mcglups

4 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

You tube it

Not the best, but a few shadow bands.  I think being next to a frozen lake made it even more interesting 

7 hours ago, Saguaro said:

I'm wondering if anyone got video of it in that area. I do not have any decent camera gear so I was only able to manage a phone picture pre-totality and short video during.

The drive back took at least twice as long as normal, about 5 hours, thanks to closures of alternate routes to US 3, and an enormous backup in Errol that took over an hour to get through. It was still worth seeing and I'm glad I was able to experience it.

Good stuff! I was also planning on Colebrook but upon arrival earlier than expected I ventured up to Pittsburg and landed at Lake Francis (and in doing so I now know there are 3 Connecticut Lakes!)

I have a video, similar to my pictures, it isn't great, but will find a way to share it.

The traffic getting through Colebrook was expected (1 hour or so) but the Errol backup wasn't expected and took about as long. All things considered, this is beautiful countryside so it was perfectly fine.

Day 6 after the experience and still in awe

52 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

Before and during totality. 

Excellent before and during,  these do the best job to show the darkness.

It is going to be quite warm compared to the past few days!  Here is a map for parking in colebrook. I'm going to feel very relaxed once I've parked.

Heading to Colebrook which normally is 80 minutes but planning for 240 minutes travel time.  They are planning for crowds and so many options, while awesome, come with lots of risk.

54 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Lots of tree damage from the last 2 storms around exit 18 toward my way. Trees and trees sawed off at the breakdown lane.

Yes. Plenty of fresh cuts 

What a storm! I drove up I-93 late afternoon Thursday and the snow on the trees was incredible, there was also no one on the road and made record time.

Wildcat was quite fun this morning. While I had every belief the snow would be damp/wet, it was surprisingly soft and almost fluffy. There have been some snow events this year where after the first few runs, the mountain is chopped up with crud, but today the first few runs just led to packed powder and was enjoyable. I will remember today, and the past few weeks to "never give up" on the ski season as it just seems to get better as we approach the finish line!

39 degrees and rain, cold ENE flow at the coast. These are the coldest days of the year, or so it feels that way.

24 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

Booked in N Conway. I’ll cancel whichever spot looks diciest. 

I think that is a good starting point for the day, essentially heading north on 16 and in Gorham making the decision of where to go next (NW, N, NE). My general thoughts on the day is that speeds on roadways will be near normal at sunrise and decrease significantly as the morning becomes noon. I would plan to be where you want to be by noon.

24 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

This is where I would go if staying in Conway.  Like others have said the traffic could be crazy.  I don't think the State of NH is prepared but we will see.  Yellow is totality but you want to get at least 5 to 10 miles further north  If you are right on the line it only lasts for seconds.  Yellow glob would be good.

That could work in the area of pontoon reservoir heading into thirteen mile Woods but all side roads will be snow and mud.

The biggest reality to embrace is average speed on any road with people pulling over will reduce by 50% or 80%.  By 1pm I would think all roads will start to get filled with people pulling over.

Milan will be 100% for minute but I really feel like traffic heading south will be a sh$t show.  The bottle neck at bow with 89 and 93 merging will likely be backed up tens of miles for hours.

The discussion from gyx mentions the "foggier effect", what is that?

1 hour ago, psuhoffman said:

Last spring I visited Sugarloaf mid April and they had groomed everything. I was incredibly disappointed as I love bumps. I actually left a day early and went to killington on the way back and they had plenty of mogul runs!  Does anyone know of this is a common issue?  I was at sugarloaf in years past during Spring and I remember them having some natural terrain with moguls.  I asked the resort and got a very non answer like “we focus on safety and please check out conditions page for trail info”.  planning a trip in 2 weeks and just don’t want to drive 10 hours and have the same thing happen. Sugarloaf is a better mountain but if they are going to groom the whole thing into a boring flat surface again I’ll go to Vermont!  

Not sure. Last year I want on April 22 and looking down the mountain, the right side was ungroomed with moguls (steep too) and the middle likely had moguls but was groomed and bumps developed during the day, and the left side was groomers that looked like they were groomed daily. I suspect that each season, scenario, and daily considerations lead to different outcomes.

