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The 2012/13 Ski Season Thread


ski MRG

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I was at Bromley yesterday and it was really nice.  A few inches of fresh sleet/snow made the surface texture pretty cool.  Hopefully the snow the areas blew the last week and a half was dry enough to soak up some of this r**n stuff tonight.  Unfortunately what natural there was will most likely need to be completely replaced.

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Looks like my week in stowe right after xmas-new years was the best of the season, this report from Bolton is discouraging to say the least.  The front is currently going through my part of the world, sorry you guys got the torch.  That webcam at bolton right now is a sad sight to see.

 

Update @ 8:50 am: In the light of day, we were able to examine mountain conditions carefully and have decided to suspend operations at Bolton Valley. We've been hit with heavy rain and have experienced significant melting overnight. Because of these factors we are closed for today. Stay tuned for more updates and check out our plan below for coming back from the thaw. *On the upside, the rain has now changed over to SNOW!

 

 

 

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ok, i know i shouldn't have...but i checked out the webcam at wawa, and i watched the mrg video report...no easy way to put it...they got massacred! 

Wachusett went from 21 trails yesterday morning, to a delay opening, then 2 trails in 1 day.

 

They still have a lot of snow, but they have to make major repairs through grooming.

 

Ah, well. Snowmaking will fix some

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Just got back from a couple of days in Telluride. Amazing mountain, but even better - we got lucky with the snow. 24 inches in the 3 days I was there. Up til then, snow hadn't been good at all. this definitely helped, but led to high avalanche dangers and lots of controlled blastings all over the mountain (such a cool sound). Some areas of the mountain still closed, not sure when they'll open up. Even ran across some icy moguls at one point, felt like I was back in Killington.

One morning I heard a conversation between a skier and a lift op about the B'east - they both grew up skiing there. Made me think of you all!

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Shocked when I went to MRG webpage just now, the wording was strong...............says they have taken another January beatdown with warmth and rain, that they have lost a tremendous amount of snowcover, that they need a lot of snow before even rethinking opening up the main mountain.

 

I think this winter might be even worse for nne, and for those that rely on natural snow, well they are hurting pretty bad.

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Shocked when I went to MRG webpage just now, the wording was strong...............says they have taken another January beatdown with warmth and rain, that they have lost a tremendous amount of snowcover, that they need a lot of snow before even rethinking opening up the main mountain.

 

I think this winter might be even worse for nne, and for those that rely on natural snow, well they are hurting pretty bad.

 

Got to hand it to them, the video makes me shiver on their site.  I cannot believe how much snow vanished everywhere and as Chris noted the ice is gone down here....just vanished.  The Pond Hockey Classic went off today, hats off to the work they put in.

 

Wachusett had plenty of trails open, but lots of ice. Yuck.

Berkshire East was so much better on Tuesday.

 

 

We need some real snow and soon.

 

The graph for Mt Mansfield is really starting to depart from norms. 

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The graph for Mt Mansfield is really starting to depart from norms. 

 

 

It is called "regressing to the mean."  For years a co-worker and I at the mountain have been saying we are bound to see some clunkers as the decade from 2000-2010 averaged quite a bit above normal.  I mean, look at how solid and consistently above normal that decade was from a 60+ year mean.  The law of averages said that could not continue.  I'm not sure folks realize just how spoiled we were during that decade (even in the big cities with KUs and the like).

 

I mean, I'm on my 10th season up here and have just gotten used to the snow depth being above the "average" on this graph.  That was an obscene decade for snowfall... its like, oh its another season and yet again we have a settled snow depth of 8 feet to melt going into the spring.

 

 

Thank god for snowmaking is all I have to say.  Mad River Glen being closed on February 1st and saying they need a large amount of snow "to even think of opening the main mountain" is very telling.

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It is called "regressing to the mean."  For years a co-worker and I at the mountain have been saying we are bound to see some clunkers as the decade from 2000-2010 averaged quite a bit above normal.  I mean, look at how solid and consistently above normal that decade was from a 60+ year mean.  The law of averages said that could not continue.  I'm not sure folks realize just how spoiled we were during that decade (even in the big cities with KUs and the like).

