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2023-2024 Ski Season Thead


Skivt2
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Wildcat today had the good fortune of moderate terrain expansion with 3 main runs off the top of the mountain and about 7 main runs from the middle to the bottom, I think they call that close to 20 runs. I opted to miss the morning powder/chop experience and arrived around 11am when it was snowing but ever so slightly warming up. By 2pm it was a light drizzle. Trails with just natural snow were really fun, powder/packed powder with the geology frozen patches. Trails with combination of snow were equally fun, just a bit more frozen underneath, but nothing bad. All lifts were running and all three parking lots were open, but with just enough terrain, it didn't feel busy.  Overall, that mid week cement dumping was very helpful, essentially a full recovery from the December rain. Healthwise my respiratory illness is gone, so just battling fatigue, but got a six pack of runs!

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First chair this morning and felt good with the run on the top half.  Opted for the slower path down the bottom half and while everything was groomed, it had frozen firm overnight.  At sub moderate speed, managed to cross the skis for my first season fall, right hand extended out and nailed my elbow on the tarmac, wrenched my shoulder, and hard tapped my helmet. The helmet definitely reduced the head injury to a mild concussion, can't imagine what it would have been like without the helmet.  Shoulder injury will be a wait and see.  No fun getting old, but wont give up!

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Mount Snow was great yesterday. They have a ton open including some natural offerings. Groomers skied very well.  I never waited more than a minute in a lift line despite it starting to feel real busy around 9:30. Coldest morning I’ve skied in so far this season, around -2 up top with a decent amount of wind.

I’d say despite the rain and warm weather all things considered they are pretty close to what it would normally be mid Jan.
 

 

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couple of observations from yesterday's cross country tour off the Kancamagus. Parked on Bear Notch Road and skied the Nanamocomuck Ski Trail until meeting and continuing up the Rob Brook Road trail.  We skied a good two to three miles past where the Rob Brook Trail intersects the Sawyer Pond trail before turning around and returning to the car via the same route. The Rob Brook trail is part of the snow mobile network up in this area and there was a good volume of traffic. The elevation is probably between 1,400-1,700' and found 14-18" of snow on the ground with all the streams full and running. The snow on the ski trail was essentially a couple of inches of fresh snow on top of a pretty beefy ice crust. Since we were breaking trail, it was pretty marginal. Once we joined the snow mobile network, the trails were groomed and it was fantastic skiing. The snowmobilers were very courteous, slowing down when they came upon us. We were skiing off to the side of the trail so never impeded their way which I'm sure they appreciated. I think there must be a snowmobile riding cos. in Bartlett that comes up Bear Notch Road and then joins the network via Meadowbrook trail/road b/c we had several caravans of 8-10 snowmobiles pass us on multiple occasions. Not being a snowmobiler, it amazes me the amount of exhaust those things spit out. The group I was with were all surprised by the amount of snow on the ground. We literally had thrown snowshoes, skis and hiking boots and traction into our cars not knowing what to expect. It was a great day and pleasantly surprised. My one complaint - a 30+ minute drive from the Lincoln 93 exit to get past the main parking lot at Loon. Bumper to bumper crawling traffic - horrible. When we got to the parking lot, there was a sign out saying the parking lots were full. I had noticed they were sold out on their website and I would have been pissed if I was a skier with a ticket.

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Mount Snow was great yesterday. They have a ton open including some natural offerings. Groomers skied very well.  I never waited more than a minute in a lift line despite it starting to feel real busy around 9:30. Coldest morning I’ve skied in so far this season, around -2 up top with a decent amount of wind.
I’d say despite the rain and warm weather all things considered they are pretty close to what it would normally be mid Jan.
 
 

Completely agree with you. It’s gotten very mid winter like quickly. I always use mlk as the transition date from early season conditions and trails, to mid season form and this season seems on track.


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drove up to a friend's house in Brunswick Tuesday night in the storm and skied with him yesterday at Saddleback which was reporting 10" new. This marked our 42 year skiing in Maine together. Saddleback was reporting nearly 100% open which is true. The winds were blowing pretty good and with temps in the single digits, it was old school cold - just like our first day 42 years ago (which was actually record breaking, unbearable cold). The new snow had been deposited in the woods by the winds and that's primarily where we skied. Snowmaking was happening around the mountain throughout the day and I noticed the snow color had a brownish tint to it which I'm guessing reflects all the sediment in their snowmaking ponds.  We primarily skied the Kennebago lift so stuck primarily to Dark Wizard and Intimidator glades. We ventured twice onto trails up there - Warden's Worry and Family Secret - and the snow was this very weird hard/ice pack - I described it as 'corral' - that not edgeable followed by deposits of deep, drifted snow. Anyway, the woods had excellent coverage - very few roots, rocks and stumps showing so that's where we stayed. In some ways, pretty amazing they could be nearly 100% open - but conditions were sketchy on the ungroomed terrain. A good day #1 of NE skiing.

