Angus

I would never ski without a helmet. For both safety and comfort reasons. They are so much warmer than a hat and provide protection from not just a hard fall but the random branch. My son took a hard fall at Stratton maybe 15 years ago on a steep, icey slope that would have scrambled his brains if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. I will actually be wearing a new Mips technology helmet tomorrow when I hit the slopes in BC.

Headed to interior BC XMAS day but have definitely had to scramble over the last two weeks changing plans which now includes a lot more driving and skiing further east. Now plan to ski Panorama, Kicking Horse and Lake Louise the first 5 days and remainder of days still are TBD due to snow situation. Had originally planned to stay in Nelson for bulk of the trip. On the ski thread I mentioned what hurts is being in Lech last year with marginal snow conditions - they already are reporting almost 3 meters of base on the slopes and looking at the webcams this morning there was a full on blizzard happening in the alpine.

Saddleback just announced they will resume ski operations on Saturday. Not sure if anyone else has seen the video of the cliff trail at Stowe from this AM - bonkers. Screen shot of a social media post...this went on for quite a distance.

just looked at the sugarloaf webcams...you could whitewater kayak down the stream that runs thru the village. The one webcam that is working further up the mountain makes things look pretty ugly.

been watching their webcams - crazy amount of snow in that area this season and last year at xmas it was very low tide but the mountains are spectacular either way. Funny, the utilities frankly don't diminish the vistas. That picture is the village of St. Christoph - just up from St. Anton and on the way to Zurs and Lech. Of course, headed to BC this xmas and watching it rain on the webcams this morning! See a pattern!

frozen falling at summit of crotched per webcam not the case at the bottom of hill.

Artic Fox - the only native mammal in Iceland. https://guidetoiceland.is/nature-info/the-arctic-fox

Buy alcohol at the duty free in the airport. I couldn't understand why people were leaving the airport with carts full of booze when I arrived. Very beautiful place.

and Wildcat doesn't have the summit lift running today - not sure where they made snow but having ridden the mid-mountain lift (old and slow) in similar storms - skiers/riders are probably feeling mixed blessings

snowmaking in process at the summit and base of Wachusett. May need to drive up and get my uphill touring pass today.

just saw a post that Sugarloaf opens tomorrow with the SuperQuad running which is listed at almost 1,800' vertical feet. Basically, Tote Road top-to-bottom with a few off ramps but that's 3.5 miles long.

making snow at Wachusett this morning.

Was living outside of Harvard Square in Watertown first year out of college and missed the bus which were running on holiday schedule. I asked my roommate if he'd drive me to the subway so I'd be on time for dinner at my grandmothers, the roads were sleet and ice covered and he slid off the road on Brattle Street and banged up his car - felt really bad. He was so pissed he cancelled his TDay plans and went back to our apartment and got drunk.

intermittent light/moderate graupel falling from sky in 01742. 39 degrees at the local school and 40 at Hanscom. partly to mostly cloudy skies to north

I was thinking of this departure recently when out riding one morning on the minuteman bike trail while crossing route 128 not far from Hanscom. It was probably 645am so traffic had been heavy for a while and as I crossed the bridge, I noticed a significant increase in temperature - it was a cloudy day so the sun's impact was insignificant IMO. Has there been any studies done about how exhaust from jet engines could raise the air temperature? I know this issue at Logan has driven everyone crazy since it was noticed. The weather station should be in the Boston Common or something.

@MarkOKudos to WV. Now need to get Cannon blowing on Profile early season! ;-))

https://www.stormskiing.com/p/black-mountain-nh-to-remain-open

Hmmm... about Black Mountain of NH (Jackson) not Rumford Maine. I skied there on one of their last days (Saturday, March 18). Sad. The place is south facing and relatively low elevation and the majority of their trail acreage are open pasture that gets baked and is hard to hold snow. I kind of remember them getting off to a really late start last year. I'm betting their season pass sales were non-existent and the family either didn't want to take on debt or couldn't take more debt on. Frankly, hope it's the former and not the latter. I've only skied there a few times but heard when there was fresh snow and adequate base the mountain is super fun with some challenging terrain especially on the upper half of mountain. The father got into a big public fight a few years ago with the ski touring community and the Last Man Standing event left and moved to Black Mountain Maine. There are some homes on the side of the hill. It's too bad. Last March, I nordic skied at the ski touring center in the morning with my dog and then threw him in the car and picked up a 1/2 day downhill pass and skied the afternoon - it was a nice combo especially for locals.

@layman Epic and IKON https://www.epicpass.com/ https://www.ikonpass.com/

@HIPPYVALLEY well, I wish I knew the difference between 'their' and 'there' The WSJ had an article today about the mega ski passes.

On there website... Pass Sales Resume Today After pausing sales last Spring due to unprecedented demand, Indy Pass has released a limited number of passes for purchase. Permission codes started going out today to people on the waitlist. Permission codes are being sent out in the order of sign up, and the waitlist remains open at this time. The only way to purchase an Indy Pass is by joining the waitlist and receiving a permission code as space opens up.

will those cold temps tonight killed the black flies? I was up raking last Friday at our camp on winnisquam and they were insanely bad...nothing like I've seen in 40+ years.

That is true. I use to drive between Marquette and Hancock frequently for work and it always struck me the elevation difference. From HWY 41 in Ishpeming you look down into Marquette and then out onto Lake Superior. Marquette is a fun town. Always liked staying there.

Currently blue sky and Sugarloaf skiing 95 trails on there final weekend. Looks like there are a fair # of folks there and coverage is pretty good from the webcams.

Ah, I skied that several times on Thursday and it was very good but took several runs from the top of winter's way early on Friday and found the snow there to be heavy and unsupportive and stayed out. thought the gondi glades were very good both Thursday and Friday. Basically, Thursday was just continuous laps down from summit to either winter's way, gondi woods or bumblecuffer...went over to the king pine area on Friday and took a couple of runs and wasn't impressed - they had knocked down all the bumps especially on misery whip which I love.