NNE Cold Season Thread 2021/2022

[alex]

And now my turn to be without heat! Noticed last evening that the furnace is in error mode. Reset it and it just goes right back there. Fortunately with the insulation of 18” logs and the heating fireplace, the house is above 70F on all floors in spit of not having had heat for 12 hours and a low temperature of -21

[powderfreak]

2 minutes ago, alex said:

And now my turn to be without heat! Noticed last evening that the furnace is in error mode. Reset it and it just goes right back there. Fortunately with the insulation of 18” logs and the heating fireplace, the house is above 70F on all floors in spit of not having had heat for 12 hours and a low temperature of -21

Damn that's impressive!  The fireplace is key though.  My buddy lost his boiler and kept his place going in the upper 60s with a single woodstove.

Heat pump this spring for sure for me, need a backup source, it's too cold up here to mess around with that.  Was -17F here last night but inducer fan is holding in there with the wire straps.

[alex]

1 minute ago, powderfreak said:

Damn that's impressive!  The fireplace is key though.  My buddy lost his boiler and kept his place going in the upper 60s with a single woodstove.

Heat pump this spring for sure for me, need a backup source, it's too cold up here to mess around with that.  Was -17F here last night but inducer fan is holding in there with the wire straps.

Yeah we have a heat pump too but it doesn’t cut it at these temps. The system automatically switches to propane below 10 degrees or so. Aside from the efficiency issues, you also get ice outs on the heat pump in the winter which can be a problem so a backup is always necessary. But the fireplace is awesome! It has a fresh air intake from the outside and a catalytic combustor, the thing gets HOT! Plus it has a fan that brings the heat downstairs. I discovered too late that it could be tied into the hvac system to distribute the hot air throughout the house, but it works great as it is. 

[PhineasC]

57 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Damn that's impressive!  The fireplace is key though.  My buddy lost his boiler and kept his place going in the upper 60s with a single woodstove.

Heat pump this spring for sure for me, need a backup source, it's too cold up here to mess around with that.  Was -17F here last night but inducer fan is holding in there with the wire straps.

I’m putting a heat pump in too. Need AC here in summer some nights to clear the humidity at least and cool the great room after the sun torches it through the big windows into the 80s 

[powderfreak]

13 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

I’m putting a heat pump in too. Need AC here in summer some nights to clear the humidity at least and cool the great room after the sun torches it through the big windows into the 80s 

Yeah the summers have seemed warmer and more humid too in the past 10 years, so if that trend continues A/C is a good move.  I feel like even a decade ago no one around here had A/C... now everyone has installed something.

[CoastalWx]

18 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah the summers have seemed warmer and more humid too in the past 10 years, so if that trend continues A/C is a good move.  I feel like even a decade ago no one around here had A/C... now everyone has installed something.

Enter DIT?

[DavisStraight]

14 hours ago, powderfreak said:

The irony is we were going to put in an electric heat pump for A/C and heat last August/September but deferred until the spring.  I wanted it primarily for better AC than what we have now and it’s much more efficient.

Had we gone ahead with that project we’d be fine.  It wouldn’t have been hot like a stove but serviceable heat. I just balked as I wanted it for better AC than what we have now and given it was later in summer, temps on downhill slide, I figured we’d do it in April/May before the warm season.  Oops.

My sister in Maine had the mini splits put in two years ago mainly for the AC, her main furnace broke down last year and the mini splits heated the house just fine. They're a good investment.

[PhineasC]

Most days here I don't need AC but there a couple weeks each year between May and September it seems where the humidity spikes up and the sun bakes the great room and master bedroom via the picture windows. Then at night the temp only gets down to upper 60s with still high humidity. Hard to fix that without HVAC intervention.

Also, we'd like to use the heat pumps in the shoulder seasons to offset the oil hot water radiators a little.

[wxeyeNH]

Sorry to hear all the heat issues.  We have oil and a  wood burning stoves.  I go 50/50 depending on how lazy I am.  The wood burning stove keeps the house comfortable on days above 20F.  We don't have a house generator but a portable Honda generator that runs fridge, space heater and lights but not the well.  We can always melt snow for water needs.  So we are all set for prolonged ice storm situations.  That is the only thing I really dread in winter.

-3F last night  Only 32" of snow so far this winter.  Looking forward to see what the 12Z GFS looks like for this possible wet snow coming up. 

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

Most days here I don't need AC but there a couple weeks each year between May and September it seems where the humidity spikes up and the sun bakes the great room and master bedroom via the picture windows. Then at night the temp only gets down to upper 60s with still high humidity. Hard to fix that without HVAC intervention.

Also, we'd like to use the heat pumps in the shoulder seasons to offset the oil hot water radiators a little.

100%.  We get the radiating nights that cool nicely and lucky enough to have slider doors in almost every room so leave those open it can get cold inside quick even after 85F days (except when the bears are around, wife won’t allow screens to be the only thing from one walking into the kitchen).

