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The 2016-17 Ski Season Thread

Skivt2

By Skivt2,
in New England

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eyewall

eyewall

Posted
Posted

Squaw Valley may not close over the summer:

http://snowbrains.com/squaw-valley-ca-considering-staying-open-spring-summer-fall-20161718-season/

 

“I’m actually considering staying open through the summer and fall so it becomes the 16/17/18 season.  We’re taking a hard look at that.  Maybe we spin Shirley through the summer.  There’s so much snow up there.”

“We think it’d be a cool thing if people uploaded on the tram and likely hiked up a couple of hundred meters and dropped Shirley.” – Andy Wirth, CEO/President of Squaw Valley

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Ginx snewx

Ginx snewx

Posted
Posted
On 4/15/2017 at 11:13 PM, eyewall said:

Squaw Valley may not close over the summer:

http://snowbrains.com/squaw-valley-ca-considering-staying-open-spring-summer-fall-20161718-season/

 

“I’m actually considering staying open through the summer and fall so it becomes the 16/17/18 season.  We’re taking a hard look at that.  Maybe we spin Shirley through the summer.  There’s so much snow up there.”

“We think it’d be a cool thing if people uploaded on the tram and likely hiked up a couple of hundred meters and dropped Shirley.” – Andy Wirth, CEO/President of Squaw Valley

Squaw (KSL) just teamed up with Aspen Skiing Company and bought Mammoth CA, Steamboat Springs CO, Winter Park CO, Bear Mt CA, Snow Summit CA, June Mt CA, and more…

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, mreaves said:

Bolton Valley sold to a group headed by Ralph DesLauriers, the guy who founded it.  Wasn't he a big part of the problems they had/have?

http://www.timesargus.com/articles/bolton-valley-sold-back/

The DesLauriers family is the original family that owned it but my guess is it wasn't necessarily "problems" caused by them, more just a very challenging industry to stay afloat as a smaller to mid-sized ski area.  They started having issues when the price of insurance really started increasing for ski areas...operating costs are astronomical and its very hard to keep a positive balance, especially only when relying on money from Dec-Mar winter season. 

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Angus

Angus

Posted
Posted

Woke up early this AM and took a look at the Mt. Washington high summit forecast and didn't like what I read so ruled out Tuckerman's. The report said the clouds would persist for the day in the eastern mountains so I suspected Wildcat might be problematic. As I drove thru Franconia Notch, the clouds were low and racing across, I decided that Wildcat might be crummy if there was no sun. So, I went to Bretton Woods, someplace I hadn't skied in 7 or 8 years. For $17.76 which includes an early season pass for next season, it was fine. They had groomed everything down and there were a lot of thin spots, the base area particularly. There were a few breaks but the sky was cloudy for majority of day. Never saw the summit of Washington but clouds did rise throughout day. Temperatures were in 50's. I had forgotten what an intermediate mountain BW is, not a lot of steep but a good family place. My per run cost was well under 50 cents by day end!

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HoarfrostHubb

HoarfrostHubb

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Man, I'm seriously considering this Maxpass.  I'm two hours or less to 5 of these resorts. A dozen ski days would only average me a little over $50/day. 

https://www.themaxpass.com/

Interesting that they have the upgrade your pass option.  The link for that is not currently working for me but if I get my typical Wachusett bronze pass and an upgrade...

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J.Spin

J.Spin

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, mreaves said:

A little more info on the Bolton Valley purchase 

https://vtdigger.org/2017/04/17/bolton-valley-resort-back-hands-original-owner/?utm_source=VTDigger+Subscribers+and+Donors&utm_campaign=63994ad086-Weekly+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dc3c5486db-63994ad086-405566485

 

Well that’s certainly exciting news.  Those of us who frequent the resort know that simply updating the infrastructure would go a long way in terms of keeping the local visitors happy and continuing to attract folks that come from afar to experience Bolton Valley.  Bringing back more warm weather visitation could also be a great financial benefit, and it sounds like that’s part of the plan.  We’re obviously big fans of the resort – the fact that the second picture in that article is actually a shot of our family on BV’s slopes can attest to that.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

Today was about as good as it gets for corn snow.  Hard freeze last night followed by temps in the 35-45F range (top to bottom) with full sunshine.  Just the top inch or two softened to peel away corn.

The woods were skiing beautifully thanks to Nature's natural groom from the thunderstorm heavy rain the other day that smoothed everything out.

Tree wells are still fairly sizeable.  Nothing like skiing the woods with a solid base on April 18th.  Snowpack in this zone off the Starr trail is still deeper or even twice as deep as the maximum depth last winter, lol.

