NNE Cold Season Thread 2024-2025

[powderfreak]

4 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

You guys still getting snow in the Stowe area? Looks like something on radar.

It started back up on the mountain. Looks a bit more westward than it did last night.

RWIS cams look snowy at Jay and Stowe though.

[Boston Bulldog]

Radar looks pretty good for the spine right now, but I think BTV is seeing the same moisture issues PF is. Decent downgrade in totals, especially south of 89

[powderfreak]

17 minutes ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Radar looks pretty good for the spine right now, but I think BTV is seeing the same moisture issues PF is. Decent downgrade in totals, especially south of 89

One of those subtle things that could be completely wrong, but going into it with dews 10F higher at this time last night and more robust Great Lakes moisture entrained (it was more like a 270 degree flow).

I like 3-5” for tonight for the mountains as opposed to like 6-12” like last night.  More like 1/2” per hour instead of 1”/hr.

[Boston Bulldog]

12 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Radar looks pretty good for the spine right now, but I think BTV is seeing the same moisture issues PF is. Decent downgrade in totals, especially south of 89

Welp so 10” new at MRG… I was wrong lol

[bwt3650]

11 minutes ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Welp so 10” new at MRG… I was wrong lol

Nobody will ever complain.

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Welp so 10” new at MRG… I was wrong lol

Nailed it here.  A bit over 5” on Mansfield at the plot.  14” past 48 hours, measured at exactly 3,000ft (well, 3,014ft).

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Welp so 10” new at MRG… I was wrong lol

Ha.  Looks like they had some wind issues at their plot.  Makes the Lookout Snow cam look deep up here.  I can appreciate the effort!

 

[MRVexpat]

48 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Ha.  Looks like they had some wind issues at their plot.  Makes the Lookout Snow cam look deep up here.  I can appreciate the effort!

 

Yeah the fact that you can see that thing from a webcam mounted on the single chair mid station makes me think that it isn't super wind protected lol. 

[MRVexpat]

On 10/9/2024 at 4:00 PM, MRVexpat said:

Cheers to that! For this year, I wish for the upslope machine to return to above average levels of production. Seems like that's been somewhat absent in the central/northern greens the last few years. 

I should start wishing for snow more often. You're welcome!

[borderwx]

Cleared another 3” at the house overnight.

J was high quality powder skiing. The crew agrees that this winter feels more like it with the upslope deposits. So thanks MRV:)

Still snowing when I left

Easy to feel thankful today


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[powderfreak]

So. F'ing. Deep.  Added another 1-2" today and still snowing lightly.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

So. F'ing. Deep.  Added another 1-2" today and still snowing lightly.

I'm glad to see it but I just wish it would spread out a little from the spine.

[borderwx]

I'm glad to see it but I just wish it would spread out a little from the spine.

The VAST groomer made its initial pass today across the road, thin but that is a promising sign



Checking on tracks out back with the dog this evening. Back to snowshoes for a while hopefully


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[bwt3650]

I should start wishing for snow more often. You're welcome!

You need to copy and paste that quote every October in the NNE cold season thread until the end of time


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[powderfreak]

What 16" in 48 hours at High Road looks like.  The median measurement.  Some areas definitely higher than that, especially above it in the 3-4K foot zone.

What a couple of days.

[#NoPoles]

I'm interested in how this holiday weekend will play out. It would be nice to get some some synoptic snow for all the vacation weenies. Right now my P&C on my Weather Bug App says snow and rain for Sat and Sat night. It's a 'fun' app

[J.Spin]

A couple weeks back there was some great discussion in the thread on the Jay Peak backcountry conditions in areas like Gilpin Mountain and Domey’s Dome, so I was certainly looking to head up there for some touring when the opportunity arose. Prodigious amounts of snow have simply continued to fall through much of this past week, with Jay Peak now at 200 inches of snowfall on the season. So, the powder has been staying fresh and the snowpack just keeps getting deeper. I was thinking of heading up for a tour in the Gilpin/Domey’s area this weekend, and out of the blue my younger son called to see if I’d bring him and some of his college friends on a backcountry ski tour since some of their passes were in blackout mode due to the holiday weekend. I told him where I was already thinking on touring, and that’s all it took – the plan was in place to head out Saturday morning.

