PowderBeard

Can always adjust up...or down.

Exactly my thought.

Solid. Alpinezone has a 5-6 page thread ranting about Vail right now and the lack of communication. Pretty frustrating situation.

No update from Wildcat or Sunapee in a while which is ridiculous, Cannon says this weekend is doubtful, Loon and BW are pretty immune to wind holds. I would say the only options that are open will be good to go. I'd be eyeing Sunday River.

Plan a flight out west for 4 days where there are two resorts close by (e.g., Idaho) and it REALLY makes it worth it. My plan next year.

I should have proof read and expanded that thought, my bad. It's an amazing incentive for some and there are also many people who could not care less about it and just see a higher season pass price. For example we have family friends in the UK with a place at Attitash, they come to the U.S. from November - April to stay at their condo and ski Attitash and Wildcat. Those are the only places they ski. They went from paying ~$550 for an unlimited Peak Resort Pass to spending more on the Epic Pass that has incentives they will never use, meanwhile they have one of the slowest and most unreliable summit lifts in existence. Once people have a "home hill" maybe they are just comfortable. Everyone at Magic was super excited with the Indy Pass the first year, since we all had free days to ski Bolton, Jay, Platty, etc. I don't know one person there who skied them and they were free. And most of them drove right by Plattekill to get to/from Magic. Seeing your latest post PF about first time visitors and beginners, I would agree this group and weekend trippers benefit most.

Looks like gusts close to 50 right on the shore. I bet there are some 70mph gusts by the end.

Down near the CT coast. Power flashing, wind cranking, solid storm.

Absolutely. I spend money on safety (bindings and helmets for skiing, skates and shin pads for hockey). Looking around for options is always fun. I am fortunate all my skis are custom homemade all wood skis - Mad Russian Ski Company was my neighbor in Providence - and they are the greatest sticks I have ever been on and 2/3 of the price if not less than anything brand new. These are my hard pack and mogul skis coming off the press. It's a Hart F17 bulked up proportionally to a 95mm waist. Also have my big sticks - 189 long with a 110 waist. Wife has the 169cm version with "under the sea" top graphics.

I think skiing being expensive is a myth that really damages the sport. One of the first comments any of my friends in their 20s or 30s have about skiing when they see how much I'm on the hill is the high expense. These are early or fairly established career people making decent money and I imagine if most people are not on the mountain by the time they are in their 30s they never will be. If you are fortunate enough to have your basics met, skiing and expense is all in how you view it and what you want to prioritize. The past 4-5 years I have been able to ski 30-40 days per year and the average cost per day (including gas, food, lift ticket, bring your own beers/flask) is ~$30-40 per day. To me that is essentially the cost of going out to dinner/takeout once per week. Luckily this decision was easy for me once we moved from Providence to Hippy Valley because good restaurants are rare. Hell, make your own coffee at home instead of hitting Dunkin daily and it equates to saving enough to purchase a Ikon or Epic pass lol. That said, this year there are few/no discounts (e.g., early season Killington bogos, half off days at Cannon, SkiVT card has gone way downhill etc.), which makes affordable skiing more difficult. I'll be curious if those sorts of deals or gone for good or whether there are a lot more of them next year to try to get people back on the mountain. I'm curious what folks think about the newer mega-passes like Ikon or Epic. I may just be ignorant but have yet to see the benefits. Compared to the passes of 5 years ago the incentives seem to be things like paying an extra $200-300 to be able to ski non-holiday Stowe.

This one is likely to surprise.

The Garmin 73 Echomap with Side imaging is what I have. One on the bow and one at the cockpit. If you wont be fishing much until next year I would just wait for it. I grabbed both mine for $449 during the Cabelas Father's Day Sale. The echomap feature is great along with the preloaded maps in 1' intervals. The Striker is a similar price but does not come with/allow for mapping features. I was a Humminbird/Lowrance fan for years but Garmin's tech is on par/better and the price cannot be beat. Bass are still chewing. Hit about 10 last Friday between 2-4pm. 42/43* water. Any day we get over 50* they move shallow to get warm. Pulled all of them, including two 3.5 and a 4lbs fish out of <2' of water in brush/wood on the jig.