 

I mean, I'm on my 10th season up here and have just gotten used to the snow depth being above the "average" on this graph.  That was an obscene decade for snowfall... its like, oh its another season and yet again we have a settled snow depth of 8 feet to melt going into the spring.

 

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Thank god for snowmaking is all I have to say.  Mad River Glen being closed on February 1st and saying they need a large amount of snow "to even think of opening the main mountain" is very telling.

 

 

Good stuff I hadn't seen that graphic prior.  It's interesting how it all played out with the warmth.  Sunapee is still where they were at a week ago for trail counts.  Cold hung in there longer it seems.

 

It's a mess, I hope you guys get snow.  Is there anything left that the bases up there or is it all bare now?

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Good stuff I hadn't seen that graphic prior.  It's interesting how it all played out with the warmth.  Sunapee is still where they were at a week ago for trail counts.  Cold hung in there longer it seems.

 

It's a mess, I hope you guys get snow.  Is there anything left that the bases up there or is it all bare now?

 

 

Its not bare... there's snow its just not as deep as it should be this time of year.  Its the consistency of concrete so it actually makes a good base (albeit low tide) if we were to actually get a snowstorm.

 

Last week at this time we had 85 trails, today its 79.  No real loss, the only reason we don't have the same amount is that the surface on steep double blacks is too gnarly to open.  A fall on that terrain would cause a long slide as gore-tex accelerates on that surface quite nicely, haha.  Even 6 inches of natural snow could open a few more back up as it gives you at least something to grip on to.

 

Overall, we are pretty much at where we should be for snowmaking terrain... it would take one helluva thaw to get down below like 65-70 trails.  Man-made snow is deep and extremely durable.

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Its not bare... there's snow its just not as deep as it should be this time of year.  Its the consistency of concrete so it actually makes a good base (albeit low tide) if we were to actually get a snowstorm.

 

Last week at this time we had 85 trails, today its 79.  No real loss, the only reason we don't have the same amount is that the surface on steep double blacks is too gnarly to open.  A fall on that terrain would cause a long slide as gore-tex accelerates on that surface quite nicely, haha.  Even 6 inches of natural snow could open a few more back up as it gives you at least something to grip on to.

 

Overall, we are pretty much at where we should be for snowmaking terrain... it would take one helluva thaw to get down below like 65-70 trails.  Man-made snow is deep and extremely durable.

 

PF I meant off resort...IE in town etc.  Still snow? 

 

When I looked quickly at Sunapee, Loon and SR it's like you said, trimmed back but not bad. Sunapee is back to 50 trails.   The man made was so thick there last weekend it's plowed to about a 2-3' snowbank on the edge of each trail.

 

The big thing I imagine for all of you is school vacation weeks.  We need to get some snow up there soon to keep the masses moving north.

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PF I meant off resort...IE in town etc.  Still snow?

 

When I looked quickly at Sunapee, Loon and SR it's like you said, trimmed back but not bad. Sunapee is back to 50 trails.   The man made was so thick there last weekend it's plowed to about a 2-3' snowbank on the edge of each trail.

 

The big thing I imagine for all of you is school vacation weeks.  We need to get some snow up there soon to keep the masses moving north.

 

Its variable depending on tree cover... pretty much anything under trees (ie where snow would've been caught, like on evergreens) is bare, as well as steep banks and wind scoured areas. 

 

However on the whole, flat areas that had even snow cover prior to the thaw are still 100% covered.

 

Here's my backyard behind the condo and its still covered in 3-5" of absolute concrete.  I think the Stowe Village CoCoRAHS observer has been showing 4" of depth and that sounds about right for a single value.  If the surface wasn't so sun/rain cupped, I could ice skate on this stuff.  That's what 1" of rain followed by temps falling to near 0F will do, lol.

 

It isn't much, but hey, at least its white... and if its white, its right ;)

 

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