The forecast for the day was looking great – temperatures in the upper 20s F are perfect because it’s warm enough to be quite comfortable out in the backcountry, but below the freezing mark to avoid any temperature effects on the powder. I was concerned about parking since it’s a holiday weekend, but there were plenty of parking spots up at Jay Pass on Route 242. I arrived about 20 minutes before my son and his friends, so I poked around at the pass, and checked out the snow conditions and trail access points until they arrived.

I’ve skied the terrain north of the pass on Gilpin Mountain before, but this time I wanted to check out the terrain to the south. My plan for our tour was to use the Long Trail to head up Gilpin Mountain and out along the ridgeline toward Domey’s Dome, then descend the west face of the range and catch the Catamount Trail for the return trip. With regard to ski touring, that side of the range is, in theory, set up beautifully – the Long Trail follows the ridgeline, and the Catamount Trail roughly parallels it down in the valley near Route 242. So, you can head out on the Long Trail to whatever point you want, then drop in for a descent and use the Catamount Trail as a collector for returning to Jay Pass. I say it’s a great setup “in theory”, with the caveat that the Long Trail can be tough to follow at this time of year. The Long Trail uses white blazes on the trees to mark its route for hikers, and the trees up along the ridgeline there can be absolutely loaded with snow. So, following the trail can be quite challenging if someone hasn’t already put a track in place. Also, as the snowpack continues to rise, the blazes can be more and more difficult to find. As of now, the blazes are at about waist level, so they’re still visible if you can find them behind the inches of snow caked to the trees, but even at the current height they are getting hard to see. One could certainly head out to an ascent of Domey’s Dome using the Catamount Trail from below, but after traversing the Catamount Trail in that area for the return on our tour (there are plenty of undulations and meanderings), that approach feels like more work than it needs to be unless you park farther down on Route 242.

While it was breezy in the open area of Jay Pass, with the anemometers at the weather station area buzzing right along, the wind disappeared as soon as we entered the forest on our ascent. Following the Long Trail upward from the pass to Gilpin Mountain was fairly easy – it was well set as a skin track from plenty of skier traffic, so even without being able to see the blazes, it’s fairly easy to follow. Once we were up at the Gilpin Mountain ridgeline, we took a quick jaunt to the north to check out the official summit of Gilpin Mountain at 3,021’ then moved southward and reached the South Peak of Gilpin Mountain, which is slightly lower at 2,993’. From there, we headed south on the Long Trail toward Domey’s Dome. We ran into a couple of guys from Quebec (based on their accents) who were setting up to descend a steep, sweet looking gully on the back side of the range. They joked with us about not stealing it from them, but we would never have done that, and we had other plans anyway. After that, we didn’t run into anyone, because skier traffic seems very light once you get past the general Gilpin Mountain area. We were able to follow the Long Trail southward for a little while, with the help of one track from a previous skier, but as we descended into the col between Gilpin and Domey’s, it became more and more difficult to hold the ridgeline and not get pulled into descending on one side of the ridge of the other. Nobody had broken trail on the Long Trail across the ridgeline, so the route finding took time. We had access to multiple GPS units, and when the Long Trail is obscured with deep snow like it is now, you certainly want to have your GPS and compass. Not wanting to waste too much of the session trying to navigate the traverse, we eventually decided to hug the western side of the ridge as we headed southward, with the intention of beginning a descent if we saw some appealing ski terrain. It wasn’t too long before we found a relatively steep line that dropped through some open trees, and we decided it was as good a time as any to begin skiing.

Our descent from the col between Gilpin and Domey’s featured some nice areas with reasonably open trees, spots with excellent natural glades, and some terrain that had been logged and maintained for logging access. The powder was fantastic – there was typically 1 to 2 feet of bottomless powder over a deep base. I would frequently check the depth of the snowpack, and my ski pole would go below the surface of the snow, which means the snowpack depth was in excess of 40 inches. The powder was in a very nice right-side-up density gradient starting with snow in roughly the 6 to 8% H2O range on top. The only thing that could have really made the powder better would have been to throw on several more inches of fresh 3-6% H2O champagne, but that’s really getting picky, because it skied incredibly well. Everyone was on fat skis with widths over 100 mm, and the skis were definitely in their element out there today. My son was on his Telemark skis for the first time in 2 or 3 years because he’s been looking for a good pair of boots to replace the current ones that are too tight, but it didn’t look like his Telemark skiing had missed a beat. I was happy to see that, and so were his friends.

