NNE Cold Season Thread 2024-2025

[Boston Bulldog]

4 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

Yeah, not very jay like…but they have the jet running now and there’s zero lines at the Bonnie..Hope you hung out because as you said, it’s really good…




.

Skinned out of Jay Pass today and checked out various lines on both sides of the road… that 32” is legit. Faceshots all day in some zones

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Skinned out of Jay Pass today and checked out various lines on both sides of the road… that 32” is legit. Faceshots all day in some zones

It’s interesting how different people perceive snowfall.  A friend skinned next to Gilpin and said the number he’d pick was 18” for snowfall, no chance anything near 30”.  Said he did find one pitch that was ridiculously deep but on the whole he was thinking 18”.

Skied Mansfield and then went to Domeys Dome next to Gilpin. Classic snowfall audit… but again, not Jay, just his estimates in the area.

I only share this not as a "ha, don't believe it" but because it was exactly what I always say... that area gets more snowfall but about 10-20% more on average than Smugglers Notch/Mansfield area (which gets 10-20% more than Sugarbush/MRG).  It just fit my long-standing beliefs, that's all.  And in America, we all like information that fits our own thoughts . I always find the different estimates interesting and sort of funny.  

[Boston Bulldog]

Gilpin was indeed where I was for most of the day - man it felt deep, especially on the steeper pitch down by the road. 18” or 32”, it was great. 

I do hope to ski enough powder to eventually be able to discern amounts while in it! When it’s bottomless and flying in my face, tell me any large number and I’ll believe it.

[bwt3650]

It’s interesting how different people perceive snowfall.  A friend skinned next to Gilpin and said the number he’d pick was 18” for snowfall, no chance anything near 30”.  Said he did find one pitch that was ridiculously deep but on the whole he was thinking 18”.
Skied Mansfield and then went to Domeys Dome next to Gilpin. Classic snowfall audit… but again, not Jay, just his estimates in the area.


I only share this not as a "ha, don't believe it" but because it was exactly what I always say... that area gets more snowfall but about 10-20% more on average than Smugglers Notch/Mansfield area (which gets 10-20% more than Sugarbush/MRG).  It just fit my long-standing beliefs, that's all.  And in America, we all like information that fits our own thoughts . I always find the different estimates interesting and sort of funny.  

Stowe reporting 22 in the last 7 days, which means all of that is from the cycle that started on weds, right? Sat-tues was the torch. I’d say this cycle was close to 30 here, which is whipped all over the place. I know you absolutely hate “close to”…could you convince me it was 24, sure. Could you convince me it was 30, absolutely. 32 in the last 48 hours…i dunno..probably not. But when does that 48 hours start? 7am sat going back to 7am thurs? I guess my point is we are kind of splitting hairs for the average skier. It’s a lot of powder all over the place. I was a definitive “no way” on that one report earlier this year, but I call bs on only 18 out there.

I still think this was an over performer up here. I’m hoping at some point to be able to do an accurate snow board in a wind protected area for an entire winter one year, but for now, it’s all kind of a guesstimate.


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[bwt3650]

Gilpin was indeed where I was for most of the day - man it felt deep, especially on the steeper pitch down by the road. 18” or 32”, it was great. 
I do hope to ski enough powder to eventually be able to discern amounts while in it! When it’s bottomless and flying in my face, tell me any large number and I’ll believe it.

You did it right by heading there instead of sitting on a lift. It got cold real fast once you stopped moving.


.

[powderfreak]

23 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

Stowe reporting 22 in the last 7 days, which means all of that is from the cycle that started on weds, right? Sat-tues was the torch. I’d say this cycle was close to 30 here, which is whipped all over the place. I know you absolutely hate “close to”…could you convince me it was 24, sure. Could you convince me it was 30, absolutely. 32 in the last 48 hours…i dunno..probably not. But when does that 48 hours start? 7am sat going back to 7am thurs? I guess my point is we are kind of splitting hairs for the average skier. It’s a lot of powder all over the place. I was a definitive “no way” on that one report earlier this year, but I call bs on only 18 out there.

