Hugh's Blog & Photo-of-the-Day

This page was last updated on August 11, 2008

Sunday, 4/13/08 was the last day for the tremendous 2007/08 Winter Season. We had a whopping 367" of snow during the 07/08 Winter, and we're looking forward to re-opening for the 2008/09 Winter Season on Friday, 11/28/08!

Passes & Badges are on sale now for the 08/09 Winter with the lowest rates available until Labor Day (9/1/08). Click here for all the details and to place your order.

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	Jason in the Glades Click on the thumbnail on the left to watch this flash video of Jason Trask checking out the powder in the woods on 3/2/08.
	Riding Madonna! Click on the thumbnail on the left to watch this flash video of snowboarding on Madonna! Video shot 1/28/08.
	There's a lot of powder out there! Click on the thumbnail on the left to watch this flash video of powder shots in the woods. Video shot 1/28/08.

Kiri enjoying the soft conditions on Upper Exhibition!

Photo taken 04/12/08.

90+ skier Jim Thompson on Upper Rumrunner!
Photo taken 04/11/08

Big John enjoying the great spring conditions on Black Snake!
Photo taken 04/10/08.

Big Air in the Zone Terrain Park!
Photo taken 04/09/08.

Spring Air!!
04/08/08

Spring has sprung at Smuggs!
04/07/08

Great spring conditions!
04/06/08

HUGH'S BLOG

Apr 8
The spring skiing and riding has been fantastic! Upper Exhibition was the trail pick today. The bumps were covered with corn snow that exploded when your skis hit it. The snow flying reminds me of fireworks!

Apr 4
The forecast called for 3 inches of new snow today and it was right on! Upper FIS was groomed last night and with the new snow on top, it was fantastic! I was enjoying the untouched snow on the side of the trail. I meet a guest who was enjoying every last minute of his vacation by skiing Upper FIS as many times as he could! He told me that he really likes Upper FIS and the new snow just made it that much better!

Mar 20
Today is the first day of spring, but it sure does not feel like it! We received 4 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours and it is still snowing. I ran into Ski Patrollers Eli and John at the top of the Madonna 2 lift. They were headed to check the snow conditions on Bermuda. They asked me if I would like to go and you know what I said! Bermuda is a really fun glade run because of the low angle. You can float down in between the trees without checking your speed too much!

Mar 15
This is a great time of the ski season. There is tons of snow on the mountains and the weather has been great! We presently have a snowfall total of 320 inches! Spring skiing and riding is going to be great this year. Last year we really did not get any spring skiing or riding because it just kept snowing until the day we closed. I love powder, but I have nothing against corn snow either!

Mar 8
I was riding the Madonna 1 lift with my good friend Ken. We saw 6 Ski Patrollers in a row skiing the Madonna Liftline. We suddenly had a strange feeling that Madonna Liftline might be the trail pick of the day. We took a right at the top and headed down Liftline. There was a crust layer on anything that had not been skied, but the rest was nice soft snow! Ken asked me about getting a picture on the Headwall. I said "Let get a photo on the next run down the Headwall!"

Mar 5
We received 3 to 4 inches of heavy snow that stuck to everything! The temperature is suppose to drop tonight, so the new snow should bond with the old snow very nice. To make things even better there is another snowstorm predicted for Friday night and into the weekend. We have 77 out of 78 trails open!

Mar 2
We received 39 inches of new snow in the past week and 301 inches of snow this season! The skiing and riding is just fantastic! I ran into some friends and we took a run in the glades. We kept finding different lines to get the fresh pow! We all had smiles that just would not go away!!

Feb 24
Beautiful sunshine and a high temperature of 30 degrees! People were tailgating in the Upper Parking Lot. The Barbeque grills were going and chairs were set up for a lunchtime fest. People were hanging out enjoying the great weather today! The sun going to come out tomorrow, but after that the snow comes back in!

Feb 21
The sun is shining bright today! It was a great day to take in the views. One on my favorite views on Madonna is from the fence on Upper Drifter. You are looking at Sterling Pond, the top of Sterling, and the notch. Another great place to enjoy the view is the top of the Village lift. I like the way you look through the notch.

