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The 2022 - 2023 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2
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1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

Jay already hinting at no upper mountain lifts Fri/Sat.  Would love to see a wind chill reading on tower 16 of the freezer Saturday Morning.  I would think anything where you can't get lift evac done in about 30 minutes would be closed in Northern Vt. Saturday.

 I got quite bad frostbite on 2/5/22 skiing at Jay (and I generally dress quite warmly/am acclimated to cold conditions)... That was merely a 10/-9 day at EFK. 

Would hate to be there on Friday/Saturday.

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13 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Saturday morning is the one that’ll be next level at Stowe.

B110A654-B426-493D-91DC-C13EC22B41A7.png.237696decb04d092ace1fed090619a8b.png
 

Operations are usually curtailed to lower mountain lifts and/or Gondola.  FourRunner Quad has shelter at Octagon at the top but I could see lower mountain lifts only and maybe Gondola as a viable option.

Wind hold threshold drops greatly too… any decent breeze and lift goes on hold as no one wants to come close to any issues.  The amount of risk assumed in those conditions is near zero.  Wind can also trip sensors from chairs rocking, even slightly as tolerances of those sensors is extremely small. Normally that’s no problem, a lift mechanic just goes and verifies haul rope placement and it takes <10 minutes.  It’s not ideal but it’s a CPS (cable positioning system) fault that lifts at most ski areas can see a few times a day in some cases.  However, in that type of cold, even a 6-min stop is a problem.  So if there’s a chance, lift goes on hold.  Wind hold tolerance goes way down.

Decisions likely made Thursday and Friday for any operational changes within the next 24 hours based on final forecasts.

Personally, I’d try Friday and definitely Sunday.  Saturday is out unless it’s one run for the novelty of it.

Thanks!  We are again, like last year, staying at ski in/out at Toll House, so my thought was when really cold we just hit toll house slopes down low, but today they noted lift was down due to snow conditions.  That seemed strange as the previous days it was simply down for snowmaking, or so it sounded it is was supposed to open today.  Really hoping it is open this weekend.  Thoughts?

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23 minutes ago, hazwoper said:

Thanks!  We are again, like last year, staying at ski in/out at Toll House, so my thought was when really cold we just hit toll house slopes down low, but today they noted lift was down due to snow conditions.  That seemed strange as the previous days it was simply down for snowmaking, or so it sounded it is was supposed to open today.  Really hoping it is open this weekend.  Thoughts?

Yeah it was unfortunate.  It is scheduled tomorrow and grooming is expected to get it.  There was a bunch of snow made up on Jake's Ride/near the top of the Toll House lift.  Grooming was pushing it out but they had a snowcat go down and the trail was unable to be finished with rubble, cat tracks and unskiable stuff.  That prevented skiers from getting off the lift and getting out of that top area (technically a snow/surface condition issue).  So the decision was made to not open.  The grooming team will clean it up tonight and it is expected tomorrow.  I'm in at 5am and will hopefully get the all-clear when I radio the grooming team.  If I remember I can shoot you a private message.  Definitely an unplanned thing today. I'm confident it'll open tomorrow and stay open.

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48 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah it was unfortunate.  It is scheduled tomorrow and grooming is expected to get it.  There was a bunch of snow made up on Jake's Ride/near the top of the Toll House lift.  Grooming was pushing it out but they had a snowcat go down and the trail was unable to be finished with rubble, cat tracks and unskiable stuff.  That prevented skiers from getting off the lift and getting out of that top area (technically a snow/surface condition issue).  So the decision was made to not open.  The grooming team will clean it up tonight and it is expected tomorrow.  I'm in at 5am and will hopefully get the all-clear when I radio the grooming team.  If I remember I can shoot you a private message.  Definitely an unplanned thing today. I'm confident it'll open tomorrow and stay open.

