CT Rain Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Mt. Snow invested a ton in new snow making when the new ownership took over from ASC....it seems to be paying off now...your obs confirm it, but I've heard from my ski bum cousin that they had good snow too. Oh yeah the infrastructure investments have been huge. I grew up skiing there so have seen the changes through the years. I never skied Stratton as often so I wasn't sure if Stratton was keeping up or not with the investment at Snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Oh yeah the infrastructure investments have been huge. I grew up skiing there so have seen the changes through the years. I never skied Stratton as often so I wasn't sure if Stratton was keeping up or not with the investment at Snow. I don't think most places are keeping up with Mt. Snow when it comes to snow making...they have ton a ton from what I heard. Maybe there's more...I'll have to google up on the snow making. Its weird to see the mountain changes though after ASC bit the dust and sold off all those big mountains. It was probably a good thing for those mountains too...I felt they all got crappier when ASC managed them than compared to the 1990s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I don't think most places are keeping up with Mt. Snow when it comes to snow making...they have ton a ton from what I heard. Maybe there's more...I'll have to google up on the snow making. Its weird to see the mountain changes though after ASC bit the dust and sold off all those big mountains. It was probably a good thing for those mountains too...I felt they all got crappier when ASC managed them than compared to the 1990s. I think some of it was some of those brutal years in the late 90s too. Bad management and some bad weather years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I think some of it was some of those brutal years in the late 90s too. Bad management and some bad weather years. Yeah no doubt a string bad winters can kill the revenue for ski areas. Just look at the late 70s to mid 80s...those def hurt some places in conjunction with the lawsuits that started springing up, and it really sped up the innovations in snow making...once they realized that the 1960s-early 70s snow-blitz wouldn't keep happening every year. ASC over-extended themselves and that probably hurt them and a lot of the resorts they owned. They did a good job bulidng up Sunday River as one of their first mountains, but once they started buying stuff all over the country, the diluted product effect seemed to take hold. At any rate, it seems a lot of places have improved a lot in the past 5 years with new onwership groups focusing more of their attention on a smaller number of mountains. The generally good snow winters in the past 5-6 years probably haven't hurt either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Ski clubs are def a good idea for saving money. There are at least 2 in my area that have great deals throughout New England and beyond. Maybe after the kids are older I will buy into one. For now, WaWa and the occasional Berkshire East/Sunapee/Waterville/Okemo trip suffices... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professional Lurker Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Absolutely loved being able to see the presidentials today from sugarbush. What's that, like 90 to 100 miles as the crow flies? Insanely clear skies today. It was nice to introduce the kids to a new mountain. Equally nice to ski in what seemed like midwinter hero snow after what we've had to endure in sne. Not saying that b.e.'s snow sucks. ...just that right now its a glacier due to the thaw/freeze cycle that we just went through. The icing on the cake was the 2 youth and 1 adult ticket set me back only $100. Great promo going on right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Absolutely loved being able to see the presidentials today from sugarbush. What's that, like 90 to 100 miles as the crow flies? Insanely clear skies today. It was nice to introduce the kids to a new mountain. Equally nice to ski in what seemed like midwinter hero snow after what we've had to endure in sne. Not saying that b.e.'s snow sucks. ...just that right now its a glacier due to the thaw/freeze cycle that we just went through. The icing on the cake was the 2 youth and 1 adult ticket set me back only $100. Great promo going on right now. You went! Awesome, that was a no brainer when we talked about it in the chairlift. So cool to see Will back in ski mode, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professional Lurker Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 You went! Awesome, that was a no brainer when we talked about it in the chairlift. So cool to see Will back in ski mode, lol It was outstanding! 2.5 hours away is a bit much for a day-trip though. ...oh, wait, you basically drove that on Tuesday just for the beast...Have yet to ski with Will or Ryan. Gotta get them to come out to one of our impromptu gtg's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I generally prefer Mount Snow to Stratton. I think the crowd at Mount Snow is more fun and the lift layout at Stratton sort of annoys me. I also feel like Snow does a better job with snow making and snow quality these days than Stratton. I've had some really ugly days at Stratton over the past few years and not at Snow (could just be a function of small sample size!) I grew up skiing southern VT and always preferred Mount Snow to Stratton. They've got better terrain overall. And yes about the ski club deals... join anything you can. To be honest, if you pay the walk-up rate at any ski area you haven't done any homework or you just don't care. Most folks shouldn't have anything to complain about if they just bought the walk-up ticket rate at any mountain because it means they haven't tried to get anything else. Heck, even stop in at a local ski shop and you can almost always buy a ticket thats like 10-20% off. Vail's one-day walk-up window adult ticket rate is $139...Aspen-Snowmass is $128...etc Those are the "don't do your homework" rates. I can already see that if you buy the tickets online they are like 20% cheaper right off the bat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Still can't believe we get 5 days of skiing and lodging with hot tub sauna pool full kitchen slope side for $427 total at SR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yesterday was an awesome sunny day to ski week-old powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I love that first shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolMike Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yeah, what trail is that first shot? Looks like crazy fun terrain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolMike Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Still can't believe we get 5 days of skiing and lodging with hot tub sauna pool full kitchen slope side for $427 total at SR In my experience SR is the best bang for your buck in New England as long as you book a ski and stay. We do it every year. This year we looked at Jay peak instead. I'm not exaggerating when I say the cost was twice as much for a long weekend compared to Sunday river. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 In my experience SR is the best bang for your buck in New England as long as you book a ski and stay. We do it every year. This year we looked at Jay peak instead. I'm not exaggerating when I say the cost was twice as much for a long weekend compared to Sunday river.22 years,same week,started out at 299 now 427,sweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whineminster Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yesterday was an awesome sunny day to ski week-old powder. That does look pretty good actually I thought it would be all boiler plate. Its snowing here at Bolton valley right now a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yeah, what trail is that first shot? Looks like crazy fun terrain. You won't find that on any trail map. Its fun terrain but high risk, there's been several search and rescues along what we call the "Kitchen Wall" this season, involving belays and ropes. Its very steep, cliffy and you gotta know where you're going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Yesterday was an awesome sunny day to ski week-old powder. That does look pretty good actually I thought it would be all boiler plate. Its snowing here at Bolton valley right now a The trails are getting "tired" as in we could use a refresh, but looks like we've got that coming Monday/Tuesday as the NWS is calling for 2-4" with the first system tomorrow night into Monday, then another 1-4" on Tuesday. The snow quality is still good, its just getting skied hard since its been a little while since the last snowfall...so it starts to lose its durability. Hit the mountain early for the best skiing, but that's sort of the rule at anytime you are dealing with winter conditions, except spring skiing when you are waiting for the surface to soften to corn snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 In my experience SR is the best bang for your buck in New England as long as you book a ski and stay. We do it every year. This year we looked at Jay peak instead. I'm not exaggerating when I say the cost was twice as much for a long weekend compared to Sunday river. Yeah for the "Big resorts", Sunday River really lets you go pretty far with your dollar. I've been really researching hard over the past couple weeks to try and get a nice getaway and its hard to beat them, that's what I went with for later this month....Sugarloaf is really good too, but that is way the hell up there..like another hour and a half past Sunday River. They kind of have to be cheaper, lol...I'd love to get there soon though because their terrain is sick...and of course the snow. There's some nice mid-sized mountains that you can really go far with. I used to go to Cannon sometimes back in the day and they had some real steals...and their mountain has some badass terrain. They just don't have any real onsite "resort" with lodging and all that jazz. But its a pure skiers mountain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whineminster Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 The trails are getting "tired" as in we could use a refresh, but looks like we've got that coming Monday/Tuesday as the NWS is calling for 2-4" with the first system tomorrow night into Monday, then another 1-4" on Tuesday. The snow quality is still good, its just getting skied hard since its been a little while since the last snowfall...so it starts to lose its durability. Hit the mountain early for the best skiing, but that's sort of the rule at anytime you are dealing with winter conditions, except spring skiing when you are waiting for the surface to soften to corn snow. yeah it was definitely skied out but that's what happens at 60 inches below normal . Not sure it justified the $98 ticket price. Those electronic gates are kinda cool haven't seen those. The terrain was awesome though I'll be back. Nice and steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Wachusett was a sheet of ice tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professional Lurker Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Wachusett was a sheet of ice tonight Yeah, late season night skiing kinda sucks. Mashed potatoes turns to boilerplate as soon as the sun fades. I won't ski at night in march, its s good way to get hurt... Actually I skies last week after sunset, but that was when it was cold and never really softened up during the day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whineminster Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Wachusett was a sheet of ice tonight poop. I was going to go tonight and enjoy the fresh trace we picked up last night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Yeah, late season night skiing kinda sucks. Mashed potatoes turns to boilerplate as soon as the sun fades. I won't ski at night in march, its s good way to get hurt... Actually I skies last week after sunset, but that was when it was cold and never really softened up during the day... I think it was back in 2005 I skied WaWa in March one day...it must have been a few days after the 3/12/05 storm dropped like a foot of snow. Conditions were amazing all day...but the snow got a tad soft in the afternoon as highs made it to like 38-40F. Stayed for night skiing...big mistake, lol. Upper mountain was ok where it never got too soft in the afternoon but the lower 2/3rds turned into either sheets of ice or ugly frozen granular...the softness refroze solid. Gotta get those days where the highs don't really make freezing to have decent night skiing, which are tougher to find in March...but they do happen occassionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Refrozen spring snow is one of the most unpleasant surfaces there are...however perfectly ripe spring corn/granular snow is about as smooth as it gets. We don't do night skiing, but to me having a week of sunshine with highs near 45F and lows near 20F is about as perfect as it gets. To get the good spring corn snow you need it to refreeze at night, so that during the day only the top 2" really soften. If you don't get the refreeze at night you are stuck with isothermal mush that gets punchy and sticky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarman Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Yesterday was an awesome sunny day to ski week-old powder. photo1.JPG photo 21.JPG photo 11.JPG Nice pics as usual. These were from Saturday at Berkshire east... warm temps softened everything and it was extremely pleasant. Pack in the woods getting thin and showing initial signs of rot, but dense and covered stuff up very well. No damage to the boards yet. Awesome terrain for a little hill in MA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 This storm looks amazing for much of ski country. Basically going to have mid-winter conditions from Thursday through middle next week...though the base areas lower down may develop a bit of corn on Saturday ahead of the next front. Hopefully the S VT mountains can avoid a lot of taint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Sort of a random question for anybody with kids...or anybody who is more knowledgeable with this subject. I'm thinking of next winter for letting my son at least get the feel of putting skis on. He'll be just turning 2 in December. Is this too young? I'd love to go to a place like Wachusett or maybe Nashoba to teach him, but would be pointless if it's too young. Plus Dad could use some time to get his ski legs back..lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeepowderhunter Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Can anyone help give me a feeling of how far north the taint will get in vt? Want to hit Magic but I think the safer but in a bit more north. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Can anyone help give me a feeling of how far north the taint will get in vt? Want to hit Magic but I think the safer but in a bit more north. They will prob taint. I'd probably want to get at least as far north as Killington...but even they may not be totally safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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