Going over deep end in snow country
LINCOLN, N.H. -- If the ski season has a focal point -- sort of like Fourth of July weekend in summer -- it is Presidents' Week vacation. It's the week when snow meets family-free-from-school, when the weather has softened and ski areas are competing like crazy for your buck.
But here's the bonus we get this mid-February: Snow. Lots of it, just about everywhere. So much snow, in fact, that all the other competitive factors should be considered when choosing a destination.
Go for the best stuffed baked potato, the sickest terrain parks, the zootiest night tubing park, the best local brew. Wherever you go, there will be plenty of snow.
"Thank God for the storms that came through here in the last week," mused Bonnie McKenna, a spokesperson for Booth Creek Resort, which includes Cranmore and Loon mountains. "It's as if the stars are all aligning with lots of fresh snow, everything 100 percent open, and 6 or 7 feet of base . . . and nice sunny, warm weather."
Indeed, most of the North Country got about 2 feet last week, followed by a 10-inch pasting Tuesday that packed in a base that should be skiable into April.
"We really needed some new snow, but you never know when it's coming," said Wildcat Mountain's Irene Donnell, who was working her legs in the heavy new snow Tuesday. "I think last year we had OK snow but it was so cold everyone was hibernating. It's a lot different this year. It's been beautiful weather to ski in."
Storms at the right time and with the right consistency have made this month one of the best in memory for skiing and riding. According to Jim Roemer, a meteorologist from Stowe, Vt., who forecasts for ski areas around the country, this season compares with one of the snowiest winters in New England, 1916.
"If you look at that season with its El Nino, and all the other conditions, that was a year that was bad the first half, but in the second half Boston had 75 inches of snow, and the mountains had a lot more," he said.
In fact, Roemer added, Boston should anticipate another foot this weekend, which should give the mountains a fresh 10-15 inches early next week.
For Charlie Witters, an attorney from Nashua, all the snow he found Tuesday at Wildcat made him think of taking a powder lesson.
"When you get snow like that, it makes you realize how different Western skiers have it," he said. "I mean you try to get an edge in, and instead you're kind of surfing. If I thought we'd have much more powder like that I'd take some lessons in how to ski it."
But here in the land of razor-sharp edges, such powder is as rare as a John Denver ballad on Carter Allen's "Sunday Morning Blues" -- it almost never happens.
"It's just beautiful, beautiful stuff," said Bill Stenger, manager of Jay Peak in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
Jay Peak has some of the finest glade skiing anywhere, but for skiing in the trees, all one needs is snow. And, said Stenger, "We got it." So, too, do the Maine ski areas. From Sugarloaf (which will have its front Snowfields open) to Sunday River and Shawnee, the new snow has created a whole new world.
"We have the Gondy Line extension and parts of Winters Way open that haven't been open for years," said Bill Swain of Sugarloaf. "The skiing is the best here right now I can remember since I've been here."
For back country aficionados, the story is about the same. The treks into uncharted, off-piste runs could not be better. All permitted areas caution, though, that skiers should never try wilderness skiing alone, or without a topographical map of the region and a set destination.
Mary Peabody, who has been an avid cross-country skier since her days at Lyndon State in Vermont, is also rejoicing in the snowy winter. "When the snow is new, it's a little hard to bushwhack," said Peabody, who enjoys the Bretton Woods and Great Gulf trail systems. "But still, I like getting off the tracked trails sometimes and sort of exploring in the woods. All this snow makes it just so smooth and silky . . . It's really very beautiful."
For ski areas, timing is everything. The predicted snowstorms have the potential to keep people from the roadways. If there is a big storm in the works, ski area operators are crossing their fingers for good timing.
"If it just waits until after Monday," said Chip Carey, vice president of 