Awesome!  Glad to hear, and thanks for all the info.  I just switched our trip to Fri night to Monday.  That should make skiing a bit more tolerable and hopefully get us the most bang for our buck.  Maybe get out late morning Sat, all day Sunday and some runs in Monday am before leaving

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21 hours ago, hazwoper said:

Awesome!  Glad to hear, and thanks for all the info.  I just switched our trip to Fri night to Monday.  That should make skiing a bit more tolerable and hopefully get us the most bang for our buck.  Maybe get out late morning Sat, all day Sunday and some runs in Monday am before leaving

It’s open today.  Grooming got it all cleaned up last night.  You made the right choice with switching the timing.

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I went out yesterday for one run to find some fresh drifts.  Some big scour led to some knee to thigh deep stuff along the woodlines down the Front.

328966161_1552156241952795_1436438302850

 

Today was -35F up top and most of the lifts had some sort of cold related mechanical issues that are still on going.  Warming up electronics, motors, backup motors, etc.  Machinery and stuff does not like sustained -20s and -30s with high winds and some moisture on top of that.

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Berkshire East was good the last couple days.  I managed to get out early yesterday before the wind and late today after the wind.  Both days the skiing was excellent for midwinter manmade hard pack.  Today felt much colder as the sun disappeared right when I got there.  At Magic tomorrow for the JR IFSA comp.  Looks like a glorious day! 

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11 hours ago, powderfreak said:

There’s a very strong gradient between the haves and have nots.  Central NNE regions have done the best relative to climo IMO.

In Maine, CNE vs climo depends mostly on how much snow was recorded from the mid-Dec storm.  GYX didn't do too well and they're at 88% of normal YTD, while places a bit farther inland are over 100%.  (Though Lava Rock's higher elevation brought him 15" from that event and he's probably at about 130% avg.)  Lower elevation, Jeff got 8.5" while Tunafish near PWM only 4.2".  "Fully" NNE sites are mainly AN - CAR at 110%, my place 120% thanks to 22" from the mid-Dec storm.

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7 hours ago, tamarack said:

In Maine, CNE vs climo depends mostly on how much snow was recorded from the mid-Dec storm.  GYX didn't do too well and they're at 88% of normal YTD, while places a bit farther inland are over 100%.  (Though Lava Rock's higher elevation brought him 15" from that event and he's probably at about 130% avg.)  Lower elevation, Jeff got 8.5" while Tunafish near PWM only 4.2".  "Fully" NNE sites are mainly AN - CAR at 110%, my place 120% thanks to 22" from the mid-Dec storm.

Decent snow in St. Agatha

IMG_3289.jpg

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K-mart today. Not the greatest, but any day on snow is better than the alternative. Groomers were the place to be. Hard pack with some occasional loose granular, but not crazy icy. The woods were garbage. I made the mistake of venturing into anarchy and Juanita. First of all, crazy f’n tight in there.…but also thin and tons of debris. Actually lucked out that I avoided an injury today after a decent spill…just not the day for those.

Some of the naturals are hanging on, but showing signs they will lose the battle this week. Good workout tho and some fun groomers. They were blowing ovation. That trail should be “a fun challenge” after the rain and freeze.

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.

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Tale of two mountains today at Whiteface. For a period this morning, the east aspects near the Summit quad were in the sun, but the south facing ridge of Little Whiteface was an impenetrable cauldron of fog.

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Next run, a ride up the Little Whiteface Double (which runs along the backside of the ridge in the above picture and terminates next to the gondola), was a whole different world. While fascinating to see from a meteorological perspective, perhaps not the most fun visibility conditions.

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A nice demonstration of the intricacies of orographic weather, though what wasn't as nice was when the flow switched post-frontal and socked in the entire mountain.

Conditions today were similar to what bwt was reporting at Killington. Hard pack with loose granular that was surprisingly edgeable outside of wind affected areas. Mid mountain must have gotten a glaze of freezing rain, a few gondola cabins were completely glazed over while others were clear. Exposed areas at the top of the mountain were completely scoured, with Skyward totally closed due to the risk of unstoppable slide in the event of a fall. On the other hand, sheltered bump runs like Upper Empire were very solid, with some wind transported powder in the nearby Cloudsplitter Glades. Variability is definitely Whiteface's hallmark, but I do enjoy how formidable and unpredictable the mountain (and its weather) feels. Its a burly mountain and definitely keeps you honest.

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