NNE Cold Season Thread

[backedgeapproaching]

3.4" final. 

Just did a core of the 13" snow pack- 3.32" LE.  So has some meat to it.

[J.Spin]

3 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Almost straight whiteout now at the ski area in these heavy echos.  

By far heaviest snowfall of the entire event, as usual once the winds flip westerly.

I see we picked up another 0.6” from that burst – pretty fluffy because it’s settling rather quickly.

Mansfield is hidden again behind snowfall and I see on the radar that there’s some additional shots of moisture moving into the area:

 

[bwt3650]

On 2/16/2020 at 7:56 PM, alex said:

A cloudy but awesome ski day. The little pink thing is my 3 year old daughter on a black diamond. 

 

It’s Awesome watching them fall in love with Skiing and boarding so young.  My daughter just started this year at 4..two lessons and she already has better form than me.  No fear at that age helps too.

[alex]

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

It’s Awesome watching them fall in love with Skiing and boarding so young.  My daughter just started this year at 4..two lessons and she already has better form than me.  No fear at that age helps too.

Indeed! My 5 year old did break his femur doing it though... But it's a risk one has to take. 

Speaking of which, the skiing was sweet today

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 2.1” Snow/0.16” L.E.

 

Everything cleared out today, so these should be the final totals for this event.

 

Details from the 8:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.5 inches

New Liquid: 0.02 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 25.0

Snow Density: 4.0% H2O

Temperature: 16.3 F

Sky:  Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 15.5 inches

[J.Spin]

I’ve been a bit busy this week with other stuff, but on Sunday we headed over to Lake Morey Resort, so I wanted to pass along some images.  A big feature there is of course the 4.5-mile skating loop around the lake, which is apparently the longest skating trail in the United States, but it’s a classic NNE experience in general for those who haven’t been yet.

[wxeyeNH]

Beautiful day today.   11" at my snowstake out back on level ground.  Snow stake in this picture is on a slight southward slope and measures about 9 or 10"  Seems a deer wanted to investigate it judging by the tracks nearby.    I never get tired of the view out our windows.

[powderfreak]

4 hours ago, J.Spin said:

I’ve been a bit busy this week with other stuff, but on Sunday we headed over to Lake Morey Resort, so I wanted to pass along some images.  A big feature there is of course the 4.5-mile skating loop around the lake, which is apparently the longest skating trail in the United States, but it’s a classic NNE experience in general for those who haven’t been yet.

Nice!  I've always wanted to go there.  A 4.5 mile loop sounds awesome and I've seen a lot of friends post photos from there over the past few years. 

One thing I notice there is despite the very warm departures at times this winter, the NNE climate still supports winter.  Lakes are frozen solid, with snow on the ground even with a +5.9F to +7.4F month of January in the northern half of Vermont.  What we have had is a good supply of very cold nights this past month though.  Days have warmed nicely but some of these nights are pretty high end cold.

[dendrite]

Nice inversion this morning. Mid 20s at Gunstock and around 4° here. This should mix out quickly this morning.

[tamarack]

Another subzero morning, probably another 40+ diurnal range.  Yesterday was 23/-24.

[dendrite]

59 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Another subzero morning, probably another 40+ diurnal range.  Yesterday was 23/-24.

You're racking up the big subzero mornings this month.

Already up to 29F here and rising fast after a min of 3.8F. The next 3 days look great with mucho sun. The syrup should be flowing.

[alex]

17 hours ago, J.Spin said:

I’ve been a bit busy this week with other stuff, but on Sunday we headed over to Lake Morey Resort, so I wanted to pass along some images.  A big feature there is of course the 4.5-mile skating loop around the lake, which is apparently the longest skating trail in the United States, but it’s a classic NNE experience in general for those who haven’t been yet.

 

 

Been there for the food festival. Essentially you skate your way from food truck to food truck. A great little event! 

[tamarack]

12 minutes ago, dendrite said:

You're racking up the big subzero mornings this month.

Already up to 29F here and rising fast after a min of 3.8F. The next 3 days look great with mucho sun. The syrup should be flowing.

Considering the minimum, quite a nice day here with full sun, no wind and temps leaping upward.   3 mornings at -20 or colder this year, about average (78 such minima in 22 years.)

[wxeyeNH]

4 hours ago, alex said:

Been there for the food festival. Essentially you skate your way from food truck to food truck. A great little event! 

