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The 2016-17 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2

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15 hours ago, powderfreak said:

"Normally" in Eastern skiing doesn't really work.  Here's the glass half full look.

Its worlds better than last year and today was surprisingly decent.  More nights of grooming will help.  

It can rain at any point all season long in the East.  There's no normal peak conditions.  There's normal peak snow depth, sure.  The Mansfield stake was still above normal yesterday.  

Trees and natural snow trails have plenty of snow and are still skiable right to the parking lot with still great base depths (just not the record depths there were 10 days ago).  It's not like it's game over for the season...to be honest it feels pretty normal right now for Eastern skiing.  

Agree for the most part, but it's been more dire in the southern half of VT.  I was not prepared for how devastated the natural snow trails were at Pico last Saturday.  Summit Glade was closed with totally bare ground across extended sections.  The woods were out of play and will need several feet of snow to get back to mid-winter conditions, and based on the near-term forecast, the bleeding hasn't stopped yet.  A strong March could easily turn this around, but after last year where the S VT woods really never got going, it's disheartening.

Even last year, Killington had Superstar open deep into May, so there will always be places to ski this spring, but it could be pretty limited.

That said, I think the emotional response to pack it in until next year is way premature, especially in the mountains where climatology is favorable much longer than the coastal plain.  As bleak as the outlook may be, anything beyond about 10 days is just a best guess, and there are so many examples over the years of dramatic turnarounds that were not well advertised by long-range modelling. 

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12 hours ago, Albert A Clipper said:

We had a blast. It was my second time, I just wish I didn't have to burn two days traveling. SLC is so much easier, but lacks the charm of Nelson. We made it up to the hotsprings this time, but the area was socked in with low clouds almost the entire time we were there. $58 to ride Whitewater with the exchange rate has got to be one of the best deals on earth. They even let me put my daughters St. Bernard on the snow can one day.

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That's too funny.  That must have been last sunday because I took a picture of the snow board with 2 dogs on it. 

It is a schlep.  thats for sure.  The drive from spokane isnt that bad, but the lack of direct flights into spokane is a killer.

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1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

Might be an historical meltdown of the pack for Feb??? Almost 40?

Yeah I'm sure this is up there on February melts...a good three foot melt.  Still over 5 feet though on the ground, lol. 

Thankfully we had near record high levels of snow so we could weather this record thaw.  The BTV data is telling with records dating back to 1880s and then this February goes and rattles off 2 or 3 all-time high temps for February, with the final one being 9 degrees warmer than any other temperature experienced in February.  Yeah probably historical melt, haha.

I'm actually at the point where its astonishing to me how we could see this type of an abortion yet STILL have enough snow on the ground to ski the trees right to the base area.  Any other winter this would've been game over but thankfully it snowed 105" in the 22 days prior to the start of the thaw, ha.

 

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I think after last winter though, none of this really bothers me.  I was still skiing in the trees today with plenty of snowpack and some awesome corn snow conditions.

Last year we never skied the trees at all...for an entire winter.  It just really reset the expectations after last winter. 

Just look at the difference...even AFTER a historical February thaw.

16938474_10102883065081330_8603254990567

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Fun day on the slopes.  We are in a pattern though where you actually want to root for above freezing temps.  Above freezing temps equal great spring corn snow.  Below freezing temps equal loose and frozen granular conditions all day long. 

The community and camaraderie on these nice sunny spring-like days is infectious.  Everyone having a great time.  Even after a not-so-cold winter, sunshine and mild temperatures trigger some sort of "happy response" in the brain, haha.

17017102_10102883067032420_2574892636409

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43 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Fun day on the slopes.  We are in a pattern though where you actually want to root for above freezing temps.  Above freezing temps equal great spring corn snow.  Below freezing temps equal loose and frozen granular conditions all day long. 

The community and camaraderie on these nice sunny spring-like days is infectious.  Everyone having a great time.  Even after a not-so-cold winter, sunshine and mild temperatures trigger some sort of "happy response" in the brain, haha.

17017102_10102883067032420_2574892636409

Great post and so true, Couple of refreshers after the next rainer should make things silky

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20 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Fun day on the slopes.  We are in a pattern though where you actually want to root for above freezing temps.  Above freezing temps equal great spring corn snow.  Below freezing temps equal loose and frozen granular conditions all day long. 

The community and camaraderie on these nice sunny spring-like days is infectious.  Everyone having a great time.  Even after a not-so-cold winter, sunshine and mild temperatures trigger some sort of "happy response" in the brain, haha.

17017102_10102883067032420_2574892636409

Looks like a little chance for snow tomorrow morning - can't imagine it will wake the woods up, but who knows...

We are heading to Stowe Friday.  Choices seem to be;

- Keep driving to Massif if they get the 13" shown in some forecasts.

- Pray for the Jay Cloud to work a miracle with the 1-3" predicted, and turn in enough to last to Saturday.

-  Hope stowe area gets enough to make a back country trek saturday and skiing groomers sunday enjoyable.  Warms up Monday, so a half day of soft snow....

We'll see!  Gonna be cold on Saturday though!  3F at jay!  Yeehawwwww!

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On 2/27/2017 at 7:32 PM, HIPPYVALLEY said:

I have a Sugarloaf tripped planned for this w/e but have the option to delay a week and probably will. 

Buddy of mine at Wildcat says it is absolute concrete glare ice off the groomers.  Ski patrol has been working non-stop helping folks who accidentally got off trail into woods etc. 

I could see the bigger budget mountains firing up the snow guns on some trails this week. 