Free Fall open is fantastic. Saw some pics from there yesterday and there was a tiny patch on upper Long John - figured there was no way they could open before Friday. Must have really cranked it up.

Killington's report says they are going for Downdraft and Lower East Fall to get the Canyon Quad going. Interesting. I know they make snow on the "Downdraft Headwall" under K1 but I've never seen guns going on the rest of it. Needs a ton of snow due to massive waterbars, ledges, etc. and I'm not sure how they move the piles around. They would also have to cover the lower 1/3 of Double Dipper to link it to the lift. IDK.

Absolutely, especially given weather. With some decent windows opening I imagine they go for lower Locke and North Peak next. Killington probably finishes up on Snowdon before the Superstar Pod and Ram's Head. Lower Super is always a pain but in the past they can just cover the headwall and middle sections and re-route to Skyelark/Bittersweet. Wildcat seems to be in no rush which is a bummer but they really don't draw. They have an under-rated snowmaking system and great elevation/location. There have been a couple years since 2015 when Killington and Sunday River were still downloading from K1/Locke and Wildcat had 2000' of vert open.

Ugh these popped up on my FB memories today from 2018. Magic was buried so well Broomstick-Black Line was done with no open water bars or core shots. Meanwhile I'm fishing in a hoodie today.

Ha! confirm. 42 in a 35 about 4 years ago. He was about 200' after the transition from 50 to 35mph. Looked just like Rod Farva but in his late 50s.

If anyone in VT will try to enforce these regs and ask you for documentation/harass people with out of state plates it will be those county mounties that camp out around Plymouth. I am always driving at or below speed limit that whole stretch up to K/Pico. I was going 2-3 mph under one day and was pulled over. Cop never said why he stopped me, ran all my info, gave it all back to me and just walked away without saying anything. I still have no idea why I was stopped. https://www.vpr.org/post/welcome-plymouth-home-vermonts-most-lucrative-speed-enforcement#stream/0 edit: K has the North Ridge Quad running this morning. Going to be close.

Killington is hammering Snowdon now. I bet they open up Thursday/Fri.

Surprised. First time I have ever gotten a little spooked with weather in this house. Moved from the back room to the middle of the house when one gust came through. Every tree looked like it was coming down.

I cannot even imagine. That is a whole other level mental and physical challenge. The rule is NEVER pay for a PhD, it will ruin you financially for the rest of your life. If I was not fully funded (tuition waiver and great pay for teaching/research) my PhD would cost about $300k (many grad students only like to think they are only getting paid 20-40k a year for working 60+ hour weeks and forget that 30-50k tuition waiver). That is med school debt while never sniffing MD or upper level JD income. There are many that attend grad school "degree mills" and once they graduate they are unable to get licensed in ______ field or will never make more than 60k per year while taking out hundreds of thousands in student loans. There is no coming back from that since you keep your student debt even if you file for bankruptcy. Even when I interviewed at the notorious Ivy League school in Massachusetts, their "full funding package" was not enough to live anywhere near Cambridge without taking out a ton in loans (probably 60-80k). Meanwhile, that lab was taking in millions in grants, had a full bar, kitchen, three bedrooms, and industrial espresso machine. One thing I have learned about grad school is it is close to impossible to get through if you don't have some sort of supports and the majority of bosses/supervisors are understanding. I have two years left of my training and my wife and I had our first last year. She has a great job that she loves and if it was not for that we would have never been in a place financially to buy a home or have a child. Our 14 month old is home with me full time while I teach/attend meetings/supervise/complete my research projects. Thankfully my department is AMAZING, supportive, and has a lot of research resources (I can easily get undergrad research assistants to help on projects). The only reason I am able to even be in grad school is because of my wife and department - as they are far from the stereotypical academic ivory tower.

Absolutely, I remember The Witches pod being pretty fun. I was actually checking out Ascutney this morning on NE Ski History and didn't realize how big it was.

Wow. I never made that western facing connection. Makes sense because Magic melts out and natural stuff can still be skied on Timber Ridge side if it was a good year.

They have a kink for ski areas with 1100' of vert lol

Moved it over here given its more ski based. Did they ever sell any of the lifts or all still in place? I know that was discussed a lot. When they built Haystack they should have put it on the western slope, straight gnar on that side.