Eat some and burn it off.  Round and round we go?

Beautiful day today.  Newfound Lake Ice Derby.  Many people on the lake.  I would guess we are max ice thickness for the year as the sun starts taking a toll even on sub freezing sunny days.

[Angus]

Our neighbors on Winnisquam sent me pictures of themselves out on the ice in our cove this afternoon. What a spectacular day. They had been skiing for a couple of days at BW and those pictures looked great too. Winter in the NH lakes region is under appreciated.

[Redmorninglight]

Not sure if this is best topic to post this, but I was wondering what backcountry skiing is like in Vermont? I believe it was @J.Spin that posted about Brandon Gap last winter. I went there a year ago President's weekend and absolutely loved it. Anyway, I have a 3 day weekend coming up and wonder if anyone has been to Brandon Gap recently? Also, not liking the trends for the mid week storm. Thank!

[J.Spin]

3 hours ago, Redmorninglight said:

Not sure if this is best topic to post this, but I was wondering what backcountry skiing is like in Vermont? I believe it was @J.Spin that posted about Brandon Gap last winter. I went there a year ago President's weekend and absolutely loved it. Anyway, I have a 3 day weekend coming up and wonder if anyone has been to Brandon Gap recently? Also, not liking the trends for the mid week storm. Thank!

I’ve actually been considering a trip down to Brandon Gap, but thus far I’ve been staying up here in the Northern Greens because I’ve been unsure of the quality of the powder farther south.  I was just out on the Bolton Valley Backcountry Network yesterday though, and the conditions were excellent.  I’d actually describe the conditions as even better than what we encountered last Saturday – and that already wasn’t too shabby:

The powder skiing then was decent, but there was a marginal buried crust present in some areas that knocked the overall feel down a notch.  The mountains have had several more inches of snow since then though, and when I was out for a tour yesterday afternoon with my son, we didn’t encounter any signs of it because it’s probably buried deep enough now.  Surface powder depths we found were right around 20 inches before getting down to the base, which is basically what we found last weekend.  The powder was more consistent yesterday though with any crust buried deeper.  That 20 inches of powder is fairly settled at this point of course, so we’re not talking about sinking down 20 inches into fresh champagne, you’re more like 6 to 12 inches down in the powder, but the rest is serving as fantastic cushion above the base.  I haven’t finished up my report yet, but I’ll send along a bit more info and some pictures when I do.

The upcoming storm actually looks pretty nice for the mountains around here from what I’ve seen.  There’s likely going to be some mixed precipitation, but unless things change dramatically it looks like another nice gain for the snowpack.  Some of the models also show extended upslope snow on the back side of the cycle.

[wxeyeNH]

Today felt so nice.   46F.    Looking hard on my south slopes to find any bare patches but no luck today.  Perhaps tomorrow?

I have not been following the weather closely, too much going on but Wed night looks to be interesting.  Another tough call for my area, wet or white?  

[powderfreak]

Some rowdy skiing today at Stowe by two friends who wanted to try this shot... the entrance was a bit too sporty for me and this photo doesn't do it justice... it's basically like a cliff that holds some snow, a fall here could be real bad.

 

[ChasingFlakes]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Some rowdy skiing today at Stowe by two friends who wanted to try this shot... the entrance was a bit too sporty for me and this photo doesn't do it justice... it's basically like a cliff that holds some snow, a fall here could be real bad.

Those are sick shots, that line looks awesome.  That entrance is a no fall zone forsure.  Looks like theres some hidden ice and rock there too.  How'd that look this time last season or does it never hold much snow? 

[dendrite]

May wanna check CON for being too cold now.

Max of 55° so far while everyone else was 58-59°. Even I was 56° with a full, deep pack.

[Redmorninglight]

Thank you @J.Spin for the update. I’m still not sure but can decide as late as Wed to make that long drive. I’m so snow starved. Curious about Bolton backcountry. I see you have posted pictures in the past. Easy to access? Mostly looking to earn my turns this weekend. Any suggestions much appreciated!

[J.Spin]

Early this morning I got a text alert that we’ve been put under a Winter Storm Watch in association with the upcoming storm this week.  The graphical point forecast for our location looks fairly active and wintry over the next few days, and suggests 3-6” of snow through Thursday, with perhaps a bit more in the Friday timeframe.

