powderfreak

Oh it’s at May 22nd levels last year. Mentioned that on the Snow Phone Report today, ha. Its a melt similar to 2012, maybe not quite that but it’s not done yet with another rainstorm coming. We just don’t like angst here in VT, we’ll find a way to turn it into a positive, .

Yeah 2011-12, 2015-16 especially, those are fails in the past decade. This was a long duration of off-piste skiing that a D/F winter won’t have. We literally never went in the woods in 15-16. Hard to describe, but this season just didn’t feel *that* bad from a “feel” standpoint. Anytime it doesn’t rain for 6+ weeks is a good stretch. This year had it's moment when you stack up snowfalls for weeks on end, even if they are light.

That week will still be king from 2012... but this week definitely gave it a run for it’s money. But second class for sure. I always remember your spring trips Ginxy, good stuff.

I won’t lie, I still think we have one in the bank. It would be very hard to completely miss on a synoptic event from March 1 onward for the mountains. Maybe it comes April 15th on Tax Day (it has in the past), or even April 27-28th in 2010 when 5-24” (5” BTV, 24” at 3,000ft plot) fell across NNE. Led to May 1st snow cover in the mountains. CoCoRAHS early days back then.

Regardless of ski area, the story is similar. The snow depth on Mansfield at the fabled COOP stake is at 36”. Last year it was May 22nd before the depth dropped below that level. Two full months later than today, I was hiking with the dog with a similar snowpack up high. This is turning into an impressive melt, with the rain and maybe some convection still to come.

The crowds? Snowmaking? Grooming? Everything is worse now? I'm a little curious too but I am always careful as a VR employee to push it too far (full disclosure, they seem to treat me well and pay me far better with benefits, bonuses, etc than previous ownership and nearby competitors. I don't care who the owner is, I love Stowe and Mount Mansfield so my opinions will reflect those locally) . I do like to ask opinions though as maybe I can help avoid it or do little things to change that when the opportunities present themselves. I'm no big wig but for some reason they respect me and I feel like I have a voice. In the industry there is what is termed the "Vail Sucks Guy" that sort of follows a certain pattern. You said everything Vail touches turns to shit and then @bwt3650 gave some examples he saw, and hit the nail on the head about remote customer service just being completely unprepared for the call volume. Embarrassing. It seemed like an honest thought process of pros and cons. That's what we We always talk about it because we want to know what's wrong but the majority of comments seem to be of a "Vail Sucks Guy" mentality. Here's the condensed definition from the Storm Skiing Journal: "Do you want Vail Sucks Guy to elaborate? Good luck. There are plenty of thoughtful critiques of Vail out there. They did not come from Vail Sucks Guy. Vail Sucks Guy knows “a lot” of people who have been screwed over by Vail. Vail Sucks Guy could tell you some stories. But he won’t. Instead, Vail Sucks Guy is just going to tell you that Vail sucks."

Yeah i think the wet bulbs were still in like the upper 30s up here when it was 63F at 8% RH. It reminded me of a trip to the Arizona hills in April a few years back when the super dry air would have it feel like summer at 75F in the sun, but literally the minute the shadow grew in the evening it would drop to under 50F in what felt like minutes. The type of stuff where hikers in the Grand Canyon are struggling due to heat exhaustion and then like 2-3 hours later going hypothermic with the loss of the sun in those 3-4% RH air masses where they do 50-60 degree diurnal ranges on the Canyon floors. The wet bulb is still so low.

Yeah just gone from down here in the valley... poof with the dews. It was like nothing was happening at 60+ degrees when dews were in the teens. One day of 50 dews and she gone.

It is mind blowing how much dew point and not temperature matters with melting snow. We melted more snow today than the previous like 3-4 days combined. Temperatures are within 5-10 degrees but the dews of 17F vs today’s 50F was eye opening. River is steadily rising and upcoming rain plus draining mountain snow melt should fill the channel. This is a 48 hour change:

A 186 hour storm total map that started a storm at like 210 hours out. Pretty high standards for one Euro Op run at 200+ hours... but maybe I’m missing something? The NAM does it at 48 hours out. Ha.

