I just got back from Craftsbury, VT, where there is always snow! We thought, since it hasn't been snowing even up there, conditions would not be great, but they were great, considering. We stay at the Craftsbury Inn, which is right on the trail. It's a hoot of a place. Slightly odd owner and gourmet chef. It's not always the most spotless place, but you get treated like royalty. Breakfast is included, he packs us lunches for a small fee, and we eat dinner there, too. He can cook any cuisine around.
Anyway, Thursday we skied a bit of the trail, all up and rolling, about 4 miles. Friday we went to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, where the trails are wide and groomed probably the best of anywhere I have been. I've skied there twice before. Because of the grooming, I can ski the black trails there. Lots of climbing and downhills. It was awesome. My poor DH just can't get the climbing part and is also very slow on the flats. Not sure why, as he is an awesome cyclist and very strong overall. I think it's his feet, which are very sensitive and he always has issues, even though he had surgery for Morton's neuroma bout 8 years ago. It's better, but drives him nuts. But, he did it and our friends were quite proud of us. We skied almost 9 miles, with a break for lunch. Yesterday we went to the Highland Lodge, up the road. I have been there once, when there were super powder conditions and I skied down the scariest huge mountain ever. The conditions were not as good, but there was plenty of snow. The trails here are bumpier, and kind of slanted, so it was hard to get a grip at times. But, we did about 5 miles. It was only a high of 15 degrees yesterday, so starting out, it was really frigid, about 8 F. In the afternoon, we snow shoed, up this huge climb we had skied down 2 years ago (we think, the downside of this place is that the trails are not well marked). The snow shoe trail went up in the thick forest; just gorgeous. After about 3.5 miles of that we were dead and bought some cheese and crackers, where I pigged out about 3 hours before dinner. After the cheese crepes I had, it's back to reality today. We got home a couple of hours ago; no snow around here. I am hoping to get a little more x country in before the cycling season starts!