PowderBeard

13 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Wachusett is now selling uphill passes.  $50 for the season if you don’t have a downhill season pass, $25 if you do

 The days of free uphill are quickly disappearing. 

Happy to hear about the local beavers keeping Watatic in good shape. Probably in better shape than Mittersill was when Cannon opened it - then destroyed it. That is some serious base over 600' of vert.

I'm curious what Brodie trails look like but don't want to risk a trespassing violation, apparently they are really strict there. Maple Valley is still pretty cleared out minus some grundel floss. I have always wanted to hit the upper liftline section given the ledge bands but it would need a ton of snow. 

19 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Lol, 30mi to your west Greenfield is at 1” for the season. 

Damn that is tough. 20 mins south and just under 4" on October 30th and 4.5" for the 12/5 storm.

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

Getting raked pretty well now. 31 degrees. 

Enough for tubing I see lol. 

That stretch from just east of Athol into southern NH just south of Concord should keep going for quite a while. Another decent area to watch.

Have to love parachutes falling from the sky. Beautiful sight.

Excited to see what bands pivot or areas build. First time having a decent radar subscription. 

Boom. Pronounced with an "Umpty".

1 minute ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Still rain at Berkshire East according to my buddy In Charlemont. 

Every time I hike Negus I wish they had built the ski area there lol. 1000'+ of vert, a ton more snow, and steeper with few ledges.

6 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

All snow on NW side of town at 900+ feet. Should be all snow there shortly

Jackspot. Going to be an amazing day there. 

42* around 5am, down to 34.2* now. All snow is around 800', stations at 300-500* still around 39*. Another amazingly tight gradient like the October 30 storm. 

Quickly changing over here, more flakes now.

13 minutes ago, subdude said:

In for 30-36" lmao 

That was two systems, the second system put down 15-20" of that which fell the second night (and only 3-4" was forecasted and we grabbed 18"). 

Well looking more like a Mount Toby or powerlines in Brookfield for skinning. 

HRRR wants to do another Dec 3rd 2019 26" crushing for central Mass lol. It did nail that. Still thinking 6-8" here. 

Can always adjust up...or down.

8 minutes ago, radarman said:

Hoping to break the ice here this weekend but just so much uncertainty with respect to the storm and operations, pretty hard to make a plan.  I'm thinking it'll be skins and the Taconics at this juncture.  Guess we'll see.

Exactly my thought. 

4 minutes ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Yeah I'm leaning Loon, very glad I made the decision to purchase an Ikon pass.

Getting information on opening day, snowmaking progress, snow reports etc... from Vail mountains this year has been like trying to hack into the CIA. All mountain websites (outside of Stowe of course) say "commentary coming soon" wtf! Even out west, open mountains like Crested Butte have the exact same message.

Solid. Alpinezone has a 5-6 page thread ranting about Vail right now and the lack of communication. Pretty frustrating situation.

15 minutes ago, Boston Bulldog said:

How does wind in the Whites look in the wake of this upcoming storm? Anything significant enough to threaten lift closures on Sunday?

No update from Wildcat or Sunapee in a while which is ridiculous, Cannon says this weekend is doubtful, Loon and BW are pretty immune to wind holds. I would say the only options that are open will be good to go. I'd be eyeing Sunday River.

28 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Yeah... it packs a decent value punch   I can't really travel more than to 1  2 hour+ mountain per year...  just don't have the time

Plan a flight out west for 4 days where there are two resorts close by (e.g., Idaho) and it REALLY makes it worth it. My plan next year.

52 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

What?  Not sure I follow that.  Stowe pre-Vail was the most expensive ticket in the East Coast and the adult season pass was $1800.  The Stowe day tickets have not risen appreciably since VR took over and the pass dropped by like 60%.

I should have proof read and expanded that thought, my bad. It's an amazing incentive for some and there are also many people who could not care less about it and just see a higher season pass price. For example we have family friends in the UK with a place at Attitash, they come to the U.S. from November - April to stay at their condo and ski Attitash and Wildcat. Those are the only places they ski. They went from paying ~$550 for an unlimited Peak Resort Pass to spending more on the Epic Pass that has incentives they will never use, meanwhile they have one of the slowest and most unreliable summit lifts in existence. 

Once people have a "home hill"  maybe they are just comfortable. Everyone at Magic was super excited with the Indy Pass the first year, since we all had free days to ski Bolton, Jay, Platty, etc. I don't know one person there who skied them and they were free. And most of them drove right by Plattekill to get to/from Magic. 

Seeing your latest post PF about first time visitors and beginners, I would agree this group and weekend trippers benefit most. 

5 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

It is getting very windy here in Branford. something just blew into the back of someones car here

Looks like gusts close to 50 right on the shore. I bet there are some 70mph gusts by the end.

Down near the CT coast. Power flashing, wind cranking, solid storm.

51 minutes ago, mreaves said:

That myth surrounds a lot of recreational activities.  You can make them as expensive as you want.  I golf using irons I've had for  nearly 15 years.  I snowmobile with sleds that are 8-12 years old and I volunteer and get free trail passes.  I know a lot of otherwise retired guys who get jobs at Sugarbush in the winter for the skiing.  All of these things can be expensive if you have the latest and greatest technology or have to travel long ways to partake in things.  Like you said, there are ways to make things affordable

Absolutely. I spend money on safety (bindings and helmets for skiing, skates and shin pads for hockey).

Looking around for options is always fun. I am fortunate all my skis are custom homemade all wood skis - Mad Russian Ski Company was my neighbor in Providence - and they are the greatest sticks I have ever been on and 2/3 of the price if not less than anything brand new. These are my hard pack and mogul skis coming off the press. It's a Hart F17 bulked up proportionally to a 95mm waist. 

Also have my big sticks - 189 long with a 110 waist. Wife has the 169cm version with "under the sea" top graphics.

57 minutes ago, Angus said:

Let's not forget that skiing is increasingly becoming the recreational sport of the wealthy. As it has been commented many times, not a good trend for the sport. 

I think skiing being expensive is a myth that really damages the sport. One of the first comments any of my friends in their 20s or 30s have about skiing when they see how much I'm on the hill is the high expense. These are early or fairly established career people making decent money and I imagine if most people are not on the mountain by the time they are in their 30s they never will be.

If you are fortunate enough to have your basics met, skiing and expense is all in how you view it and what you want to prioritize. The past 4-5 years I have been able to ski 30-40 days per year and the average cost per day (including gas, food, lift ticket, bring your own beers/flask) is ~$30-40 per day. To me that is essentially the cost of going out to dinner/takeout once per week. Luckily this decision was easy for me once we moved from Providence to Hippy Valley because good restaurants are rare. Hell, make your own coffee at home instead of hitting Dunkin daily and it equates to saving enough to purchase a Ikon or Epic pass lol. That said, this year there are few/no discounts (e.g., early season Killington bogos, half off days at Cannon, SkiVT card has gone way downhill etc.), which makes affordable skiing more difficult.  I'll be curious if those sorts of deals or gone for good or whether there are a lot more of them next year to try to get people back on the mountain.

I'm curious what folks think about the newer mega-passes like Ikon or Epic. I may just be ignorant but have yet to see the benefits. Compared to the passes of 5 years ago the incentives seem to be things like paying an extra $200-300 to be able to ski non-holiday Stowe.

This one is likely to surprise.