Feb 16
I went to Lower FIS this morning to check out the USASA Boardercross. Skiers and riders were taking their practices runs when I got there. They were riding the berms, pumping on the rollers, and catching air off the jumps! I wanted to ride this race coarse with features. The competition was a blast watch! I have raced before when someone else is racing next to me, but I've never raced against someone who is in the same coarse!! Boardercross takes it to another level. Watching four people going around the same gate at the same time is wild!

Feb 14
Happy Valentine's Day! Today was picture perfect with the snow covered trees and beautiful sunshine. I took a few runs today with Jason Starr. He works for Seven Days and he writes about his experiences at different Vermont ski areas. He thought it would be fun for us to ski together and he was right! We started with a run down Drifter to soak up the sunshine and great views. We jumped into Attitude next for some glade skiing. I told Jason that Attitude is a glade run that Smuggs cleaned up this past summer. We decided to head over to Sterling for our next run. The conditions on Upper Exhibition looked great from the lift, so we decided to go for it. We were not disappointed! We had fun taking pictures of each other in the powder and in the air!

Feb 13
We received 3 to 5 inches of new snow overnight and the forecast was calling for another 6 inches during the day!! I was finishing the morning report when I heard the Ski Patrol on the radio talking about the great conditions on Robin's Run and Madonna Liftline! I could not wait to get up there and hit the Headwall! I met up with my good friend Tony in the Upper Parking Lot. We scrambled to get our equipment on as fast as possible! I told him that Madonna liftline was open shack to shack. The ride up Madonna got me even more excited as I watched skiers and riders playing in the fresh snow! We got to the top of Madonna and took a right and headed down the liftline. After I took one turn in the powder I knew it was going to be a great day!!

Feb 10
Pow wow wow yippy yo yippy yeah! We received 8 to 12 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours, over 3 feet in the past week and 20 feet this season!! Today was like two powder days, because this morning I skied the 4 to 6 inches of new snow that we got last night and during the day we got another 4 to 6 inches! It was snowing so hard at one point that I had to stop skiing, because I could not see! It was great to get fresh tracks all day long!!!

Feb. 2
3 to 5 inches of new snow overnight has really made a difference! I decided to sneak in a few runs before the Altitude Adjustment at the Zone Terrain Park. The fresh snow on top of the groomed snow was great! I skied Black Snake on my first run and took a right turn onto Full Nelson. I stuck to skier's right and it was fresh! It was a blast to make big GS turns in the powder on the Practice Slope.

Jan. 30
The weather was pretty crazy today. We were receiving liquid sunshine in the morning which turned into sleet and snow by late morning. The snow was wet to start off, so it stuck to everything! The temperature was dropping and the snow was getting lighter. I was having fun playing in the piles of snow on the side of the trail. There is another storm predicted for Friday so stay tuned!

Jan. 27
I was getting ready to ski down Upper Drifter when I saw a couple of people snowshoeing. They were also headed down Upper Drifter. I asked them where they were going and they said Sterling Pond via the Long Trail. The Long Trail runs the length of Vermont from Massachusetts to Canada and goes over the mountains instead of around them. Madonna and Sterling are two of the mountains that the Long Trail goes over the top of.

Jan. 25
Upper FIS was groomed last night and the groomers did a great job. I had a blast making big GS turns down the smooth surface. Cousin Tom and I took the cut over to Lower Docs for some glade skiing. There was a cat track down skier's left. It was fun to go back and forth from the groomed snow to the bumps. The snow in the trees was really nice so we decided to head for the "Stash". We took our time so we could find some powder turns!

Jan. 19
The sun was shining bright this morning! I decided to do a cruiser on Upper Chilcoot for my first run. I was testing out some demos from 3 Mountain Equipment and man are they fun! All I had to do was think about turning and it happened. The snow conditions were fantastic for carving up some big GS turns. The new snow that we got yesterday groomed in really nice with the existing snow.

Jan. 18
Today was the time trails for the Harvey Wesson Memorial Race Series. It's the Smuggs Local's race held on Fridays. The teams are made up of Ski Patrol, Ski Instructors, Snowmakers, Base Lodge Employees, Locals, and more! The time you spend in the racecourse can be less than a minute, but the fun last for hours! There is constant chatter of "Who presently has the fastest time?" and "Where is the race party?”

Jan. 16
The sky was clear last night, so the temperature is nice and cold this morning. The snowguns are making the only clouds in the sky. Talk about a microclimate we got it! Our snowmakers have been working around the clock making some very nice snow! I skied Upper FIS and snow was great! The snowmaking whales are like small terrain features that you can play on!

