Season's heavy snowfall affects winter sports

By Matt Dempsey
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

With nearly seven feet of snowfall in parts of Vermont this winter, trails and slopes throughout the state have enjoyed a boon in seasonal use.

Scott Smalley, education director for the Green Mountain Club (GMC), a group dedicated to preserving Vermont hiking trails, said that he anticipates that cross-country skiing and snowshoe trails will be open to use well into May, given the unusually high amount of snowfall.

The GMC is mainly responsible for the conservation of the 265-mile Long Trail, the oldest long-distance trail in the United States and the inspiration for the Appalachian Mountain Trail.

Generally, for the GMC, snowshoe trips start as soon as the first accumulating snowfall, with many of those trips geared towards younger participants. Even the lightest amount of snow allows enthusiasts to "strap on a pair of shoes and go for a run," Smalley said.

The GMC also held a snowshoe festival in January. This year, the club's ninth annual, had more than 300 participants, said Brian Aust, a volunteer program coordinator. Several manufacturers gave free rental snowshoes and invited participants to test them out during "full-day excursions around Stowe, Mad River Valley, including Camel's Hump, and Mt. Mansfield."

According to the club's Website, greenmountainclub.org, the state's trails are currently in what is referred to as "mud season."

"Mud season is Vermont's fifth season. The Green Mountain Club strongly encourages hikers to avoid higher elevation trails during 'mud season.' The State of Vermont closes trails in the Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield areas from mid-April until Memorial Day weekend," says the site.

The site notes that the south side of mountains is often the first to dry out in the spring and highly recommends that hikers wishing to utilize the trails plan their hikes accordingly.

Local ski slopes likewise benefited from the several feet of snow, according to avid skier Al Gosselin, 20, a sophomore business major from Lisbon, Conn.

"Places like Killington received over 300 inches of natural snow," Gosselin said. "That means they didn't have to put their resources into making artificial snow -- and it's been cold, too -- so all they needed to do was groom the slopes."

Killington, which prides itself as the first to open and last to close, expects to remain open as late as June 15 of this year. It received over 130 inches in March alone.

Gosselin said that he hopes that what ski resorts saved this season in snowmaking costs will translate into increased snowmaking next season, in the event that natural snowfall is lacking.

SkiVermont.com says that over 70% of the trails in Vermont have snowmaking capabilities.

"Nearly every trail and glade across Vermont is open," according to SkiVermont.com, in part because of the three to four feet of snow that fell while Norwich University was on spring break.

The bases of many mountains are currently at about eight feet or more, with much of the conditions throughout the season listed as powder and packed powder -- optimal ski conditions, Gosselin said.

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