[ChasingFlakes]

1 hour ago, J.Spin said:

Early this morning I got a text alert that we’ve been put under a Winter Storm Watch in association with the upcoming storm this week.  The graphical point forecast for our location looks fairly active and wintry over the next few days, and suggests 3-6” of snow through Thursday, with perhaps a bit more in the Friday timeframe.

That clown map looks like another PNW style elevation dependent setup.  I wonder if it will ski similar to the late January event, this one has a nice upslope slope look with more cold though.  

[J.Spin]

On 2/23/2020 at 8:30 AM, Redmorninglight said:

Not sure if this is best topic to post this, but I was wondering what backcountry skiing is like in Vermont? 

 

On 2/23/2020 at 11:55 AM, J.Spin said:

I haven’t finished up my report yet, but I’ll send along a bit more info and some pictures when I do.

I finished up the trip report from our tour on Saturday, so I’m passing along a few pictures.  I’m sure the snow will have consolidated a bit since we’ve had some above freezing temperatures over the past couple of days, but these will give you the general idea.  The elevations around here look like they’ll get some decent snow, so the backcountry touring should be great atop the already existing base.  The full report can be accessed by the linked text.

[J.Spin]

20 hours ago, Redmorninglight said:

Thank you @J.Spin for the update. I’m still not sure but can decide as late as Wed to make that long drive. I’m so snow starved. Curious about Bolton backcountry. I see you have posted pictures in the past. Easy to access? Mostly looking to earn my turns this weekend. Any suggestions much appreciated!

Around Bolton Valley Resort there’s lots of backcountry skiing just like you’ll find at many of the Vermont ski areas, with some famous officially-maintained routes/areas like the Woodward Mountain Trail, Cotton Brook Area, Bolton-Trapp traverse, Catamount Trail, etc.  Beyond that though, Bolton Valley has a bit of a special set up in that there is a bunch of easy-access backcountry skiing integrated into and around their Nordic ski trails.  They call this the Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry Network.  I guess looking at a map is the easiest way to get a sense for the area:

In terms of actual, purpose-built backcountry skiing areas in the state, I’d say that RASTA’s Brandon Gap Area and the Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry Network are the most prominent/easy access areas I know about.  Like Brandon Gap, Bolton’s network is very easy access, but at Bolton you’re literally starting right in the resort village, and many of the trails are even patrolled (although the patrolled area only extends so far into the backcountry).  The patrolling etc. comes with a bit of a price in that you should purchase a Nordic pass for the day ($17 this season) to access the network.

For a sampling of the touring in the area, I’ve got the details on dozens of Bolton backcountry tours I’ve done listed on our backcountry page.  Checking those out will definitely give you a feel for the various possibilities in the area:

http://jandeproductions.com/backcountry/

In my reports I include a GPS/Google Earth map that gives a general idea of the tour.  To give you a sense for how easy the access can be, I’ve included the map from our tour on Saturday below.  We did two laps in under 90 minutes, but you can do tours well under an hour depending on how efficient you are and how far you want to go.  Access is certainly easy, especially to their lower glades – there are even much closer glades than what we visited on Saturday down below Bryant Cabin.

[J.Spin]

I’ve added the latest BTV NWS maps for the upcoming storm, which has been named Winter Storm Odell.  There aren’t any winter alerts in our immediate area of the Northern Greens, but the mountain forecast looks quite substantial – the Mt. Mansfield point forecast suggests 12-18” through Thursday night, so there appears to be a lot of potential for snow in the higher elevations.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.2” Snow/0.04” L.E.

 

When I initially to a peek outside this morning it looked like all my equipment was just wet, so I’d grabbed the tools for simply liquid analysis and cleanup.  When I actually stepped out the door though, I realized that it was snowing with some accumulation, and all the liquid was partially frozen.  I then had to head back in and get everything for a full analysis.  This storm has been named Winter Storm Odell, and while the bulk of the snowfall in our area is expected to be at elevation, we’re currently getting at least a bit of accumulation in the valleys as well.

 

Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0

Snow Density: 5.0% H2O

Temperature: 32.2 F

Sky:  Light Snow (1 to 2 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 12.5 inches

[alex]

Told you guys weeks ago that a big one was guaranteed this week since I'm in Florida.  Have fun!

[Redmorninglight]

Thank you once again @J.Spin for the detailed info on Bolton. Unfortunately, I cannot make it up this time. I will strongly consider these options in the future. I haven’t been to Bolton since I was a kid with my family around 1982.