Overnight it seemed to turn from winter to spring in Vermont. On Saturday I skied all day with my old back-of-the-pack buddy, Walter. The temperature was mild but the wind kept things feeling brisk. We skied on 'MADgical" packed powder, as they were calling it on the MRG website, and Walter commented that it was unnaturally quiet for Mad River skiing.
Overnight the rain came and changed it all by the next day. Sunday, I skied with Laurie, another old-time Mad River skiing friend from college. We started out on much more solidly packed powder at the top, which changed to crusty glazed over snow in the middle, and later started getting soft and mushy towards the bottom. As we skidded around the moguls, yesterday's abnormal quiet was replaced with the noise of edges chattering on the slicker surfaces, sounding more like the Mad River we were used to. Still though, the skiing was great, the sun was out and even more old friends were around. There's just no place like Mad River.
Of course we also spent time at the house, and were happy to have Todd and Melissa came by to see it, followed the next day by Laurie and a new friend who lives just below us off Old Mansfield Road. We had great fun trying to knock the big icicle from the overhang above the front door by throwing snowballs at it. After a good twenty minutes though, the icicle was kind of the winner. Once the metal roof is on, the snow should just slide off and not build up enough to form icicles. Otherwise, I guess we'll have to improve our snowball aim. Check out the progress photos.