I still think this was an over performer up here. I’m hoping at some point to be able to do an accurate snow board in a wind protected area for an entire winter one year, but for now, it’s all kind of a guesstimate.


.

I think it was a pretty well modeled event for sure, went about exactly as they showed.

Being obsessed with “new snowfall” isn’t the best either, it can dampen things a bit, ha.  Like with Mansfield (3,000ft) at 22” in past week, I know that’s getting all settled out and such.

For whatever reason my focus goes to what is the very recent addition to the snowpack because that’s what goes into the annual tally.  Snow definitely can add up over time and skiers usually don’t care when or how it ended up there or even exactly how much it is as long as it’s good.  It’s just anal retentive measuring on my part to be quite honest .

[MRVexpat]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

It’s interesting how different people perceive snowfall.  A friend skinned next to Gilpin and said the number he’d pick was 18” for snowfall, no chance anything near 30”.  Said he did find one pitch that was ridiculously deep but on the whole he was thinking 18”.

Skied Mansfield and then went to Domeys Dome next to Gilpin. Classic snowfall audit… but again, not Jay, just his estimates in the area.

I only share this not as a "ha, don't believe it" but because it was exactly what I always say... that area gets more snowfall but about 10-20% more on average than Smugglers Notch/Mansfield area (which gets 10-20% more than Sugarbush/MRG).  It just fit my long-standing beliefs, that's all.  And in America, we all like information that fits our own thoughts . I always find the different estimates interesting and sort of funny.  

Haha Domeys Dome. Always loved that name. For what it's worth I have a friend who skied Little Jay today and reported that "No it was at least 24". Great skiing. Actually a somewhat reasonable report for Jay". Depending on the aspect both reports could be true? Domeys faces WNW and could have been a bit more subject to wind scouring too. Hard to say. 

[MRVexpat]

Also, how accurate are the NWS snowfall analyses? There's an image being passed around social media that seems to indicate another local jack of 24"+ in the Brandon Gap area. Hard to substantiate via cocorahs but there's a Randolph report of 15" in that timeframe so perhaps it's possible? Jw how they came to that conclusion...

[bwt3650]

Haha Domeys Dome. Always loved that name. For what it's worth I have a friend who skied Little Jay today and reported that "No it was at least 24". Great skiing. Actually a somewhat reasonable report for Jay". Depending on the aspect both reports could be true? Domeys faces WNW and could have been a bit more subject to wind scouring too. Hard to say. 

It really is such a splitting hairs argument, but I’m glad someone else is seeing what I am. I have a real hard time with that 18 number for this one anywhere from the dip on up. It’s a real tough one too with so much wind, settling over time, and where do you really stop and start the counting, as there’s really only been a few actual breaks in the snow since the cycle started. Curious to see what j-spin saw at Bolton.


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[J.Spin]

16 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

Curious to see what j-spin saw at Bolton.

LOL, great question – I’m just finishing up my detailed report and I’ll post it soon with some photos. At this point I can say that I definitely want to head back out touring tomorrow after what I experienced today!

[powderfreak]

Looks like we have some more light QPF coming in the mountains.

[GCWarrior]

I’m no expert. I have been skiing powder all over this great continent since back in the day. Think 200cm gs skis.
I skied Stowe yesterday and Jay today and I will say Jay had better coverage by a lot especially down low.  And Stowe was great by the way. That is all. 

