Still great but farther

There is still great skiing to be had, but you're going to have to travel for it. Wednesday's storm delivered plenty of rain in Massachusetts, lots of ice across south/central Vermont and New Hampshire and good snow along the northernmost sections of New England.

Places I'd recommend for this weekend are Mad River Glen, Stowe, Jay Peak, Sunday River and Sugarloaf.

Don't forget, it's President's Day Weekend, one of the busiest ski weekends of the year, and then vacation week next week, so the mountains are likely to be crowded.

What a Difference a Week Makes

This time last week the New England Ski Detective was feeling pretty glum. He had downgraded conditions to a mere two stars (in early February!) and forecasts were calling for a lot of rain.

What's worse, he had booked a room at the Mt. Washington Hotel for a romantic ski weekend with his wife for this weekend.

Well, I must have been doing something right, because that rain turned into snow, lots of snow. So far the north country has gotten in excess of 20 inches of fresh powder with more to come.

Time to head north.

Cowabunga

After a brief patch of less than ideal conditions, the 07-08 ski season is roaring again.

Much of the north country has gotten up to two feet of new snow since Monday. The stake at Mt. Mansfield in Vt is recording 64 inches on the ground, that's twice as deep as the average depths this time of year.

Mad River Glen says it has 103 percent of its trails open (it's dropped the rope on cliff sections that it almost never opens.) Most of the other areas are now 100 percent open as well.

For those interested, I'll be skiing at Mt. Snow on Sunday. Kids under 18 pay their age! I'll be chaperoning the ski bus leaving from Jackson's Ski Outlet in Easton, MA.

Hope to see you all there.

Gino Del Guercio