The problem comes on the last day or two of a hot stretch when dews pump and southerly flow keeps it well mixed and it’s still 70F at midnight outside and not 57F.

I think I run our current A/C unit 2 weeks a warm season.  May has been very hot the past couple years it seems.  I will say if I have a quiet mini-split set up I’ll run A/C more in the evening.  The 6-9pm time can be tough before the sun goes down and the quick drop happens.

And like you said the big benefit is using it in the shoulder seasons when its “chilly” and you just want some heat but don’t need the full heating system.  I think of early autumn and say the May/June rainy 48-55F days.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, wxeyeNH said:

Sorry to hear all the heat issues.  We have oil and a  wood burning stoves.  I go 50/50 depending on how lazy I am.  The wood burning stove keeps the house comfortable on days above 20F.  We don't have a house generator but a portable Honda generator that runs fridge, space heater and lights but not the well.  We can always melt snow for water needs.  So we are all set for prolonged ice storm situations.  That is the only thing I really dread in winter.

-3F last night  Only 32" of snow so far this winter.  Looking forward to see what the 12Z GFS looks like for this possible wet snow coming up. 

How big is your generator? I got a 8500 watt so I could run the well and whatever else I need, 8500 is plenty to keep everything I need going. I know the well sucks a lot of power that's why I went bigger.

[J.Spin]

With yesterday’s highs expected to be in the single digits F at elevation, touring seemed like the far better ski option, so I hit the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network and can provide some snow updates and pics.

I toured in the 2,000’ – 2,500’ range yesterday, and I’d say total snowpack depths at those elevations are in the 2 to 3 foot range.

In terms of surface snow, we’ve got enough different layers in the snowpack now, and they’re blending together enough, that it’s getting a bit tricky to actually decide what constitutes surface and subsurface snow/base.  If you’re very delicate with your measuring, you can find a bit of a dense layer about 16 inches down.  I think it’s safe to say that top section of the snowpack is the settled powder from Winter Storm Landon.  The dense layer below that is presumably some denser precipitation, perhaps from the start of the storm when temperatures were coming down and there was a mix of rain and snow.  Based on PF’s observations from Thursday, it doesn’t sound like there was too much rain at elevation, and since that layer is rather subtle, that would argue for that and/or a very good transition/blending with the drier snow above.

Past that denser band, you’re into another 6 to 8 inches of powder before you hit something more solid that can really serve as a potential base.  That’s typically where I’d find my poles could finally gain purchase, and it sounds like that’s similar over at Bretton Woods based on Alex’s comment yesterday here in the thread.  Having backcountry baskets would probably help a little bit in that regard.

There are a couple of other dense bands down in the snow there that I could detect when probing carefully, but I’d say the solid base is down there in the 22 to 24-inch range for those low to mid elevations, and I’ve got a shot of my pole hitting that approximate depth below.  So if you’re first on an ascent and breaking in the skin track, plan on a good workout.  Thankfully, most of the route for my tour had seen some previous traffic, and I only had to break one section with perhaps 100’ of vertical, but it was a good deal of extra work.

Right now in terms of the backcountry skiing around here, I’d argue that you really need black pitches or greater to have a reasonable descent without getting too bogged down or simply having to straight-line it too much.  I was on 115 mm skis that I’d just waxed, and I still had to seek out those pitches if the snow was untracked.  As long as you get the right pitch though, the powder skiing is excellent as one would imagine.

[alex]

The powder out there is unbelievable. My kids are now fixated on glade skiing, which is great but we’ve spent over an hour this weekend looking for lost skis, poles, and trying to get kids out of the 4 feet or so of fresh powder that are on the mountain that you just sink right in. If they fall outside of the area that people have packed down it’s a pain in the you know what. Actually kinda scary at times lol 

[alex]

Made this video today of my kids “running away from the monster” through the glades. Actually turned out kinda cool. 
 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eBdSiMimhSy415iu7

[powderfreak]

The sunset earlier this evening was fire.

[eekuasepinniW]

I've been dumping my station data from WU into a mysql database to make gathering fun stats easier. I meant to do this in 2005 but I've been busy.

Big thanks to wunderground for making this as difficult as possible and for losing all the data before 2008.

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, alex said:

Made this video today of my kids “running away from the monster” through the glades. Actually turned out kinda cool. 
 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eBdSiMimhSy415iu7

Now those are some low level glades right there.  When you mentioned it I think of some glades around Mansfield but not at that level of openness and ease for kids.  The Chapel, Sunrise, Birch glades at Stowe are probably similar to that pitch but not that wide open.  Nosedive Glades are wide open but can get into a few more "interesting" shots/parts.

Our scale of "relativeness" probably starts to change over time with what we get used to.

