Section 3 (Rte 9) 1/25/2008 snow report

[EricB]

Drove a long way to ski this very scenic section in southern Vermont with my buddy Tony. We skied the whole 7 miles, out and back, in 6 hours -- but not much resting in there. Snow had a thin-to-medium crust with a little fresh powder on top and more underneath. There's a nice base most of the way, I'll say 12-18" from south to north. I got away without re-waxing, barely -- bring wax just in case. We did encounter the occasional sketchy bit, but we never did take off our skis. The toughest stretch was the climb up the streambed around mile 5 (when the trail has departed from the Deerfield river), which seemed like more going up but on the way back down we realized it's actually just a few hundred yards. The river is very picturesque and the section is remote as advertised -- we found many moose piles near the rivers' confluence. Highly recommended! Absent a signifcant thaw, it should remain eminently skiable.