powderfreak

So to summarize the last hour... "Will can't argue with me on this one. It's iron clad. This Morch will be the hottest since 2012". "There’s a decent chance that this March is actually colder than 2020 and 2021. Throw in 2016 too if you want yet another year that this one won’t beat post-2012." "Will thinks this month will finish below normal, ha. How can someone think that with the current positive departures! My lawn whispers to me." "Will didn't say anything about the month finishing below normal." "Pull ski pole from ass. Show us the month-to-date departures this year because I didn't look them up, nor did I compare them to 2012."

You must be pounding beers to read Will’s post and think those written words mean that he thinks this month ends up below normal. Just nude on the couch spraying cheese wiz into your mouth like it’s 3am at a frat house.

That must have been the one that went through Killington. They shut down lift operations for a time due to some close lightning strikes this afternoon.

Useless cold.

What a miserable ski weekend, ha. Mid/upper 30s at the mtn with SE flow packing in the low clouds and mist. It looks like it should a full month from now. This is the absolute worst weather conditions this time of year. Raw, cold, damp but not cold enough to snow.

Back to back 60F+ at MVL and 50F at the picnic tables.

Mud season in full swing when temps reach the 60s in mid-March. The ground here is thawing very fast.

Today was HOT up here. 60F in the base area and low-50s at the summits. Snow is sticky on all but steep, man-made trails that are more granular. Avoid any intermediate or lower natural snow trails like the plague, feels like it wants to rip you out of your boots lol. The steeps are great though, I bet stuff like Ripcord, Organgrinder, and Steins will be fantastic. Spring skiing is also about the fun vibe regardless of snow conditions. Folks BBQing, sitting in the lot drinking beers, popup tents and stuff. I love the spring anything goes atmosphere.

Probably one of the earliest I've seen 1,500ft here get to this patchy cover point. South facing is just getting obliterated, north facing still solid cover but man the Spruce Peak south facing slopes are getting hammered. 2012 was similar melt out time at 1500ft during 5 days of 70s with lows like 40s and even 50s. Still really fun spring skiing with the stake at 54" on the north/east facing aspects.

Summit is at 51F! Mixing down to 64F at MVL. It’s hot.

Now this may be sacrilegious but if it's going to be warm I'd prefer for skiing reasons that it doesn't snow on the backside? Getting 2-4" snows that then warm up and turn sticky doesn't do a whole lot. I'd rather it rain, freeze, then warm up with sun... providing corn snow and smoother wet granular rather than wet powder/crystals. The skiing can be so good when granular (snow that's been through melt/freeze metamorphosis) pack warms up and becomes wet/glistening on the surface. This time of year you need a good 6"+ to make it worth the trade off IMO. Constant backend light snows of 1-4" in the spring can sometimes be worse for surface conditions.

It is. I put a fresh wax on but man you need some steep pitches to get going. Intermediate and lower cruisers are brutal. The steep manmade trails are a lot of fun though. It honestly needs to rain on it a bit as powder warning up just turns to glue.

it’s warm. 54/23 at MVL. Full spring skiing. It’s melting . Snow in town getting smoked.

Not to prolong the discussion but curiosity gets the best of me... is it the daylight change or is it the lack of sleep one night? Like how do you deal with time zone changes or say traveling to Europe or something? If you have something come up and get one less hour of sleep a night, does that linger for a month? Or is it purely that the body is fooled into thinking its a different time with the daylight? For folks who struggle with this I can't imagine jet lag or even changing a time zone.

Light white rain here at 750ft. Not going to be much QPF at all though here.

If it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.

Gah no way … be like sleeping in Norway on a trip I took there in June years back. People BBQing at like midnight and get up to piss at 3-4am to full daylight. Weird way to live, ha.

I do like it this time of year. Goes with that spring vibe. Lots of late afternoon skiing and chilling up top before late ski back to the parking lot. In the end it’s still the same amount of daylight.

I mean you just pivot by an hour. If you used to wake up at 5am, now you get up at 6am. Society could adapt pretty easily as long as everything shifts.

No more 8am chairlift openings if it happens. Ski day probably would have to be 9-5 instead of the classic 8-4. I love the late light in summer… don’t really care in the winter, I’d keep it how it is.

One way or another it’s going to be dark… either morning commute or evening commute. I go to work in the dark and get home in the dark most of the winter, not sure it matters to me, ha.

@MRVexpatthat is the holy grail right there of a ski trip! Nice. I caught a 24” day at Alta with my father about 15 years ago while I was in college and it remains my best ski memory to date. The vibe of an Alta storm day and then the resultant bluebird powder day afterward is unbeatable.

Heavy heavy wax!

It does and it’s a mentally challenging thing for many including me. Did I like how it was when AIG sold $2000 passes and very expensive day tickets? Yes but everyone in town complained that they couldn’t afford to ski at their local ski area. Now it’s busy but so many new people to the sport and Stowe… like this week it must be a vacation week down south as the Florida, Georgia, Carolina crowd is here. And they are stoked. It’s hard to hate it when you see the kids from Florida just infatuated with snow… I get it kids! Ha. Now if I was getting on a plane to ski I’d go west but that’s another issue haha. The biggest issue is trying to balance people who wouldn’t ski otherwise with a decrease in experience for long time skiers. I don’t want to be selfish and think Mansfield is mine and exclusive to me… everyone should experience it. But there’s a trade off too. I also ran Stowe social media during AIG years and I know people forget how hated AIG was as well, ha. It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns though most locals have convinced themselves it was. When the US Govt bailed out AIG in like 2008…. Yikes. I don’t think I’ll ever see hate directed towards a ski area like that again. The Vail stuff is peanuts to tax payers bailing out a company that owns a ski area on public land that charges the highest prices in the East lol. Arson and bomb threats, people defecating on the office steps. I still keep that stuff in perspective.

On another note, snow is sticky now. Hate when powder warms up the first few times. Needs to cycle to granular for corn but fresh storm snow getting mid March sun and 30-40F becomes glue.