Hey thanks Joshua for posting those pics of Whaleback, and Jeff
Strait for the Greylock pics.  It's so cool to see those epic snow
depths in central New England.  I really liked the Whiteface report
also, 90 inch base, awesome!   It's about time we had a good 'ol
fashioned winter around here.

Was up in Waterville, VT this weekend, did some snowboarding at
Smuggs Saturday.  I've never seen that much snow on Liftline before,
incredible.  The skiing over at Sterling was better, lots of fresh
tracks were had, either from the light snow overnight or just the 3
feet from Tuesday blowing around, I'm not sure.

On Sunday I did a pretty cool backcountry jaunt.  A friend of mine
lives in Waterville, very close to "Laraway Mtn".  Not sure of the
spelling.  Anyway, you can drive up to the Long Trail and it's about
a 2.4 mile hike to the top of Laraway, we went up on snowshoes.
Nothing too spectacular, but this would be a fun and quick trip on
skis, some fun downhill shots.  Some very cool looking huge
waterfalls.  For me, just seeing the incredible snow depths is worth
the trip.  The LT trailhead is pretty high up in elevation and it
reminded me of Grand Targhee, just massive snowbanks all around the
tiny plowed-out area.  The houses up on the mountain were
half-submerged in snow, we saw a barn that had succumbed to the white
weight, a collapsed mass of snow and ancient, washed-out boards.

The best part is driving back to Boston, and seeing that the snow
stays deep almost all the way home.  Whaleback, which even in good
years is often full of brown spots & ice, looked like mo-fo A-basin
up there!  I felt like I was driving through Loveland Pass in
Colorado.  The snowbanks on the sides of I-89 near Whaleback were the
biggest anywhere, from Boston all the way up past Stowe to
Jeffersonville, VT.  Whaleback, Ragged mtn, Sunapee, etc. must have
at least 5-6 feet or MORE of base.  I went cross-country skiing at
Wachusett state park here in Mass. last week, they had about 40
inches on the ground at 1300 feet, and they got another foot on
Saturday!  It was like being in the Alps, HUGE snowbanks everywhere,
I was in shock at being only 1 hour from my house.  I can only
imagine what Mt. Greylock must be like out in Western Mass.  There
are tons of fantastic tree skiing areas out there, they must be going
off this year.  It's hard to believe some years Greylock gets almost
no snow.

I have no doubt that the skiing on the steep trails at Whaleback over
the last two weeks was as good as anywhere in the US.  I'd really
like to try the place out.  Heard from some friends on Sunday in
Jackson Hole that they're going to close early this year, they
literally do not have enough snow to ski on!  Something to think
about the next time you drop into a 45-degree couloir at
Whiteface.....

-Scott

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