ChasingFlakes

The moon looks so cool right now

I finally fixed my old phone in order to pull images off of it.  There were some good pictures of the January 2016 snowstorm on there.  Here just south of Phoenixville we received over 28" of snow and I saw multiple flashes of lightning during the storm.  Definitely one of the best snowstorm of my lifetime in this area.  If anyone else has any images from this event, or any event that they remember fondly, please post them here!

I'm sure we've had a thread like this on this board before, so hopefully this isn't too redundant, but I wanted to share these pics!  Pictures were taken on January 23rd and 24th, 2016.

On 5/19/2021 at 11:28 AM, CoolHandMike said:

Would anybody mind if I started a Cicada thread? I know there's one in the MA sub but I'm more interested in what's going on in our neck of the woods.

My sister just got married at Goodstone Inn near Middlesburg, VA this weekend and holy crap were there a ton of cicadas.  Little tiny holes in the ground everywhere, molten skin clung to all wooden objects and bigass ones flying all over.  Beautiful weekend and venue though.

Do cicadas eat lantern flies because that'd be nice.. 

Missed the worst of it to my North, happy to see some rain and hear some rumbles.  The lawncare people sprayed fertilizer last week and I haven't been able to let my cats out for days!

Here's some philly banter.  Almost 2 weeks ago, on a Wednesday night there was a carjacking at gunpoint in my driveway.  My mom was on a date with a man she had recently started talking to.  They went out to an expensive restaurant in KOP and when he dropped her off, the second she got in the door, two guys came out from my front yard in ski masks and held a gun to the guy's temple demanding his keys, wallet, phone and car.  It was a less than 5 yr old jeep. Of course the police took over 30 mins to respond because Charlestown Township is under state police jurisdiction and theh were coming from Emeryville. 

So far someone found his wallet up by Temple, which is where i went to college, and the state police were eventually able to locate the car. The theifs had switched another liscense plate onto the car of the same make/model.  The police surveilled the car and waited for the suscpects to get back in.  When they did the police tried to surround the car but everyone jumped out and the car was left in drive and it actually hit an officer.  

That's pretty much the whole story as of now, they are doing finger prints and were able to get GPS location history on the car after they recovered it.  Staties said they were in some bad spots of philly, but haven't disclosed where the car was found or where the people took it in the time they had it.  I'm guessing Kensington based on where the wallet was found.  What we dont know is why they were targeted, if they were followed from KOP, if a jeep was the target or our township was the focus.  If you think about it Charlestown is a good township to do this in, theres no police force and the turnpike entrance is only 5-10 mins away with no police presence up to that point.

Totally blows my mind, I was upstairs and didn't see anything.  Need to work on a surveillance system now, we just got a video doorbell but I feel like something mounted on the roof above the driveway would be even better.  Some crazy shit.

One of many untouched lines yesterday.   I have a lot more footage but I'm getting ready to drive back to PA now so I threw this single clip together real quick.  The music is necessary otherwise the audio consists of heavy breathing  and wind noise.

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

I'd believe it.  We are over 8" now at Stowe above like 2,000ft.  Last night grooming department reported a period of -RN at 1,500ft around midnight or just prior... then it went to paste and finally to fluff.  Bet we still have 6" at 1,500ft just eyeballing it.

As usual, "Snow showers likely" forecast brings in more inches of snow than the Winter Storm Warnings do, lol.

It's finally tapering off it seems, the radar echo seemed to have slinked one ridge to the south near Dewey Mtn and then towards the three county line.

Sun mostly out now with clouds ripping off the peak.  Flurries but probably deposition from the windward slope.  I hiked the peak and my gopro died 20 seconds into my run skiers right off the ridge lol. I got some great footage though, stashes all day.  I checked the zone where the icefall/cliff on the face that my avatar was taken at, it looks perfect.  But im solo and its not worth doing sketchy stuff alone, tree riding itself is dangerous enough solo.  I met the social media photog on the lift and we traded instagrams so I sent him a message to see if he's willing to shoot that with me tomorrow.  He'll probably just poach my line tho haha.

Crush job at Jay.  Feels like 10+ inches easy.

3 inches of fluff in Montgomery.  

31 minutes ago, radarman said:

Yes it is.  It's a little cousin to Magic with substantially less annual snow.  But great terrain on the rare times it's fully game on, steep, all sorts of boulders and cliffs, and well spaced trees.  And today's softened pack put it all in play, not worried about what may be lurking and fully in control for technical maneuvres in the chutes.

Once things freeze up it'll be on hold for a bit, but we've still got a great spring day or two left even if nothing else should fall.

Nice pictures! I think Magic is a great mountain, so having a mini version close to the more urban areas is nice for everyone.  Will definitely check it out one day.  PA mountain tree skiing consists of rocks and tight sapling.  I barely bother to go to my local mountains except with my girlfriend or if its t-shirt weather.  Blue mountain is ok, but they charge like $80 for a day pass its freaking nuts.  Elk is better but almost 3hrs away and at that point ill just got to VT.  Especially when you consider I pay just over $50 to ski Jay.

