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NNE Spring Thread


Allenson

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Because its a slow day in this thread, I'll share one more photo from yesterday's ski down under the rainbow. The full rainbow stayed in place for 10-15 minutes, allowing for photo opportunities from top-to-bottom. The photo I posted yesterday (few posts back) was from high on the mountain, and here's one from low on the mountain:

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That's awesome freak! Ski in May for me!

I'll be out there tomorrow for sure... just haven't decided if I'm going to skin a run or two at Stowe, or drive the 45-60 minutes south to Sugarbush where the lifts are spinning and lift tickets are FREE tomorrow. Hats off to Sugarbush for staying open for this weekend AND offering free skiing/riding on Sunday. I love Stowe (that's something no one knows about me, lol) but sometimes its operated *too much* like a business. Absolutely no business or accounting model says it is a good idea to stay open on May 1st while offering free skiing... you literally might as well flush money down the toilet (I'd guess it costs them anywhere from $2-4,000 a day to operate 2 lifts, limited grooming, lodge/food services, etc). However, the "goodwill" created in the ski and snowboard community is hard to measure, but there are times when it out weighs the costs of operations... I think this is one of those times as I personally know of A LOT of people planning to head to Sugarbush tomorrow, and the only people left skiing/riding are in the "core" business segment of the sport. Those "core" skiers and riders will remember that Sugarbush was not only willing to go the extra distance and stay open, but by giving away lift tickets they are saying, "Its a lot more than just about the money." Its beautiful marketing and excellent exposure to end the season.

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Free skiing at the Bush today? I wish I'd have heard about this sooner....alas, plans have already been made.

Nice morning out there--cool, clear, calm, 30F and frosty. Wondering when the last frost will be this year. The first one is right around the corner. ;)

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Pleasant clear morning. It should end up a "top 10" day. Already up to 49.6F coming off of a low of 35.6F. CON dipped to 29F.

Looks like we slowly start going downhill after today.

perfect day to build a few more mulch beds and put some grass seed down.

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I'll be out there tomorrow for sure... just haven't decided if I'm going to skin a run or two at Stowe, or drive the 45-60 minutes south to Sugarbush where the lifts are spinning and lift tickets are FREE tomorrow. Hats off to Sugarbush for staying open for this weekend AND offering free skiing/riding on Sunday. I love Stowe (that's something no one knows about me, lol) but sometimes its operated *too much* like a business. Absolutely no business or accounting model says it is a good idea to stay open on May 1st while offering free skiing... you literally might as well flush money down the toilet (I'd guess it costs them anywhere from $2-4,000 a day to operate 2 lifts, limited grooming, lodge/food services, etc). However, the "goodwill" created in the ski and snowboard community is hard to measure, but there are times when it out weighs the costs of operations... I think this is one of those times as I personally know of A LOT of people planning to head to Sugarbush tomorrow, and the only people left skiing/riding are in the "core" business segment of the sport. Those "core" skiers and riders will remember that Sugarbush was not only willing to go the extra distance and stay open, but by giving away lift tickets they are saying, "Its a lot more than just about the money." Its beautiful marketing and excellent exposure to end the season.

I was at Killington yesterday and spoke to a few people on the chair buzzing about Sugarbush

snowshed-lot.jpg

Meltage on non-snowmaking runs is nearly complete at K's lower elevations.. not far behind up high.

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I'll be putting down lime and grass seed tomorrow night in anticipation of a wet balance of the week. Did the raking today, though the sun was much hotter than I'd like. Alas, Ma Nature doesn't do it my way.

lol.. well it does look great next week for lawn prep across the central and N country. A bit late here but got some serious work done today, damn black flies drove me inside though. Back out tomorrow for 10 hours to finish up most everything.

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I'll be out there tomorrow for sure... just haven't decided if I'm going to skin a run or two at Stowe, or drive the 45-60 minutes south to Sugarbush where the lifts are spinning and lift tickets are FREE tomorrow. Hats off to Sugarbush for staying open for this weekend AND offering free skiing/riding on Sunday. I love Stowe (that's something no one knows about me, lol) but sometimes its operated *too much* like a business. Absolutely no business or accounting model says it is a good idea to stay open on May 1st while offering free skiing... you literally might as well flush money down the toilet (I'd guess it costs them anywhere from $2-4,000 a day to operate 2 lifts, limited grooming, lodge/food services, etc). However, the "goodwill" created in the ski and snowboard community is hard to measure, but there are times when it out weighs the costs of operations... I think this is one of those times as I personally know of A LOT of people planning to head to Sugarbush tomorrow, and the only people left skiing/riding are in the "core" business segment of the sport. Those "core" skiers and riders will remember that Sugarbush was not only willing to go the extra distance and stay open, but by giving away lift tickets they are saying, "Its a lot more than just about the money." Its beautiful marketing and excellent exposure to end the season.

I'm going to be rethinking our passes for next year. Probably just going to get a 5 day Stowe pass for myself and ski Sugarbush on the weekends and school vacations. Most of our Chittenden Country friends made that switch a few years ago.

