2024-2025 Ski season Thread

[HIPPYVALLEY]

I would think mountain operations at Killington is starting to mildly sweat the fact that they are hosting the FIS World Cup Thanksgiving weekend.  

[GCWarrior]

Sunday River opening tomorrow for pass holders.  Impressive.  I was dumping sweat riding the bike today and people are skiing tomorrow. Unreal! 

[bwt3650]

Don’t see jay go after it before killington very often…





.

[powderfreak]

28 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

Don’t see jay go after it before killington very often…





.

We held off too.  Wet-bulb temps aren’t that great except for like the top quarter of the hill.

[bwt3650]

We held off too.  Wet-bulb temps aren’t that great except for like the top quarter of the hill.

They are probably 2800’ and up..I’m sure there’s a marketing aspect to it, but they might get 36 hours to put a couple piles together that make it through the next warm up. I’m just really surprised killington, with a lift that runs 3400-3900’ and a brand that pushes earliest and latest isn’t making any effort. I get it for you guys; you’re opening date is you’re opening date and there’s a lot of warmth between now and then.


.

[powderfreak]

11 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

They are probably 2800’ and up..I’m sure there’s a marketing aspect to it, but they might get 36 hours to put a couple piles together that make it through the next warm up. I’m just really surprised killington, with a lift that runs 3400-3900’ and a brand that pushes earliest and latest isn’t making any effort. I get it for you guys; you’re opening date is you’re opening date and there’s a lot of warmth between now and then.


.

Killington is surprising, agreed there.

Yeah for the other areas like Stowe, Sugarbush, Jay, etc… making snow this weekend would be to test things, train staff.  But if we can’t hit the opening date for whatever reason it won’t be because 30-36 hours was passed by on Upper Lord on 11/2.  When Stowe can’t open it’s because of below Crossover to the lift maze.

If it’s 11/8, the guns are on right now even just at the top.

[bwt3650]

Killington is surprising, agreed there.
Yeah for the other areas like Stowe, Sugarbush, Jay, etc… making snow this weekend would be to test things, train staff.  But if we can’t hit the opening date for whatever reason it won’t be because 30-36 hours was passed by on Upper Lord on 11/2.  When Stowe can’t open it’s because of below Crossover to the lift maze.
If it’s 11/8, the guns are on right now even just at the top.

No argument…felt good hiking today though hearing that jet engine sound roaring away in the background.


.

[powderfreak]

31 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

No argument…felt good hiking today though hearing that jet engine sound roaring away in the background.


.

That first day seeing the guns firing is a good day though for sure.  Put a little hop in your step.

Long range wise, I’d be a bit nervous about the World Cup at Killington.

[GCWarrior]

At this point might as well continue to be nice and warm.  Mountain biking has been great! Semi fills the void of skiing! 

[bwt3650]

Copper…at least it’s snowing somewhere. Think they open this week.




.

[tunafish]

On 11/2/2024 at 6:50 PM, powderfreak said:

That first day seeing the guns firing is a good day though for sure.  Put a little hop in your step.

Long range wise, I’d be a bit nervous about the World Cup at Killington.

Just looked and see that it's scheduled for 11/30 - 12/1.  Obviously I'm not an expert at mountain operations, but that feels like an impossible feat given that this week won't be enough to get them started building the base.  Even if they get two good weeks of snow making, and maybe some help from mother nature, is it feasible for them to pull it off at this point?

[mcglups]

With ideal conditions i suspect Killington can perform the necessary snow making in 36 hours.  I think the event has to check depths a week beforehand.  We shall see!!!

[MRVexpat]

1 hour ago, tunafish said:

Even if they get two good weeks of snow making, and maybe some help from mother nature, is it feasible for them to pull it off at this point?

Yes. Their firepower is insane. The key is the timing of an appropriate cold window as a depth check needs to be performed ahead of time. 

[bwt3650]

1 hour ago, mcglups said:

With ideal conditions i suspect Killington can perform the necessary snow making in 36 hours.  I think the event has to check depths a week beforehand.  We shall see!!!

yep, I would agree...and I think there was a year recently where they actually didn't make the depth check a week prior, but got the wink wink, because there was an ideal window a day or two away where they were sure they would make it.

[Skivt2]

Last year Killington received snow clearance based on potential. I’m pretty sure I heard that 4’ of snow on superstar is a 3 day effort.  If temps are cold by 11/24 they have it in the bag.  May not happen next year because of the chair replacement and spring skiing will be different and shorter this year.

[HoarfrostHubb]

A concern I have, at least for my local bump, Wachusett, is even if/when the cold is sufficient for snowmaking to begin in earnest, the lack of water might be a concern.  Does not take much to heavily drain their snowmaking pond.   With no rain for the past two months, not sure how it refills... the streams, etc are dry as a bone

[powderfreak]

7 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

A concern I have, at least for my local bump, Wachusett, is even if/when the cold is sufficient for snowmaking to begin in earnest, the lack of water might be a concern.  Does not take much to heavily drain their snowmaking pond.   With no rain for the past two months, not sure how it refills... the streams, etc are dry as a bone

That's a valid concern for water availability at hills in the drought/brush fire zone.  Interesting to see how that affects snowmaking operations... but does it matter with these temperatures? 

