The 2014-2015 Ski Season Thread

[powderfreak]

Cool. Was just wondering. I figure skiiers definitely like the powder and lack of icy snow that cutters can bring? Although grooming takes care of that and any post-storm upslope. You guys will proably get a doozy of a season soon enough I would imagine. Much to the chagrin of my area perhaps...lol. Although, I will take 2010-2011 here. Even though I'm just a bit SE of BOS...the coastal front was literally over my house or just NW causing a lot of wet snows. My area that I live in now, actually had a bit less than BOS I think..but I'll take wet snow.  2010-2011 was sort of an enigma. You don't see mostly all snow events down into SE MA from a Cape Cod track.

 

Yeah I'm probably at odds with some, but I just like snowfall.  Not even from a skiers perspective but a personal level.  

 

Now, if I were a casual skier planning vacations, I'd rather consistent cold and less snowfall.  I'd rather not roll the dice probably.  For someone here every day, I'd take a couple rainy days for the chance at another 6-10 powder days throughout the season that amount to that extra 60" of snowfall.

 

And yeah, we do recover quite nicely from thaws in general...and in fact getting the right type of cutters can actually be more profitable in snowfall terms than cold and dry, lol.  If we are in a pattern that cutters transition to good upslope, that's actually a pretty fun weather event to me.  It may rain 0.75" with temps in the 40s, but if it then switches over to 8-14" of NW flow snow...just from a weenie perspective, that's an interesting & fun event.  I mean any SNE weenie would probably put up with front side rain if it changed over to a NW wind blizzard that left 6"+.   

 

That was sort of how 2011-2012 was...the rainers all seemed to end with significant snowfall.  It changes the character of the season...whereas 2013-2014 had like 5 cutters in late Dec/Jan, and none of them ended with upslope.  That season would've been different if even a couple of those rainers ended with a foot of upslope.

 

Tough call...but I like precipitation events and the chances for snow that come with it.  Skiing every day, you can punt a couple days of rainers in return for big seasonal snowfall.

[CoastalWx]

I love those transitioning snow events, even if it's something like me getting 6" of paste while Ray gets a foot of powder. Powder is boring unless it's like 18" of it...lol. I just love a good wet snow.

 

Yeah, I hear you on the QPF. It's always fun to get frequent action. Can't really lose up there even with cutters because of the upslope. Just have to avoid the cold and dry scenarios. 

[powderfreak]

I love those transitioning snow events, even if it's something like me getting 6" of paste while Ray gets a foot of powder. Powder is boring unless it's like 18" of it...lol. I just love a good wet snow.

Yeah, I hear you on the QPF. It's always fun to get frequent action. Can't really lose up there even with cutters because of the upslope. Just have to avoid the cold and dry scenarios.

Yup haha. I think the main reason I'd trade a few cutters for more snowfall is because what is more exciting as a snow weenie? 260" of consistent light events but no thaw...or 360" with several thaws? From a model watching standpoint, the more events the better...the more snowfall tracking the more exciting it is. Even the thaws can be semi-interesting events.

Long stretches of cold and dry bores me to no end, even if there's 2 feet in the yard. From a met standpoint that's just twiddling thumbs waiting for something to happen.

I do think one of the next three winters will be really really good up here. Just a WAG but looking at the historical cycles of snowfall at the Coop, it would seem we should be getting towards the end of our little lull. Past history shows snowfall starts to ramp up again after a 4-6 year minimum. It's amazingly cyclical, but we'll see if it works out. Sooner or later things will come together again to produce a 350"+ type winter at the picnic tables.

[CoastalWx]

Yup haha. I think the main reason I'd trade a few cutters for more snowfall is because what is more exciting as a snow weenie? 260" of consistent light events but no thaw...or 360" with several thaws? From a model watching standpoint, the more events the better...the more snowfall tracking the more exciting it is. Even the thaws can be semi-interesting events.

Long stretches of cold and dry bores me to no end, even if there's 2 feet in the yard. From a met standpoint that's just twiddling thumbs waiting for something to happen.

I do think one of the next three winters will be really really good up here. Just a WAG but looking at the historical cycles of snowfall at the Coop, it would seem we should be getting towards the end of our little lull. Past history shows snowfall starts to ramp up again after a 4-6 year minimum. It's amazingly cyclical, but we'll see if it works out. Sooner or later things will come together again to produce a 350"+ type winter at the picnic tables.

 

Ray is anxiously awaiting that.

[powderfreak]

Ray is anxiously awaiting that.

