PowderBeard

Nuking at Magic. Good 7-9" of paste.

6 minutes ago, radarman said:

This. 

Unrelated to this event, but it's also almost like the east west running valley funnels in warm layers aloft sometimes.  It'll be pinging there and snowing north and south.  I suppose it probably relates to some relative lack of orographic lift locally such that cold air is not dragged down through shallow warm layers.  It's weird though.  Have always wondered if somehow the channel could extend off the ground.

At any rate I'm not too bullish for them.  S VT peaks moreso.  Glop for the base.

Always thought the Hoosac Range played a role in blocking it out too. 

3 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

There's been a slight warming trend from yesterday....but I think S VT and maybe N Berks are in a good spot. Would be fun to be at Beast for this event to see if they can grab 8-10" of paste.

That 600' base and 1,500' summit always bite them. Upper half of the Thunderbolt should be great. 

16 hours ago, powderfreak said:

A different type of super-spreader event...

As someone who has torn their groin twice, this pains me deeply lol

Tash and Meow Pow used to share snowmaking crews under Peaks but not grooming. The lack of snowmaking seems Wildcat specific since Crotched and its limited water supply is almost completely open. 

Nice winter morning. Roads and everything white again.

16 minutes ago, snowman21 said:

Public schools and some universities require proof of vaccinations to attend, so we've always had a vaccine passport.

Saw some summer program requirements for programs at my uni and this will be the case. Plus continuing testing 3 times per week or you will not have building access since we have gone all electronic. UMass's testing program has been top-notch. Can schedule a day or two before, in and out of the Mullins Center within 15 minutes even if there are 20 people in line before you, get test results that night or early the next morning, even for non-students.

Light/mod pixie dust. Everything covered including roads. Nice winter morning.

2 hours ago, bch2014 said:

Looks like Wildcat is so short on staff that they didn't even have the manpower to groom Polecat last night. 

What a pathetic offering from Vail this season in NH.

Oooooof. How long before they are selling it?

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

There’s about 4 at the top today...quietly, a great day out there after the refresh.  And jay being jay this year, you can find trails still barely touched an hour after the lifts started spinning.

Awesome. With Kitz and Liftline open yesterday I figured a lot of places (i.e., Timbuktu,  Canyonland, etc) were close to, if not already, skiable

I enjoyed working at UMass Medical and being around Worcester, not sure about living around there. Maybe outside the city in the hills of Rutland or Barre. 

 Norfolk, the snow capital of CT.

39 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

Sounds like a Covid outbreak at Hunter, closing the resort today. 

Yea a couple rumors floating around, all seem to do with employees/patrol. Whatever the cause tweeting your closed an hour after scheduled opening time is some solid communication. 

14 minutes ago, Angus said:

Cranmore is a great little mountain which I only recently discovered having driven past it for 2+ decades! 

NH has some little gems for sure. I hope Granite Gorge can return one day. Have you ever hit Whaleback? I wish that place got more snow, it has some seriously fun and challenging terrain. Their intermediate trails are steeper than most advanced runs at Stratton, Mount Snow, or Okemo. There is a reason why the Whaleback freeride kids do so well at Ski the East and other comps. 

Rookie question, looking at the big picture is the current system that exited yesterday and it's slow departure (still in Newfoundland Fri/Sat) along with the high way too far north in Quebec forcing the next system offshore? I imagine if the high was a bit further south it would force yesterday's system to exit quicker to the east and set things up for SNE later in the week.

28 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

No for sure it makes sense and for sure the budget is lower.  But snowmaking budgets work a bit differently as more like when they run out, they run out.  You would still dump all your money into as much early season snowmaking as possible.  If you run out of it in late January, then you are done.  

It always appeared to me this is the practice of most smaller areas in CT, Mass, and southern NH. I know for a fact it is Sundown's. A couple years ago they had the biggest whales I had ever seen, probably 14-16' high, just as wide, and just below some lifts around New Year's. Sooner places can end snowmaking the sooner they can lay people off.  No point making snow in Feb or March when the mountain will be shut down in a month or so. In the years I was a passholder at Peak's and skiing Crotched, I never remember a gun going after MLK weekend. They would bury early and ride it out until the first week of April. Whereas the larger areas up north can still draw well later in the year, plus passholders would riot if the were not skiing soft bumps in April and May. 

2 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

I think the frustrating piece for Attitash and Wildcat skiers is that Cannon, Loon, BW, Cranmore, etc, their chief competitors, have done a far better job of getting terrain open this season. 
 

Cannon, for example, has upwards of 40 trails open. Cannon isn’t exactly a resort known for its snowmaking and grooming (not that they’re bad-but it’s not Okemo). 

Yea given the VT travel restrictions I figured NH areas would have gone nuts and are seeing increased traffic or at least doing "the best" in New England. Showing how different Wildcat's terrain and vibe is from other NH areas could have been a real selling point to grab a pass for folks who usually travel to VT from Boston area. Especially when they could do short drives to Crotched and Sunapee as well. 

29 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah it just came with Peak Resorts (Mt Snow, Hunter, Wildcat, etc).  A good friend of mine is the GM at Wildcat now, worked with him for a while here at Stowe.  There’s often a lot of challenges behind the scenes too... who knows what the equipment is like or if there’s a larger infrastructure issue with snowmaking.  Could be staffing, or just perception too, lots of things.

I highly doubt it’s because they just aren’t trying lol.

Completely, agree. I don't believe it is from a lack of trying and trying to communicate that would be great.

@PhineasC everywhere is definitely trying to expand and spread folks out as as more terrain = more lifts = less lines/frustration. That said I could definitely see some places not over-extending like why would Killington bother to blow on South Ridge or try to get Skyeship 1 area going or Pico blowing on Little Pico or Outpost area. I was actually surprised to see Cannon pounding Mittersill area but they may need it given their layout, Cannonball Quad's notorious windholds, and no Tram. I would bet some trails not getting their usual love to make it into the warmer months (e.g., Superstar at K, White Heat at the Rivah, Stein's at Bush, Front 5 at Cannon, Tali at Magic, Bear Trap/North Ridge at Mount Snow). 

Ripping good. maybe get 2-3".

About an inch down and a plow just went by. 

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Well now that edibles are legal, expect some good obs. 

The snozberries taste like snozberries. 

11 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

I think you and I are looking at the same radar.  Not sure what everyone else is seeing.
 

Not quite swiss but has some holes, decent rates where it's filled in, and not as bad as modeling suggested.

Radar looks to be filling in quite nicely and doesn't look like the NAM or HRRR. If it doesn't start looking shredded in the next couple hours it could be a nice surprise. 

Covered up quickly, everything is white, decent sized flakes and rate. 

26 minutes ago, Kitzbuhel Craver said:

Radar in PA looks relatively good, I’ll be shocked if this completely evaporated and we didn’t at least pull a couple...

Agree, it is hard to believe.

Had a couple heavy bursts of graupel earlier. Random flakes now.

I'm jonesing to get some lift turns in but I read some comments mountain FB pages and I snap back to reality. Just checked the cam at MRG and the double line is backed to the lodge lol. Cannon might be worth it with the Front 5 open or burn a day at Catamount. Sugarbush seems to have the best terrain open around which is a bit surprising. Side note, friends with a place at Attitash have got passes to Cranmore now since it and Wildcat are so bad. 40-60 minute waits at Attitash with a couple routes down, lines not as bad at Wildcat but limited terrain. 

I'd be happy with this at this point.