Hitman

giving the wood burning stove the night off. Its definitely going to be needed continuously next week. Liking the outlook. dont want to count any chickens, but snow on sunday of a holiday weekend followed by cold has a nice ring to it.

I think from a marketing perspective the slide brook lift has some significant value. For actual skiing, it’s of little use. That being said, in the deal with the forest service to install the lift, they agreed not to put trails/lifts in slide brook and that has preserved it as a great sidecountry tree skiing area. pf-in addition to the operational challenges you mentioned, the lift traverses some valleys so there are spots where the chairs are really high off the ground making any evacuation a nightmare. It’s also 2 miles long. Some years ago they stopped running the lift if temps are below 5f, now 10f. Many complain about that, but imho, that is wise. I’ve been stuck up there in the cold and while it was only 10 minutes or so, it felt like eternity. If there is a problem on an extremely cold day it would be a dangerous situation.

I think the castlerock lift will be running by the weekend. They are short staffed on lift maintenance which has led to innumerable problems including lifts not ready to go when the season started. But they were making snow on the entrance to the lift yesterday so I'm guessing it just needs to be inspected at this point. Can confirm there was sufficient snow to run the lift before the additional foot this week. Also Altera sent staff from out west to assist. I don't think the lift issues are related to the age of the fleet. The HSQ's are getting long in the tooth but that's not the problem. The one lift that needs to be replaced is the northridge HSQ which has been a problem since it was moved to its current location. Apparently it has unique design of some kind of chain (I'm no mechanic) that was only on 2 other HSQs both of which are retired. Over the years theyve put money and effort into overhauling it but it doesnt run reliably. It's a lemon and was supposed to be replaced this summer along with Heavens gate but that got nixed and apparently isnt happening this summer either. The Slidebrook lift is a different story. It isn't so much the lift that's a problem, its that they are disinclined to run it, especially when they are short on lift mechanics. Its a long discussion, but suffice to say, a lift that runs sideways over woods presents a whole host of challenges compared to normal lifts that run up and over ski trails. Fwiw-best early season I can remember in many years.

12f here

The lake behind my house is frozen. When I moved here 25 years ago, it was normally frozen and the goals for hockey would be left on the ice all season. Now it only freezes every 4-5 seasons.7

Used to spend a lot of time lurking/learning in the NE forum but it seems that they’ve become more insular over the years. Seems to me there are more inside jokes and play than discussion of actual weather now. And fwiw-Walt’s posts are fantastic and elevate the NY metro to another level. Much thanks to Walt. that being said, let’s get a freaking legit snow storm already.

Coming down good. Heavy thunder and lightening. Just over a half inch. puts me over 4 for the month happy new year

An inch of liquid today.

Solid inch down here had to clear off the car

15f here now. Got down to 13f yesterday.

I tried that for the first time last year and it was great.

egg rolls of course

19f here

Ended up with 1.92” solid showing

Up to 1.82” liquid.