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The 2020-2021 Ski season thread


Skivt2
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Only a couple iPhone snaps today... but that March sunshine is intoxicating.  50F at the base and 40F at the summit this afternoon.  Very dry air and low dewpoints in the teens kept it from getting slushy.  The steeps on Mansfield remained fairly dry and still chalky packed powder on upper elevations from Nosedive through Starr on the aspect dial.

Just an overall fantastic day to be outside.

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March_10.jpg.238467d466c5c7087935b99c689588c0.jpg

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7 hours ago, tamarack said:

Neither can I.  Looks like SR near the left edge and Mansfield shouldn't be too far from the right edge. (If not beyond)   Google Earth has MWN 61 miles from Saddleback at about azimuth 225° true.  SR is 37 miles at around 210° and Mansfield 115 miles at about 255-260°.  Given the respective angles left and right from MWN, Mansfield might be off the right edge.  (Bearings are eyeball estimates thus none too precise.)  Looks like the Mahoosucs between SR and MWN, more toward MWN.

Edit:  The close-up circle between peaks looks to be the saddle between Elephant and Old Blue Mountains, south of Richardson Lake and about 17 miles from Saddleback.  The "gunsight" view between those summits would point toward Moosilauke/Layayette, peaks that are 90 and 77 miles from Saddleback, respectively (assuming GE is accurate.)

 

Wife and I drove the loop home-Eustis-Rangeley-home (149 miles) today - spectacular.  Unfortunately, trees were in the way of seeing the Bigelow range unobstructed from Eustis Ridge. (We didn't care to wade into several feet of snow on the unplowed picnic area and stand on a table for a better view.)  Last time I was there was October of 2003.  Great views of Saddleback both from the north while on Rt 16 and from the west while headed home on Rt 4.  Rt 16 bumps between Stratton and Rangeley were memorable.  Surprisingly saw neither deer (they get fed on the Kennebago Road just off 16 in Coplin Plantation) nor moose.

If you keep going on Eustis Ridge Rd past the picnic area it eventually bends around into open fields that have recently built homes and some lots. In many spots you can see the whole panorama from Bigelow to Saddleback unobstructed. I think one of the best views in the East. Unexpected because it's lower in elevation than the picnic area, but the picnic spot is gradually getting hemmed in by trees as the years go by.

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7 hours ago, uncletim said:

If you keep going on Eustis Ridge Rd past the picnic area it eventually bends around into open fields that have recently built homes and some lots. In many spots you can see the whole panorama from Bigelow to Saddleback unobstructed. I think one of the best views in the East. Unexpected because it's lower in elevation than the picnic area, but the picnic spot is gradually getting hemmed in by trees as the years go by.

Thanks.  Trees grow - the basis of my career as a forester.  :D 
We didn't quite go far enough, even though I missed the (faded) picnic area sign and we drove 1/4 mile or so beyond and turned around.  Next time.

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Berkshire East was pretty sweet yesterday. Natural is still holding on pretty good in places.  Likely after today there will not be much left.  I just went out for lunch and it feels hot with the increasing dews!
Slush fest today. Not sure any amount of wax would help.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, klw said:

Based on the parade of LED lit Massachusetts cars I passed on Route 4 on the way home tonight, this is going to be a very busy few days at Killington/Pico.

Crowds have been ramping up steadily since Presidents Weekend.  Folks are getting the vaccine, feeling the end goal coming near, and a good deal of people are openly traveling for the first time in a year.  I talk to folks all day long, many say they skipped Christmas and earlier vacation periods but are finally heading out for some leisure time now.  It feels right too, long days of sunshine coming out of the dark days.  People are upbeat for a reason and they are traveling again.

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40 minutes ago, Professional Lurker said:

There was a bad one this morning. ... they had to bring out the cat to cover the blood. Know nothing about it other than the view from the exhibition lift was gruesome.

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Yikes. Are conditions that icy?