[J.Spin]

Our current storm cycle started up back on Wednesday, with low pressure deepening as it passed over southeast New England and up into Maine. It then headed on up into eastern Quebec, stalled there for a bit, and finally moved to northwest to James Bay, where it’s expected to sit until about Monday. While this isn’t a stacked low-pressure system sitting in the Canadian Maritimes feeding continuous 1+”/hr. snows into the Northern Greens, the broad cyclonic flow supported by the various positions of the low pressure has kept the area in a nice moist westerly/northwesterly flow that’s been feeding snow into the mountains. So, this isn’t a typical 24-, 48-, or 72-hour type of storm cycle; it’s a much more drawn-out sort of “cycle”. I wasn’t sure how the positions of this low would actually play out with respect to snowfall, but since well before the start of the storm the National Weather Service Office in Burlington has been on it – they felt that the potential was there for solid amounts of snow over the protracted period. And they certainly weren’t wrong. It’s been a little tough to total up the mountain accumulations for the full event because it’s already been going on for four days, and the resorts typically only report up to 48-hour accumulations, but it looks like anywhere from roughly 1.5 to 3 feet have fallen in the Northern Greens from the system as of today.

Bolton Valley was reporting 4 to 6 inches of new snow overnight on top of their previous accumulations from the system. I’d already been finding snow accumulations of 9 to 10 inches when I was out touring at Bolton on Thursday, so between whatever fell Thursday night into Friday, plus these additional Friday night accumulations, there seemed to be some good powder potential out there. Temperature forecasts for the mountains were in the single digits F today, so touring seemed to be the best option. My wife was initially going to join me for a ski tour, but after thinking about the temperatures for a bit, she ultimately decided to work out at home instead.

I headed up to the mountain a bit after noontime, and people certainly didn’t seem to care about the temperatures – the signs were up for parking at Timberline because the upper lots were full. Being after noon, I knew I’d be able to get a spot from someone who was leaving for the day, so I headed up to the main base. I still ended up getting a spot in the lowest tennis court lot though, and that changed up my touring plans a bit. I had initially planned to ascend at the start of the Wilderness Uphill Route and then make my way toward Gardiner’s Lane, but since I was parked right down by the Pond Loop area with easy access to the Bryant Trail, I ascended there instead. I had just planned to loop around Bryant Cabin and then head out to start my descent on North Slope, but the temperatures felt great while touring, so I continued on up to Heavenly Highway, topped out around 2,800’, and started my descent via the “Not a Trail” glade. From there I continued down North Slope and then made a second ascent to ski some of the glades in the Snow Hole area.

It was clear that powder depths had increased at the resort since I was last there on Thursday. Winds have died down substantially now, so measuring the snow is much easier, and right at the car at ~2,000’ I was getting 8-12” depths for the surface snow above the base. By 2,500’ the typical depths were in the 12-16” range, and around 2,800’ I’d say they were 12-18”. I’d still say that’s somewhat conservative though, because I was often finding powder depths of 24” up around 2,700’-2,800’. Getting up above 2,500’ makes a real difference in the snow though, because those areas must have done really well during our previous warmup – the interface between the surface snow and the base has mostly disappeared by the point (making it harder to measure just the new snow), and the skiing is really good. Dropping into my initial descent, I could tell that the overall snowpack was really deep.  Below that top 24” of powder there was substantial base, and I’d say the snowpack there has to be 40 inches. The snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake was at 39” as of a couple of days ago, and it hasn’t been updated since then, but based on what I found out there today a few miles to the south, it’s got to be over 40 inches by now.

Anyway, I’d recommend doing most of your touring up in that 2,500’ to 3,500’ elevation range if you can – it’s just a notable improvement in the overall snowpack below 2,500’. It’s still nice skiing down there, but it’s sort of mid-fat powder conditions below 2,500’, and full-fat conditions above 2,500’. I toured on mid-fats today, but I was wishing I had fat skis in that deep snowpack above 2,500’. The powder is of medium weight, so there’s plenty of liquid equivalent in there to really keep you off the base. As of this evening we’re approaching an inch of liquid equivalent from this system at our site in the valley, so you know the mountains have had at least an inch of two of liquid equivalent from this system so far, and it definitely felt like it based on what I experienced above 2,500’ today.

