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The 2013-2014 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2

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Ironically they had a horrific winter in '76-'77....like a permanent ridge over them, lol while it was historically freezing in the east.

 

They'll prob get like 7 feet in 1 week in Februayr or something...sometimes out there, it goes from a disaster to amazing in a couple days. But so far this year, they are def having an ugly season. And its not going to get better any time soon with the big +PNA ridge...just dryness.

It did last year

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Skied from 10-1 today. Made about 10 top-to-bottom runs. Snow was pretty nice around the Fourrunner. Definitely softened nicely. Rain was in and out though it was dry for about an hour.

The best part was the weather geek aspect. The inversion was very sharp near the top of the lift. Instantly came out of the clouds and had a 10F temp jump within about 20 or 30 feet is say. Dead calm underneath the inversion in the clouds with southerlies gusting over 30 above the inversion. Really neat. Skiing down you could instantly feel the drop back... Almost like standing in front of a freezer door that's opened.

Another thing I noticed is that the inversion acted as a strong duct. Could hear all the announcements on the PA system from the race going on at Spruce. That was pretty cool.

No line... Very few people. Great day and now I'm drying out and getting ready to go to the bar :)

 

That's the stuff that I love and its why I geek out over weather on the mountain.

 

So at 1pm today, this is what I had on our snowmaking network for temperatures along the FourRunner Quad...

 

3,600ft (summit terminal)...44F

2,300ft (booster pump-house on the side of Liftline)...32F

1,500ft (snowmaking control building)...35F 

 

As you probably experienced, those mid-elevations on the east side can hold the cold very well (as the warm wind goes over-the-top)... but man that temperature jump in literally 50 vertical feet was insane today.  Not sure if you had it, but my goggles kept fogging over as soon as we hit the warm air at the top.  The fast change in airmass (it was like getting hit in the face with a blowdryer at the summit) every single time had my goggles briefly fog up...like if you have glasses or goggles on outside in the winter and then walk inside, the lens fogs immediately.  One Nosedive run I took, the wind at the top before starting down the run was blowing 30-40mph and warm.  Within 20 feet, it was dead calm, cold, and there was some ice on the trees.  I love geeking out about that stuff...plus the roar of the wind at the top is always fun, haha.  You hear it before you get to it.

 

Props for skiing today... I only took 3 runs, but had some other work related issues I was chasing.  The skies really opened up this afternoon. 

 

Tomorrow with temps dropping later tonight, we're giving the groomers a little extra time, so FourRunner at 8am (not 7:30) and Gondola at 9 (not 8:30).  I'm torn on what tomorrow may be like.  If its low/mid 30s at the base, it may not be too bad as it will firm up but not flash freeze.  If its like 29F, it'll be more dicey because it means the top is that much colder too.  Squall parameter has a chance of heavier snow showers like 5-8am in the morning, so would love to put down a quick 1-2" to help the situation. 

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Wow

275 annual inches and mt Shasta is closed. Take a look at that powder freak

 

Yeah that's crazy.  But they have some huge variation.  Although they average almost 300".... its almost like their winters are either 500" or like 100".  They are in the firehose or they aren't.  Heavenly in Lake Tahoe is like 10% open.  The one thing about out there, is that they need so much snow to open... unlike here, where 2 feet can open a lot of stuff, they need like a 60" base to start opening stuff.

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Skied from 10-1 today. Made about 10 top-to-bottom runs. Snow was pretty nice around the Fourrunner. Definitely softened nicely. Rain was in and out though it was dry for about an hour.

The best part was the weather geek aspect. The inversion was very sharp near the top of the lift. Instantly came out of the clouds and had a 10F temp jump within about 20 or 30 feet is say. Dead calm underneath the inversion in the clouds with southerlies gusting over 30 above the inversion. Really neat. Skiing down you could instantly feel the drop back... Almost like standing in front of a freezer door that's opened.

Another thing I noticed is that the inversion acted as a strong duct. Could hear all the announcements on the PA system from the race going on at Spruce. That was pretty cool.

No line... Very few people. Great day and now I'm drying out and getting ready to go to the bar :)

Awesome~better than expected day from the looks of it.  You missed some good t-storms down here

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Stratton has cruising and shopping and restaurants all in walking distance from hotel.

If she likes ice skating and water slides you can go to Jay.

 

i been to Jay so many times when my brother and I use to ski alot, he loved that place. but ive come to realize their layout is subpar. I need a big enough mountain where I can feel like Im in Big Sky MT, but enough stuff to do at the base for the wife.....I know those are so hard to find in NE though, besides Killington.

 

Never been to Stratton, Ive always looked over it for whatever reason. But I will certainly keep it in mind.

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The 8 year old and I had a very fun morning at Stowe although getting to the mountain was an adventure.  Our road was a sheet of ice and saw several cars doing 360s between the guardrails in front of our house around 6am.  Salt truck showed up about 40 minutes later, waited a while, and made our way to the mountain.

 

Turns out we were not the only ones with driving adventures because by the time we got to the mountain morning training had been cancelled (along with the second day of UVM's Winter Carnival).  So the kid and I went over to the Gondola and had an awesome morning skiing soft, fast snow (and eating waffles).

 

It was really cool skiing down through the inversion.  We did one run over on Sensation and the surface there was definitely a bit firmer.  Figured they probably groomed that area of the mountain first thing last night so that it could freeze for the race.

