powderfreak

Yeah we've done some monster dry heat in April/May/June the past 5 years it seems... May seems to be a usual suspect where we are doing 90s with dews of like 40-45F and red flag warnings. Even before full leaf out. Like end of spring stick season and it's in the 80s, ha.

Yeah this is the snowpack map. Seasonal snowfall has been low but it's already past all of 2015-16's totals, ha. It's probably going to be in that 2011-12 style snowfall total.

I did notice the GFS was attempting to do it to. I mean we'll need something. If next weekend rains and torches, might be joining Kev on the bring the early heat train, ha.

"How's the sliding today? Frozen groomers?" "It's more like loose granular on top of pond ice." "10-4."

That change from mixed atmosphere to calm resulted in an almost 20 degree temp drop at HIE. That's a big difference for one hour.

It's amazing to be honest. The very last place cold air rots at the surface. I know the type of chilly fog that temp/dew means, it's not pleasant... while the larger region is 10+ warmer with some T/Td spread. The wind just will not mix down. Mountain summits hitting 100+ mph gusts with many areas seeing 25-60mph gusts down at inhabited levels. But that area of NH just likes to stay calm in the lowest levels. Love it.

Just in general, if you have new leaders and a loss of institutional knowledge at a business, you can run into some challenges and not know how to immediately solve them with the resources you have at hand. Throw in two poor winters, a pandemic, large-scale staffing issues in the service industry (plus a vaccine mandate to work)... it's a tough time to be thrown into that. In order to survive the past couple years required a knowledgeable team in the macro and micro senses. I think things would have been done a bit differently in hindsight for some acquisitions.

Yes! For sure. There are certain spots that are always icy (maybe it's wind, pitch, skier pinch point, etc) but after getting to know a mountain you know the trails that can be icy for whatever reason even if there's 10 feet of snow on the ground. You also know the parts of a trail that may be more prone to ice... so you ski a trail a certain way assuming that spot will be icy and focus on the other parts of the trail. Maybe a certain pitch always has ice but you know skiers right is usually much better and snow collects there... so you blast down the trail almost sub-consciously going to sides and parts of trails that are nice. It's like a second nature once you know a mountain. And it leads to a much better run. You can have two people ski the same run and one is like wow that was slick and the other person knew how to ski the trail to get the most out of it, and they think it was in pretty decent shape, ha. Of course it can also just be plain icy skiing when it rains in back-to-back storms and then goes arctic cold with all the dry blower powder that falls afterward blowing into the woods in many areas . Makes for great powder glade pictures while we ice skate on the adjacent trails.

Ha yup, on like hour 6 of 55F or higher here. Hammering winds too. With every hour the snow takes more and more of a beating.

Oh for sure at BW. Up here though you drive past many mountains known for great grooming and cruising like Okemo, Stratton, etc in SVT… if that’s your main jam you aren’t going an extra 2 hours to get to N.VT which really isn’t known for its groomers. I don’t think you’d ever see any of the Sugarbush to Jay Peak stretch hills on any top 10 list for grooming. I personally think Stowe isn’t a great mountain when weather dictates only groomers. My first year at UVM we were all sort of like “I don’t really get it, not a ton of trail options.” But then the second year we had people show us around off-trail and how to really ski the mountain connecting woods and natural snow trails and it was like ohhhh now I get it. You start on one trail, ski it to woods, pop out in another trail, ski bumps for a bit then go back in woods and end up on another trail, etc.

I wish it was only 1% lol. That would mean on a normal Stowe midweek day that only 15-30 people are skiing the woods (myself and friends would occupy almost 30% of that, ha) and on a max capacity Saturday there might be 80 skiers/riders heading to the woods. We both know that’s a pipe dream. I’d wager it’s up to as high as 50% or more on a powder day up in NVT. I’ve never heard anyone say, in 15 years in the industry, something like “I drive past all the other ski areas to get to Jay Peak for their groomed runs.” A lot of people ski the trees on a regular basis and it’s a large reason why they pick certain mountains.

It’s pretty special out there. Like T-shirt weather walking the dog as water is flowing everywhere over the snowpack and large ponds are forming everywhere. This should be even more special once it freezes up.

Rooting and forecasting are different though, no?

I mean, it's out of season a bit but one of those days you don't think about what it means... just enjoy it . What a sweet afternoon. So hard to hate on it even if it does a number on the snowpack.

Ho-lee-fuk. 67-68F at MPV ASOS at almost 1200ft. 61F at MVL. Up to 60F at the ski area 1500ft.

It’s wild. Spring skiing. Folks can’t take jackets off fast enough.

Just went full April… sun and spring at the mountain. 50F now and 55F down at MVL.

The Peak Resort's integration went differently than Stowe/Okemo/Sunapee. The Stowe/Okemo ones retained the vast majority of operations staff and people who make things "go"... institutional knowledge matters.

Holy sh*t... it's 69F in ROC, 68F in SYR and 62F in ART. Very warm sliver of air moving in with that dry slot... we'll see what we can punch to in New England.

Will be interesting this afternoon... there's a lot of sunshine in update NY straight back to BUF. That looks like the time to really heat it up.

Satellite has a wide area of hot sunshine moving through NY and heading this way this afternoon. If the sun comes out the temps are going to skyrocket.

0.40” water in the Stratus at Mtn Ops… all fell at 33-36F.

A quick 0.40” in the Stratus rain gauge outside Mtn Ops this morning in the mid-30s.

It's just a mellower vibe for kids, the terrain is great for learning. As we discussed the groomer conditions are often much better without the big wide open exposed/steeper trails that get scoured and heavier traffic.

Western slopes of wide open valleys get long duration solar energy. The steep eastern slopes see a lot of shadow and are a much colder environment.