As of this morning, Jay Peak is reporting 203 inches of snowfall on the season, and you can really feel it when you’re out there in the nearby backcountry. The snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake at 3,700’ is around 55 inches, but based on what I found out there on our tour in the Gilpin/Domey’s area, that snowpack depth is probably obtained at a lower elevation in the Jay Peak area. We weren’t even out in the Big Jay Basin area, which seems to collect some of the most snow in the area due to it’s leeward position, so I bet the snowpack is quite deep out there. My son and his friends are planning to head out to Alyeska in March for some skiing during spring break, and he mentioned that as of now they apparently have the most snowfall for the season of any ski area in the U.S. at 346 inches. That got me wondering about how things are going for some of the well-known, snowier resorts in western North America with respect to snowfall, and I saw that Steamboat is at 143 inches, Whistler Blackcomb is at 197 inches, Grand Targhee is at 211 inches, and Alta is at 233 inches. So, Jay Peak’s 203 inches is certainly in that ballpark, and the area’s snowpack is definitely doing well. I’d say what’s really helped with making Jay Peak’s snowfall perform in terms of building the snowpack is that they haven’t had to deal with many thaws, especially in the past few weeks when they’ve has so much continuous snowfall.

 

[J.Spin]

[bwt3650]

Only thing more you needed was to stop at omakase…their spicy tuna poke bowl is banging…fantastic pics.


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[DavisStraight]

5 hours ago, J.Spin said:

Had icicles like that in 2015.

[borderwx]

Good living J! It has been a great week to be a skier in N VT




Layers of snow. But, the big drainages are still wet. Easy enough to avoid now.

We are down to 9F now.


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[J.Spin]

8 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

Only thing more you needed was to stop at omakase…their spicy tuna poke bowl is banging…fantastic pics.

Glad you enjoyed the pictures!

Unfortunately, stopping in for food at Omakase wasn’t even an option – it was closed and looked totally dead aside from a couple of vehicles in the parking area. I couldn’t believe they weren’t open in the midafternoon on Saturday of a holiday weekend and was worried that they’d gone out of business or something (although the icicles seem to suggest plenty of activity in what I guess is the kitchen area with that vent). When I got home, I checked to see what was up, and I guess they just don’t open until 5:00 P.M. I’m amazed they aren’t going for the après ski crowd with a location like that. They would probably get a ton of business if they did, but a 5:00 P.M. opening really means they’re just going for dinner for people who are in the area overnight?

This article in Local LaVida from a couple years back suggests that they planned to have an early bird après menu:

Seasons Plans:

With plans of opening doors starting the winter of 2022, early season hours will be limited to start but will expand as the season progresses. Omakase plans to have an early bird après menu from 2-5 pm, offering generously priced small plates with a daily brew! Dinner service will be held between 5-10 pm with a Sunday brunch menu and specials board on the horizon. As the season goes into full swing, operations will expand to meet the demands of holiday and peak periods.

It looks like a great spot, and it’s totally the kind of place that I would grab some food to bring home to the family for dinner after a day at the resort or in the backcountry if they were open (I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve done that at Sushi Yoshi in Stowe or the Miso Kome hut at Bolton).

One can’t help but like how the building fits right in with the wintry Jay Peak vibe thanks to the stacked snow and icicles on the roof, so I still had to grab a shot on my way home!

[J.Spin]

Yesterday I headed up to Bolton Valley for a bit of afternoon lift-served skiing with my wife and our older son ahead of the cold temperatures that are expected to be around into the midweek period. The resort has finally shifted their attention to making snow in the Timberline area over the past week, and since it was open to lift-served skiing for the holiday weekend, we figured we’d check it out. It’s always a nice shift into the feel of Bolton’s full mid-season mode when you can start parking down at Timberline to base yourself there to ski the rest of the resort.