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Funny how people perceive things. Today we had great snow conditions at Killington on some of the very steep snowmaking trails like Ovation, Vertigo etc. killington made snow last week on these trails which made the trails awesome in the rain. Soft carvable hero snow. Tomorrow should be pretty tough. No rain, maybe sunny but the snow conditions will likely be crunchy. So many people I know expressed dismay with today's weather and skipped skiing but are really looking forward to the "better" ski day tomorrow. I'm pretty sure today will have been the better day this weekend.

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Skiing The quad at Stowe this morning. Snowing hard on top of groomed mashed potatoes. Very windy

About 10 people here. Say Hi if you see someone in an orange Burton coat on old Dynastars

 

Will keep an eye out for ya.  Its not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Groomers are pretty decent, actually.  Occasional wind-driven white outs too.

 

 

The snow cloud is back and centered over Mansfield on the county line.

 

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Killington is down to 50 trails with the natural snow trails down to grass. Hoping to get out next saturday at Bromley. Next weekend look dry and seasonably cold at this point, so at least the snowmaking runs will be okay.

 

SR still down about 30 or 35 trails from the peak pre-torch.  Proclamations of a full and quick recovery FTL.

 

Loon took a hit overnight from their page:

 

"Due to the condition of some terrain, we've had to close some trails including Upper Flume, Lower Flume, Angel Street, Basin Street, Big Dipper, Ripsaw, Upper Twitcher, Lower Twitcher, and Rolling Bear"

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Killington sounds like fun today:

 

1/12/14 Report

icon_post_target.gifby Guy in Shorts » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:44 pm

Gusty Winds were moving the clouds quickly past the summit. The temp was 26 degrees atop the peak with snow guns roaring . Dry, dangerous but doable were they had groomed the ice. Ungroomed trails were roped off. Today was not a pretty sight as we are on day one of the recovery effort. Best ski day of the weekend by far was yesterday. Lower East Fall was groomed fast track with not a lot turns required. Carpet seats in the gondolas were soaked so we sat on our poles to keep from getting wet. Superstar top to bottom was fairly pleasant. Did not take too long to tire of the ice skating and retire to the Summit Lodge. Those that decided to take the weekend off made a good choice.

Grade D+
 
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I've been getting more and more pessimistic but today wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  It was much better than the flash freeze following the previous thaw (we've had so many thaws in the last month we can now compare them).  Temps held around freezing at 1,500ft which kept the snow surface manageable, and up top where it was 25F, there was an inch of denser snow (graupel and mix of flakes) by early afternoon that gave you something to grip.

 

It at least had a wintery appeal to the day as it snowed most of the day, albeit the wind was strong, so accumulations were kept down. 

 

 

Bout a half inch at the base... what is this fresh white stuff?  Hard to come by this winter.

 

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yesterday was spring-like down at the lower mountain/village at Smuggs.  Up top, firmer.  Today one run and done up at Sterling.  If you have carve/race skis, this is the time to use 'em.  Edgeable hardpack to boilerplate/glare ice.

 

Hopefully things pull together soon.  

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Btv wrf seems to snow potential for 2-4 wet snow up high. 2500' +

 

I'm still not really understanding the BTV WRF. It put a whole lot of QPF in the Northern Greens a few nights ago- but it turned out about 1" maybe- it modeled about an order of magnitude greater than what fell. I just don't understand how that model can serve us yet.

 

Someone explaining the pro's and con's of the WRF would be much appreciated- because as it stands, it seems to over-forecast (and possibly underforecast) events depending on the inputs/conditions with which the model does its projection.

 

Anyway, the conditions are fast and hard- I have a couple extra lift tickets in hand that I'm not gonna use for Smuggs- so if someone wants to ski from now 'til the weekend, let me know and they're yours- I'll be here all week.

 

 Hopefully we get a surprise snowfall and things improve. Otherwise, bring your well tuned carvers/race skis.  

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I'm still not really understanding the BTV WRF. It put a whole lot of QPF in the Northern Greens a few nights ago- but it turned out about 1" maybe- it modeled about an order of magnitude greater than what fell. I just don't understand how that model can serve us yet.

Someone explaining the pro's and con's of the WRF would be much appreciated- because as it stands, it seems to over-forecast (and possibly underforecast) events depending on the inputs/conditions with which the model does its projection.

Anyway, the conditions are fast and hard- I have a couple extra lift tickets in hand that I'm not gonna use for Smuggs- so if someone wants to ski from now 'til the weekend, let me know and they're yours. Hopefully we get a surprise snowfall and things improve.

Nice offer!

I have seen the model do pretty well, if it shows run to run consistency it is solid, i have seen it overdue amounts for upslope areas when uplsope was involved , but i only really bank on it, if its showing a somewhat consistent solution run to run , it has done pretty well in sne on coastal fronts when ive looked at it

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Heading up to Stowe tomorrow from Jersey. Do I dare want to ask how the conditions will be looking for the rest of the week? Hoping to at least get some skiing in. Any chance of some snow on the backside of this rain event? Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

Powderfreak works there so he can tell you the best information out of any of us.  As for big snows there isn't really much hope this week. Looks like snow showers Friday through the weekend

 

http://www.stowe.com/ski-ride/conditions/

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And if you prefer skiing on concrete snow

He asked about Stowe I will bet you that Stowe has  packed powder surfaces Saturday in its report. FYI yesterday was stellar at SR from the report I got, softened up beautifully very carvable, almost corn like, warm sunny. This kind of pattern you can score some very sweet days. 

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