[snowgeek]

A concern I have, at least for my local bump, Wachusett, is even if/when the cold is sufficient for snowmaking to begin in earnest, the lack of water might be a concern.  Does not take much to heavily drain their snowmaking pond.   With no rain for the past two months, not sure how it refills... the streams, etc are dry as a bone

Jiminy Peak moved there targeted opening date to the weekend after Thanksgiving due to a lack of water. Ponds are low for sure. Us skiers have to pray for rain lol. That’s a new one.


.

[Layman]

Am I seeing right that Killington is opening this Friday 11/15?

Got a text from them but not sure if they're going to be servicing any trails.  Looks like Superstar may be rideable on the cams.  

[bwt3650]

7 minutes ago, Layman said:

Am I seeing right that Killington is opening this Friday 11/15?

Got a text from them but not sure if they're going to be servicing any trails.  Looks like Superstar may be rideable on the cams.  

They are actually opening tmrw to season passholders.  They open on the north ridge; probably rime and reason with the peak walkway, though they are blowing great northern, so maybe only a one way walk this year.  Superstar will stay closed until after the world cup (unless something changed from previous years) and then it usually takes them a week after to chop it up from the icy world cup surface.  They don't go ttb for a bit, then usually move to snowdon.

[mob1]

Sunday River is opening to passholders tomorrow as well. Looks like tonight is the last good snowmaking window in a while (tomorrow night looks marginal and with a temperatureinversion it'llonly be cold at lower elevations). Models show a more favorable pattern in the 8-10 day range so hopefully it materializes so more resorts can open before Thanksgiving.  

[alex]

Opening day Saturday for Bretton Woods

[snowgeek]

Skied Killington this afternoon. Variable conditions. Some packed powder, some granular and some ice. Some soft bumps on east fall. K1 gondola up. Ski down to north ridge. 12 runs. Peak walkway to gondola down. Great to be making turns and getting the ski legs going!




.

[powderfreak]

That's awesome.  Well played @snowgeek.

[powderfreak]

For the non-weather educated public out there, these nights can be tough to communicate to.  They just always assume the mountain is colder.  That's where the "fake cold" thing comes from too on here, when it goes against common perception.  It's definitely not fake, but a normal occurrence here at night throughout the year when skies are clear.

Posted this in the main thread, but it might get buried.

"Just textbook conditions for a cold night and woodfire smoke in the valley bottoms.

700-800ft frozen again tonight (frost made it through the day in the shade) with skim ice on ponds.

These would be snowmaking conditions, except the cold is in the wrong place.

 

Meanwhile up Mountain Road at the base of the ski area the temp is 40F.  No snowmaking on the hill, while everyone in town thinks it’s a great cold night to make snow.  Sometimes the inversions definitely create perception issues around here.  "Why isn't the mountain making snow?"

It's hard to communicate, but last night the inversion did it as well... no snowmaking on a large part of the mountain, while down in town where people live, it was plenty cold enough.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

For the non-weather educated public out there, these nights can be tough to figure out how to communicate it too.  They just always assume the mountain is colder.  That's where the "fake cold" thing comes from too on here, when it goes against common perception.  It's definitely not fake, but a normal occurrence here at night throughout the year when skies are clear.

Posted this in the main thread, but it might get buried.

"Just textbook conditions for a cold night and woodfire smoke in the valley bottoms.

700-800ft frozen again tonight (frost made it through the day in the shade) with skim ice on ponds.

These would be snowmaking conditions, except the cold is in the wrong place.

 

Meanwhile up Mountain Road at the base of the ski area its 40F.  No snowmaking on the hill, while everyone in town thinks its a great cold night to make snow.  Sometimes the inversions definitely create perception issues around here.  "Why isn't the mountain making snow!?"

It's hard to communicate but last night it did it as well... no snowmaking on a large part of the mountain, while down in town where people live, it was plenty cold enough.

I was up in Maine today and this morning the small ponds had a skim of ice.

[GCWarrior]

Regardless of potential snow the next snowmaking window looks like a good one.  

[Ski Patroller]

On 11/15/2024 at 9:30 PM, powderfreak said:

 

I like how Stowe puts out detailed daily reports like this. It informs and builds the stoke. I wish most mountains did it.

[powderfreak]

5 hours ago, Ski Patroller said:

 

I like how Stowe puts out detailed daily reports like this. It informs and builds the stoke. I wish most mountains did it.

Glad you enjoy them.  I don’t do any of the social media but they give me the keys to that one text box and the snow phone to post weather and operations updates.  It takes like 15 minutes out of my day but I think people appreciate it (and good to know they do).

Took the weekend off though, never got a window for snowmaking, even at night.

[bwt3650]

Glad you enjoy them.  I don’t do any of the social media but they give me the keys to that one text box and the snow phone to post weather and operations updates.  It takes like 15 minutes out of my day but I think people appreciate it (and good to know they do).
Took the weekend off though, never got a window for snowmaking, even at night.

The snowmaking updates throughout the early part of the season that you and jay do are the best. Gives an idea of what the next week or two will look like terrain wise if you know the mountains patterns.


.