Stricklandia

Michael Strickland's blog on all things travel: news, deals, destinations, dreams and more.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Spring skiing in Vermont

Being a southern California native who also likes to ski, the term "spring skiing" has always been something I associate with SoCal skiing. The term is synonymous with warm temperatures, sunny ski days and snow so slushy it gets the name "SoCal cement." Yesterday in Killington, we lacked the sun, but otherwise it was classic "spring skiing."

Spring is still two weeks away, but the weather conditions and premature Daylight Savings Time made me think it was already April. We hit the slopes first thing Saturday morning, and the snow already sloshed around my skis like a 7-Eleven Slurpee. The rain wasted no time coming down, and well before noon, I was already thinking about setting up shop with a bottle of strawberry syrup and serving Sno-Cones. I can't think of anything more miserable than rain that's just barely warm enough not to turn to snow. Getting soaked through is bad enough, but when you get soaked with 33-degree water... Well, needless to say, we were in the hot tub by mid-afternoon.

The temperature dropped overnight, and we awoke to a howling wind blowing around plenty of new snow. So today didn't qualify as "spring skiing," but that was just fine with me. As one of our fellow gondola riders put it, a 10-degree, windy and snowy day is much better than a 40-degree rainy day. As long as you dress for the weather, it's just fine (and, as the picture shows, I was dressed for it).

The change was most evident on the slopes. While conditions were still not excellent—we hit icy patches here and there—things were far and away better than the day before. Where I'd felt like a new skier on Saturday, slogging through the slush and forcing my turns, I glided down the slopes today like a hot knife through butter. We cut the day short to avoid getting home too late, but not before resolving to take a whole week off for a real ski vacation next year.
 

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2 Comments:

Blogger Grandma said...

You obviously don't remember our one day trip with your Dad to Sierra Summit. We got soaked and quit, but Macho Man insisted on keeping skiing (while we waited) and ended up blowing out his knee.

March 10, 2008 at 2:30 PM  
Blogger Michael Strickland said...

You are correct, I remember the trip, but have no recollection of getting rained on. Hopefully, years from now, I will similarly forget about the rain on this trip.

March 10, 2008 at 2:49 PM  

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