With respect to the ongoing storm, there was generally light but consistent snow falling when I was out on the mountain today. The flakes were small, in the 1 to 2 mm range, so it was hard to gauge snowfall rates, but I had to clean a decent layer off my car when I got back to it after just an hour or two of touring. Toward the end of my tour, the flake size was picking up noticeably to roughly 2 to 8 mm flakes. Down here at the house, we’ve had light snow all day, but it’s picked up more this evening with larger flakes, especially when strong echoes come through as more pronounced shortwaves embedded in the overall cyclonic flow move through the area. Based on what we’ve been seeing here at the house this evening, there should be at least another few inches out there by tomorrow morning for the mountains.

[J.Spin]

11 hours ago, borderwx said:

Switched to skins after this picture, skied Bolton yesterday for a few hours, the snow depth difference was surprising. I expected it, but man the woods are just full of snow right now up here.

 

5 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Skinned out of Jay Pass today and checked out various lines on both sides of the road… that 32” is legit. Faceshots all day in some zones

 

3 hours ago, powderfreak said:

It’s interesting how different people perceive snowfall.  A friend skinned next to Gilpin and said the number he’d pick was 18” for snowfall, no chance anything near 30”.  Said he did find one pitch that was ridiculously deep but on the whole he was thinking 18”.

Skied Mansfield and then went to Domeys Dome next to Gilpin. Classic snowfall audit… but again, not Jay, just his estimates in the area.

I only share this not as a "ha, don't believe it" but because it was exactly what I always say... that area gets more snowfall but about 10-20% more on average than Smugglers Notch/Mansfield area (which gets 10-20% more than Sugarbush/MRG).  It just fit my long-standing beliefs, that's all.  And in America, we all like information that fits our own thoughts . I always find the different estimates interesting and sort of funny.  

 

3 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Gilpin was indeed where I was for most of the day - man it felt deep, especially on the steeper pitch down by the road. 18” or 32”, it was great. 

I do hope to ski enough powder to eventually be able to discern amounts while in it! When it’s bottomless and flying in my face, tell me any large number and I’ll believe it.

 

2 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

Stowe reporting 22 in the last 7 days, which means all of that is from the cycle that started on weds, right? Sat-tues was the torch. I’d say this cycle was close to 30 here, which is whipped all over the place. I know you absolutely hate “close to”…could you convince me it was 24, sure. Could you convince me it was 30, absolutely. 32 in the last 48 hours…i dunno..probably not. But when does that 48 hours start? 7am sat going back to 7am thurs? I guess my point is we are kind of splitting hairs for the average skier. It’s a lot of powder all over the place. I was a definitive “no way” on that one report earlier this year, but I call bs on only 18 out there.

 

2 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

You did it right by heading there instead of sitting on a lift. It got cold real fast once you stopped moving.

 

1 hour ago, MRVexpat said:

Haha Domeys Dome. Always loved that name. For what it's worth I have a friend who skied Little Jay today and reported that "No it was at least 24". Great skiing. Actually a somewhat reasonable report for Jay". Depending on the aspect both reports could be true? Domeys faces WNW and could have been a bit more subject to wind scouring too. Hard to say. 

 

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

It really is such a splitting hairs argument, but I’m glad someone else is seeing what I am. I have a real hard time with that 18 number for this one anywhere from the dip on up. It’s a real tough one too with so much wind, settling over time, and where do you really stop and start the counting, as there’s really only been a few actual breaks in the snow since the cycle started. Curious to see what j-spin saw at Bolton.

 

47 minutes ago, GCWarrior said:

I’m no expert. I have been skiing powder all over this great continent since back in the day. Think 200cm gs skis.
I skied Stowe yesterday and Jay today and I will say Jay had better coverage by a lot especially down low.  And Stowe was great by the way. That is all. 

Wow, so much great Northern Greens snowfall and skiing discussion in here today – definitely things pertinent to the NNE thread. People often note how good the Northern Greens are about recovering to quality ski conditions after warm-ups, and they are definitely putting on a display right now. When the focus of the conversation is nit-picking about whether the powder is 1½ or 2½ feet deep, I guess conditions have “recovered” somewhat.