Midafternoon yesterday when I was heading home from backcountry skiing in the Jay Peak area, it started snowing as our Saturday system pushed into the area, but the precipitation changed to sprinkles of rain in the valleys as I headed south. We’d picked up a few hundredths of an inch of rain down in the valley at our house in Waterbury that gave a slight crust to the snowpack, so I was curious how high the snow levels had risen. I immediately checked the consistency of the snow when we arrived at the Timberline Base at 1,500’ and was happy to find that the snow was powdery without any rain crust, so even the lowest elevations of the resort had remained above the snow line.

As we ascended on the Timberline Quad, we could see that the lower Timberline trails without snowmaking still need more snow. Our long-duration storms from early January scoured a lot of the west-facing terrain, and the existing snowpack down at the Timberline elevations just wasn’t deep enough to hold up to that very well. Most of the natural snow terrain at Timberline was open, but it’s still just a bit thin to support lift-served skiing without some areas of brush and grass poking through. The areas where they’ve made snow have plentiful coverage of course, but seeing what was available, we decided to head up to the main mountain for better coverage and conditions.

The resort was reporting 4 to 6 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours, and 8 inches of new snow in he past 48 hours, so somehow the mountains just keep pulling the inches out of these minor systems that come through the area. Those snowfall numbers are definitely more reflective of the main mountain though, because accumulations down at Timberline were certainly less.

Up at the main mountain we decided to head right to Wilderness to ski the natural snow terrain, and it was indeed night and day compared to the conditions down at Timberline. There’s certainly been plenty of skier traffic at the resort since it’s a holiday weekend, but jumping off trail into the trees revealed the usual foot plus of light powder that we’ve been seeing over the past couple of weeks in untracked areas. On piste, the snow was nice packed powder wherever the winds hadn’t scoured it down, so we stuck to moderate-angle terrain below the Wilderness Mid Station and had some great runs. We even had some sun at the beginning of our session, and it was nice to have that light and a bit of extra warmth. You could tell that colder air was moving in, and temperatures were dropping through the lower 20s F, so when the clouds came back in ahead of approaching Winter Storm Demi, you could really feel the chill.

We headed back to Timberline as we finished up our afternoon session, and we did find some nice natural snow in areas like Lower Tattle Tale, but due to the shallower snowpack you had to be very selective and stick to well protected areas that hadn’t been scoured. The manmade snow on Timberline Run was definitely firm, and I’d say the disparity between the quality/firmness of the natural and manmade snow is far more than the usual at Timberline right now. The snow they made should be very resilient though.

The opening of the Timberline area means that food service is firing up there, and this year in the Timberline Base Lodge they have Miso Curry offering food. It turns out that like the Miso Toh Kome hut up at Bolton’s main base area, (and other resorts in the area) Miso Curry is another offering from the Miso Hungry chain. We didn’t know that curry was so prominent in Japanese cuisine, but we shared an order of their katsu pork curry with edamame, and it was great. We were thinking it might be a bit tough though for families if the kids want something more typical to eat, but they can always catch that at the main base lodge, and Miso Curry seems to be a great addition to the variety of food available at the resort.

[TheMainer]

Glad we went to Quebec this weekend snowmobiling instead of hoping last night's snow worked out, about 600 miles in 2 days of riding around Mont Valin and Forestville.

 

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, TheMainer said:

Glad we went to Quebec this weekend snowmobiling instead of hoping last night's snow worked out, about 600 miles in 2 days of riding around Mont Valin and Forestville.

 

That's a ways up there, how long of a drive?

[TheMainer]

1 hour ago, DavisStraight said:

That's a ways up there, how long of a drive?

About 6 hours from the house, not too bad of a drive, just getting through Quebec City with a trailer can be a little interesting sometimes. Probably will take the wife to Riviere Du Loop for 3 days presidents day week, but that's still 5 hours. We live on the trail here, typically we ride from the house NYE through March 15th, but the past few years have been abnormally bad.