Whineminster Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Gotta work at Wawa tonight. Gonna be another biting cold night up there. I fully expect the nuts to be out there right up until last lift at 10pm. Been really testing the cold weather gear this season. Tonight is my 7th night working and 4 of them have been 5 degrees or under with negative wind chills. 3-4 runs, in to warm up, rinse and repeat. nice! I might be one of those people that stays to last lift tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I have not heard any first hand reports from Sunapee but friends who went to Okemo this weekend were not impressed with conditions on the snow making trails. I'm sure Okemo is fine. They know what they are doing. Its all expectation based and on MLK weekend, I'm sure Okemo was slammed. I'd bet if they show up on a less crowded day its fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Brutal year up there so far. My brother and family are pass holders and he is bullsh*t about how poor a job they've done with the snow making. I'm not sure if there has been a single day of glade skiing there this year. You'll save hundreds with a Saddleback pass but don't expect snow making. lol Great ski mountain though. Down my way Mt Snow and Stratton have been brutal by all reports and Magic has barely been open. Berkshire East has had much better skiing than S. VT. You know with the storm track we had earlier in the winter, I'm surprised its been that bad in parts of NH/ME, but it almost seems like its been a better year in the foothills than mountains. Especially for retention for whatever reason with lots of low level CAD situations while 2,000ft and higher torches above the inversion. I'm starting to see though that snowfall amounts to date don't really mean much anymore as the last 3 weeks have been so dry with snowfall, but a couple rain events, that December snowfall is sort of a moot point now. To be honest, I'm still not used to Stowe being this good at snowmaking, haha. The mountain used to get blasted like 5-10 years ago for its in-adequate snowmaking. $4.7 million the past two years, plus a massive pond and whole new pumping system prior to that, and there's more coming next season...its been fun to be a part of this. Just the whole attitude towards snowmaking has changed, too. Its a more "go for it" attitude, rather than a "do we really have to?" attitude. The fixed equipment and better technology makes it a lot easier for the snowmakers too...those guys still do a ton of work, but its not quite the manual labor it used to be. Say the Nosedive trail from top-to-bottom used to require them to set-up 70-80 land frame guns to hit the entire length of trail. People don't understand how much work that is to drag that many guns and hoses all over 2,000 vertical feet and set-up. Now do that for almost every trail. You really only go make snow on a given trail once, *maybe* twice a season with that set-up. Instead now, the mountain's gotten away from that and put in the fixed tower guns all over the mountain (like 450 guns in the past two years). That is the game changer, something Sunday River found out a while ago. It used to take like 48 hours to set-up a trail like that, instead now you can turn that snowmaking on in about 2 hours. There's much less downtime to move equipment and that time is instead spent making snow. The fringe benefit too is that the snowmakers are stoked to be a part of this. You have a crew that is excited about it. Not crusty and angry to have to deal with all this stuff from the 1980s and 90s. Its the same with any industry where improvements and capital investment is happening...human talent is drawn to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skizoo Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I'm sure Okemo is fine. They know what they are doing. Its all expectation based and on MLK weekend, I'm sure Okemo was slammed. I'd bet if they show up on a less crowded day its fine. Yep, 12,000 skiers on 480 acres, not a good combo. Conditions were pretty much trashed by 8:30 AM. Conditions today = good ole VT packed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yep, 12,000 skiers on 480 acres, not a good combo. Conditions were pretty much trashed by 8:30 AM. Conditions today = good ole VT packed Yeah judging conditions during a holiday weekend can be tricky. I always urge people to ski mid-week...it's an entirely different animal mid-week. Same conditions on a Monday can be fantastic but at 1pm on a Saturday can be rugged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolMike Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Anyone been to Sunday River lately? How are the conditions? I'll be taking some turns up there Friday and Saturday but I'll have to miss out on Sunday for work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Creating snowstorms daily. Whiteout conditions in the storm, 100 mile visibility outside the squall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subdude Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Subdude, what do you do there? Ski patrol? Ranger, tonight is my 8th night working on the season, out of the 8, five of them have been 5 degrees or below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Ranger, tonight is my 8th night working on the season, out of the 8, five of them have been 5 degrees or below. I will be there with my group later today (school). We set up in the Granite room over in the corner by the Monadnock lift usually. We emailed all of the parents to send warmer clothing and $ for handwarmers, etc. This month has been chilly for you folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 So nice man-made powder today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clinch Leatherwood Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've noticed Sunday River has stopped