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The 2013-2014 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2

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Personally I would rather see the lifts run a couple weeks longer at the end of the season rather than a couple weeks earlier in November.

 

This.  I'm much more passionate about the end of the season when its a beach on snow.  If the weather forecast looks sunny and nice, stick it out a little while longer.  If the weather looks bad though, its a moot point...you'll never see a ski area more empty than during 35-45F rain/drizzle with fog on April 15th. 

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Skied Stowe this morning.  The conditions were a bit firm.  I think it was groomed and then froze solid.  Snowed the entire time we were there.  Tomorrow morning may be good.

Same at sugarbush. Jester was good for a few laps but otherwise just good to get back in the rhythm. Couple of inches tonight wouldn't hurt.

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Skied Stowe this morning. The conditions were a bit firm. I think it was groomed and then froze solid. Snowed the entire time we were there. Tomorrow morning may be good.

It's a different mountain this morning. Still firm spots here and there (especially the scoured parts of Liftline), but by far the cruisers are sooo much better with 4-5" groomed in and another 1-2" on top.

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It was the first ski day of the season for me today.  I knew it would be cold so I slept in and left my house around 9am.

 

I drove up to Bretton Woods which is about 100 miles on 93 for me.  The wind gusts were pretty impressive on the ride up.  A couple of gusts really pushed my wife's little jeep around.

 

It was cold and windy on the mountain as expected.  10F at the base per my dashboard.

 

The conditions were really good from 11:30 until about 2:30pm.  After 2:30 the wind-blown spots were starting to get bare.  The run of the day was definitely Crawford's Blaze which was one of two open blue square trails.  There was powder to be had on the edges of the trails almost all afternoon.  It looked like there was 2-3 inches of fresh snow on the mountain on top of a few inches of un-groomed man made stuff on the trail edges.

 

One of the main reasons I went this weekend instead of next is because I was worried about the potential for a rain storm next week.

 

After looking at the discussion upon my return I'm glad I took the time to slide on the snow today.  It looks like Wednesday is a big net loss for all of the hills in NH and Maine.

 

The lowlight of the day:  Tripped in the parking lot and fell hard on top of my new snowboard.  I put a nice gauge into the base of the board.  I'll probably bring it to my local shop for repairs tomorrow and use my old board in the mean time.

 

Going from a full camber to a new fancy rocker-camber-rocker profiled snowboard was a larger adjustment than I imagined. 

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How quickly do you guys think the mountains can recover from 3" of rain?  Many mountains with good snow making have been making piles, presumably to preserve the snow through the storm.  I'm thinking this sets the bigger mountains back at least a week in terms of terrain expansion.

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How quickly do you guys think the mountains can recover from 3" of rain?  Many mountains with good snow making have been making piles, presumably to preserve the snow through the storm.  I'm thinking this sets the bigger mountains back at least a week in terms of terrain expansion.

 

Kilington was already at 28 trails.  They'll probably take a hit for a day or two but the timing isn't terrible..by Friday and Saturday I bet they're back to at least what they had.  The tough call is a place like SR.

 

Sunapee is planning on opening this weekend too.  So most seem to be brushing it off.

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SR opening a few more trails on Friday.  They took a hit but were prepared.  Kind of amazing really.

 

This storm was a net gain here even before whatever happens tonight, as the natural snow depth actually increased at my house and base area snow stake.  Surprisingly, the summit stake has remained the same, but should get a good gain tonight.

 

SUMMITS OF THE NORTHERN GREENS SHOULD DO QUITE WELL

HOWEVER...AND A MIXED BLEND OF SREF/WRF/RAP OUTPUT SUGGESTS A

SOLID 4-8 INCH DUMP ABOVE 2500 FEET. AS A RESULT HAVE OPTED TO

ISSUE A WINTER WX ADVISORY FOR PORTIONS OF OUR NRN GREEN MTNS.

 

I don't think anyone in VT should lose any runs as there wasn't really anything natural open yet with only 7-14" natural depths, and the snowmaking trails can sit there till May without melting now, lol.  That stuff is really durable.  We'll probably get up to 28 trails or so on Friday...but trail numbers can be misleading as we all play the same game with Upper/Lower etc.  Miles is a good barometer usually.

 

Either way, most places should be in pretty darn good shape for the Thanksgiving weekend in terms of terrain open vs. historical averages.  Surface conditions may be a whole other story, but hopefully the natural snow tonight will do a good resurface. 

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How quickly do you guys think the mountains can recover from 3" of rain?  Many mountains with good snow making have been making piles, presumably to preserve the snow through the storm.  I'm thinking this sets the bigger mountains back at least a week in terms of terrain expansion.

 

Nahhh... full expansion mode right now.  We lost one day of snowmaking is all.  The natural upslope snow tonight will resurface the open trails, and its right back to expansion.  From reading other area reports its seems like that's what most are doing. 

 

Plus, it takes a lot more than 1-3" to melt out a trail covered in man-made snow.  The rain really hurts trail count when a lot of natural snow stuff is open, but doesn't really affect snowmaking terrain all that much aside from surface conditions.  That man-made snow is tenacious in that regard...its thick and doesn't melt easily.  Thus why its still sitting around in like May and even June.  Getting snow on the backside of a rainstorm is key, as then you just groom that in and that's your resurface.

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Looks like n greens get snow blitz thru early am hours. Jay peak will prob get a foot.

 

It cranked last night... 8" in Jeffersonville (COOP) on the west side of Smugglers Notch and 6.5" at my plot on the east side of the Notch.

 

Nov_28a.gif

 

 

This is the best Thanksgiving for turns at Stowe in my 7 years here.  By far. 

 

45 inches has fallen at the upper elevations so far in November which is a solid November, even for here.

 

I can't ever remember some natural snow trails being open on Thanksgiving.

 

IMG_8157_edited-1.jpg

 

IMG_8128_edited-1.jpg

 

IMG_8165_edited-1.jpg

 

IMG_8187_edited-1.jpg

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Today was a great day. Not a "it was great cause it's skiing in November" kind of day, but legit great. The snow that fell last night bonded really well and there was ample fluff on top. Fantastic turns on some natural snow trails where there was a good solid base. Saw some tracks into the woods which is insane for November, and probably somewhat unwise.

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