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Teton Gravity Research called Vermont “the best place to ski right now” and Unofficial Networks has said that “Vermont is officially going off.” I can’t disagree.  These photos are from the last four days around Smuggler’s Notch.

So this post is coming on the week following Thanksgiving. I was traveling during the holiday and that’s some of what sparked this post. On Thanksgiving eve, Tawny and I hopped in the car and drove to Northampton, MA for a show (and some other festivities) at the Iron Horse Music Hall. Normally this would be about a 3 hour trip, but with the snow storm that was pummeling the east coast, it took us more than 5 hours. Apparently this storm caused the 4th largest ever power outage in New Hampshire.  We started keeping count of the number of cars off the road and got to 18 before we arrived. There were signs of many others off the road, too. So, I’m thankful for is that we made it to Massachusetts safely.

I’m also thankful for the number of amazing musicians in my life. About 15 years ago, I was introduced to a few members of The Grift. Eventually, Tawny and I made it to a show and discovered that our friends with a band were actually amazing musicians! (You never know in Burlington. It seems like everyone has a friend in a band.) Not only are they musically talented, but they’re also some of the nicest people around. Through them, I’m happy to have met many other people in the Burlington music scene that I can also call friends.

On this night, The Sweet Remains were on the schedule to play, but there was an ulterior motive. It was also Clint’s birthday. Little did he know that he’d be playing a gig with so many friends to celebrate!

Happy Birtyday, Clint!

Here are a few quick photos from a backcountry excursion with Tawny. For those that aren’t in the area, Vermont just got crushed with our first big storm of the year. This isn’t to say we haven’t had snow, but 18″ in Burlington had been hard to come by this year. There were a couple good days of skiing Thursday and Friday and then the temperatures rose into the 30’s which gave us some mixed precipitation on Saturday. At higher elevations it may have all been snow, but below 2,000 feet or so it definitely included some rain. We decided to head out and see what the snow was like anyway.

Picking a spot that had a quick approach and easy exit should the snow prove to be too crusty, we were happy to see 3-5″ of new snow on the ground. We followed a group of five in from the trail head but were happy when their tracks peeled off right where we wanted to go left. Up we went weaving in and out of a skin track laid down on Friday or Saturday. At times the old skin track was helpful and at times the icy crust made for difficult travel so we broke trail in fresh snow.

The wind was brisk and while the sun was out, it still wasn’t all that warm. We quickly changed over (well, as quickly as you can with a split board) and headed down hill. The new snow skied beautifully, but you had to stay on top of things to prevent getting thrown by the crusty, thick snow below.

It was a great day skiing made even better by the fact that I could spend it with my wife.