Rikkert Touring Center, Middlebury

I was fortunate enough to finish a job early and had the skis in the truck so I stopped in at the Middlebury College Rikkert Center. The snow cover was fantastic. No bare spots but the debris from trees was starting to show. Pieces of branches, pine needles, pine cones, and other crud was arriving on the surface. Not enough to effect the skiing but the signs of the end of snow are very obvious.

The surface was very moist to wet packed powder over a hard base. Trails with a high aspect for sun were a bit slow and I did encounter a few zones of rapid deceleration but overall the trails skied wonderfully. The staff believes there will be enough snow to ski until the end of March. Unless we receive a bunch of rain and high temps I can believe them.

I hope to ski in Hanover (Oak Hill and Garripey) today and will post a report if I can get down there. Rumor has it skiing very well.

Thetford Hill State Park 2/24

After racing the Silver Fox Trot at Oak Hill on Saturday (the course was very well groomed) I decided to try the Skiing at the Thetford Hill State Park accessed by parking at Thetford Academy. This trail was designed by John Morton and is host to many great high school running races during the summer and school year. The grooming is done by a group of volunteers using a snow mobile. The conditions are fantastic! Great cover groomed as well or better than most nordic centers. Best of all this fantastic spot is free to use. The trails are fun with some twisting downhills, longish climbs and flats to cruise on. The trails are groomed wide enough to skate and there are tracks set for classic skiers.

Oak Hill 2/20

Skied Oak Hill and was it nice. The groomers did an excellent job turning the ice from the rain into tiny bits of fast snow/iceballs. The temps were in the mid 20s and the skiing was fast. I was on the Trabs waxed with Red LF Dragon Wax (18-35 degree) and had really good glide. Cover was excellent and the only hard spots were in the S-bends coming back to the stadium from the Outback loop. Even so, the bends were skiable with soft snow pushed to the outside. In places the snow was a bit chopped and very sugary. There were several members of the Ford Sayre club shoveling snow onto the downhill curves in preparation for the Silver Fox race this weekend. Get out and ski it. The season has been awesome at Oak Hill this year.

garipey field 2/19

The snow was packed hard and the skate lanes were smoothed off. I was told earlier in the day, between 11:00 and 14:00, the snow was soft. Real hero snow. I was there with the family at 15:30 and the temps had dropped making things a bit stiff. The hill by the daycare was soft as was the run down the sewer line to the golf course. The hills on the GC were a bit chopped going up and fast but controllable going down. The groomers did a nice job covering the water hole by Route 10. The classic tracks were in good shape for most of the loop. Hoping to get up to Oak Hill on Wednesday early afternoon.

rain

The rain today, 2/18, shouldn't hurt conditions too much but the warmth (it's 52F as I write) might put a hurt on the snowpack. After racing this past Saturday and Sunday I'm taking today as a rest and should get out tomorrow and I'll update the Upper Valley conditions.

Hanover, NH

Skied Garripey Field on Tuesday Feb. 12. There is plenty of snow. The skate lane was rubbed free of most of the corduroy and the tracks were in decent shape. I was told by several skiers who had ventured to Oak Hill the conditions there were very good with solid cover.

Welcome and please read

Hello fellow skiing enthusiast. How often have you wondered about conditions at a ski center and have been hesitant to believe the reports posted on the internet? Do the terms "firm but edgable" and "thin cover" make you shudder with dread? How often have you made a long drive after believing a conditions report only to be completely disappointed and disenfranchised by the reality of what you have found?

Conversely, when have you discovered fantastic conditions under reported by the Snow Liars?

There are also many great places to ski (state parks, school trails, etc.) which are not well known except by locals. These places can also make you the Snow Liar and post reports.

The idea/purpose of this blog is for anyone to post what snow conditions they have found at any ski area. How accurate were the reports generated by the conditions reporters aka, Snow Liars at the areas?

In addition to helping skiers find the best snow available, another intention of this site is to help skiers find the closest snow to their base of operations. With fuel prices climbing and the threat of global warming having the potential for making skiing a historical activity this Blog should help us drive less saving fuel and the environment.

Also, please don't badmouth an area if the conditions reports are much better than reality. Please post what you, the skier, found at an area along with a synopsis of the area's report. If an area is really great and accurate let us know. If an area are true Snow Liars fill us in too but don't use this Blog to rip them a new one.

If users can post under an areas heading or name it will keep things a bit more organized and useful. Please check the date of posting and skiing to be sure the info is up to date. While the internet is an anonymous place, please sign the posts with some handle preferably your first name but it's up to you.

Thanks for checking the site and ski fast ans safe. Kevin