corn snow

Corn snow - large, roundedcrystals of ice formed by repeated melting and re-freezing - is a staple of spring skiing.

As we stomp around the meadow exploring, I start to notice even the different kinds of snow: tiny granules of corn snow; glades of deeper, softer snow that whoomphs under my snowshoes; dense blue snow that lines the banks of a newly thawed creek; the hardened crust of partly thawed and refrozen snow.

Corn snow, Telemarking, Nordic downhill, backcountry -- you name it!

Giant rooster tails of corn snow [small pellets] cascade over them.

It can just as easily be warm, sunny and filled with easy corn snow turns, though.

Wintertime operations include a full-service heli-skiing operation, while summer brings the popular "Kings and Corn" event that combines summer heli-skiing on corn snow and heli-fishing for king salmon.

the spring - people coming for those corn snow conditions."

Three days of late-winter skiing at what is supposed to be the beastliest ski area in the Granite State - or anywhere, for that matter - turned out to be pure joy with soft spring-like corn snow and plenty of it, mostly sunny skies, and great grooming.