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22 minutes ago, wx2fish said:

Despite all the big plans I wonder if they will ever get Balsoms open again. It would easily be the snowiest resort in NH, and up there for NE 

 

Screenshot_20240118_095533_Facebook.thumb.jpg.c7b6156a0958033d17da861de9625166.jpg

i snowmobile up there once or twice a year, and yes there is always tons of snow especially up by the wind tower. And that guy is right, that steep trail is no joke, it can be a difficult ride up (or even down).

a couple years a group of us were heading up that steep trail, and there was a groomer heading down. there is no way to get by, so we all had to turn around and go back down. that was "fun".

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Sampled the goods across multiple spots in Central and Northern VT over recent days. There is a bit of a gradient in snow conditions between the haves and have nots to this point in terms of both rain avoidance and upslope production.

Burke had soft snow with a few inches of fluff on top of a hard packed (but not very crusty) surface.  Seems as though they were just far enough north and east to mitigate rain crust from the cutters earlier in the month. Despite this, the base wasn't particularly deep as they failed to cash in on the upslope bonanza of this past week.

Smuggs was fantastic. Deep base, minimal crust, and tons of fluff. The northern spine is in amazing shape, can only imagine how great Jay is skiing right now.

Wrapped up the north country swing with a chilly tour up two different zones at Brandon Gap. Given the more southern location, a more prominent rain crust was lying anywhere from 3 to 10 (in drifts) inches below the fluff. Certainly more soft stuff on top than at Burke due to upslope, but in general conditions at Brandon were more variable than elsewhere. Still lots of fun turns to be had, though the lighter touring skis did struggle a bit with the crud

Overall, great conditions for mid-January. A few shots from Brandon today:

IMG_1967.jpg

IMG_1966.jpg

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Drove up to Bolton today and skied from 9 to 3 with only a 10-15 minute break. It was cold - an understatement. When I got back to car, needed to run the floor heater for 5-10 minutes in order to get my boots off. Lots of snow but you can see signs of the December event. I hadn't skied mid winter at Bolton probably in 14-15 years. Skiing alone, I was judicious where I went into the woods but I notice a big difference between Wednesday at Saddleback and today was the lack of sustained pitch at BV. Either way, had a good time but those 6+ hour driving days are tough! 

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2 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Apparently 21 skiers and snowboarders got lost at Killington today and had to be rescued. That’s nuts. 

I saw that story. Did they all go together?  The story in the Globe wasn’t clear. The other mountain news was sadder, an experienced hiking guide in NH died Tuesday night in the Whites. He had completed the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails. It just goes to show how dangerous conditions can even get experienced people.  

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1 hour ago, mreaves said:

I saw that story. Did they all go together?  The story in the Globe wasn’t clear. The other mountain news was sadder, an experienced hiking guide in NH died Tuesday night in the Whites. He had completed the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails. It just goes to show how dangerous conditions can even get experienced people.  

I read that story the other day, the Whites can be unforgiven if you make a mistake although they didn't mention I was thinking he got injured.

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16 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

I read that story the other day, the Whites can be unforgiven if you make a mistake although they didn't mention I was thinking he got injured.

The high Greens in VT and the AT between Rangely and Katahdin are also sneaky dangerous if taken for granted.

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20 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

The high Greens in VT and the AT between Rangely and Katahdin are also sneaky dangerous if taken for granted.

Add the Mahoosucs.  I can't imagine going thru Mahoosuc Notch in winter.  In Sept 1985 a bunch of BPL folks went about halfway, entering from the east, then headed back out.  With no pack it was a fun scramble/slither thru the huge boulders.

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13 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Add the Mahoosucs.  I can't imagine going thru Mahoosuc Notch in winter.  In Sept 1985 a bunch of BPL folks went about halfway, entering from the east, then headed back out.  With no pack it was a fun scramble/slither thru the huge boulders.

That would be a brutal slog. Yikes.

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On 1/21/2024 at 7:59 PM, HoarfrostHubb said:

Apparently 21 skiers and snowboarders got lost at Killington today and had to be rescued. That’s nuts. 

A little more info on this.  https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/lost-killington-skiers-rescued-resort-considers-pulling-passes-and-terminates-employee-in-lost-party/article_dedf8759-272e-5ad9-9a15-31a09ab1c68c.html

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