The sky has turned blue this morning and with the higher elevations covered with an early season layer of white, Mt. Mansfield is shimmering in its own glory today.  Over the past week, the upper elevations have seen small snowfalls start to add up creating a small and somewhat firm micro-base underneath 3 to 4” of snow that has allowed early season snow sliders to get their first turns of the season. This base and snowfall are most evident above 1200 feet, with lower mountain consisting mostly of fast grass, leaves and a very thin covering of snow.

With that being said, Stowe Mountain Resort has given uphillers new grounds for specific trail access early season, designating Chin Clip as the uphill and downhill route to ski at any time during the day until the Gondola opens for the season.  Many skiers where sighted this past weekend skiing on the Gondola side and reports from the field were filled with excitement from those who ventured up the big hill. Rock skis are certainly recommended but the mountain is offering free stone grinds for those who choose to ski spicer lines.

With the pre-season now in swing, we are advising all uphillers to stay on the Gondola side and stay off of all the snowmaking trails that are currently in use.  SMR is being aggressive with pumping out as much man-made snow as they can on the opening routes in anticipation of opening day.  Please give the mountain operations team lay of the land on this terrain as they are working hard to get things going.

Although we do have a bit of a warm up coming later in the week, anticipation is still optimistic that Mt. Mansfield could possibly open by Friday depending on what Mother Nature has in store for us. Fingers are crossed and we will see what happens but we are looking good as opening day nears and anticipation continues to build for all lift served skiers.

Stay tuned for updates, get those skis out of storage and get them into the shop for tunes as ski season is drawing closer by the day.  

Phot: Shop manager Robbie getting his first turns on Chin Clip yesterday.