Jan. 13
The Practice Slope on Sterling Mountain was the place to be today. There was a J4 Race and USASA Slope style competition. It was a great day to soak up some sunshine and watch all the action! There was a good turn out for both events! I was jumping back and forth trying to get a good picture of a gate bending or the grab!

Jan. 11
We received 1 to 2 inches of new snow last night and it made a big difference. The snow was heavy and stuck to everything! I skied Smugglers' Alley and the snow was nice and soft. Ski Instructors Glen and Oliver had their classes on the Alley enjoying the new snow. It is amazing how a few inches of snow can change the surface conditions! It was a good day to wear your Gore Tex and smile!

Jan. 4
I received a phone call this morning from my good friend Scott who lives in Maine. He drove to Vermont last night, so he could ski some powder in the trees today! We decided to take a run on Madonna first. We were talking about all the different glades on Madonna and which ones we liked the most. Greg told me that he had skied the new glades off of Doc's and how much he enjoyed them. I mentioned that there was also some glade work done this past year off of Drifter. Greg said that he had not skied them yet, so when we got to the summit of Madonna we headed for Drifter. Now that lift ride was over it was time to stop talking and start skiing! We cruised down Drifter, because we could not wait to jump into the trees. Once we got into the new Attitude glades it wasn't long before you could hear hoops and hollers. These are the times when it really hard for me to stop and take the camera out, because I’m having too much fun!

Jan. 1
Happy New Year is right! The mountains were covered with 6 inches of new snow overnight! The timing is perfect, because Doctor John from 3 mountain equipment mounted a new pair of powder skis for me this morning! I jumped on the Madonna 1 lift for my first. I decided to ski Drifter to get a feel for my new skis, but I was really getting a feel for the powder on the side of the trail. My skis turned left before mid station and I found myself in the new Attitude glades. I also found some really nice stashes!!

Dec. 31
Another 5 to 7 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours and more to come!! I caught up with my good friend Geoff at the Base Lodge and he was ready to go! He had not tried the new glades off of Doc's yet, so that had to be his first run. We had a great time finding different stashes in the trees! Geoff decided that he wanted more of the fluffy stuff so for our next run we skied the new Attitude glades off of Drifter. Once again we found great stashes all over the place!

Dec. 29
We received 5 inches of new snow last night! I was finishing the morning report when my friend Tony called and said he was on his way. We took our first run on Madonna and our on way up we could see people skiing liftline above the Headwall. At that point we knew what trail we were going to ski. The snow on the top stayed dryer and lighter. The snow in the Black Hole and FIS woods was really nice! This snowstorm did a great job of covering everything!
Dec. 21
The Weather Channel film crew interviewed Oliver Blackman today in the Red Fox Glades and the new Lower Red Fox Glades. Oliver described the different cutting techniques between the two. The old method was to leave trees singled out and the new method is to keep islands of trees. The islands contain old and young trees, so the older trees protect and the younger trees. The younger trees would replace the older trees once they are gone. This keeps trees in the glades!! The best part of the filming was watching Oliver enjoy the fruits of his labor!!!

Dec. 20
The Weather Channel is here at Smuggs filming for a segment on the Ski Patrol and glade cutting with Oliver Blackman. The Patrol segments looks at the daily routine of the patrol and how they rescue people on the mountain in winter conditions. Oliver Blackman explains the difference between glade cutting in years past and how he does it now. The pieces will air in about a month.

Dec. 17
Local radio station Champ 101.3 is broadcasting their "Corm and the Coach" morning show live from Smuggs today and tomorrow. I was lucky enough to have dinner with them last night. I felt like a radio contest winner! We had dinner at the Mountain Grille, where the morning show will be broadcast. You usually go to dinner for the food, but I was looking forward to the laughter! I was not disappointed was the food or the laughter!! Corm and the Coach have been coming to Smuggs for 9 years and there is a bunch of good stories from those 9 years. I did not order dessert, but I was happy that others did so the dinner would last longer!! I get to meet so many people in this business, but some stand out more than others! Corm and the Coach are definitely stand outs!!

Dec. 16
We received 3 inches of new snow overnight and the forecast called for a foot of new snow during the day! We jumped on the Madonna lift for our first run and watching people skiing through the powder made me want to jump. I was able to wait and the wait was worth it! We decided look in the trees for some freshies and boy did we find some! It was hero snow for sure! You only had to make small turns, because plowing through the snow slowed you down!