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Finally warmed up around 3, 59F. Beer stayed cold in the shade all day. Chilly start to Turkey season tomorrow

eek - this is the green I was thinking. Although I really don't do it much justice. Carleton Mt. in the background

IMG_2391.jpg

R-L: Bear Mt., Owl's Head, and N. to Mt. Orford.

IMG_2393.jpg

That is indeed quite a serious green. I love the hills in the second pic... very picturesque.

Award winning spring weather today. High of 65 after a low of 34.4.

Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Chickadees and Gold/Purple Finches have been very vocal and attacking the bird feeder heavily.

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Yep, beautiful day yesterday and just what the doctor ordered for getting some domestic chores done. I always find the first batch of sunny, warm days in the spring a little on the hot side. My body takes a while to acclimatize and change from winter mode to spring mode and plus there isn't much shade out there with the trees still a ways away from leafing out. The spring ephemerals like it though--trout lily, spring beauty, coltsfoot and trilliums all starting to bloom in the hardwoods here and the wild leeks and blue cohosh are all shooting up.

MRG won't like to hear this, but I took the plow off the old plow-truck for the season (might be the old rig's last chore) and I put the skis away for the season. However, when one walks to the north side of the house, even yesterday, there was still this to be found. Please pardon the sweet typar siding--shingles are going on this summer. ;)

post-2284-0-19652800-1304333881.jpg

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I'm going to be rethinking our passes for next year. Probably just going to get a 5 day Stowe pass for myself and ski Sugarbush on the weekends and school vacations. Most of our Chittenden Country friends made that switch a few years ago.

Yeah, if I didn't work there I'm not sure I'd be able to fork over the money for a full-seasons pass. I understand the accounting side of it and supply and demand, but the pass prices definitely price out a lot of my friends and other non-professional folks (ie. one's that don't just have an extra $1,500 to drop each fall). With that said, I'm still convinced that Mansfield has the best skiing/snow/terrain combo in the East for expert skiers/riders. It wouldn't matter to me if Stowe, Jay, or Sugarbush occupied that ridgeline... that's the mountain I want to ski day-in and day-out. Its hard to find a steep, over 2,000-2,500 vertical foot face that gets 300"+ on a regular basis... and the aspect is primarily northeast so the snow quality and depth stays better a lot more than other areas.

Thanks to Sugarbush for opening yesterday and handing out free lift tickets. There was a huge Stowe contingent down there (at one point there were over 20 of us Stowe employees, passholders, town residents ripping around the mountain) and out of the entire group, no one had ever heard of "free skiing" or seen it done. I mean there was no "catch." They didn't even want an email address or something to send you marketing materials. You literally just walked up the steps and someone handed you a lift ticket with no questions asked. I mean, you still needed a lift ticket (by accepting one, you are making a contract with the resort, or so says my risk management side) on your jacket, but if you didn't have one they would just give you another. If you think about it though, no one else in the east has ever done that... its always bring like 2-3 cans of food for a food shelter and get a $10 ticket, or you need a voucher from a radio station or something. That might have been a first though where you just walk up and get a ticket without giving Sugarbush anything in return.

What made it more painful to all of us Stowe locals, is that Mansfield still has a good deal more snow than Lincoln Peak/Sugarbush South did... probably another 2 feet at the 3,000-,4000ft elevation band. Stowe could still be open with no problem on a handful of trails, top-to-bottom. However, we all had to show our support for a mountain willing to go the extra mile and stay open as long as possible.

Anyway, it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day to be skiing... the core man-made snow trails still had plenty of coverage, the bumps were soft, everyone got sunburns, and it was the spring day of skiing all us Stowe locals wanted, but never got because the weather stayed cold/snowy till our season ended. The thermometer at 4,000ft at top of Heavens Gate was showing 60F, and the one at the base was 72F. It certainly felt like it. I think that'll do it for my lift-service this season, unless Jay Peak calls my name next weekend.

Again, props to Sugarbush for pulling off one of the best spring ski days and general care-free atmosphere in a long time.

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Yep, beautiful day yesterday and just what the doctor ordered for getting some domestic chores done. I always find the first batch of sunny, warm days in the spring a little on the hot side. My body takes a while to acclimatize and change from winter mode to spring mode and plus there isn't much shade out there with the trees still a ways away from leafing out. The spring ephemerals like it though--trout lily, spring beauty, coltsfoot and trilliums all starting to bloom in the hardwoods here and the wild leeks and blue cohosh are all shooting up.

MRG won't like to hear this, but I took the plow off the old plow-truck for the season (might be the old rig's last chore) and I put the skis away for the season. However, when one walks to the north side of the house, even yesterday, there was still this to be found. Please pardon the sweet typar siding--shingles are going on this summer. ;)

Haha, sweet photo. Three houses down there is still a good sized snow-bank left in the shade. Its probably 2 feet deep by 10 feet wide. That's one of the last patches of snow I know of down in the village. It'll be interesting to see when that finally goes.

