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The 2014-2015 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2

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Does the ski area thin the trees to allow skiing like through them like that?

No the ski area doesn't but the local skiers do. This mountain is like one big glade from 50+ years of trimming under the radar.

In that video though, the upper portions are auto-gladed by nature as the krumholtz don't grow that thick, and the 6 foot snowpack fills in the gaps nicely.

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Kudos to Will.  I admire the dedication greatly and would certainly rather be up there than down here doing yard cleanup and keeping an eye on moderate risk in N TX.

 

 

Thanks man...when I saw the threat for good snow, I decided to see if it would be worth it...and figured around a foot of snow over a few days was good enough....and I was happy to be correct in that assessment when I arrived this morning.

 

 

Back at home now...long day trip that place is, but it was worth it.

 

 

 

Here's a bunch of pics for folks to see from the outstanding day today:

 

 

Nice contrast (sorry for ginx graininess on this first one) between winter up top and sprng/mud season down on the valley floor in the backround:

 

Jaypeak1.jpg

 

 

Transition where the trees were coated:

 

Jaypeak2.jpg

 

 

 

These next 2 are from the Valhalla glade (there was zero ice in there...just awesome...would have never known the lower 4 feet was a cement slab):

 

 

Jaypeak3.jpg

 

 

 

Jaypeak4.jpg

 

 

 

Now just some random shots of deep winter up on the mountain:

 

 

Jaypeak5.jpg

 

 

Jaypeak6.jpg

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BTW this was Cannon Mountain on the way back....they easily could have been like 80% open if they wanted to be...tons of snow left on that mountain. When I drove by the base, the woods had a lot of old snowpack too in addition to anything new that fell:

 

Cannon2.jpg

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BTW this was Cannon Mountain on the way back....they easily could have been like 80% open if they wanted to be...tons of snow left on that mountain. When I drove by the base, the woods had a lot of old snowpack too in addition to anything new that fell:

Cannon2.jpg

Haha yeah I had some folks today asking why Stowe wasn't open as it looks like it could be at least 75% open, certainly on all the snowmaking trails and even the bulk of the naturals too. When looking from town you can't find any bare spots haha. Some of that is superficial though as this weeks light snow just covered up some of the melted out spots giving it that uniform white look.

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Sweet stuff Will. Looks like some solid riming up there to complete the deep winter feel.

What did they have on the ground at the base? They are around 1800ft I think there.

And props for the dedication as that is a very long trip to the Canadian border.

 

 

Base in the woods was maybe 12-18? And certainly some bare spots in the most exposed areas. It quickly went up to over 2 feet even just about 500 feet up though. The open golf course just below the parking area had bare spots all over it. Very big elevation gradient from base to about maybe the first 700-800 vertical and then once above maybe 3000 feet, it was really deep still, though it was hard to tell exactly because there must have been about 10-12" of new snow which tends to cover up those tree wells where you can estimate the depth of the old snow...I assume it had to be 4+ feet though since it was pretty clear in the glades with no real tops of saplings sticking out. There was almost zero snow even in the woods at the base of the access road. The mountain is already its own microclimate, but this time of the year only enhanced it with the snow depth gradient.

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BTW this was Cannon Mountain on the way back....they easily could have been like 80% open if they wanted to be...tons of snow left on that mountain. When I drove by the base, the woods had a lot of old snowpack too in addition to anything new that fell:

Cannon2.jpg

friends said they killed it at Wildcat today. Nice pics
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Haha yeah I had some folks today asking why Stowe wasn't open as it looks like it could be at least 75% open, certainly on all the snowmaking trails and even the bulk of the naturals too. When looking from town you can't find any bare spots haha. Some of that is superficial though as this weeks light snow just covered up some of the melted out spots giving it that uniform white look.

 

 

Yeah it looked like 100%, but I know that at least 70-75% could be open and probably 25-30% of superficial, because when you drive by it on the road, I could see all the moguls...so many of their trails have bumps on them...and you could see them very well. It looked like they were ready for business, ha.

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friends said they killed it at Wildcat today. Nice pics

 

I bet Wildcat was fun.

 

I'm gonna do Cannon at least once next winter. I always pass it randomly and it reminds me how good of a mountain it is. Havent skied it in a decade. But it's probably time I go back.

 

But gotta go when there's no wind and temps are reasonable...that mountain is so damned cold. Awesome terrain though.

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I bet Wildcat was fun.

I'm gonna do Cannon at least once next winter. I always pass it randomly and it reminds me how good of a mountain it is. Havent skied it in a decade. But it's probably time I go back.

But gotta go when there's no wind and temps are reasonable...that mountain is so damned cold. Awesome terrain though.

I skied a lot at Cannon when younger, definitely honed the ice skills there but when it dumps oh my
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Base in the woods was maybe 12-18? And certainly some bare spots in the most exposed areas. It quickly went up to over 2 feet even just about 500 feet up though. The open golf course just below the parking area had bare spots all over it. Very big elevation gradient from base to about maybe the first 700-800 vertical and then once above maybe 3000 feet, it was really deep still, though it was hard to tell exactly because there must have been about 10-12" of new snow which tends to cover up those tree wells where you can estimate the depth of the old snow...I assume it had to be 4+ feet though since it was pretty clear in the glades with no real tops of saplings sticking out. There was almost zero snow even in the woods at the base of the access road. The mountain is already its own microclimate, but this time of the year only enhanced it with the snow depth gradient.