You guys might get a kick outta this.  I filmed it after the first of 4 storms this February in SEPA.  It was my first time on the board since March 2020 due to the Lyme stuff.  This faces east, but there's also a north facing line that is probably really good right now.  It's longer with more vert too and offers a 2 1/2 minute run believe it or not, I filmed it just never posted the video.  George Washington's stomping grounds.  

27 minutes ago, radarman said:

Great stuff.  Shred

Thanks, the video is still processing so the quality should improve.  Snow + compression look terrible together and Youtube already compresses enough so I made sure to render with the best possible settings and color grade the footage for at least some visible contrast in the snow.  I really love having a GoPro, not so much for B-Roll or third person perspective, my phone does a good enough job of that, but for POV stuff it's so great.  I've used it for surfing/bodyboarding too and the footage always looks sick.  I want to get a 360 camera next, I worked with them in school and they're pretty sweet.  Maybe I'll grab the next MAX iteration from GoPro whenever that is. 

Are those pictures you took at Berkshire East?  My buddy is a part time liftie there, I'm not sure if he's working cause he got a concussion in that accident on his way home from Jay on Monday, but I was thinking of seeing if he can hook me up with a ticket on my way home Friday.  Those tall spaced out pines remind me of Magic Mountain.    

Dang PF those pics have me wishing I didn't refund my epic pass!  Next year forsure.  I posted it in the ski thread but may as well post here too.  From Mon and Tuesday:

First time using my GoPro for snowboarding.  Worked out pretty well with the mouth mount and the dense conditions kept the snow from blowing onto the lens which was nice.  

Had about 0.5 inches of wet snow between 5-12pm last night in Montgomery.  Jay reported 3-5 but I'm not sure how accurate that is.  I'm gonna rest today I got that virtual appointment at 2pm.  As long as things don't ice up and the mountains stay snow I think tomorrow will be nice and right-side up with the temp dip.  

Just now, mcglups said:

I skied Mad River Glen yesterday for the first time ever. Wow, what an awesome mountain! The snow quality was incredible, the only ice I ever felt was on frozen waterfalls on rocks! The lifts are slow, but that gives plenty of time to rest. Quite impressed

You'll never catch me at MRG.  And that's not of my own volition..

Also, just gonna drop this here... yesterday at Jay Peak.

On 2/20/2021 at 3:25 PM, The Iceman said:

Very sorry to hear about your dad man, that's really awful... My dad is one of my best friends and was my coach too until I made it to Jr. C.  He had a major heart attack at 40 too(we were playing paintball)but thankfully he survived. To this day, it's still the scariest moment of my life so far because he was in really good shape so it was a shock to see him like that. Like you said bad genes suck! I hope time has made things a bit easier for you though. 

 

I'm just a few years older than you, I'm a super late 1990 and I played for Pennsbury in high school, Warwick Wildcats, and Tristate Selects(Now the Philadelphia Revolution). The rink at West Chester was one of my favorites to play. Made the rinks I played at look like a dump

Thank you man I appreciate that.  Glad your dad's still kickin'.  I played at Great Valley in high school but our team was terrible.  Smaller school so not as many people to pull from.  I think we played Pennsbury?  And Iceline is a great rink, they have a dryland training facility upstairs with a skating treadmill that my team used to use.  It was pretty dope.  

Jay was a bit crusty, especially up high today seems there was some pesky freezing fog at elevation this morning.  Can't tell how much they picked up higher up before the switch to icing but in Montgomery I had like 2 inches of dense snow on my car and no ice this am.  I hiked the peak and rode the short unmarked line skier's left of the tram and it seemed like 3-4 fresh on top of the slim ice layer.  Lower elevation was actually better snow and didn't have that fog crust, just dense snow.  

Those maps powderfreak posted look good.  I always seem to get lucky with snow up here, I wasn't even going after a storm on this trip and the forecast has consistently increased.  Kinda like that Jan 2019 storm I always bring up, the forecast for 1.5ft turned into 3ft+.  Wish I was riding with a better partner for that trip, I need better ski buddies.. 

The two guys I rode with yesterday got rear ended by an 18 wheeler in Southern Vermont on their way back yesterday.. They're dumbass massholes that drive too fast.  One went to the hospital in an ambulance.  Like I said, I need better friends to ride with that can hang but aren't morons lol.. Glad I opted to drive up myself and stay here, even though my car is still causing trouble.  I had a local shop read the code/clear it, just rich condition no misfire or anything.  Hoping the CEL/limp mode doesn't come back.  Of course the only time I've ever had an issue is when I'm 8 hours from home lol.  I have a friend in Burlington I can stay with if I need to take it to dealer on Fri or Saturday so I'm not too concerned. 

Also I think there's a deeper pack at home in SEPA than in Bennington.  Phoenixville yesterday for comparison: 33" in Feb.

