MRVexpat

If you ever get the equipment (or even snowshoes), I can certainly recommend the GBA crescent ridge glades that are literally right behind your property. You couldn't have a more perfect place to understand why everyone these days is so hooked on self powered skiing. Its a casual half mile to a mile approach that opens up into a mellow field that's perfect for practicing skiing soft snow, though if its deep you'll want some more pitch which you can find by following the prescribed skin track to the ridge. From there you have 3 or 4 lines that are the equivalent of skiing a black diamond glade at a resort, but often with much better conditions! https://granitebackcountryalliance.org/crescent-ridge-glade

I believe you may be talking about what is currently known as Hammerhead, not sure about former names though.

Those cliffs are something of a white whale for me. Of all the known and unknown tree shots along the monroe skyline, thats the one I never figured out. Tried it once and ended up going too far (I think). Had a couple of super steep turns down a barely skiable chute before doing the wiggle in flat pines before I hit the northway cutover about 1/3 of the way to inverness. One day! My personal favorite is longtrail north of castlerock and then drop in right over the ridge into slidebrook. Entrance is tough to find but boy is it worth it. That's all I'll say A nice view followed by 2k vert of tree chutes to the cat track under the slidebrook lift line.

SHHHHH!!! but yes, that whole ridge from MRG to Lincoln Peak holds so many goodies when the pack is deep, and some even when it isn't!

Haha yeah that trail is so exposed to the wind and gets a good amount of snowmaking so lots of times its a bit umm...firm. Yes I've had good runs on it but you can guarantee that if FIS is skiing well, black diamond or the trees are skiing better. Where it shines is when it gets blasted with cold early season gunpowder or on a nice warm spring day.

Can't help but agree with this. My first true (and to this day 2nd best) day of powder skiing was on a high school ski trip in March 06. I convinced my parents to let me demo a pair of Head Monster 88s from the Alpine Haus in Wethersfield CT as I heard Jay would be getting snow. Side note: funny how those were considered powder skis at the time! Anyways, they got 18" or so of absolute blower powder overnight and the flyer was closed for wind so all morning all I did was take the Bonny, hike the 5 minutes up the ridge and go straight to beaver pond/andre's. I quickly understood the "snorkel" joke haha and learned to ski with my mouth closed so as to not choke. Thats when the addiction truly took hold!

Sweet breakdown! Super interesting. The quoted got my attention though. Have you really heard repeated sentiment from the general public that the ski areas in so. VT get the most snow in the state?? I think that even as a kid I understood that further north = bigger/colder mountains and more snow for whatever reason. Skier's instinct maybe!

215" seems much more reasonable for a long term average

I mean I still think there is a notion of north to south decrease in upslope snow, it may just be a question of diminishing difference as you head south. Strictly anecdotally speaking, if Jay is the high water mark in orographic snows, I imagine Stowe/Smuggs get 80-90% of that, Sugarbush/MRG 45-55%, Killington 25% and areas south of there roughly 15-20% of Jay's total. Of course this is broad brushed and can differ season by season and I'm also sure that among the So VT resorts, distance from the spine plays a part but generally speaking this is always how I've thought of it/observed.

I will say that in following Sugarbush's #s pretty closely, the mtn ops team does a pretty good job of clearing that snow stake even during pre-season. Hammond would always be on top of his team about reporting strictly based on what the snow stake reads, which is understandable given the headaches we endured fine-tuning that thing. Its still not perfect (I imagine your setup is better for a number of reasons) but the added bonus there is that nobody can reasonably second guess snowfall at the 'bush. What you see is what gets reported.

Haha I personally think Killington's marketing takes the cake when it comes to over-inflating #s. In terms of Jay Peak, when you look at South to North #s in VT, it isn't that far fetched that Jay Peak might avg 350" a year when Sugarbush > Bolton > Stowe axis is 250" > 300" > 314" respectively. Sure Jay has a reputation of over-reporting but I don't think its all that egregious, as that area does without a doubt get the most snow of any resort in New England. Killington on the other hand does claim the same 250" average as Sugarbush while being 40+ miles south as the crow flies. Do they avg more synoptic snow? Maybe, but that has to be a wash over the long term and they likely only get 50 and 25% of the upslope that Sugarbush and Stowe get respectively. In my four years working at Sugarbush (maybe I'm biased? lol) and three since, I've noticed that they tend to report a bunch of snow early in the year and then we've caught up and surpassed them in the later months. For example they are already reporting 46" inches on the season while areas south are in the teens and single digits while Sugarbush/MRG is in the 20s and only Stowe and Jay are 40"+. I wouldn't be surprised if their marketing angle is to hype up the SNE and NY/NJ crowd with higher snowfall totals in order to tap into that early season demand. That, or their snowmaking system is so powerful that they aren't able to discern between what is falling from the sky vs. what they are generating themselves haha.

Speaking of Greylock and needing a ton of snow, I've been looking at those powerlines for a few years. That looks like a 30+ degree pitch and not sure what the underbrush looks like but I'm sure 2 feet of settled snow would be appreciated.

Does this now mean they will be allowing uphill access during operating hours? Seems worth it if so, especially this year.

J, where are you able to get these composite radar images? I seem to remember the NWS providing the ability to zoom in to certain areas based on office location but I can't seem to find those anymore. They looked just like the above image...

Was considering checking out Temple as well, glad I stuck with my first option!

Spoke to a local at the summit who mentioned that there is a small crew that does some glade thinning and clears underbrush from the trails most years in the fall. The water content in this storm was noticeable as some of the narrower trails were barely passable at times with trees overhanging. Birch bender indeed.

Hey there fellow wx/ski enthusiasts. Been lurking on here since about 14-15, my first of four winters at Sugarbush. Was a software admin there and logged 100+ days each winter...what a time that was! I actually laugh every time PF mentions the on-mountain snow stake cams there as I was peripherally involved in their installation yet intimately aware of the challenges we had with those hah. Life has happened since then so I'm now residing in Cambridge MA but still try to get out as much as humanly possible across the region (this winter may prove to be challenging). Anyways, was able to get out to Watatic in Ashburnham on Sunday with some friends for a quick tour after a dawn patrol lap at Wachusett. Found depths of about 10" at the old base area at around 1300'. Was surprised to find spots of 16" near the summit at around 1850' or so. A nice right side up snowfall that skied surprisingly well, dense yet not too wet.