making snow. 94 trails open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcrosby Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Sunday river and many other northeast resorts are facing electric restrictions with the cold weather. (Prohibitively expensive or elected curtailments). They will be back soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I've noticed Sunday River has stopped making snow. 94 trails open. Probably an electric department mandated curtailment. I'm not exactly sure what the restrictions are but I've noticed Sugarbush put on their report that they can't make snow due to electric demands. Stowe's got a daytime and nighttime limit from Stowe Electric, but I don't think they change their limits. I'll have to investigate this a bit more as I'm curious now with all these places having a shut down snowmaking. Stowe is now on a Monday-Friday snowmaking schedule. Just building up spring base depths, so no real reason to blast on the weekend crowds. With all snowmaking terrain open and been open, its just going back now and burying the trails for springtime. This week put a good dent in that project with some very large amounts of cheap manmade snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Sierra are still having a brutal winter... absolutely no snow at all. Here's a report from a local's Mammoth Mountain website: Mammoth Mountain is hanging on during the worst drought we have seen in our lifetimes. The good news is we have snowmaking and mountain crews have been blowing snow every chance they get. Most of the groomers have been refreshed over the last week so conditions have improved. You will still find some floating rocks and pebbles around, but nothing like it was a week ago. At this point the skiing & riding reminds of my time at Snow Summit in the mid 80s. Locals Choice is to start out at Canyon or Stump at 8:30 am. Laps in the fresh groomed snow have been the best turns of the day. During the mid week the crowds are so light you can get 8 – 10 fresh groomers in the first hour out on the hill. The best snow the last 5 days has been on Solitude, Saddle Bowl, Center Bowl, Cornice Bowl, Downhill, Roller Coaster, all of the Race Runs and the Unbound Main. Again the snowmaking system at this point has enough water to maintain the runs that are open. However, many of the runs with snowmaking remain closed with no effort to open them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 This dry arctic cold has been pretty solid for snowmaking...winds have been pretty calm, too...so the yield is very good. I feel pretty good about the springtime on a lot of snowmaking terrain now...feet and feet spread across the trails. Next week looks pretty good as well. These tower guns love the calm, cold conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I've noticed Sunday River has stopped making snow. 94 trails open.should pick up nickle and dimes the next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Just back from ski club. Very cold night. Bought a baklava and new gloves so that helped. Snowmaking up the wazoo on Look Mom, Hitchcock and at the beginner area. Huge whales. Can't believe how much they blew in 3 days Looked for Subdude but those orange folks all look alije Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ono Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 You know with the storm track we had earlier in the winter, I'm surprised its been that bad in parts of NH/ME, but it almost seems like its been a better year in the foothills than mountains. Especially for retention for whatever reason with lots of low level CAD situations while 2,000ft and higher torches above the inversion. I'm starting to see though that snowfall amounts to date don't really mean much anymore as the last 3 weeks have been so dry with snowfall, but a couple rain events, that December snowfall is sort of a moot point now. To be honest, I'm still not used to Stowe being this good at snowmaking, haha. The mountain used to get blasted like 5-10 years ago for its in-adequate snowmaking. $4.7 million the past two years, plus a massive pond and whole new pumping system prior to that, and there's more coming next season...its been fun to be a part of this. Just the whole attitude towards snowmaking has changed, too. Its a more "go for it" attitude, rather than a "do we really have to?" attitude. The fixed equipment and better technology makes it a lot easier for the snowmakers too...those guys still do a ton of work, but its not quite the manual labor it used to be. Say the Nosedive trail from top-to-bottom used to require them to set-up 70-80 land frame guns to hit the entire length of trail. People don't understand how much work that is to drag that many guns and hoses all over 2,000 vertical feet and set-up. Now do that for almost every trail. You really only go make snow on a given trail once, *maybe* twice a season with that set-up. Instead now, the mountain's gotten away from that and put in the fixed tower guns all over the mountain (like 450 guns in the past two years). That is the game changer, something Sunday River found out a while ago. It used to take like 48 hours to set-up a trail like that, instead now you can turn that snowmaking on in about 2 hours. There's much less downtime to move equipment and that time is instead spent making snow. The fringe benefit too is that the snowmakers are stoked to be a part of this. You have a crew that is excited about it. Not crusty and angry to have to deal with all this stuff from the 1980s and 90s. Its the same with any industry where improvements and capital investment is happening...human talent is drawn to it. funny you mention this- about 10 years ago I knew a young guy who worked as a snowmaker at Stowe. He did farm work for years, but only lasted one season as a snowmaker- said it was just miserable work and took the