only having skied once before, and not on powder, it took me a few turns to get the hang of it again.  Kyle cruised down with the goal of warming up after our cold stop to take off skins and transition to ski mode.

Powder 5" to knee deep in spots.

We weren't the only ones who figured there would be good snow today.  The lines grew and the slopes got crowded, partially thanks to the gondola never opening due to high winds.  Speaking of winds, the temperature at the summit was -25F and the base was -8F, including windchill.  This warrants a stop in the lodge to put on a couple extra layers and swap out gloves for a dry pair.

As the lines grew our patience did not.  Back to skinning to scope out a trail that only has a few tracks through it.  We make it up as high as possible before the snow was so blown that exposed roots and rocks were in the way.  It was a quick run, but some of the best snow of the day.  Time to let the quads rest up.  Skiing powder isn't easy, not that I'm complaining.

Rocks up ahead, time to ski down.