STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 Looks like rains taking a fat dump on snow making efforts next Friday nite / Saturday then we ice over Saturday nite , good times next weekend . Wish the trend could reverse for NNE . Confluence in SE Canada just disappearing for next Friday / Sat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 But in the meantime, gorgeous opening day 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 Wachusett plans on opening Friday. They have been snowmaking in earnest 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Several opening days today in Vermont. Stoke seemed high, far and wide. I still cannot believe that exactly one week ago, we were seeing record highs reach into the low 70s, with the summits getting near 60F. Last Saturday I hiked this hill in shorts and a t-shirt. Today we rode a lift into a winter wonderland. Warm, wet ground, leaves and sticks... to a snowpack that's actually above normal at the Mansfield Stake (not a high bar though, 10" instead of 6"), is one helluva switch flipping to me. With another week of snowmaking coming up (maybe a messy storm late week though?), the VT ski areas should be in a good position heading into the end of November and early December. I got out there after the daily 11am Snow Plan meeting, and by then the early folks had gone home. Crowd was pretty light today, except for the morning lineup of course. But once it flushed out, it was ski on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Looks like mid winter in those shots. Sweet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Anybody guess where this is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 48 minutes ago, mreaves said: Anybody guess where this is? Smuggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 58 minutes ago, bwt3650 said: Smuggs Yea. I figured one of the VT regulars would guess it. I was coming down 108 from Bakersdield today and that view struck me as one we don’t see posted very often. Not many mention them here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 5 hours ago, mreaves said: Yea. I figured one of the VT regulars would guess it. I was coming down 108 from Bakersdield today and that view struck me as one we don’t see posted very often. Not many mention them here. It's a great hill. Very old school, laid back vibe and great terrain. They really need natural there to shine, though...and on cold windy days, those lifts take forever. I haven't been there enough to really explore it. Being at Jay and getting an epic or ikon, it just usually gets left out for me, but I do try to make it there at least once a season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Models trended a bit back from rains to Maine’s on ensembles so crossing fingers next weekend is a net gain up North 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBeard Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 12 hours ago, powderfreak said: Did some people get their passes suspended for a few weeks to start the year? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, PowderBeard said: Did some people get their passes suspended for a few weeks to start the year? lol Ha it’s almost always uphill traffic. The skinners in the AM take their pick usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBeard Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 1 hour ago, bwt3650 said: They really need natural there to shine, though... Yea, I am not sure what it is but the Madonna Liftline, Robin's Run, etc. seem to need a lot more snow than similar trails with lots of ledge like those at MRG. That Madonna Liftline is as ass kicker though. In terms of exploring there are about a half dozen unmarked chutes and trails similar to Black Hole, some are a lot more technical and folks have put home made trail signs on them. Just the Sterling area is a ton of fun and has a lot of marked and unmarked woods that require less snow, more hardwoods over there than conifer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBeard Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 6 minutes ago, powderfreak said: Ha it’s almost always uphill traffic. The skinners in the AM take their pick usually. Ha, glad to know some things don't change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 We snow this morning. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Wonder if wildcat is being cheap with snowmaking again this year or they don’t have the capacity (they claimed one year their equipment was at attitash or some gibberish) love to see them open before Wachusett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCWarrior Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Nice to see Bousquet opening on Friday. They have been blowing snow all week and it looks like they will be offering a decent amount of their terrain. Great hill with a really nice new lodge and bar. Very skin friendly. They have some fun trees if they get the snow. I would say they get a bit more snow than Berkshire East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcglups Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 19 hours ago, STILL N OF PIKE said: Wonder if wildcat is being cheap with snowmaking again this year or they don’t have the capacity (they claimed one year their equipment was at attitash or some gibberish) love to see them open before Wachusett Thursday 9 a.m. opening day https://www.facebook.com/wildcatmountain/videos/1830721943929348 bring it on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 26 minutes ago, mcglups said: Thursday 9 a.m. opening day https://www.facebook.com/wildcatmountain/videos/1830721943929348 bring it on! Thanks for update . Let’s hope they can avoid rain on Sunday pm . Will they be open daily ? Or just weekend to start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcglups Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Just now, STILL N OF PIKE said: Thanks for update . Let’s hope they can avoid rain on Sunday pm . Will they be open daily ? Or just weekend to start Not sure. I think with the effort put into the snow making, it only makes sense for them to get an opening date out of the way and tucked into their records before the questionable antics of the upcoming system. Looks like it is one top to bottom run (3 trails connected) and they are running the quad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 8 minutes ago, mcglups said: Not sure. I think with the effort put into the snow making, it only makes sense for them to get an opening date out of the way and tucked into their records before the questionable antics of the upcoming system. Looks like it is one top to bottom run (3 trails connected) and they are running the quad. What do you mean by the “questionable antics of the upcoming system” ...you mean the vail way Of running things ..in sorta in the dark , but I know they seemed to skimp on snowmaking last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcglups Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Oh, I was referring to the question of whether it was the start of daily operations, within the upcoming weather (guidance all over the place) and if a warm solution comes to fruition, it could wreck the man-made, so figure they are going to get the opening day as a milestone accomplishment. --- In terms of Vail and how they are investing in Wildcat, one can only imagine that somewhere on the 5-15 year plan is a major upgrade in the Cat. For now, I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is, and perhaps venture to Attitash once in a while. Onward! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Well, Wildcat beat WaWa by a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 2 hours ago, mcglups said: Oh, I was referring to the question of whether it was the start of daily operations, within the upcoming weather (guidance all over the place) and if a warm solution comes to fruition, it could wreck the man-made, so figure they are going to get the opening day as a milestone accomplishment. --- In terms of Vail and how they are investing in Wildcat, one can only imagine that somewhere on the 5-15 year plan is a major upgrade in the Cat. For now, I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is, and perhaps venture to Attitash once in a while. Onward! 2,100 vertical feet is a big deal too for Wildcat. People look at all ski areas as generally equal when it comes to opening... but pay attention to vertical feet and trail length. It's not easy to bury that amount of vertical in the feet of snow wall-to-wall required to support nightly grooming operations. Places opening short vertical have a big advantage as much smaller windows can make it happen. Shameless Stowe plug here but I've been super impressed with the snowmaking crew this year (shockingly, raising minimum wages to $20+/hr attracts people) that is running deep in personnel. If we have two full top-to-bottom runs at 2,100 verts each on Thanksgiving, plus a variety of beginner terrain on lower Spruce, it's a very successful early season buildout to date. When comparing early season snowmaking, the amount of vertical feet and miles available are the true industry metrics. It makes Whiteface's 3,000 vertical feet open this past weekend probably the most impressive of the entire Northeast. Killington had like 600 vertical feet, and was downloading/walking from the skiing... Sugarbush had like 1,000 feet (?) of a beginner/intermediate run open... while Whiteface (a NY State run area) was offering 3,100 vertical feet of sustained pitch, groomed snow from top-to-bottom. IMO, Whiteface won the early season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 2 hours ago, STILL N OF PIKE said: What do you mean by the “questionable antics of the upcoming system” ...you mean the vail way Of running things ..in sorta in the dark , but I know they seemed to skimp on snowmaking last year I have to push back on that a little. Like PF said, two top to bottom runs pre thanksgiving isn't too bad at Stowe. Mt. Snow is looking at two or more TTB plus some beginner terrain and free fall on the Northface by Thanksgiving...and Hunter has two TTB with Hellgate and Belt, plus it looks like they are aiming for Minka and maybe a few others by Weekend and they don't even have the temps Vermont does. Sugarbush has better latitude and elevation and only managed 1000 of beginner terrain. Honestly, K-Mart has been less than impressive so far. I'm going to attribute it to the non-stop Superstar build out, but that really should only take 3-4 days and with 7 days of non-stop incredible temps and wet bulbs, I would think that system would have been further along on Snowdon. It's the best non stop snowmaking window to start the season in a few years. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STILL N OF PIKE Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Thanks for all the info and opinions . Didn’t realize whiteface has 3100 feet of vertical . I never really had them in my decision set of places to go , I think because not many people talk about them and they seem ..far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 I also think the enthusiasm is high this time of year. It’s dark, it’s cold, it feels like winter. Darkness at 4:30-5pm feels like midwinter. Pitch black by 5:15pm. The expectations and “vibe” vastly out-perform the reality. But it’s really still in the mid-November envelop, heading towards late-November. This is so incredibly early in the snow season and climo normals, despite the warmth for the first two weeks. @bwt3650 is spot on in recognizing the snowmaking window and time of year. We are still days away from the time of year when spots like Jay Peak, Smuggs, and Bolton Valley have enough budget allocation to open. Will those spots open their true vertical? Probably not, because it’s still so *early* in the season. There are 5+ months to go of daily operations, it’s a lot. There are s lot of skiers who don’t understand why half the mountain isn’t open this time of year. It’s like why on this forum people are antsy/anxious/upset that mid-winter patterns aren’t settling in. Average highs are in the 40s still at most stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Sugarloaf should get a call out too. They are running the superquad and timberline lift with top to bottom skiing including Hayburner which is upper intermediate/expert trail with a nice pitch. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 4 hours ago, Angus said: Sugarloaf should get a call out too. They are running the superquad and timberline lift with top to bottom skiing including Hayburner which is upper intermediate/expert trail with a nice pitch. Yes forgot them, I saw their video from the past weekend and that’s legit. Wide trail coverage too. Real vertical, real skiing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qg_omega Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 15 hours ago, powderfreak said: 2,100 vertical feet is a big deal too for Wildcat. People look at all ski areas as generally equal when it comes to opening... but pay attention to vertical feet and trail length. It's not easy to bury that amount of vertical in the feet of snow wall-to-wall required to support nightly grooming operations. Places opening short vertical have a big advantage as much smaller windows can make it happen. Shameless Stowe plug here but I've been super impressed with the snowmaking crew this year (shockingly, raising minimum wages to $20+/hr attracts people) that is running deep in personnel. If we have two full top-to-bottom runs at 2,100 verts each on Thanksgiving, plus a variety of beginner terrain on lower Spruce, it's a very successful early season buildout to date. When comparing early season snowmaking, the amount of vertical feet and miles available are the true industry metrics. It makes Whiteface's 3,000 vertical feet open this past weekend probably the most impressive of the entire Northeast. Killington had like 600 vertical feet, and was downloading/walking from the skiing... Sugarbush had like 1,000 feet (?) of a beginner/intermediate run open... while Whiteface (a NY State run area) was offering 3,100 vertical feet of sustained pitch, groomed snow from top-to-bottom. IMO, Whiteface won the early season. https://nyskiblog.com/whiteface-opening-day-2022/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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