MRVexpat

10 hours ago, PowderBeard said:

We were able to hit Black Mountain and wow what a place. Absolutely loving it even if it is a couple trails for the time being. I cannot wait to get into the woods, we could see some amazing looking lines and areas on the ride up the chair.  We only got three runs in with this one but I felt like I had skied about 30 hard bump runs. She is still too small for the pack so I keep her in front of me and holding on to a pole and Im in a "pizza" form the whole time. Things hurt in my legs I didn't know could hurt.

BMOM is the best. The MRG of Maine

On 1/4/2023 at 3:46 PM, CT Rain said:

Any thoughts on how Sunday will be? Was thinking about either Mount Snow or Okemo?

Bring your edges. Groomers will do their thing so the earlier you get there the better. Should be scraped clean by lunchtime though. Okemo seems to have more open so that would be the better play IMO. 

1 hour ago, NW_of_GYX said:

That's awesome! Looks like thing are firing there per usual. Are you using Indy pass? 

Am not. All of the Indy resorts are on the main island and we're heading to Hokkaido. Starting off at the base of Asahidake for a couple days and hoping to to ski that (weather dependent) or heading to Kamui or Pippu if the tram doesn't run. Then going to Furano for a few days of touring in the area followed by some lift served days at the resort. After that we're moving to SW Hokkaido and basing mostly out of Otaru. Cat skiing at Iwanai followed by some of the smaller resorts in the area. Going to mostly avoid the gong show at Niseko/Rusutsu, although I'm sure most resorts will be more crowded than usual given the recent re-opening of borders. 

Heading to Japan for two weeks starting Jan 13th. Expect this disaster of a season to begin turning around then. 

Did a mini tour of New England ski areas this past week. Started off on the 28th at Black Mtn of Maine with almost a foot of snow on the ground and decent coverage but really only two routes down. Gun powder felt nice and the vibe there can't be beat.

Next day at Saddleback saw full mid winter conditions. What a rad hill! First time riding lifts there and the terrain off of their kennebago quad is so good. Lots of glade thinning efforts there on account of the trees being so tight but man, they do a great job. 

Given the deep base and full coverage at Saddleback and the fact that Jay had at that point reported 27" in the past week and 19" in the past 72 hrs, I was beyond thrilled to do some skiing there the next day. We showed up the morning of the 30th to nearly bare ground at the base and patchy trails on the hill. As everyone here has already mentioned, this was likely a combination of over reporting a bit as well as crazy high dews/rain in the overnight period before our arrival. You could literally see snow sublimating throughout the day...sad. I'm normally not a Jay snow report basher by any means but I did seriously question how 19" could just evaporate so quickly. Fun and soft manmade snow at least!

The next day was skin a lap > ride a lap at Bolton where there honestly seemed to be more coverage than Jay. Finally wrapped up with a few hrs at my old haunts of Sugarbush on new yrs day. Snow was super fun but the continued thaw basically exposed bare ground everywhere at lower elevations. 

All in all a fun little road trip.

Surprised to see GYX issue this...almost seems like a rip and read from the euro/nam? Either way fingers crossed this is indeed a net gainer for the ski resorts.

41 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

Looking pretty wintery up at Saddleback today

I'll be up there in about a week. Really hoping for the net gainer that the euro is showing. 

Both the Bush and K reporting 3" as of about an hour ago. Solid start.

Doesn't get any better for ski country verbatim. 

23 minutes ago, bristolri_wx said:

https://mag.ncep.noaa.gov/docs/NCEP_PDD_MAG.pdf

Thanks! Interesting but I was more curious to its anecdotal accuracy/usefulness as a high res model.  

Also WTF is a HRW WRF-ARW and does anyone care about it?

5 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

ALY bumped a bit across the board looks like..

 

Having Stratton in the 30-36" shading seems....optimistic

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Staying Thursday-Sunday at the eastern slope inn 3rd week of Jan. We are skiing Friday and sat. 
 

Cranmores website I’d like $180 bucks for 2 days. Does that seem outrageous to anyone? Where would discounts be?

Its a multi mountain pass model these days. $90 a day is actually reasonable for a Friday and Sat (is that MLK weekend?). Might seem like a lot for some place like Cranmore but single day tickets are considerably pricier at destination resorts. 

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

Ha, yeah stuff breaks. Mechanical parts in highly unforgiving environments and ski areas don’t just stock 100% replacement parts on their shelves.

Regarding the differences in skier opinions, a friend passed this along that was funny.

 

I’ve been enjoying the Lookout Double though, going old school and it’s kept the majority of people away. Some skiers seem insulted they can’t get a high speed ride up to literally the same open terrain, ha.

Not ideal to be waiting on parts but at least there’s a lift that still goes there.

How you can be annoyed at riding up a classic double is beyond me. 

That's the NAM run ski country wants to see! Here's to hoping...

16 minutes ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

Deepening and closed mid level lows at 500 or at least 700 height . 

Thnx

Any threat of a NW based deform band in this one? If not, what are the typical ingredients to make this happen?

First day out for the season at Killington yesterday. Some mood snows brought up to an inch by the end of the day. Conditions were fine all things considered but the day was all about stretching the legs. I maintain that all serious eastern skiers should have a pair of slalom sticks for these kinds of days. So much fun!

28 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Ah is it that easy to get to that side?  It’s been a while for me up there.

Yeah its not a heavy effort if you're in OK shape. Of course this doesn't lead to quick laps as you're then forced to take a beginner area quad over at tramside and then traverse over to stateside that way. Worth it if everything else is skied out! 

2 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

There is no arguing any of that…jay needs to replace the Bonnie and extend it higher so when the flyer is on hold, you can access the tram side stuff. There’s areas there that hold powder for days. It would be a game changer.
 

To each their own but I love it as is. Just a quick couple minute skate/hike to access 90% of what you can get off of the Flyer and its top shack location below the windiest part of that ridge means its open more often on the windiest days. 

55 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

Yeah, I agree.  They have a big following and there are a ton of metro ski clubs that have houses half way between them and Killington.  Being unlimited on Ikon helps too. 

Altera just bought them two years ago, so I can't imagine that would buy into a losing market, but this start and not running slide brook all last year (i know about the snow requirements, but they punted it).  Something has to be up.  Don't know if it's aging infrastructure failures, staff, cost cutting, but they've lagged really since Win sold the place.  That picture of the trail under Gate house speaks volumes.  It hasn't been a great December, but there have been enough windows to do better than that.  Mt. Ellen usually opens in a week or two also.  Don't know how you can justify that if you're still less than 50 acres on Lincoln Peak.

I am not sure the reason why but I have heard from friends that are still local that the snowmaking pond was drained completely in the fall...can't imagine that helps the situation. Just about the only positive in this rain is that it will help in that regard! 

Sounds like we need more ski resorts 

43 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

No it’s been gone for many months.

Damn that's too bad. That thing was the best. What's everyone's preference these days? TWC is decent but doesn't capture local orographics as well as wunderground did. 

Is Wunderground misfiring for anyone else? I seem to be able to access the base view but can't select different resolutions or other reflectivities. 

5" on the Bush mid mtn cam. Over performer? Looks a bit pingy currently...