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1 hour ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Was there a second fatality?  There was a 70 year old woman who died on Tuesday as well as a 12 year old who was hurt badly

No other fatalities, today's paper had stated yesterday as the date of the death so probably a mistake.  There were two separate incidents besides the death where they needed to airlift people out.  Tough year, a lot of injury reports from different mountains.

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Down in S. Carolina this week but packed the skis in the car thinking I'd hit VT on way home but because of the freeze; instead, skied Jack Frost in Poconos today making 11 states I've skied (and 3 Canadian provinces). Nice little hill, approximately 600 vertical feet with a bunch of relatively steep, short pitches for expert slopes. I skied for 3 hours and things were softening nicely when I left at 1:15. It is an upside down hill with parking on the 'summit.' They have had a very good natural snow year according to a local I spoke to on the lift and they have made a lot of snow...unless they have a big warmup, I'm guessing they have no trouble going to the end of the month which is, I presume, their closing date.

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Yikes. Are conditions that icy?
No, it was hard fast groomed. It happened on upper exhibition, a trail that was roped off and closed. There were a few features on it along with a few piles of snow that were tracked up and pushed around. I'm sure you know how it is, there's a population of skiers and riders that will flock to hit any rails or bonks and do anything to tag them, including ducking a rope.

The trail looked like it hadn't been groomed in a few days, it was shiny, rock solid glacier. Well... except for the single stripe of newly minted groom in a failed attempt to cover up what looked like a bloodbath.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

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7 hours ago, Professional Lurker said:

No, it was hard fast groomed. It happened on upper exhibition, a trail that was roped off and closed. There were a few features on it along with a few piles of snow that were tracked up and pushed around. I'm sure you know how it is, there's a population of skiers and riders that will flock to hit any rails or bonks and do anything to tag them, including ducking a rope.

The trail looked like it hadn't been groomed in a few days, it was shiny, rock solid glacier. Well... except for the single stripe of newly minted groom in a failed attempt to cover up what looked like a bloodbath.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk
 

Yes last week was rough.  Ski patrol and management are pretty shaken up right now. 

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7 hours ago, Professional Lurker said:

No, it was hard fast groomed. It happened on upper exhibition, a trail that was roped off and closed. There were a few features on it along with a few piles of snow that were tracked up and pushed around. I'm sure you know how it is, there's a population of skiers and riders that will flock to hit any rails or bonks and do anything to tag them, including ducking a rope.

The trail looked like it hadn't been groomed in a few days, it was shiny, rock solid glacier. Well... except for the single stripe of newly minted groom in a failed attempt to cover up what looked like a bloodbath.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk
 

I thought it was a 70 year old women who died 

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Today was a classic March day in the NH mountains, I was in the Waterville Valley area hiking and nordic skiing and the weather flipped between heavy snow to a warm, bright March sun in 15 minute intervals. I drove up to Welch Dickey in the AM with a friend and we hiked the loop. I've done this hike a # of times in the winter but never I believe in March. Today, although the views were limited to due to the snow squalls and clouds, the views of the surrounding mountains were spectacular. After we finished, we drove up to the WV nordic center and I skied for almost two hours. This season, I had not ventured north to nordic ski and the rolling terrain along with the fresh snow crushed me - I was skating. It was interesting that for what probably amounted to just a few hundred feet of elevation gain - from the village center up to the Tripoli road area, increased the amount of natural snow that has fallen in last day or two from a generous 1" to 3"+. A good day, I am ready for Spring bump skiing!

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Sunday River was kinda meh. 

Reminded me of skiing in the Poconos. So many out of control skiers from the cities dumping into merge areas and flopping all over the place. 

They are also really, really into the COVID stuff too. Way more restrictive feeling than the NH places. 

The lift access scanner system is also laughably dumb. It creates huge mobs of people that seems to defeat the purpose of the COVID precautions. Not inclined to get season passes here for next season. 

Conditions were OK. Definitely more man made snow around but skied nice. Many bare spots off the trails. The layout of the peaks is sort of bewildering the first time. Will need to learn this mountain over time. 

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