To bwt’s comment about sitting on the lifts: yeah, touring was the call today for me, I never even considered the lifts. A large part was access to untracked snow of course, but the bigger part was the temperatures. I don’t “love” the cold, but I also don’t mind it when I can get out there and be perfectly comfortable and not even thinking about it. A big part of that is just knowing yourself – everyone’s thermoregulation is different, but I learned many years ago that I’m just not comfortable sitting on the lift in temperatures in the single digits F for very long. Add in any wind and it only makes it worse. But touring in those temperatures, especially in the trees with no wind – I’ll be comfortable all day. I also find that having high-quality gear that does what it’s supposed to is really helpful. I’m always fine paying a bit extra for top-name winter gear when I know that they’ve thought of and tested all those perks that make life in the cold that much easier – even if I don’t know that I need them at the time. Some features I don’t even discover until years after I’ve owned a piece of gear, and I run into a certain situation out in the field that I’d never encountered. Those are the times when I really appreciate it.

And all the discussion from the Jay Peak area – that’s so funny because I actually considered heading up there for a ski tour today, and it sounds like lots of people had the same idea. The area really has been racking up the inches. Seeing that Bolton had picked up another 4-6” overnight tipped the scales for me though (and of course the difference of a 10-minute drive vs. an hour drive).

Regarding border’s comment about snow depth at Bolton vs. Jay – that was absolutely one of the reasons I was considering heading up there. Everything I’m seeing suggests that the accumulations have been very solid up by Jay Peak. And I’m not surprised; barring any huge deviations due to thaws, Jay’s 155” of snowfall on the season vs. Bolton’s 111” of snowfall on the season, equates to roughly an extra 12-15” of settled snowpack depth, and that’s quite significant at this point in the season when the snowpack is only a few feet deep. Based on what I found out there today, once you’re above 2,500’ I think the difference is lessened, because I think Bolton took a bigger hit down low with the recent warmth. As I mentioned in my report, once you got up around 2,700’-2,800’ on the Bolton Backcountry Network, the powder was up around 24” and the total snowpack had to be pushing 40”. That’s pretty solid, and that’s on the windward side of the spine, so I wonder what the leeward side of the area is like after those winds from the earlier part of the storm.

And LOL on skier’s and their snow measurements – the examples of vastly different estimates from the same general area were great. With all the different textures and densities of powder, it can be really hard to just wing it in terms of estimating depth, so I take reports of snow depths more seriously from folks that carry around one of these:

[mreaves]

Continued light snow alternating with dim sun. Temp is 11.6°and isn’t supposed to rise much. These are my favorite type of winter days. We do them well up here. Looks like we could get something bigger, which would kick start winter activities in areas away from the northern spine. It seems like we stay cold at least in the medium term, too which is good. 

[powderfreak]

I know I tickled the bear a bit with those comments.  I might head up tomorrow or Tuesday to check it out, ha.

In the end, without a consistent plot of measuring in the EXACT same spot all the time it’s hard to judge sometimes.  Like if @J.Spin always went to exactly the same plot of trees to measure at Bolton.  @bwt3650 always went to the same cluster at Jay.  “What did your group of trees get in this event?” .

I think there’s a lot of that to my anal retentiveness, it’s just apples to oranges (consistent spot vs skiing around making an observation) and I wish it was all apples to apples and we had western SNOWTEL stations everywhere.

Stowe’s annual snowfall dropped about 40-50” when we went to a one/two location measuring vs skiing around estimating (330” to 280”).  I think Sugarbush has dropped markedly since they went to their snow cams too. Which is why I doubt we will see it up north.  I know what happens when you are handcuffed to a singular spot, even if you “feel” there’s more out there.  

My money will always be on 20% more increases from Sugarbush to Mansfield and Mansfield to Jay (300” vs 360” type).

