mcglups

39 degrees and rain, cold ENE flow at the coast. These are the coldest days of the year, or so it feels that way.

I think that is a good starting point for the day, essentially heading north on 16 and in Gorham making the decision of where to go next (NW, N, NE). My general thoughts on the day is that speeds on roadways will be near normal at sunrise and decrease significantly as the morning becomes noon. I would plan to be where you want to be by noon.

That could work in the area of pontoon reservoir heading into thirteen mile Woods but all side roads will be snow and mud. The biggest reality to embrace is average speed on any road with people pulling over will reduce by 50% or 80%. By 1pm I would think all roads will start to get filled with people pulling over.

Milan will be 100% for minute but I really feel like traffic heading south will be a sh$t show. The bottle neck at bow with 89 and 93 merging will likely be backed up tens of miles for hours.

The discussion from gyx mentions the "foggier effect", what is that?

Not sure. Last year I want on April 22 and looking down the mountain, the right side was ungroomed with moguls (steep too) and the middle likely had moguls but was groomed and bumps developed during the day, and the left side was groomers that looked like they were groomed daily. I suspect that each season, scenario, and daily considerations lead to different outcomes.

Got my viewing glasses today. Looking forward to a possible big snow storm, a few good days on the slopes, and some eclipse chaos!

Friday at attitash was groomed and no crowd and fun. Saturday at wildcat was powder refilling and was more than I could handle, just dont have the strength as in the past. Sunday back to attitash and a mix of groomed powder and fresh tracks, got a six pack of runs, very nice. It is a nice feeling to have abundant snow everywhere

I don't like missing snow, but I also can find enjoyment in doing something else this weekend through next week with more of a coastal flare. We have snow on the coast, so it makes outside walks feel like northern new england, good stuff!

I read an article in a local paper in Berlin where the town of Pittsburg is planning for the event and they are anticipating anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 people (basically they have no idea, and just going to roll with it!) and all camping, cabins, vrbo, etc... are all booked in Coos Country. Colebrook on the other hand is planning for a big event of tens of thousands of people. Given the uncertainty of weather and crowds, I'm aiming to do a clockwise northern loop, and presuming I get passed Pittsburg and can cross the border, will take in the eclipse in southern Canada, and then venture home through Chain of Ponds and grab dinner in Rangeley. Alternatively, if I get to Errol in the morning and it is already a complete sh$t-show, I'll take a counter clockwise approach and venture up dead diamond road and get lost, sort of...

Friday and Saturday were really good at Wildcat. on Saturday it did warm up quite a bit and there was some passing showers with a double rainbow, but that spectacle only lasted for an hour or so, and then it was like cool-spring-like conditions. A few bare spots are showing and wouldn't be surprised if some terrain is roped off until they get a natural refresh or make some snow. Opted to skip today and drive home last night, but itching to get back up there.

A new year and chatter to expand the scale. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2308901121

First chair this morning and felt good with the run on the top half. Opted for the slower path down the bottom half and while everything was groomed, it had frozen firm overnight. At sub moderate speed, managed to cross the skis for my first season fall, right hand extended out and nailed my elbow on the tarmac, wrenched my shoulder, and hard tapped my helmet. The helmet definitely reduced the head injury to a mild concussion, can't imagine what it would have been like without the helmet. Shoulder injury will be a wait and see. No fun getting old, but wont give up!

Wildcat today had the good fortune of moderate terrain expansion with 3 main runs off the top of the mountain and about 7 main runs from the middle to the bottom, I think they call that close to 20 runs. I opted to miss the morning powder/chop experience and arrived around 11am when it was snowing but ever so slightly warming up. By 2pm it was a light drizzle. Trails with just natural snow were really fun, powder/packed powder with the geology frozen patches. Trails with combination of snow were equally fun, just a bit more frozen underneath, but nothing bad. All lifts were running and all three parking lots were open, but with just enough terrain, it didn't feel busy. Overall, that mid week cement dumping was very helpful, essentially a full recovery from the December rain. Healthwise my respiratory illness is gone, so just battling fatigue, but got a six pack of runs!

Certainly the highest volume of vehicles for the season, double solid lanes up 93 north through the lakes region. Winds are kicking up here and snow pack is rather solid.

If this comes to be, Sunday is going to a wild day at Wildcat. Thirty inches of compactable snow will allow for ample trails to be open. I have come to learn that as much as I enjoy powder conditions, I don't have the stamina to deal with the chop after the first run, and will benefit greatly from more open terrain.

Looks like about 3-4 inches locally in Berlin with light snow as of now. At Wildcat the base seemed to have about 4-5 inches and up top was a bit more, perhaps 6. Air is cold, snow is very dry.

Wildcat skied quite well this morning. As typical with my routine, I was the 10th or so chair to start the day and there were 2 main trails down the mountain (total trail count of 9) and I found that the amount of slippery/icy spots were a minimum and the groomed frozen granular was enjoyable. With a slight respiratory illness and fatigue from my medication, a six-pack of runs is sufficient to satisfy my craving, restock the stoke, and it is especially fun to watch the little kids in the ski team zipping down the mountain. Wildcat has a vibe that is stuck in the 80’s (or 90's I get the confused, ha!) and while I go there because it is 18 miles from my home (and the epic northeast is just $555), I think it is a great mountain. For Sunday, I’m heading to Attitash for the opening of the high-speed quad to the top of the mountain, replacing the “slowest triple chair ever”. Let’s hope the cutters coming up are cold enough that even a soaking of rain doesn’t tax the snow pack across the region.

The new quad at attitash is coming online on sunday. This, along with mountain snow forecast will keep me up north for the day.

I ski at wildcat, at the tail end of the season I'll venture to sugarloaf. From door to door it is 255 miles. Who knows, maybe I'll ski last run and attempt the drive at 5pm.

Can I get a few runs on Sunday morning and then drive back to RI, or will this turn into a 10-hour commute! As it looks, Saturday will be a fun day to return after a 3-week hiatus. Bring on the ski season for 2024!

have not traced this into the forecast, but that storm in the NPAC means business. https://manati.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/datasets/SGWHData.php altimeter with a huge swath of 40+ foot seas and several 50+

I agree with your thoughts, the one thing that is sneaking up in interest is how local and state police are going to manage this event. For example, in Franconia Notch during leaf season the put out miles (literally miles) of orange cones every 3 meters that prevent people from pulling off the side of the road. Are people going to be able to pull off the side of the road on 26/145/3 in Coos County and just stay there for hours on end? Having just 1 car on the side of the road brings the average speed down quite a bit, to have mass amounts of car on the side of the road will turn these state highways into parking lots. The weather is the other wildcard, if somehow snow pack materializes, all the side roads, fire roads and construction access roads will be a sh%t show. --- It should be interesting to see how this evolves!

With our luck, all ski resorts will close early due to lack of snow and torrential rains in Mid-March, and then we get a long duration cold snap in April and the mountains take in feet of snow pack for the eclipse. I'm all about experiences, so I'll take the mixed bag!

As much as I want to drive north and get in some season pass free runs, the idea of a 500 mile round trip to get these conditions has me sticking to the ocean this weekend. Hoping that we can get below freezing by Monday and guns turn on for days.