Transition time

The calendar says it’s spring, but sometimes calendars try to fool you. Other times, they tell outright lies. March and April can bring blinding snowstorms. They can also deliver days that hint of summer.

It’s transition time, the time to savor the last of what was/is while you get ready for what is/will be.

Savor the soft snow

It always makes sense to hold on to winter as long as you possibly can. The transition to bare ground sports is easier if you actually wait until there’s bare, dry ground. With that in mind, there’s usually still snow to be had. You just have to go find it and take advantage of it.

Start with the ski areas that don't have southern exposures. Those places that can be so cold in January and February hold onto their snow the longest.  Even in years of heavy snows, ski areas sometimes close not for lack of snow, but for lack of paying customers.

For anyone with a limited budget and a little ambition, this can mean lots of free skiing without crowds -- or lifts. Anyone with telemark or all-terrain gear and climbing skins has the perfect setup to skin up and ski down. Snowboarders can just hike up in their snowboard boots and slide away. Skiers with regular alpine gear can put their ski boots in a backpack, hike up in hiking boots and change at the top. Many of the easier green-circle trails on closed ski areas are perfectly negotiable on the cross-country gear.

I have Black Diamond STS skins for my Karhu Telemark skis, and I’ve been waiting all winter for an excuse to use them. I’m looking forward to pretending that empty slopes are really backcountry wilderness. It’s great exercise, great fun and the perfect way to postpone mud season.

Tuckerman Ravine, the fable last bastion of snow in the east, usually has snow to play on well into the spring. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center has up-to-date avalanche and snow conditions reports on Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines.

Begin biking

When the snow is gone and the weather is warming, it’s bike season for many of us. Road bikes have been out and about, taking advantage of warm afternoons and extended daylight. Anyone with a mountain bike is probably itching to get out on the trails about now.

Trails are often closed to wheeled vehicles when it's very muddy and riding would cause undue damage. The website forums at the New England Mountain Bike Association are a good source of information on trails.

Chances are, you aren’t in the best shape of the season right now, so why not use this time wisely? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking your mountain bike or hybrid out on a hilly, paved back road. You can work up a good sweat just by cranking up the speed a notch, and there are plenty of frost heaves to provide practice bumps. Pump up your tires a little harder and go out and have some fun.

There’s also nothing wrong with riding on town-maintained dirt roads. You can ride with a clear conscience anywhere that cars are allowed. Last mud season, we found miles and miles of quiet roads near Stowe, Vermont. We would ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon. It's a combination that we hope to repeat again this year.

If you choose to ride anywhere that isn’t maintained for automobile traffic, including bike trails, be a little cautious in your riding. Some places still have hidden ice patches. What looks like a puddle may feel more like a skating rink.

Commence canoeing and kayaking

Transition time can bring good news and bad news on the water-sports front.

Those who like quiet water enjoy springs when the ice goes out early on rivers and ponds, providing opportunities for both canoes and kayaks. Heavy snows in the mountains bring the type of spring whitewater fans love -- those with raging rivers and streams fueled by melting snow and ice. 

Early ice-out and low snowfall totals are not such good news for whitewater canoeists and kayakers.  With no snowmelt to power the spring floods, whitewater canoeing and kayaking become entirely weather-dependent. If it rains hard, the rivers will come up. If it doesn’t, they won’t.

But there are a number of dam-controlled rivers which will provide all the opportunities you could wish for.

The Waterline website will let you search the flow on almost every major river in the U.S. It's a great tool if you’re planning on floating away this transition season.