2 Wheels, 2 Planks: High Passes, Big Moon, Spring in Switzerland

Powder skiing during the 40-50cm storm that nearly broke the 20-day stretch of daily/nightly snowfall that welcomed us to the Alps. Between sunny days, snow fell for two more nights as we rolled east to Austria and Italy. Skiing as the 70-80 mph gusts of a good old fashioned foehn wind blew in, among the [...]

Photo of the Week: Somewhere in the South Tirol

After pedaling our bikes out of Switzerland’s beautiful Engadin Valley and into the Austria-Italy border region, a week long corn cycle is luring us higher than usual into the mountains of the South Tirol and Ortler zones. Down in the valleys, fruit trees are blooming, cows are being turned out to pasture and people of [...]

2 Wheels, 2 Planks: Mid-Winter in the Rhaetian Alps

If we didn’t take the snowflakes flying among the budding birches and blooming daffodils upon our arrival to Zurich back on April 7, we should have. For all but one of the last 18 days, beautiful fresh snow has been falling from the skies above us in the Swiss-Austrian-Italian Alps. And this past Sunday may [...]

2 Wheels, 2 Planks: Heftiger Schneefall

Relaxing back at camp in Switzerland’s Engadine Valley – Credit: EmberPhoto We’re pretty sure that’s German for “heavy snowfall”, and although we’ve managed to score some beautiful sunshine-filled days in the alpine over the last ten days in eastern Switzerland’s Engadine Valley, heftige Schneefall has been the norm here (stay tuned for some more photos [...]

2 Wheels, 2 Planks: Snowbound near St. Moritz

After landing in Zurich tempted to pedal our way straight for the mountains, a forecasted major winter storm had us throwing our bikes on a train bound for the Engadine Valley in eastern Switzerland – home to St. Moritz, several world class ski areas and endless backcountry skiing options. Our plan also meant experiencing one [...]

Photo of the Week: Tasty Turns with Tom

Another heavy dusting of fresh snow arrived in the mountains near AdventureSkier headquarters (central Vermont) overnight, and with blue skies overhead and a fresh breeze out of the north, the mountains were calling more than usual early Monday. As much as we’ve loved riding lifts through the closing days at of our local ski areas [...]

New VIDEO: Full Moon Freshies

What an incredible stretch of weather is upon us right now! With blue skies, sunshine and a big moon overhead this week, and varying amounts of fresh snow awaiting us for after (or pre-) work adventures to sheltered, mid-to-high elevation mountainsides…it’s been easy to keep the thin-cover worries at bay. More snow is in the [...]

Dodging Rain Showers

The resiliency of the ski season here in the Northeast never ceases to amaze us. Last Tuesday afternoon (1/17), when temperatures climbed above freezing and a steady rainfall ensued, it was hard to imagine that we’d be skiing such beautiful snow just a few days later. Then again, this is the Northeast – home to [...]

Photo of the Week: Mad Pow Disease

Last week’s storm infected countless skiers across the Northeast with an unusual strain of Mad Pow Disease. Skier Justin Woods Chapman was especially hard hit by its symptoms. With more fresh snow across the northeast today and this weekend, Justin’s going to be hard pressed to make a full recovery…but we’re confident he’ll pull through. [...]

Photo of the Week: Freshies with Family

Every winter, my sister, Lindsay, and her husband, Sean, kick off nearly three months of “down-time” (from their gardening/ landscaping business on the MA coast), by skiing with us here in Vermont. Sean’s a ripping surfer with whom we’ve enjoyed some incredible swells over the years, and he’s skilled on both skis and snowboard. “Sis” [...]

Video: “Singletrack Skiing” Green Mountains, Vermont – Early January 2012

Almost daily squalls of Champlain Powder treated higher elevation zones in the central and northern Green Mountains to 3-10″ of fresh snow this past week. This made it possible to trail check a few lines that we sensed needed some minor broken-branch and dead-limb clearing. Returning to one area after several more inches of snow [...]

Photo of the Week: Northeast Off-Piste

It’s mid-winter, and with an above-average (and growing!) snow pack coating most of our northeastern mountain areas, the off-piste terrain at all elevations is skiing incredibly well. (The powder, chopped-powder and packed-powder conditions at most northeastern ski areas are also well worth skiing!) Creeks and brooks are filling in, the brush and logs of the [...]