17973818_10102950986865530_3988645005511

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HIPPYVALLEY

HIPPYVALLEY

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Interesting that they have the upgrade your pass option.  The link for that is not currently working for me but if I get my typical Wachusett bronze pass and an upgrade...

 You are within striking distance of most of the areas.   The Maine are not not day trip for me but still pretty cool option.

It might even motivate me to plan a Tremblant trip if I buy it. 

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

 You are within striking distance of most of the areas.   The Maine are not not day trip for me but still pretty cool option.

It might even motivate me to plan a Tremblant trip if I buy it. 

That's the beauty of those passes and what they are trying to do.  Consumers want options and you are right, if you're within 2 hours (generally the max time frame the industry considers a day trip, though some like to push it to 2.5hrs but that's a lot of driving for a day) you can rack up the days at participating resorts each weekend.  And with no black out dates, the vacation periods are free game to get more value out of your pass.

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amarshall

amarshall

Posted
Posted
That's the beauty of those passes and what they are trying to do.  Consumers want options and you are right, if you're within 2 hours (generally the max time frame the industry considers a day trip, though some like to push it to 2.5hrs but that's a lot of driving for a day) you can rack up the days at participating resorts each weekend.  And with no black out dates, the vacation periods are free game to get more value out of your pass.



We regularly do 4 hr day trips. That's why Bretton woods offers the insane kids season pass for free. They can't get the day trippers at 3+ hrs from Boston

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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Skivt2

Skivt2

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 4/17/2017 at 7:59 PM, powderfreak said:

The DesLauriers family is the original family that owned it but my guess is it wasn't necessarily "problems" caused by them, more just a very challenging industry to stay afloat as a smaller to mid-sized ski area.  They started having issues when the price of insurance really started increasing for ski areas...operating costs are astronomical and its very hard to keep a positive balance, especially only when relying on money from Dec-Mar winter season. 

I thought there was a contentious divorce that had something to do with it.  I believe the wife own the base lodge and would not let him use it.  We had to boot up in hotel rooms that year with no food service etc.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, amarshall said:

 


We regularly do 4 hr day trips. That's why Bretton woods offers the insane kids season pass for free. They can't get the day trippers at 3+ hrs from Boston

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

 

That's nuts!  You drive 4-hours each way and ski all day in the middle?  

You are definitely out at the far end of the distribution scale for day-tripping skiers & riders, haha.

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Hitman

Hitman

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Quakertown needs snow said:

Still mid winter conditions at Sunshine. I'd love to spend an entire April thru May there some day. Glad I got tho check the place out several times over the years.

 

 

180l.jpg

132l.jpg

I've been following the weather/snow for interior bc, and I dont think they had more than one day at the mountain elevations above freezing since december before this week.  not freezing cold, but amazingly consistent below freezing.

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ORH_wxman

ORH_wxman

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, Hitman said:

I've been following the weather/snow for interior bc, and I dont think they had more than one day at the mountain elevations above freezing since december before this week.  not freezing cold, but amazingly consistent below freezing.

It's been a cold season there...and like you said, not for the extreme arctic outbreaks, but for the consistently below avg temps. One of the few areas that has had a cold winter/spring.

 

2rXBG.gif

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Angus

Angus

Posted
Posted

Darn, that's an impressive drift. it has been snowing/icing at Sugarloaf since yesterday it appears looking at their instagram account. Sunshine's normal closing date is late May. You take a gondola up to the base area, it's easy to see how they go so long. 4 hours each way is tough! But I guess if you have two adults driving, it's somewhat mitigated. I've done 3.5 hours - Stowe and Sugarbush - plenty of times but SR is tough because you have a long drive on secondary roads which to me are fatiguing. 

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ORH_wxman

ORH_wxman

Posted
Posted

I did Jay Peak as a day trip back in late April 2015...right after that got that 12" upslope snowstorm around 4/25-4/26. That was really pushing the edge of my limit though...close to 4 hours each way. But I got some pretty amazing skiing in. No lines, deep snow cover and powder in the glades.

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Quakertown needs snow

Quakertown needs snow

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Hitman said:

I've been following the weather/snow for interior bc, and I dont think they had more than one day at the mountain elevations above freezing since december before this week.  not freezing cold, but amazingly consistent below freezing.

Ditto and checking webcams dreaming I was still skiing ;) 

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MarkO

MarkO

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

I did Jay Peak as a day trip back in late April 2015...right after that got that 12" upslope snowstorm around 4/25-4/26. That was really pushing the edge of my limit though...close to 4 hours each way. But I got some pretty amazing skiing in. No lines, deep snow cover and powder in the glades.

It's exactly 2 hrs from here at the cabin. Toying with the idea of skiing tomorrow with the kids. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions, and it would get me to day 30 this year...

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