 

Yeah this time of year the elevational differences are glaring.  It does make the Spine's micro-climate more enhanced, but that sounds pretty similar to Mansfield's east side at elevation...though I assume here is a bit less snow at the gradient level (1,500-2,500ft) than down here.  Above 2,500ft I'm sure its relatively even, even down to Sugarbush.  The snow preservation at that level on the east side of the Spine (which is facing away from the afternoon sun), is pretty incredible.

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Passed this too a bit after passing Cannon...that random pond/lake next to the highway at Franconia Notch...still waiting for ice-out there, haha:

 

Cannon1.jpg

 

Profile Lake I think. That was near the Old Man of the Mtn...or former Old Man should I say...lol. I can't imagine what that sounded like when it collapsed.

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that's profile. echo lake is further north between tram & main base lodge. skied Cannon last Sunday - last day open. deep snow on snowmaking trails - easily 3-4+ feet at summit in woods and got a lot more over weekend. definitely could have stayed open. place was crowed too. skied wildcat two weeks ago on bluebird, warm day and no place rivals wildcat IMO for spring skiing when combine views and 2,000' vertical terrain access - closely rivaled by the forerunner lift at stowe!

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that's profile. echo lake is further north between tram & main base lodge. skied Cannon last Sunday - last day open. deep snow on snowmaking trails - easily 3-4+ feet at summit in woods and got a lot more over weekend. definitely could have stayed open. place was crowed too. skied wildcat two weeks ago on bluebird, warm day and no place rivals wildcat IMO for spring skiing when combine views and 2,000' vertical terrain access - closely rivaled by the forerunner lift at stowe!

 

Even the base looked like about 4-5" new and this was after quite a bit of settling no doubt...I'd bet just up the slope a bit got smoked. Cannon does sneaky well with upslope, but it is a pretty windy place so the snow doesn't settle as neatly as other more sheltered spots.

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Thanks for the great photos guys as usual! Trying to put together a last turns weekend for either Jay Peak, Wildcat or even KMart. How's the weekend shaping up? I haven't heard any more recent talks of a possible blue bomb for the mtns late week. Is that now off the table? Never skied Wildcat before. I always wanted to. Then again, hard to go wrong with Jay Peak. I'm guessing that JP would still have some trees open, prolly none for KMart and maybe for Wildcat. Kmart would be if I opted to save 2 hrs off the 7 hr drive).

Thanks for any opinions on where is best to go and what the prelim outlooks looks like for the weekend.

Jason

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Thanks for the great photos guys as usual! Trying to put together a last turns weekend for either Jay Peak, Wildcat or even KMart. How's the weekend shaping up? I haven't heard any more recent talks of a possible blue bomb for the mtns late week. Is that now off the table? Never skied Wildcat before. I always wanted to. Then again, hard to go wrong with Jay Peak. I'm guessing that JP would still have some trees open, prolly none for KMart and maybe for Wildcat. Kmart would be if I opted to save 2 hrs off the 7 hr drive).

Thanks for any opinions on where is best to go and what the prelim outlooks looks like for the weekend.

Jason

 

The big noreaster looks off the table...there was a chance last week, but it has faded in recent days.

 

The one good thing though is that it will remain fairly cool all week, so the snow will melt pretty slowly for this time of year. Not sure which one is best, but KMart is down to just the Superstar chair, so your tree options will be limited...if they even have much natural cover still on that section of the mountain.

 

Wildcat and Jay will still have tree skiing I would think. Jay would be the safest bet if you really want to do tree skiing...there was still a ton of snow in the trees there on the upper half of the mountain yesterday and the 10-12" new they got just prior to that really made it fun. I'm not as familar with Wildcat's glade layout. 

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Sweet stuff Will. Looks like some solid riming up there to complete the deep winter feel.

What did they have on the ground at the base? They are around 1800ft I think there.

 

 No pics from 1800

 

2500ish, 3400 and 3700

post-1450-0-78767400-1430177034_thumb.jp

post-1450-0-01191500-1430177048_thumb.jp

post-1450-0-14315100-1430177062_thumb.jp

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Wildcat has all their marked glades on the lower mountain I believe because there is some issue with cutting trees above a certain elevation there.  I'm sure there are unmarked stashes higher up, but I'm not enough of a regular to know where they are.

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The big noreaster looks off the table...there was a chance last week, but it has faded in recent days.

The one good thing though is that it will remain fairly cool all week, so the snow will melt pretty slowly for this time of year. Not sure which one is best, but KMart is down to just the Superstar chair, so your tree options will be limited...if they even have much natural cover still on that section of the mountain.

Wildcat and Jay will still have tree skiing I would think. Jay would be the safest bet if you really want to do tree skiing...there was still a ton of snow in the trees there on the upper half of the mountain yesterday and the 10-12" new they got just prior to that really made it fun. I'm not as familar with Wildcat's glade layout.

Thanks for the info. Decisions, decisions!
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