Haha I remember on the boards after 2008-2009 we were coming off three solid winters at that point, and that's when the fever pitch of "I couldn't give two sh*ts if they get to ten feet on the ground or if it's just 9 feet in northern VT mountains..." reached it's maximum. That was during the period where KU's were absent, and a lot of the big storms favored the deep interior.

Now with SNE being on more of a snowfall run lately (and having a bunch of KUs since 2010) it's turned more into "Well it's no biggie, they are bound to get a NNE specific event once in a while..."

[CoastalWx]

Haha I remember on the boards after 2008-2009 we were coming off three solid winters at that point, and that's when the fever pitch of "I couldn't give two sh*ts if they get to ten feet on the ground or if it's just 9 feet in northern VT mountains..." reached it's maximum.

Now with SNE being on more of a snowfall run lately, it's turned more into "Well it's no biggie, they are bound to get a NNE specific event once in a while..."

 Funny how that can happen. They'll always be a bit of a NNE vs SNE sort of vibe in a way...but I'm not in that competition as my avg can't hold up to any of you guys from Dryslot-Dendrite-Stowe. It's more hit or miss sometimes here near BOS.

[powderfreak]

Funny how that can happen. They'll always be a bit of a NNE vs SNE sort of vibe in a way...but I'm not in that competition as my avg can't hold up to any of you guys from Dryslot-Dendrite-Stowe. It's more hit or miss sometimes here near BOS.

Yeah it's a friendly rivalry at times with what portion of New England will be favored for the most relative to normal.

But back with the cyclical nature of it, there was quite a while there from '05 to '10 where SNE lacked the big events that it's known for. Like 10" of baking powder was a big event then. That compounded with some big NNE winters definitely brought some animosity, haha.

Now though since Dec 2010, SNE has gone back to the days when you guys eat KU events for breakfast multiple times a winter. And the deep interior and North Country is starting to get antsy for a biggie or two.

It is funny how it all works out over time.

[CoastalWx]

Yeah it's a friendly rivalry at times with what portion of New England will be favored for the most relative to normal.

But back with the cyclical nature of it, there was quite a while there from '05 to '10 where SNE lacked the big events that it's known for. Like 10" of baking powder was a big event then. That compounded with some big NNE winters definitely brought some animosity, haha.

Now though since Dec 2010, SNE has gone back to the days when you guys eat KU events for breakfast multiple times a winter. And the deep interior and North Country is starting to get antsy for a biggie or two.

It is funny how it all works out over time.

 

Aside from '11-'12..I've been pretty dam fortunate since that time. Heck almost going back to '07-'08. I was close to normal in '09-'10. With this winter..I think I'm averaging 60-65" or so since '07-'08. That's insane. The avg around this area is close to 45" give or take.

[ORH_wxman]

 Funny how that can happen. They'll always be a bit of a NNE vs SNE sort of vibe in a way...but I'm not in that competition as my avg can't hold up to any of you guys from Dryslot-Dendrite-Stowe. It's more hit or miss sometimes here near BOS.

 

 

Yep, it's like the Berkshires to central NH jackpot myth. They got a few death bands there in a short time and everyone obsessed about it...now it's crickets about that idea after the past 3 winters.

 

I guarantee though that a bunch here will incessantly whine when the next deformation band sets up over dendrite to MPM...and will conveniently forget these recent winters.

[CoastalWx]

Yep, it's like the Berkshires to central NH jackpot myth. They got a few death bands there in a short time and everyone obsessed about it...now it's crickets about that idea after the past 3 winters.

 

I guarantee though that a bunch here will incessantly whine when the next deformation band sets up over dendrite to MPM...and will conveniently forget these recent winters.

 

"Congrats Dendrite."  

[Ginx snewx]

"Congrats Dendrite."

more often than not,look at his sig

[powderfreak]

Aside from '11-'12..I've been pretty dam fortunate since that time. Heck almost going back to '07-'08. I was close to normal in '09-'10. With this winter..I think I'm averaging 60-65" or so since '07-'08. That's insane. The avg around this area is close to 45" give or take.

 

Yeah its been a good run.  I think 07-08 was better down there than I picture in my head for whatever reason...just because the largest anomalies were further north.

[CoastalWx]

Yeah its been a good run.  I think 07-08 was better down there than I picture in my head for whatever reason...just because the largest anomalies were further north.

 

Only had about 50" here. Was more like an epic December, but much better up by Ray. 50" is a decent winter. 08-09 was really good here. Great you could say.

