mcglups

Day nine, ten, and eleven on the mountain at Wildcat were similar to last weekend, a bit warmer but still winterish, with a nice surprise of 2 inches of snow this morning. Terrain expansion is limited (non-existent) so the main runs are scratched off rather quickly, however those first few runs are mighty good. Snow making is happening on middle and lower polecat, saw signs of the groomers smashing some of the piles, so it is likely close.

Day seven and eight on the mountain at Wildcat were enjoyable and it sure felt like winter! Conditions took a hit with the rain last weekend but only with modest recovery, however that is more theoretical in nature because natural snow terrain hasn't really been open. Open terrain was man-made groomed granular, with a few variations of top to bottom runs, but overall terrain is limited. Not any semi-permanent ice locations underneath, but there is more noticeable amount of pebbles and small rocks. Snow making is happening on middle and lower polecat, one would imagine that will be ready for action by next weekend. Wind hold got the best of the mountain the past several days with operations closed on Thursday, Friday and on Sunday it opened at 11am.

Day three, four, five and six (21,22,27,28) on the mountain at Wildcat and conditions remain in the good category, however the crowds are picking up a bit quicker than the natural snow accumulation. Morning laps from 830 to 1000 seem to work best for me until there is more terrain. The weekend of 21st and 22nd was quite cold, and the past couple days were pleasant with Saturday afternoon loosening up with some cold mash. Except for the steepest terrain, the natural snow-only trails are now in play. There are now a few paths down the mountain, and it will be nice when Polecat is the entire length, and that should deliver within a week or so.

Day two on the mountain at Wildcat and conditions were really good. Entire mountain (one complete run from top to bottom) was packed powder. Snow making continues on Polecat and it is likely they will complete Upper Polecat before the rain visits on Tuesday. Reflection of the day is the low sun angle in December, I did my entire six pack of runs in the shade and only saw the sun when I got in my car to leave!

First day on the mountain at Wildcat and conditions were quite good. Upper mountain was packed powder, mid to lower mountain was similar but they had snow making in progress and that gets a bit wonky. Pleasantly surprised by overall conditions. Looks like they were blowing on Polecat (2.75 miles in length) so that might be open within a week or so. Wildcat is like stepping back into the 80's, and I think as I get older, that becomes even more OK with me!

13.0 and my point and click has me going to -11

A general observation here for the epic resorts so far. One of the benefits of standardized websites for the vail resorts should be the simplicity of providing updates to the public, but most of the northeast locations have blank screens for their snow and weather report. Stowe seems like the favorable exception with a good write up. In all fairness, the only people that are likely interested in the first days of the season are people with season passes, and so they have the longest arc of consideration, but from a customer point of view, it sure would be easy to cut and paste a simple message that expresses gratitude for being interested, and expressing a tentative opening date. onward nevertheless, such a great thanksgiving gift for a blanket of snow for the north country, bring it on! might have to venture to Sunday River on Friday to get some runs, but I'd stay local at wildcat if it was an option.

the thanksgiving weekend will certainly have a winter feel, happy turkey to all!

agreed. I think they went for the watch for the southern zones already hedging on the travel impact and population density, even though the conditions don't quite match warning criteria. So, they probably opted to not even do such a thing for less travelled areas. we shall see!

With ideal conditions i suspect Killington can perform the necessary snow making in 36 hours. I think the event has to check depths a week beforehand. We shall see!!!

looks legit to me!

first flakes at Jay earlier today https://www.facebook.com/JayPeakResort/videos/1060214048367022

Looks like Tropical storm Ampil (08W) is going to switch teams to baroclinic but has a chance to regenerate as well. No hard science on this, but in following the Atlantic Basin for swell production and keen eye on the continental westerlies for good winds, usually about 3 weeks after a recurving WPAC system is when I lean a bit into a good period of good winds and swells for SNE. The swell from Ernesto on Saturday was in the solid utility range (6 feet at 15 seconds) but very much compromised by local SE winds, resulting in very little attenuation as the swell hit the final kilometers of the nearshore zone. If we had sub-moderate NW winds on Saturday before dark, very likely we would have seen some significant breakers. Onward!

Hopeful for a good season too! I have the epic northeast.

smoke in northern New Hampshire rather thick, can't recall what fires are fueling this, but the morning was beautiful. It is still really nice outside, just lots of smoke haze.