It’s taking a beating. Quad side in the best shape for sure. That aspect helps a lot. South facing Spruce is getting eviscerated. Gondola is holding in there but as usual is somewhere between the other two. Gondolier might actually be in better shape that Perry Merrill which is different. Natural snow is going real fast at 1500ft and anything south facing on the dial.

The crowds have left this week up here. Been a long time since the Gondola and Quad were ski on with the reduced uphill capacity. The tourists don’t like the summer skiing but the locals act like they just took MDMA with some sunshine and warmth.

Feels like summer up here. MVL at 70/50 is like late June climo, lol. Picnic tables have set a record high for the day so far at the Mansfield COOP.

Yeah that's how Killington gets to Memorial Day weekend. Maybe some walking required or turfing. Open in the East is a pretty liberal/generous definition... many of us will hike 2,000 vertical feet to ski a ribbon in the spring. It won't be pretty but stuff can last.

It's a volume over yield business. From what I've seen they generally know how to run a slick operation but we had it pretty dialed at Stowe as it was. The issues arise from just throwing a lot of people at the mountain every day. Skiing is now affordable for a LOT of people. For years people always complained about skiing being reserved for the 1% and wealthy elite. Now it's getting very affordable and people are like wait, we take it back. We want it to be too expensive and for the one percenters.

Yeah this is getting fairly impressive now. In February it wasn’t noteworthy and put trust in climo but man the next two days are going to be a bloodbath. Dews rising up near 50F with record high temps today. Record high is 53F on Mansfield (1987) and it’s already 46F at 6am. Tomorrow looks like we may hear our first thunder of the season too.

Of the CO ski areas I've hit, Beaver Creek's Grouse Mountain Express was one of the better expert lifts I've been on. The clientele generally doesn't seek out that terrain and the powder seemed to last forever. We were there just after a 10-inch storm and the lift was mostly empty, with around 2,000 vertical feet of wide open terrain available on an under-used high-speed quad.

Dew point up to 44F now, compared to 19F yesterday at this time. That 25F increase in dews is notable... the air doesn't have that immediate chill around sunset that was in place the last several days. The temperature isn't going to plummet immediately below freezing tonight.

That’s awesome. Waterbury Res pretty clear there and can see the mean snow line is up around 1,000-1,500ft. We just patchy now in the RT 100 corridor. Stowe’s just out of that shot to the North.

I still think we’ve got another warning event coming at some point. Mostly because I trust climo (maybe too much) and even if it’s April 14th, I think we still have one in the tank. At the very least spring cut-off season has led to some monster upslope events after a cutter or something as lows meander around NE of here.

Yeah it would be tough if your only option was weekends. Definitely didn’t see that 20% price drop coming. They are going to put the squeeze on. Even Wall Street didn’t know what to do with that news as people couldn’t figure out how it would lead to more revenue by slashing prices 20%. I think it’s also viewed as a credit from this season to retain people... sort of like what @bwt3650’s thought process is. Overall I still think it’s largely good for the industry as far as making skiing more accessible to more people. The overflow will land at the Indy ski areas (like @Angus) and drive revenue towards them while keeping a fresh supply of newbies coming into cheap passes. Also drives the entire market down though, which can be tough for some Indys.

Spring skiing. Mashed potatoes and corn. Great day of seeing friends and skiing with people I haven't caught up with all season.

What a stretch of high pressure with nary a cloud and very low moisture levels... the afternoon RH and diurnal ranges for 4-5 days? Already around freezing outside for the night. We are 50-50 melted out up here. We'll be taking a dip in the river before long, ha.

Just ridiculous air mass. Daytime maxes have been +25 while the mins have been like -2, ha. Last 4 days diurnal ranges have been: 41, 43, 48, and at least 46 today. Low of 22F this morning and high of 68F so far. Dew point is 14F for 12% RH. What a stretch of weather.