Stratton Mountain

Stratton Mountain
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view along the blue piste called Lower Standard, under the gondola, looking down at Stratton Village.

We had the best ski conditions on Monday. By Tuesday, the warmth had caused the snow to get a bit icier than I like, but it was still not bad.

On Wednesday, we had really bad luck - we got hit by a rainy downpour just as we were heading for the ski tent, so we decided to skip skiing for that day and headed into Manchester for sightseeing and good eating (Zoey's maple bread pudding is a must, IMHO).

On Thursday, we did more skiing. By then, conditions had worsened. The trails were becoming granular and icy, due to the rainfall. However, my skiing skills were up to the challenge and I enjoyed the day overall. In fact, I actually enjoyed the increasing test of my skills as conditions gradually got a little worse the longer we stayed there...

Unfortunately, Friday was a total bust, with rain making the conditions so poor that we decided not to ski. Luckily, we got comped with two "gift certificates" that we happily spent in the village. I would have preferred a good day of skiing, but it was better than nothing. Stratton does a good job of keeping people happy even when the weather does not cooperate.

Altogether, we did cover quite a lot of territory at Stratton, doing multiple runs of the greens - Lower Middlebrook and 91 - over by Sun Bowl Lodge; skiing most of the little maze of greens in the area of Lower Tamarack; and also most of the greens that start at the summit with Mike's Way and Upper Wanderer. We became comfortable with some of the blues as well, including Betwixt and Yodeler. I think if conditions had been better, I would have done a lot more skiing along the blues.