 

On 2/27/2017 at 8:13 PM, HoarfrostHubb said:

Wachusett claimed they would fire up their guns this week.  I figured they would last night but I don't think they did.  Maybe Friday?

Was surprised some of the local hills were talking about doing this too this weekend...seems awfully late in the season to bother with snowmaking at CT hills.   More warmth next week, it's a losing battle.

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1 hour ago, Brian5671 said:

 

Was surprised some of the local hills were talking about doing this too this weekend...seems awfully late in the season to bother with snowmaking at CT hills.   More warmth next week, it's a losing battle.

From WaWa's social media...    their goal is to try to stay open into early April

Snowmaking in March? You betcha! Looks like temps will cool down starting tomorrow night so we can fire up the guns.

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2 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

From WaWa's social media...    their goal is to try to stay open into early April

Snowmaking in March? You betcha! Looks like temps will cool down starting tomorrow night so we can fire up the guns.

up there, yes, I'm talking about the hills down here in CT and NY-looked at some webcams today-conditions look  truly atrocious and looks like we torch again after a 3 day cooldown

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1 hour ago, mreaves said:

I don't have the experience you do with some of this stuff but explained like it was in layman's terms, it seemed pretty sensible to me. 

 

Ehh, going to cool water to the point where it changes state, blow it out at above freezing temperatures to make snow and use the residual heat to heat adjacent buildings is somehow energy and cost efficient? Call me skeptical.

On the otherhand, convincing the government to pay for it, MAGNIFICENT! :D

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Ok let's try this again since Tapatalk doesn't seem to post pics anymore.  I have a lot of gopro video to edit but #1 gopro battery life sucks in the cold and #2 gopro footage in 2" per hour snowfall rates sucks.

Brighton and Solitude Utah Feb 24- 27th.

Prior to us arriving Brighton and Solitude received 44" of snow total the previous 3 days leading up to the 24th. This was my first west coast trip and I've only had one other experience in deep powder at Mt Orford in Quebec.

Driving up big cottonwood canyon.  The snow banks in places were 10+ ft high, they're over 500" for the year.

20170226_084727_zpsmx3p6uzh.jpg

Solitude village

20170225_180204_zpsoorfznyw.jpg

Traversing Honeycomb canyon to find powder

20170225_114229_zpszaqovbt9.jpg

heading out of bounds at Brighton, Hidden canyon.  Some of the steepest stuff I've ever skied.

20170226_123211_zpshkkzrtdx.jpg

Back bowls of Brighton, bluebird day. Untouched powder

20170226_093528_zpsegbvxqhj.jpg

Monday we woke up to 10" and it nuked all day on the way to 20" . We had originally booked powder cats at Alta but little cottonwood canyon road was closed.  So we stayed at Solitude with zero lines and nukeage.

Yours truly

Honeycomb canyon.. after the fired it all morning for slides.  We were some of the first people in there for untouched turns. My brother reminding everyone I'm a narcissist.

I don't know how I can spend next weekend with my kids at Bretton woods on dirt and ice.

What a trip and I can't recommend enough how easy logistics are to get to the Utah mountains.

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Ok let's try this again since Tapatalk doesn't seem to post pics anymore.

Brighton and Solitude Utah Feb 24- 27th.

Prior to us arriving Brighton and Solitude received 44" of snow total the previous 3 days leading up to the 24th. This was my first west coast trip and I've only had one other experience in deep powder at Mt Orford in Quebec.

Driving up big cottonwood canyon.  The snow banks in places were 10+ ft high, they're over 500" for the year.

20170226_084727_zpsmx3p6uzh.jpg&key=390824c62891c8d8de2d141597c9da0c5e188efccd9ac88bcf104a56b1a5a8e4

Solitude village

20170225_180204_zpsoorfznyw.jpg&key=aefa67613bc3237cf1aba953242a79cdbd7dcdebe4feda5dd85bbffe53b733b9

Traversing Honeycomb canyon to find powder

20170225_114229_zpszaqovbt9.jpg&key=a7eda22721b5ccf0ce9fecaf9074dd57010911307d684f7e8b29b949df3c392c

heading out of bounds at Brighton, Hidden canyon.  Some of the steepest stuff I've ever skied.

20170226_123211_zpshkkzrtdx.jpg&key=fd4699dfc5bd696f2f6419e336ef4acacc3b40077e122fa5bcb4f6f9d184d98d

Back bowls of Brighton, bluebird day. Untouched powder

20170226_093528_zpsegbvxqhj.jpg&key=994c0efd44af704a9cad7fbfda4f568a4ad32532c6561452718b9bdd6f5fbbc1

Monday we woke up to 10" and it nuked all day on the way to 20" . We had originally booked powder cats at Alta but little cottonwood canyon road was closed.  So we stayed at Solitude with zero lines and nukeage.

[/url] Yours truly

Honeycomb canyon.. after the fired it all morning for slides.  We were some of the first people in there for untouched turns. My brother reminding everyone I'm a narcissist.

I don't know how I can spend next weekend with my kids at Bretton woods on dirt and ice.

What a trip and I can't recommend enough how easy logistics are to get to the Utah mountains.



Yeah it is going to be a scrape fest over the next few days. I wonder if ski season will end early in some spots.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

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13 hours ago, Hitman said:

Given up on the pictures from bc.  Valhalla cat and whitewater.  Here's  a video.

 

This looks awesome!  I'd love to do that someday, though skiing between dense conifers in deep snow activates my tree-well phobia.  Looks like there is plenty of space to maneuver, though.

As for posting images, I've had good luck posting images to Imgur and just including the direct link in the body of the post.  If it shows up as a broken link, it means I have to reduce the resolution of the Imgur photo a bit.

 

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