[mreaves]

3 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

 @bwt3650 always went to the same cluster at Jay

Well, he always puts his garbage can in the same spot in the background of his pics. 

[powderfreak]

Just now, mreaves said:

Well, he always puts his garbage can in the same spot in the background of his pics. 

He's gonna come up to a stake strapped to the side of that thing one of these days lol.

Would turn into the best 2,000ft snow plot out there.

[powderfreak]

8 hours ago, J.Spin said:

And LOL on skier’s and their snow measurements – the examples of vastly different estimates from the same general area were great. With all the different textures and densities of powder, it can be really hard to just wing it in terms of estimating depth, so I take reports of snow depths more seriously from folks that carry around one of these:

On every skier’s Xmas wish list.  Custom JSpin poles with the marketing slogan, “don’t just wing it.”

[powderfreak]

This has western slopes written all over it.  Blocked flow spreading down the western foothills.

[bwt3650]

I know I tickled the bear a bit with those comments.  I might head up tomorrow or Tuesday to check it out, ha.
In the end, without a consistent plot of measuring in the EXACT same spot all the time it’s hard to judge sometimes.  Like if [mention=838]J.Spin[/mention] always went to exactly the same plot of trees to measure at Bolton.  [mention=10397]bwt3650[/mention] always went to the same cluster at Jay.  “What did your group of trees get in this event?” .
I think there’s a lot of that to my anal retentiveness, it’s just apples to oranges (consistent spot vs skiing around making an observation) and I wish it was all apples to apples and we had western SNOWTEL stations everywhere.
Stowe’s annual snowfall dropped about 40-50” when we went to a one/two location measuring vs skiing around estimating (330” to 280”).  I think Sugarbush has dropped markedly since they went to their snow cams too. Which is why I doubt we will see it up north.  I know what happens when you are handcuffed to a singular spot, even if you “feel” there’s more out there.  
My money will always be on 20% more increases from Sugarbush to Mansfield and Mansfield to Jay (300” vs 360” type).

Nah, it’s not a poking the bear thing; just a discussion. In the main thread, it might have lead to restraining orders, but when the conversation is 1 1/2 vs 2/12’ it’s a little more civilized in here.

I get the science part of knowing exactly what the measurements are. I would enjoy being able to really document it because I think most outside of the northern greens don’t really believe the numbers and the sheer frequency of snow falling from the air here. For a second I thought about going to the garbage can with a sharpie, but that spot is def a wind alley and subject to plowing, shoveling etc. the woods behind my house would probably work if I can get a camera and board there, but being up here part time, the “recently fallen” number mist crave is impossible. I could get a depth number though, which could give an idea.

And don’t think this is a stowe vs. Jay thing. My son asked me the other day my favorite eastern spot outside of jay and without question, it was Stowe (though when sugarbush is on, that’s pretty sick too) I just think there’s a lot of anti jay (they just slant stick everything) out there and that 18 really stood out that way. No doubt there’s been some generous “range” measurements in the past, but from a skiers perspective, it really doesn’t make that much of a difference if the number was 22 or 25 etc. they def nickel and dime their way above everyone else most times and that addd up over the season.


.

[bwt3650]

This has western slopes written all over it.  Blocked flow spreading down the western foothills.

A lot of liquid into the peaks!


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[J.Spin]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

This has western slopes written all over it.  Blocked flow spreading down the western foothills.

Yeah, it’s been great seeing that next event in the modeling – it’s sort of the follow up to this current one with a very similar broad cyclonic flow from a low in Quebec driving moisture into the spine. The BTV NWS highlights it in their discussion below. That next potential event has actually had more of a “continuous” look on the GFS modeling vs. the ups and downs of this current one, but the overall liquid equivalent seems similar based on your map. And the look has also been pretty consistent on the GFS for quite a while. It was either Dr. Postel or Dr. Nabb that talked about it a few days back on TWC during one of their medium range overviews. It’s apparently Winter Storm Blair that disrupts the flow and ends this current event, and then it starts up again. It’s a pretty nice way to run a “cold and dry” period though, with probably 3 to 4 inches of liquid equivalent going into the mountain snowpack as snow if the next event is similar to what the modeling suggests. This is far better than being under January subzero arctic cold with no moisture.

