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The 2012/13 Ski Season Thread


ski MRG

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That's what I'm saying .. a much higher % of the snow in NW ME is synoptic thus the higher qpf content on average, less compaction

Yeah I wonder how overall QPF plays out...I still would bet Mansfield sees more QPF during the course of a winter. Even if the upslope is fluff, there's still QPF in it. So even if it's 1" to 3 feet of snow, that's still an additional inch of liquid added to the pack that didn't fall in non-upslope areas. Or like that event in April that brought up to 5" of QPF to the summit from prolonged moist upslope...other areas only had 1-2" QPF.

I really wish there were more weather stations at elevation up near Sugarloaf ;)

The biggest difference is the daily 1-6" fluff falls that don't add up to much in liquid. That's where the majority of snowfall differences come from and it doesn't do much of anything for the snowpack...just keeps conditions fresh.

We always discuss VT vs. ME but never NH, lol. The poor middle child. VT gets more snow, and ME retains it better. What about NH areas?

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Yeah I wonder how overall QPF plays out...I still would bet Mansfield sees more QPF during the course of a winter. Even if the upslope is fluff, there's still QPF in it. So even if it's 1" to 3 feet of snow, that's still an additional inch of liquid added to the pack that didn't fall in non-upslope areas. Or like that event in April that brought up to 5" of QPF to the summit from prolonged moist upslope...other areas only had 1-2" QPF.

I really wish there were more weather stations at elevation up near Sugarloaf ;)

The biggest difference is the daily 1-6" fluff falls that don't add up to much in liquid. That's where the majority of snowfall differences come from and it doesn't do much of anything for the snowpack...just keeps conditions fresh.

We always discuss VT vs. ME but never NH, lol. The poor middle child. VT gets more snow, and ME retains it better. What about NH areas?

NH probably has a mix of both. NH is pretty resistant to changeover, especially near and north of the Lakes Region. Cannon gets a fair amount of upslope too. Wildcat and the eastern resorts do good in synoptic events. Areas like Loon although more popular, get shadowed. The convenience of Loon though is second to none. I'm there in 2 hrs.

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Yeah and I agree with skier to regarding SR. I guess what I was saying was that in events like a SWFE or lakes cutter that might cause areas near 3K around you to go above freezing...SR and especially points north probably are going to be below freezing for longer. That's all.

But, we all know the pow pow upslope you get, which certainly offsets that. I've never skied in Maine before, so I don't want to comment on something I'm not completely familiar with...but I have an idea on their climo.

And skier, why are you in Maine again?

Oh yeah in a SWFE they'll take us to the woodshed. There are plenty of marginal situations where it is raining on Mansfield and dumping for hours in ME. It usually happens right with heavy precip so out of 1" QPF, Mansfield might see half snow half liquid while Sugarloaf sees almost all snow.

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Yeah I wonder how overall QPF plays out...I still would bet Mansfield sees more QPF during the course of a winter. Even if the upslope is fluff, there's still QPF in it. So even if it's 1" to 3 feet of snow, that's still an additional inch of liquid added to the pack that didn't fall in non-upslope areas. Or like that event in April that brought up to 5" of QPF to the summit from prolonged moist upslope...other areas only had 1-2" QPF.

I really wish there were more weather stations at elevation up near Sugarloaf ;)

The biggest difference is the daily 1-6" fluff falls that don't add up to much in liquid. That's where the majority of snowfall differences come from and it doesn't do much of anything for the snowpack...just keeps conditions fresh.

We always discuss VT vs. ME but never NH, lol. The poor middle child. VT gets more snow, and ME retains it better. What about NH areas?

Yeah I'd throw out a guess like 50% more snow at Mansfield than Saddleback (330 vs 220), but only 10-20% more qpf as snow. That would probably mean you get 20-30% more qpf in winter if you include rain.

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Yeah I'd throw out a guess like 50% more snow at Mansfield than Saddleback (330 vs 220), but only 10-20% more qpf as snow. That would probably mean you get 20-30% more qpf in winter if you include rain.

I'd completely agree with that. I don't think it would be anymore than 30% additional QPF.

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In a perfect world we could have VTs upslope and ME retention...haha

In a real perfect world whiteface would be located 20 miles south and east along the western side of the High peaks. That side of the dacks gets hammered with snow but there isn't a reporting station or ski area to record it. I've been up along the western high peaks in winter and/or late spring and was just blown away by he amount of snow thats up there. Whiteface just isn't representative at all.

And talk about snow retention....It's like the presis over there. Cold and high.

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In a real perfect world whiteface would be located 20 miles south and east along the western side of the High peaks. That side of the dacks gets hammered with snow but there isn't a reporting station or ski area to record it. I've been up along the western high peaks in winter and/or late spring and was just blown away by he amount of snow thats up there. Whiteface just isn't representative at all.

And talk about snow retention....It's like the presis over there. Cold and high.

You talking about the Marcy / Algonquin area? I've never been blown away by their snow pack. They do get more enhancement off of Ontario than peaks farther north. But I don't think it can match the CPV upslope/LE.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got a job at Snowbird, heading out in a week or two!

The ski bum's dream. I was there many years ago. The mountain was covered, everything was open, packed powder everywhere, and powder in stashes. It was a bluebird day. Locals were leaving because there was no powder. They called the packed powder "ice". They had obviously never skied frozen granular at SL in January.

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130 snow guns running at Stowe right now on 9 trail segments... new snowmaking infrustructure is already paying off because the low energy guns are producing a ridiculous amount of snow with like half the compressed air that last year's guns did. Last year with these temps the mountain would be running like 80 guns.

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Sigh... Like it was stated earlier, the 'beast' in mass doesn't blow snow this early. Typically they're one of the last ski areas in north America to turn on their guns. Unfortunately, often a day late and a dollar short.

From a cost perspective, I get it. Why spend a ton this early just to see it melt. However, now is the ideal time too blow huge mountainsof bulletproof cement for use in terrain features, something they lack big time...

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Sigh... Like it was stated earlier, the 'beast' in mass doesn't blow snow this early. Typically they're one of the last ski areas in north America to turn on their guns. Unfortunately, often a day late and a dollar short.

Well I'm champing at the bit to hit the beast too, but with impending torch it would be foolish to turn on the guns. Maybe Kmart can justify it with a big upcoming weekend especially if they pull some pow from the nor'easter, but not so much our little gem in Charlemont.

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