Snow snake captures Howie at Pico. Notice Walt skiing into frame right with powder almost to his knees.

Snow snake captures Howie at Pico. Notice Walt skiing into frame right with powder almost to his knees.

While some people did practice runs on the bumps course set up on Outer Limits for this weekends Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, the rest of us were out enjoying the second Friday powder day in a row. Not bad for late March.

Like last week, I headed off to Pico this morning. New snow depths at Pico seemed like 4-6 inches at the base with upwards of a foot at the peak. 49'er, KA, and Upper Pike all had mid shin to knee high powder in the middle of the trails, with marginally more along the sides. Unlike last week's storm, the snow that fell overnight and this morning was heavier as temperatures were flirting with 30 degrees. But my powder ski's loved it anyways.

From the summit, we skied Pike, KA, Sunset 71, Forty Niner and Summit Glade. Like last week, Summit Glade was pretty mean with large icy bumps lurking below the new snow surface. I went about half way down Summit Glades before bailing out through the woods back to 49'er. Upper Pike also had a few interesting features hidden under the newly fallen snow. Skiers right had major ice flows about 200 yards from the peak. The flows were covered in snow which broke away in a mini avalanche when we skied over them. Skiers left on the other hand seemed like all snow. The other trails were just great. Thet were groomed late in the day on Thursday resulting in a flat surface to receive the newly falling snow. My body gave out a long time before I wanted to leave. But that can be the nature of skiing East Coast Powder.

This will be Pico's last weekend for the 07-08 ski season. If you are up at Killington this weekend, and you want some challenging terrain without the crowds at the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, consider Pico. It's a pretty good alternative.

Let it snow!