Got my viewing glasses today.  Looking forward to a possible big snow storm, a few good days on the slopes, and some eclipse chaos!

Friday at attitash was groomed and no crowd and fun.  Saturday at wildcat was powder refilling and was more than I could handle, just dont have the strength as in the past.  Sunday back to attitash and a mix of groomed powder and fresh tracks, got a six pack of runs, very nice.  It is a nice feeling to have abundant snow everywhere 

52 minutes ago, dmcginvt said:

Unless one of my servers dies I'm not going to Stowe for ANYTHING for the next 10 days.  Getting on rt 100 will be hard enough!  I hate this upcoming week.  

I don't like missing snow, but I also can find enjoyment in doing something else this weekend through next week with more of a coastal flare. We have snow on the coast, so it makes outside walks feel like northern new england, good stuff!

I read an article in a local paper in Berlin where the town of Pittsburg is planning for the event and they are anticipating anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 people (basically they have no idea, and just going to roll with it!) and all camping, cabins, vrbo, etc... are all booked in Coos Country. Colebrook on the other hand is planning for a big event of tens of thousands of people.

Given the uncertainty of weather and crowds, I'm aiming to do a clockwise northern loop, and presuming I get passed Pittsburg and can cross the border, will take in the eclipse in southern Canada, and then venture home through Chain of Ponds and grab dinner in Rangeley. Alternatively, if I get to Errol in the morning and it is already a complete sh$t-show, I'll take a counter clockwise approach and venture up dead diamond road and get lost, sort of...

Friday and Saturday were really good at Wildcat. on Saturday it did warm up quite a bit and there was some passing showers with a double rainbow, but that spectacle only lasted for an hour or so, and then it was like cool-spring-like conditions. A few bare spots are showing and wouldn't be surprised if some terrain is roped off until they get a natural refresh or make some snow. Opted to skip today and drive home last night, but itching to get back up there.

A new year and chatter to expand the scale.  https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2308901121

First chair this morning and felt good with the run on the top half.  Opted for the slower path down the bottom half and while everything was groomed, it had frozen firm overnight.  At sub moderate speed, managed to cross the skis for my first season fall, right hand extended out and nailed my elbow on the tarmac, wrenched my shoulder, and hard tapped my helmet. The helmet definitely reduced the head injury to a mild concussion, can't imagine what it would have been like without the helmet.  Shoulder injury will be a wait and see.  No fun getting old, but wont give up!

Wildcat today had the good fortune of moderate terrain expansion with 3 main runs off the top of the mountain and about 7 main runs from the middle to the bottom, I think they call that close to 20 runs. I opted to miss the morning powder/chop experience and arrived around 11am when it was snowing but ever so slightly warming up. By 2pm it was a light drizzle. Trails with just natural snow were really fun, powder/packed powder with the geology frozen patches. Trails with combination of snow were equally fun, just a bit more frozen underneath, but nothing bad. All lifts were running and all three parking lots were open, but with just enough terrain, it didn't feel busy.  Overall, that mid week cement dumping was very helpful, essentially a full recovery from the December rain. Healthwise my respiratory illness is gone, so just battling fatigue, but got a six pack of runs!

5 minutes ago, klw said:

based on the shear massive number of cars heading north on 89, it is going to be a massive weekend at the Vermont ski resorts.

Certainly the highest volume of vehicles for the season, double solid lanes up 93 north through the lakes region. Winds are kicking up here and snow pack is rather solid.

1 hour ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

My guess is Wildcat sees 15” tonite 

Sugarloaf may do never better 

Bretton woods will be shadowed like usual on SE winds but they hopefully see some upslope to resurface after 

Rinse and repeat Saturday 

If this comes to be, Sunday is going to a wild day at Wildcat. Thirty inches of compactable snow will allow for ample trails to be open. I have come to learn that as much as I enjoy powder conditions, I don't have the stamina to deal with the chop after the first run, and will benefit greatly from more open terrain. 

Looks like about 3-4 inches locally in Berlin with light snow as of now. At Wildcat the base seemed to have about 4-5 inches and up top was a bit more, perhaps 6. Air is cold, snow is very dry.