[powderfreak]

Yep, it's like the Berkshires to central NH jackpot myth. They got a few death bands there in a short time and everyone obsessed about it...now it's crickets about that idea after the past 3 winters.

 

I guarantee though that a bunch here will incessantly whine when the next deformation band sets up over dendrite to MPM...and will conveniently forget these recent winters.

 

Or better yet when the deformation ends up over me after I freak out because the latest models dropped my QPF from 1.2" to 0.6" haha.

 

We did get one in the Thanksgiving storm last winter...all the QPF was over Dendrite and we ended up with like 12" of deform feathers on 0.4" of QPF while Dendrite got about the same snowfall with 1.5" of QPF haha.

[powderfreak]

"Congrats Dendrite."  

 

There seems to be more to that phrase, too...sort of like Dendrite's spot is far enough south that the SNE posters can relate to it (or at least the Mass folks), but yet its the place that you often watch get snow when you rain.  Its always that "so close but so far away" syndrome.  For me growing up near Albany, that spot was Saratoga, NY up into Glens Falls and the southern Adirondacks.  Saratoga northward was like my "congrats Dendrite" spot that seemed relatively close by, but averaged like 25 more inches of snow just because of latitude and more favorable CAD.  Like if we were mixing and changing to rain, it was often staying snow up there just a couple counties north.

 

Missing the good snows by a wide margin is one thing... like in Albany it didn't bother me if it was snowing up in like Burlington...but if I was seeing Saratoga county getting crushed by snow in winter and severe in summer, it always pissed me off.  Everyone has that like spot that's "close by but yet so far away"...Dendrite seems like that spot for the eastern Mass posters.  Just like ORH Hills are for the CT posters.

[CoastalWx]

There seems to be more to that phrase, too...sort of like Dendrite's spot is far enough south that the SNE posters can relate to it (or at least the Mass folks), but yet its the place that you often watch get snow when you rain.  Its always that "so close but so far away" syndrome.  For me growing up near Albany, that spot was Saratoga, NY up into Glens Falls and the southern Adirondacks.  Saratoga northward was like my "congrats Dendrite" spot that seemed relatively close by, but averaged like 25 more inches of snow just because of latitude and more favorable CAD.  Like if we were mixing and changing to rain, it was often staying snow up there just a couple counties north.

 

Missing the good snows by a wide margin is one thing... like in Albany it didn't bother me if it was snowing up in like Burlington...but if I was seeing Saratoga county getting crushed by snow in winter and severe in summer, it always pissed me off.  Everyone has that like spot that's "close by but yet so far away"...Dendrite seems like that spot for the eastern Mass posters.  Just like ORH Hills are for the CT posters.

 

That may be true  for Ray and nrn MA, but that's out of my league. Plus, I don't mind it because I can always shoot up to the lake to see real winter like I did in Feb 2012.  The only time I may get perturbed is if somehow Ray got a foot and it was down the drain for me. Doesn't happen often, but it can. December 21, 2009 was close to that. Only a few inches here, but Ray got nearly a foot. I am more than due for a heartbreaker though. 

[powderfreak]

That may be true for Ray and nrn MA, but that's out of my league. Plus, I don't mind it because I can always shoot up to the lake to see real winter like I did in Feb 2012. The only time I may get perturbed is if somehow Ray got a foot and it was down the drain for me. Doesn't happen often, but it can. December 21, 2009 was close to that. Only a few inches here, but Ray got nearly a foot. I am more than due for a heartbreaker though.

Yeah...We all have that place to our north where like the snow climo is quite a bit different, like you cross that line and it's a whole step up. The spot where it's more painful to watch get crushed for whatever reason because it's relatively close by. ORH would be sort of like that I think for a lot of SNE folks.

[Hitman]

Cool. Was just wondering. I figure skiiers definitely like the powder and lack of icy snow that cutters can bring? Although grooming takes care of that and any post-storm upslope. You guys will proably get a doozy of a season soon enough I would imagine. Much to the chagrin of my area perhaps...lol. Although, I will take 2010-2011 here. Even though I'm just a bit SE of BOS...the coastal front was literally over my house or just NW causing a lot of wet snows. My area that I live in now, actually had a bit less than BOS I think..but I'll take wet snow.  2010-2011 was sort of an enigma. You don't see mostly all snow events down into SE MA from a Cape Cod track.