Dec. 15
My friend Ken is here for a long weekend, so I know we are going to get some great skiing in!! Ken loves skiing as much as I do. He drove at night, got only a few hours of sleep Friday night, and was ready go at 6:30am! I finished the morning report a headed for the parking lot. We met in front of the Base Lodge and jumped on the Madonna 1 lift. The cloud cover ended at the top of the headwall. The tops of mountains looked like islands in the ocean. The clouds were rolling over the top of Sterling like a wave. Ken and I were both taking photos of the great view! This photo is now the background on my computer. We knew it was going to be a fantastic day!!

Dec. 14
I just cannot believe the amount of snow that we have this early in the season! My internal time clock is all messed up because, it feels like mid season in mid December! Every trail on Sterling and Madonna is open, not to mention how great it is in the trees! The snowfall total for the season is now over 7 feet and we're expecting another 2 feet by Monday afternoon! I talk about how good it is, I take pictures of how good it is, I even take videos how good it is but, sometimes you just have to ski it to believe it! So stop reading this, put your gear in the car and get up here! I cannot ski all this powder by myself!!!

Dec. 8
I skied Freefall today and it was in great shape! I decided to take a left and jump into the Black Hole. I could not believe the all powder stashes. I took my time so that I could find all the powder that I could. I really didn't have to wait long!! Once I reached the work road I headed for the Madonna mid-station. I had to try the snow on liftline next followed by a left turn into Knight's Revenge for more powder hunting!

Dec. 6
Oliver has done it again!!! Oliver cut the new glades off of Doc Dempsey's and they are amazing!! I was lucky enough to ski them today and I was blown away! I've skied at Smuggs for 30 years and to ski something new is a treat!! There are multiple lines through groups of trees. All of the lines looked so good that I couldn't decide which one to take! I was happier than a kid on a snow day!! Alex Martin got some footage, so stay tuned for the video to appear here on the website!!!

Dec. 5
The storm total is now at 36 inches!! I ran into my friend Jim at the Sterling Lift. He usual ski buddy was not able to ski today, so I took his place. Jim said that he had just skied Harvey's and it was really good. I asked him if he also skied Full Nelson. He told me that he had never skied Full Nelson. I told Jim that Full Nelson is one of my favorite trails and we had to ski it! Jim loved Full Nelson's snow and pitch! Jim was hooked and we had to ski it again!

Dec. 4
The snow just keeps on coming and coming! We are now at 32 inches of snowfall in the past 5 days! I'm amazed at how fast the conditions got so good!! One of the reasons is the great brushcutting that occur this fall! It takes less snow to open a trail and when you get a bunch of snow it's fantastic! The snowmakers have been working around the clock on Morse and Madonna getting ready for this weekend, when we plan to have all 3 mountains and over 60 percent of our terrain open! I can barely wait for Madonna to open!!!

Dec. 3
We received 8 inches of new snow overnight and 14 inches in the past 3 days! I was just finishing up with the morning report, when my good friends Geoff and Tony called. They asked me what I was doing and I said, "Are you kidding?! I'm getting ready to ski!!!" We met in the Upper Parking Lot and then headed for the Sterling lift. The lift ride was very entertaining as people were skiing and riding through the fresh snow! You could hear people hooting and hollering in cheer delight! We had to ski liftline first, because it looked too good to past up! The moguls have not had a chance to build up yet, so you could let your skis run a little. Everybody was going for it, so now the hoots and hollers were also coming from the lift! We ended up with 12 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours and the forecast calls for another 5 inches of snow by tomorrow afternoon! Stay tuned for the storm total and more powder stories!

Dec. 1

I was riding up the Sterling lift and I saw Ski Patrollers putting tower pads on the lift towers. This sight got me excited because I knew that Sterling liftline would be open soon! We received 4 to 6 inches of new snow last night and it made a big difference. I was skiing by the Top of the Notch when Ski Patroller Teigh starting telling me all the trails that were now open. Once he mentioned Upper Pipeline was open, I was ready to go! I knew that I should be getting some pics of all fresh snow, but first I had to my fix! I love the steepness of Upper Pipeline and the view from the top! I did not stop to take in the view at the top, because I had other things on my mind!!