The Winter Adventure Guide
Weather-Watch on Mount Washington
Photograph courtesy of Mount Washington Conservatory
Mount Washington, as the saying goes, makes its own weather. In summer, a quarter-million tourists visit the 6,288-foot summit for the gale-force winds and subfreezing temps as much as for the view, but winter is when New England’s tallest mountain—with a top recorded surface wind speed of 231 mph and wind-chill readings of minus-50 degrees—truly earns its formidable reputation. Observatory staffers are so proud of being the “home of the world’s worst weather,” they’ve trademarked the phrase. Even better, they’ve been sharing the experience for 17 years.
The observatory hosts overnight weather-watching trips through the end of March. Up to nine people pile into a snow tractor for the 90-minute ride to the summit. All visitors get a tour of the 78-year-old observatory and learn how three storm tracks and the mountain’s steepness combine to create the notorious conditions. Then specialized lectures and workshops begin, led by guest instructors—perhaps meteorologists, ecologists, or artists—on topics such as weather basics, mountaineering, and outdoor photography. Participants spend time outside experiencing the elements for themselves, then retreat indoors for hot drinks and a meal. They bed down for the night in common-area observatory bunks and wake early enough to watch the sun rise. Then there’s another workshop and lunch before everyone heads back down in the snow tractor. You’ll come home with a story about New England weather conditions that put Siberia and Antarctica to shame.
$459 per person for members/$499 nonmembers, inclusive; trips begin at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road, Pinkham Notch, NH; 800-706-0432 x225, mountwashington.org.
Sugar Some Maples
Photograph by Frederick Mckinney/Getty
Around early March, the maples start to thaw, and at the Austrian-style Trapp Family Lodge—well, we won’t annoy you by singing, “The hills are alive with the sound of sap.” The von Trapps, of The Sound of Music fame, make their maple sugar the old-fashioned way: They pick up the sap in buckets via horse-drawn sleigh and deliver it to the sugarhouse, where they boil off the water to create Vermont’s “liquid gold.” The lodge’s 1,200 taps produce 300 gallons each season through late April. Get in on the fun on Saturdays in March, at the traditional Sugar-on-Snow party, where they make a sort of maple taffy of hot syrup and snow and serve it with doughnuts and dill pickles. For the full experience, book a weekend at the 96-room lodge, which dates to 1950 and is convenient to the skiing at Stowe Mountain Resort (but also offers plenty to do on site, thanks to spectacular grounds and recently expanded cross-country trails).
700 Trapp Hill Rd., Stowe, VT, 800-826-7000, trappfamily.com.
Snowboard Among Champs
Photograph by James Schriebl
Don’t worry if you couldn’t snag those coveted halfpipe and snowboard cross tickets at Whistler—2006 Olympic medalists Shaun White, Hannah Teter, and Lindsey Jacobellis are headed back east for the 28th U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships at Stratton Mountain Resort in March. White is scheduled to perform his signature 1080s (three full rotations) on the new Olympic-sized superpipe (22-foot walls) and advanced terrain park, which moved this year to the Sunriser Supertrail at the Sun Bowl.
Cheer them on, dude, but don’t just be a spectator. There’s a reason why Ski magazine consistently votes Stratton the East Coast’s best terrain park. Stratton put snowboarding on the map—it’s where Jake Burton inaugurated the sport and where a young Jacobellis took up boarding after her family’s vacation house caught fire, burning all the ski equipment.
Little rippers can test their freestyle skills on Burton’s Parkway, a kid-friendly area. One step up is Tyrolienne, featuring neophyte tabletops to catch air, and wider, lower rails for grinding. Master Tyrolienne and it’s on to Beeline. Easy-style it (check out the jumps first) or you’ll be doing some serious face-plants. Or follow Jacobellis’s lead and sweep along the banked turns and rollers on the Byrnefide boardercross course.
U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships, 3/15–3/22; 5 Village Lodge Rd., Stratton Mountain, VT, 800-787-2886, stratton.com.