The lack of crust this season made the skiing, especially where there is no grooming, so special. That being said, I'm with pf on missing the big storm epic days. It's so euphoric for me to track something (not that I know what I'm doing) go through the ups and downs as the models waffle away for days and then have a big one hit. It's like watching a great close back and forth playoff game. I like walking in a blinding snow or waking up to huge drifts. Makes me feel like a kid. As bad as the 06-07 season started, that period from February through May was insane. So while I wouldn't trade this season for one 2-3' dump on its own, I'd take a cutter for one.

And fwiw- I don't believe jay had 100" more than Mansfield.

[powderfreak]

Bolton Valley from a friend...

 

[eyewall]

Bolton Valley from a friend...

 

 

My pics were overlooked in the other thread but here are my shots from May 1st when I hiked up Bolton:

 

 

 

 

 

[radarman]

nice shots

[radarman]

I really like reading everyone's reports and take on the season.  I will remember it fondly for a couple reasons...

 

1) Opening day deep powder at Berkshire East in November... unheard of.

 

2) Awesome woods skiing in early Dec.  Biggest powder day of the year at Killington 12/11

 

3) A whole series of 2-4" type days in January.  Great for the morning half day session... show up, rip floaty turns for a couple hours and go to work.  Good days to ski with the fam and not the boys.

 

4) Piles and piles of powder in February.  No freeze/thaw cycling.  Just fluff on fluff... and, importantly, enough of it to cover stuff up.  

 

5) Magic Mt. in peak form...  Who knows how long this will last?  If you can hit it right, the place rocks. 

 

6) Finally, a whole bunch of classic spring beach days while the base was still deep.  Full on sun, big airs in play, and of course, bumps and plenty of em.

 

 

[powderfreak]

Nice Radarman...I'll have to do a seasonal summary too. Fun to recap the season.

[Jason215]

Skied Jay Peak on Saturday, May 2nd. They had more trails open than I could ski.. 31. Even a few glades were open, though did not venture into them.. My buddy being a snowboarder isn't very fond of bumps and mogul glades so decided not to go there. Plus, it Looked like pretty tight glades, I prefer more room, especially so late is season with rocks, stumps, etc.. Most open trails were very well covered. They had the tram, flyer and Jet lifts running. The Jet trail reminded me of Superstar at Killington. It seemed everyone was a hardcore expert skier. Folks were doing nice tricks/jumps and "hot doggin it." Surprisingly, the snow was not slushy mash potatoes, but it was of course soft being 65. Overall, it was amazing! How do I post pics on here?

[Skivt2]

Killington was in prime spring form this weekend with awesome bumps and a huge party scene. Counting on at least 4 weekends or more of great spring skiing. Be there!!

[powderfreak]

Stowe still has some nice top-to-bottom coverage on some of the snowmaking routes.  Today I did Nosedive, and tomorrow I'll probably do Liftline.  I heard Lord to North Slope, as well as Sunrise to Standard are still continuous, with each offering over 2,000 verts of May corn.

 

This is Nosedive which has great coverage and the upper Nosedive Glacier will be there for quite some time.

 

 

I haven't seen this good of coverage on Lower Nosedive in May in many years.  Probably made way too much snow this winter, haha.  This photo is showing the depth on the lower section below 2,000ft where the natural snowpack is all gone, but the man-made snow is still about 4-6 feet deep across the trail.

 

 

 

 

This flat spot around 2,200ft here below, leading to the lower section (above photos), is the weakest part of this route.

 

 

 

 

 

[powderfreak]

Even got to ski some glades (which is nice for May 6th) on the upper mountain today...

 

I'd say snowpack up at this level (say 3,000ft to 3,500ft) ranged from 2-4 feet.  But highly variable with melting out around the base of the trees and stands of trees, and then having multiple feet of snow out in the open areas.

 

 

Filthy snow with a winter's worth of debris resting on top of the snowpack.  But the snowpack was firm and supportable, making for some fun skiing that was surprisingly smooth through the woods.

 

 

 

[HoarfrostHubb]

How often have you skied glades in May?

That's pretty sweet

[CoastalWx]

So there is nothing below 2,000ft..but 2-4' above 3,000ft? That's nuts.

[powderfreak]

So there is nothing below 2,000ft..but 2-4' above 3,000ft? That's nuts.

Correct. Haha.

0" at 2,300ft and 51" at 3,700ft.

Patches start at 2500ft and then there's about 500 vertical feet of patches (but some are like 2-3 feet deep as they fill in the terrain depressions), then it's more continuous above 3000ft and increases rapidly.