Mountain is still covered white, so it looks like its time to go for a skin and ski... I'm still finding a way to ski everyday and am at day 148. I've gotta at least get to 150 days on skis and snow. It would be great to someday get to a full half-year spent on snow ;)

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A couple photos from the other day on Mansfield...

These are from the Nosedive trail. Mountain Operations is going to remove the original Midway race shack, because, well you can see why... and it'll be easier to bring down the mountain when there's snow on the ground. To prepare for the extraction a snowcat dug out the snow uphill and around it, and they had to dig 5-6 feet down to find the ground.

The skier in the photo is 6 feet tall, and I know its hard to tell, but the surrounding snowpack is about at head height when he stood in the hole the snowcat dug.

Snowpack on the trail and in the woods at this elevation (3,000ft-ish) is still 5-6 feet.

This is a 25-foot pile of snow at 3,600ft (north-facing) that probably won't melt till July. The Toll Road is on the other side of the pile, and in order to get construction vehicles up to the summit, snowcats plowed all the snow off the road and there are piles like this all over the place from that plowing. We are going to start taking bets on what day this pile finally disappears.

Along the plowed out work road, the snow is still around 5 feet deep in the woods.

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Wachusett each year has a contest to predict when the last snowpile is gone...

You can win lift tix or something. Great pics as usual Mr. Freak

Thanks, man. Yeah I'm sensing a Stowe Mountain Resort facebook contest is in order... haha. If we don't disturb that pile, it'll be very interesting to see how long it takes something that deep to melt on a north-facing aspect at 3,600ft.

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Haha, sweet photo. Three houses down there is still a good sized snow-bank left in the shade. Its probably 2 feet deep by 10 feet wide. That's one of the last patches of snow I know of down in the village. It'll be interesting to see when that finally goes.

I would think my pile will be gone by week's end. The proverbial 'clinging to scraps'!

Oh, and for you golfers out there, here was the Bradford, VT Golf Course this past Saturday. It lies on the floodplain of the Connecticut River.

Four!? ;)

5681162096_1b54066eb5_z.jpg

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This is a 25-foot pile of snow at 3,600ft (north-facing) that probably won't melt till July. The Toll Road is on the other side of the pile, and in order to get construction vehicles up to the summit, snowcats plowed all the snow off the road and there are piles like this all over the place from that plowing. We are going to start taking bets on what day this pile finally disappears.

We'll see if it outlasts the Central Maine Glacier, aka the Augusta snowdump. In 2008 it lasted thru August 25, but only to about July 20, 2009, and barely into June last year. Late spring wx is also a key, but the pile itself looks a bit smaller than the 2009 version, so I'm figuring about July 10 for the final melt-off.

Three beauties in a row! Rare indeed for this time of year, and a fine day for stretching the legs as they regain strength following the surgery that took the pressure from my spinal cord. The unmaintained road past the house is drying out, but it caught someone but good over the weekend. Lots of grading-by-differential before he got free, and the ruts are only 3-4" deep due to the spring-hole mud oozing back up. The upcoming rainy/cool spell should put off the blackflies until midmonth.

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I think that'll do it for my lift-service this season, unless Jay Peak calls my name next weekend.

PF- bring your walking boots if your heading to J. Imagine they will have Stateside open for laps, NE facing slopes, JFK, Ullr's, etc holding a ton of snow with good skiing but in typical J fashion the base has melted out. they pushed quite a bit of snow to ribbon a track to the "bonnie" quad, after this weeks rain that will be a challenge. who knows though - could be skiing fresh snow

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…who knows though - could be skiing fresh snow.

Roger Hill brought up the snow in his broadcast this morning; the first rough numbers he threw out were 3 to 6 inches and a snow level of 1,500’. He also talked about the lake going higher with this next surge of moisture, not so much due to what falls around here, but more on the Adirondack side of the basin. I heard him say estimates were somewhere up around 103 feet.

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PF- bring your walking boots if your heading to J. Imagine they will have Stateside open for laps, NE facing slopes, JFK, Ullr's, etc holding a ton of snow with good skiing but in typical J fashion the base has melted out. they pushed quite a bit of snow to ribbon a track to the "bonnie" quad, after this weeks rain that will be a challenge. who knows though - could be skiing fresh snow

Ahh, interesting, but not unexpected this time of year, haha. Its funny how flat areas (such as base of lifts and top of lifts) melt out so quickly, while any snow on a pitch will hold snow forever (given that its not south facing). That sounds a lot like Sugarbush on Saturday where the base area was just one cat-width wide ribbon of snow back to the lift, but as soon as you got off the flats the snow was very deep. Top of the lift was a little bony too but as soon as the pitch rolled over there was plenty of snow.

It depends on the weekend weather but I'm leaning towards just skinning Mansfield, given that its a 5 minute drive up the road. After skiing for free at Sugarbush, I'm not really in the mood to pay for a lift ticket haha... but we'll see what friends do. If everyone from Stowe heads to Jay, I'm sure I'll find myself up there.

And Sweet Pic, Allenson! This has been a pretty severe flood season for the Greens and Adirondacks.

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