powderfreak

Reading the comments from those in favor of the closure, they are all folks to live there. And ones who wish for the old days of a private unknown zone. The Crescent Ridge Glade zone at the top of Randolph was developed/cut and marketed as a fun backcountry zone. Then when people showed up from that marketing, those who loved it wanted to keep it timelessly quiet. That's not how things work though in this age of social media. Randolph thought it was far enough out there to not get the visitation... but people proved that wrong, they will drive for a fun backcountry day. This shook people, so they shut it off to everyone. It does feel like NIMBY when you dig into it.

Vermont soccer! UVM takes the NCAA Championship on a breakaway goal in OT. Cinderella story.

Been a boring stretch for Tip’s dopamine hit. Maybe some snow coming late week from your area up through here? Nothing big though. Best case is a solid freshening of the snowpack.

There’s been some drama up in Randolph, NH on the Hill community. Crescent Ridge backcountry zone has been closed to all users this winter. A rapid-growth spot the past few years by touring skiers. There are two kinds of opinions on it… that it is too busy with traffic, cars parking on the road, it’s a safety issue if first responders can’t get through? Then another faction thinks it’s more of a NIMBY move. They moved to rural Randolph not to see cars go by all day.

Never cleared out so only 16F. Light snow falling and half inch dusting at home and 2” on the mountain.

Yeah, the good thing about Stowe is that when stuff like this happens, there are resources to throw at it quickly. There were winch cats out there working earlier and the local heavy equipment contractor is fast acting… excavators needed. Roughed in, the trail will just need a good snowmaking run. Frozen QPF will fix it.

Yeah man, we recorded 2.29” rainfall at Mtn Ops Center but all of it was a cold rain. The Mansfield Stake went from 38” fluffy to 33” water injected glacial pack. Even in the base area, the loss was probably even less as it was colder wedged in there. Down at my place we are at 6” from 12”. I thought it was going to be smoked. Conditions are a bit rougher than they were, but even still, some low angle natural snow terrain was back open, which means it’s not terrible, ha ha. The big thing here was a 500 vertical foot washout on Gondolier. These seem to happen in a different place each Dec now when we get the big water amounts. This was the largest yet and requires excavators to fix. These channels go deep into the ground. The power of water is crazy.

Just picked up almost 2” of snow very fast. Lake Effect streamers FTW. Clipped the ASOS but got us better to the south. METAR KMVL 122215Z AUTO 24006KT 1/4SM +SN VV012 M04/M07 A3009

Been colder than I expected. 37F max at MVL and 34F at 1500ft at ski area. Snowpack seems to be mostly absorbing the rain at this point.

Good stuff this AM lol.

“In the end we just weren’t comfortable with overpaying to get the weather we wanted on Christmas.”

Everything shifts east in the near term. There’s something with the mid-range code in models that seem to over amp lows. The SE trend in the near term is very well documented over the years.

In that context, yeah the forum vibe/dynamics make sense. The line of have-beens and have-nots has been very consistent in recent years, bisecting the New England forum. In the 2000s and 2010s, the goods seemed more spread out. There’d be suppression depression up here at times, with legit cold… it really all comes back to the air-masses. We just can’t sustain that good, deep cold, as a region over a multiyear period. Now the northern and interior latitudes have been just inside the snow line over numerous events the past few years.

Maybe I’m thinking of Wright Weather BB, or even the list-serves when it was via email even, a couple decades ago. Coming out of the 1990s, the vibes seemed upbeat. But maybe that was just because people were discovering the internet and that they could chat with like minded people. Now everyone is fine throwing their emotions out there online.

We also made 50% or less posts back in the day. You only posted if you had something substantial to add to the discourse. I wouldn’t have made this post back in the OG days. Now we are stream of consciousness and it feels more emotional than scientific.

What a solid stretch since Thanksgiving. A good run before the inevitable cutter.

2.3” here. It got dense in a hurry. Feels like a quarter to third of an inch of QPF as snow. There’s some heft. You guys southeast looked to get a third to a half inch of QPF.

I had never heard of Jiobit, but technology has some wins at times. GPS devices (phones, watches, cat/dog trackers) do help rescue people who become lost, disoriented, hurt, etc. This would’ve been a much bigger deal in the past.

We do ok in the village, much better than the Champlain Valley but not like the NEK to Dendrite. Call it middle of the road CAD. The CAD up at the ski area is much better. That nook at 1,500ft in the base area up to about 2,500ft can really wedge in there. Mansfield/Stowe’s northeast to southeast bowl that extends past the Notch onto Spruce… that isn’t melting out. That aspect, topography and elevation really maximize and hold onto the 925-950mb cold layer in WAA. Longer than elsewhere around Lamoille County. I think we are cooked in town, but the ski area will be ok. The surface will be smoked but there will be a “firm” base.

Haha, yes we do. Snow globe to bridges washing away.

That’s not the optimism we are used to from the Wolf…trying to melt off snow. You’re supposed to say “we don’t know yet, could go either way” lol.

Just a beautifully snowy evening… I really hope you guys down south get some snow soon. Truly, everyone should be able to enjoy snowy evenings. Dendrites.

About 1.5” so far. Still steady snow. Probably running 3/4” per hour.

Nice steady snow burst as this lifts NE. Roads went to shit fast. Sucks this is going away on Wednesday… very wintry vibe with snowpack on ground, on the trees, holiday lights, etc.

This is an awesome photo from someone at Saddleback, ME. I saw several shots of this moose, looked like he camped out overnight near there but seemed like this was all seen from a chairlift.