 

[PhineasC]

9 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Now those are some low level glades right there.  When you mentioned it I think of some glades around Mansfield but not at that level of openness and ease for kids.  The Chapel, Sunrise, Birch glades at Stowe are probably similar to that pitch but not that wide open.  Nosedive Glades are wide open but can get into a few more "interesting" shots/parts.

Our scale of "relativeness" probably starts to change over time with what we get used to.

 

BW is probably the best mountain out there to learn to ski and that includes glade skiing. They have a good number of open glade areas like this.

[PhineasC]

2 hours ago, alex said:

Made this video today of my kids “running away from the monster” through the glades. Actually turned out kinda cool. 
 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eBdSiMimhSy415iu7

What trail is that?

[alex]

11 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Now those are some low level glades right there.  When you mentioned it I think of some glades around Mansfield but not at that level of openness and ease for kids.  The Chapel, Sunrise, Birch glades at Stowe are probably similar to that pitch but not that wide open.  Nosedive Glades are wide open but can get into a few more "interesting" shots/parts.

Our scale of "relativeness" probably starts to change over time with what we get used to.

 

Yes that’s why I think Bretton Woods is hard to beat for easy but really beautiful glades. The openness and variety is awesome - from narrow paths to scattered trees to some more challenging ones with some jumps and small cliffs. It’s great for intermediate skiers who otherwise don’t get a chance to really experience something like that at most other resorts. 

[alex]

5 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

What trail is that?

That’s Wild West, right next to the West Mountain quad. You can avoid Cliffs Cliff, above it, which as the name suggests has some section that require a bit of jumping or maneuvering around large rocks, by taking the right right below Little Tuckermanns. A great trail, lots of nooks  for the kids to explore. 

[alex]

Was also thinking - the resort is 100% open. I don’t think there was a ever a time last year when all terrain and all glades were skiable. So far this ski season is not disappointing

[PhineasC]

43 minutes ago, alex said:

That’s Wild West, right next to the West Mountain quad. You can avoid Cliffs Cliff, above it, which as the name suggests has some section that require a bit of jumping or maneuvering around large rocks, by taking the right right below Little Tuckermanns. A great trail, lots of nooks  for the kids to explore. 

OK, yup, I know it. Right next to Jacob's Ladder. Been through there a few times, never even realized it had a name. That's a fun one.

[powderfreak]

A memory from 5 years ago in 2017.  We were in the midst of a stretch of 108 inches at the High Road Snow Stake in 3 weeks.  This was the only time in memory that had a tragic UVM student die from drowning in the snow.  It was like 5 feet of unconsolidated snow (like what's on the left side of this photo) and if you got flipped upside down for some reason with your equipment on you may not be able to get your head back up above the snow.  I have never heard of that ever happening in the east before.

Had 375" that season at the High Road Stake.  It snowed every day it seemed.

[Angus]

16 hours ago, alex said:

That’s Wild West, right next to the West Mountain quad. You can avoid Cliffs Cliff, above it, which as the name suggests has some section that require a bit of jumping or maneuvering around large rocks, by taking the right right below Little Tuckermanns. A great trail, lots of nooks  for the kids to explore. 

Skied those trees with my lower intermediate nephew and perfect for that age/skiing ability. Say what you want about BW but they know what their customers want in their ski experience and do a great job delivering. Looked like fun.

[alex]

2 hours ago, Angus said:

Skied those trees with my lower intermediate nephew and perfect for that age/skiing ability. Say what you want about BW but they know what their customers want in their ski experience and do a great job delivering. Looked like fun.

Fully agree. The more I ski other areas, the more I realize what a special place BW is. 
 

Went to Wildcat today. Such a different experience lol. I love the “big mountain” feel it has and the scenery is stunning (we actually got married at the top there). But the snow was sooo packed and windswept, it made it much less enjoyable. 

[alex]

Also it’s snowing. Only 1” in the forecast so I’m surprised at the current intensity. 

[J.Spin]

Temperatures definitely warmed up yesterday relative to Saturday, so my wife and I headed out to the hill for an afternoon session.  We spent our time at Timberline, since it’s only been open for about a week, and it allowed us to check out some of our favorite areas for the first time this season.  Conditions continue to be excellent, although the trails are getting pretty tracked up at this point, so we had to head a bit farther off piste for fresh tracks.  In line with the observations from my tour on Saturday, we found powder depths at around 20 inches, even down to the 1,500’ – 2,000’ elevation range.  We were hoping for some afternoon sun, but we only had it very briefly before clouds moved in from the west and the light got flat.  This made the action photography more challenging, but we still managed to get in some good sequences.  It was a good ending to the weekend that Mother Nature really turned into quite an extended weekend – many school’s like my younger son’s had a four-day weekend with both Thursday and Friday off due to the storm.

[alex]

1.5” overnight. Snizzling now

[PhineasC]

Picked up 4” overnight.