58 minutes ago, KamuSnow said:

Lol - the guy who sometimes plows our driveway, his kids when they were younger used to play on the pile.

When I get back from VT I'm gonna come play on it too. 

Not home to measure but I think we got like 4-4.5" in Pville which brings me to 41"+ on the season.  

On 2/21/2021 at 1:19 PM, backedgeapproaching said:

You can PM if you want for info on the clinic I went to or more info on it.  I know your far from there, but with Covid everything is virtual now anyways.  Good luck with getting back on track.

Thanks for all the info, I'll shoot you a PM tonight because I'm definitely interested to hear your experience.  Surprised with the amount of people that have similar experiences to my own.  Just getting settled at Grandpa Grunts right now.  Car decided to throw a check engine light after starting it up in the Jay Peak parking lot this afternoon.  It's a 2015 Forester XT with only 60k miles and was just serviced, I checked the gas cap and it wasn't fully clicked so I'm hoping that's all it was and that it'll clear on its own or with a simple battery disconnect/ecu reset.  

Jay was nice today but quite windy and they held the Flyer and Bonnie by noon.  I wasn't too worried but the guys I came up with who are driving home tonight were a bit bummed.  Felt great to test out the new board in some soft stuff and I felt good all day, not much pain or fatigue and was able to go pretty hard.  I felt terrible last night and only got 2 hours sleep so I was a bit worried but I'm glad I can still hang.  Gonna get some solo riding in the next few days and just take it easy and film some POV stuff. 

Was snowing most of the day and has been steadily snowing since noon.  The next few days should be nice, I always love my time up here!  I'll post some footage at some point when I get around to it.  Also, I got 4 inches back home in SEPA today, making 41" for the season, I actually did some riding in Valley Forge a few weeks ago I posted the footage on my Youtube linked in my profile.

Here's some pictures from today:

31 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Lyme Disease is so prevalent and really debilitating at times, but I feel like it’s always swept under the rug. Not good. Best of luck to you. 

23 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Sounds like my wife right now and she did have a deer tick bite last summer. She never had the ring around it though and they didn’t think she needed the antibiotic. 

13 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Glad you found treatment. I suffered like you did in the 90s with no Dr to diagnose until I found one. Best of luck and go go go

It really sucks that it is the most underfunded/underesearched disease, yet it affects so many people in many different economic classes and geographic areas.  Treatment is expensive and traditional testing is outdated and innacurate.  I tested negative in 2019 through labcorp when I had unexplained foot pain.  I could have caught it then, but insurance doesn't cover modern testing and I've had to suffer as a result.  I had a bullseye in 2018 and was treated but it must not have been effective.  I'm hopeful I'll be back strong for next season.  Finally graduated so need to get a job and move up north/west!  BA in Media Studies and Production at Temple U if anyone has opportunities send me a message!

In regard to varying snow totals I feel like it has to do with wind deposition from upwind ridges as well as the orientation of upwind peaks.  The upwind ridge of Big Jay basin faces perfectly NW so it makes sense the SE basin will fill in accordingly with NW flow unless the flow is blocked.  I've noted before but the 38 inches at smuggs vs 27" reported at stowe in Jan 8-11, 2019 seemed to be influenced by flow direction, upwind mountain orientation and measurement location as well.  

Been dealing with some bad lyme disease symptoms that have been ongoing without my knowledge for a couple years now but got 10x worse out of nowhere.  Always misdiagnosed as something else until I finally made the connection with a good PT.  Lots of pain and other neuro symptoms, I'm 25 but feel like I'm 60.  Starting treatment this week.  Anyways, my buddy convinced me to go up to Jay with him on Monday.  I've largely been taking it easy this season, I spent all of  December/January thinking I had a herniated disc and sciatica.  Luckily that's not the case so I'll likely just do some filming for my buddies and I might even try to get into Grandpa Grunts solo for a few nights (mon-wed/thurs if possible) to rest and chill and enjoy the area as I usually do on my trips up north.  Glad you guys got some fluff to lighten things up and another light upslope signal midweek.  

41 minutes ago, The Iceman said:

Same here, I still play adult league at Grundy in Bristol. How old are you? I wonder if we've ever played against one another growing up

I'm 25, born in March 95.  I played for the Valley Forge Minutemen, and West Chester Quakers growing up.  My dad was my assistant coach my whole life but unfortunately he passed away from a heart attack on the ice at Oaks in 2012.  He was only 46, bad genes suck!

Been playing ice hockey my whole life, been waiting to see the Flyers win the cup my whole life too haha.  I was at the game when the Phantoms won the Calder Cup in 05 though 

20 minutes ago, Albedoman said:

Allentown reached 50.0" seasonal snowfall for the first time since winter 2014-15 when 50.1" was measured. With over 52.0" snow to date, Allentown has seen the most snowfall since winter 2013-14 when 68.1" snow fell.  I have recorded 58 inches for the Macungie area

Was up there yesterday and last week, was amazed how much snow you guys retained despite the rain.  Looks like NVT.