Area Forecast Discussion

National Weather Service Burlington VT

906 AM EST Sun Jan 5 2025

.SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/...

As of 328 AM EST Sunday...A shortwave passes through Monday night, bringing a return of the snow showers. The airmass behind it is very moist, with saturation up to around 10,000 feet and a wide DGZ that takes up most of that layer. It has a bit of a maritime source from the North Atlantic, with moisture that has been wrapped into the broad cyclonic flow centered over Quebec. Persistent northwest flow through mid-week will cause almost continuous mountain snow showers and periods of snow showers in the some of the valleys. Flow looks to be more blocked during this period than it was this week, and this should be able to bring more of the snow showers down the western slopes a bit, instead of primarily being toward the top of the mountains and on the immediate eastern sides.

[AstronomyEnjoyer]

Don't get accumulating fake snow around these parts often. Picked up about 1.5" of some of the highest ratio fluff I've ever seen. Snow is coming off trees and floating upwards.

[DavisStraight]

4 hours ago, powderfreak said:

This has western slopes written all over it.  Blocked flow spreading down the western foothills.

Deep winter in the Northern Greens, nice pack and cold, what are you, single digits today? May have to take a trip up this month if things continue.

[bwt3650]

Seep winter in the Northern Greens, nice pack and cold, what are you, single digits today? May have to take a trip up this month if things continue.

Currently 5 at the base..wind has died down considerably, but still face numbing on the flyer. Roads are arctic snow pack, flakes in the air most of the day (though not currently) and a deep squeaky pack. Winter of yore that you would draw up.


.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

Currently 5 at the base..wind has died down considerably, but still face numbing on the flyer. Roads are arctic snow pack, flakes in the air most of the day (though not currently) and a deep squeaky pack. Winter of yore that you would draw up.


.

10.5° here and the flurries/light snow have stopped. Solid winter day. 

[backedgeapproaching]

6 day running tally of nickels and pennies..

.9"

3.9"

2.2"

1.3"

.8"

2.0"

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, backedgeapproaching said:

6 day running tally of nickels and pennies..

.9"

3.9"

2.2"

1.3"

.8"

2.0"

Days and days?

[J.Spin]

Based on the quality of yesterday’s skiing, I was leaning heavily toward heading out for another tour today. The backcountry conditions around Bolton are already quite good, and they were reporting another 2 to 4 inches of new snow this morning, so that was a nice bonus. Temperatures were expected to be about the same as yesterday, which meant single digits F.

My older son was able to join me today, so it was great to have company, and we were able to get some actions shots in the powder. We did a tour somewhat similar to what I did yesterday, but we lengthened it out a bit more. Instead of heading up to Heavenly Highway and working our way down to North Slope, we went all the way up to Moose Glen and then wrapped around on a descent toward the glades around Snow Hole, which was roughly a four-mile tour. I chose that route to get us some relatively high altitude turns after observing the notable improvements in the overall snowpack above 2,500’ yesterday.

The number of visitors at the resort seemed a bit less today – there was no sign posed about the Village lots being full, and we easily grabbed a parking spot in the upper lot by the entry to the Backcountry Network. With cold temperatures preserving the snow, conditions were similar to yesterday with 1 to 2 feet of powder available wherever wind hadn’t scoured it to lower depths. Touring some of the higher elevation trails allowed us to see the various areas that had been hit by wind, and you just had to be cognizant of where winds had affected the snowpack to pick the lines with the best undisturbed powder. The middle elevations were much less disturbed by the wind, and you could pick just about line and get some great powder turns.

The models suggest we might have another long-duration system like this past one starting up tomorrow night and running right through the week, and I see that Winter Weather Advisories are already up for the Northern Greens in anticipation of some of that snowfall.