fun out of being on the mountain. I can see how the tower guns/automation and quick turnaround between trails makes the morale much better for the crew. Starting up in November must have a certain excitement to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clinch Leatherwood Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Probably an electric department mandated curtailment. I'm not exactly sure what the restrictions are but I've noticed Sugarbush put on their report that they can't make snow due to electric demands. Stowe's got a daytime and nighttime limit from Stowe Electric, but I don't think they change their limits. I'll have to investigate this a bit more as I'm curious now with all these places having a shut down snowmaking. Stowe is now on a Monday-Friday snowmaking schedule. Just building up spring base depths, so no real reason to blast on the weekend crowds. With all snowmaking terrain open and been open, its just going back now and burying the trails for springtime. This week put a good dent in that project with some very large amounts of cheap manmade snow. This makes sense. The canal electric plant hasn't been on during the winter in years (oil fired its too expensive). It's been on during both of these cold outbreaks for emergency power. So I can totally see there being restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Any suggestions for a new pair of gloves? Looking to buy a new pair... My old ones are starting to rip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clinch Leatherwood Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Any suggestions for a new pair of gloves? Looking to buy a new pair... My old ones are starting to rip.Spyder Traverse have served me well, on super cold days I just toss one of those hand warmers in each one. I made it 5 years on the first pair of the older model before I started to rip them...now I use them when shoveling. It was the first stuff I bought out of the gate 5-6 years ago including one of their jackets which I still love. Reviews are favorable for this particular glove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIPPYVALLEY Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Mitten shell with glove liner is my preference. If you want quality mits or gloves and made in USA go to Climb High site. If you at least want keep it local retailer w/ quality brands go to the Ragged Mt Outfitters site. (store is in N Conway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sankaty Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Any suggestions for a new pair of gloves? Looking to buy a new pair... My old ones are starting to rip. Another vote for gauntlet mittens with liner, though I prefer a mitten liner (as opposed to a glove liner) so that my fingers are together for warmth. I've been skiing with them for almost 20 years and would never go back to any other style. I love the warmth, the fact that the gauntlet seals the glove/jacket interface, and the safety leashes, which allow me to remove the mittens on the lift with no fear. Another benefit is that without all the material between the fingers and with the natural curl that many gauntlet mittens have, it's much more comfortable gripping a ski pole. With gloves I feel like I'm fighting the material to keep it closed around the grip. I've had REI branded mitts for the last five years or so, and they are going strong. Before that, I had Buron mittens for about 12 years. I'd check out REI, EMS, and Cabellas. Sierra Trading Post might have some good options as well. These are similar to mine, but apparently the liner has a separated index finger: http://www.sierratradingpost.com/mountain-hardwear-medusa-mittens-waterproof-insulated-for-men~p~4495x/?filterString=s~mittens%2F&colorFamily=01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j24vt Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Any suggestions for a new pair of gloves? Looking to buy a new pair... My old ones are starting to rip. Kinco Axeman mittens for really cold days: http://www.kinco.com/product/1930/ Kinco lined Gloves: http://www.kinco.com/product/1927kw/ You can find them at hardware stores or buy them on line through Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Kinco Axeman mittens for really cold days: http://www.kinco.com/product/1930/ Kinco lined Gloves: http://www.kinco.com/product/1927kw/ You can find them at hardware stores or buy them on line through Amazon Yeah I buy a new pair of each every season...just head into TruValue in Waterbury and get the Kinco gloves for $15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yeah I buy a new pair of each every season...just head into TruValue in Waterbury and get the Kinco gloves for $15. Really? That's awesome... people spend $100 on gloves/mittens. Relatively waterproof? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeepowderhunter Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Just heat them up in the oven (225 degrees) for a few minutes, say 5 min. Then rub some Sno-Seal on them and back in the oven for a few more mintues...waterproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j24vt Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 They are not really waterproof off the rack. I usually heat them up with a hair dryer and then rub in some Snoseal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeepowderhunter Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I believe that they run big in terms of size, if you are ordering on-line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Those puppies are warm enough? Who'd a thunk? I just bought a pair of cheapo (but not low priced) Gordini gloves at the mountain last night... rather basic, but they have the pouch for a warmer... did the trick for last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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