Angus

@LaGrangewxare you working out there? how did you find a rental (I assume). Thinking about a winter long trip in western US and Canada next year.

@HIPPYVALLEYre: Iceland. I looked at the map of totality - the pictures below are from the area (westfjords) in northwestern corner of iceland in July 2017. Barren and beautiful. We took a ferry from Stykkishólmur, arrived in Brjánslækur and drove a big clockwise loop back to Stykkishólmur - literally 20 hour day if I recall. Most of the roads (or all) were gravel/dirt. I remember us laughing that the scenery was so beautiful that it got to be ho-hum. This was the most spectacular area we visited IMO.

as @ariofmentioned, half the fun was navigating the traffic. We hiked off of little Bigelow (3.5-4 miles) while my boss with young family departed from Eustis Ridge immediately after the event. He got home to Milford MA area about 11:20 while I arrived in Concord MA at midnight. Heck, we stopped for a quick pizza in Portland at 930! My big decision was going west on rt 2 at Norridgewock versus going to Waterville and getting on 95 and from there to 295. I didn't get on 295 until below the Gardiner tolls on 295. The Sugarloaf area is constrained by rivers and therefore bridges - there aren't many bridges so those became choke points. @HIPPYVALLEY did Iceland in 2017 during summer months - such a different landscape - would be very cool.

won't be going into the ravine this year. given the late February/early march warm up I'm not confident in the snow. Skied Saddleback on Sunday and it was ... outstanding. Mostly stuck to the terrain off the Kennebago lift. if you skied the sides of trails, there was lots of loose fresh snow. A few runs in the trees including chute 3 and 4 in Casablanca were great. The pack is not super deep - stumps and rocks protruding from the steep entry sections of Supervisor, Black Beauty and Warden's Worry but easily avoided. Day started with upper parts of mountain obscured by clouds, ended with blue skies. Not sure if that was it for me this season - really hoping for one more day - but if not, my best day of spring skiing will have been Killington in early February!

at the recommendation of @tamarack climbed Little Bigelow Mountain which looks south and west towards Sugarloaf and the Crockers. Excellent choice and thank you so much. There was something like 3 dozen people up there with my party of six including two guys from Franklin county search and rescue who stayed up and were going to do a sweep after everyone had gone down. They also packed out the trail on Sunday which was pretty awesome. We got up about an hour before totality and everyone was in a festive mood - families, some students, a large crew from Ashbury Park NJ??? Watching the darkness move across the valley floor towards us was pretty spectacular. The winds really increased substantially and it got very cool. Just an awesome experience. Traffic getting through Madison and Norridgewock was hilarious - to experience a one mile backup in those towns is a once in a lifetime experience too! Route 16/27 and the area around Sugarloaf access road was all time from what I have been told. Without and with light!

April 1987 must have been crazy to see. I was living in Austin Texas but my grandmother sent me all the local newspapers. I think I still have them somewhere. 

Yeah, my son just texted from NYC and then I swear I felt something here in metrowest boston. Crazy.

I was living in Waterville and I have no recollection of this storm. It's kind of strange. I remember running I think the day after the Boston Marathon either in '82 or '83 in heavy snow - somewhere across the river in Winslow.

@markO I posted earlier that I was in Oxford in 1999. We were 99% sun blocked and it was like a really dark cloud moving over the sun. I didn't have glasses so didn't look at the sun directly.

4 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

I wish I lived there 

Use to go there for work - it's actually a nice college town. Was there in 2013 - Memorial Day week when Superior was still iced in. 

2 hours ago, Jebman said:

That'd be me. Lots clouds forecast along with rain.

NE is on track sunshine wispy cirrus and nice weather.  Enjoy the eclipse.

Still not convinced but I'm chuckling b/c a member of my family will be joining their cousins in Hill county for the eclipse while I'm planning to be in NW Maine on a mountain and as of right now, I'll have the better show! Not what we were expecting.

I skied (ski) SLoaf from mid-late March until mid-late April regularly. Last year I skied April 10-12, there were bumps everywhere.  Ripsaw, Winters Way, White Nitro, Bubblecuffer, Misery Whip, Sheer Boom, Skidder, Double Bitter are places to go standardly.

SLoaf has so much terrain open during spring time.

3 hours ago, CCHurricane said:

Deep winter feel at Loon on Saturday / Sunday with free refills followed by a bluebird day of soft turns. Hard to not have fun, even with the comedy of errors by management, impacting morning enjoyment.

As of 7AM on Sunday Loon's main lodge parking (which is the majority of their parking), had yet to be plowed. With snow wrapping up prior to midnight the night before, was shocked to see how poorly snow removal was handled. Perhaps due to lack of resources, or maybe the Ikon / Boyne Special! 

 

I referenced in a previous post the backup on 93 getting off at the Lincoln exit Sunday morning. I got caught in a similar backup - thankfully I was off the highway - on 112 over MLK weekend. From the off-ramp to the main entrance is almost 3 miles and it took us at least 30 minutes to get by there. When we passed by, they were turning cars around b/c the parking was full. I would have been ballistic as a customer. 

Skied today at Cannon. It was a zoo getting into the parking lot. They announced they sold out. The line of cars at the exit to Loon was more than 1/2 mile down 93... Basically, Cannon was one big bump run at the end of day. Ton of fun but exhausting skiing like that on back-to-back days. They opened everything including DJs - which IMO is nuts. After two days of skiing this stuff, I'm whipped. 

I skied at WV yesterday - last night drove from Meredith to Sunapee for an event and then back. It was raining on the lake when I left, by the time I got to Franklin, it was frozen rain and then by Andover near white out conditions. Crazy driving. The snow rates were crazy. Back at the lake, I'm guestimating we added nearly a foot from 6 to 11 last night

From the SR report this AM

We received almost 2' of snow yesterday during our open hours, and over a foot fell through the night. That brings us to a whopping 36" of snow for this March snowstorm. It's the fluffy stuff, too @NW_of_GYX

14 hours ago, MarkO said:

I've been telling this to people for months. Totality or bust, and be prepared for it to be cloudy. It'll seem like a huge thunderstorm rolling in even at 98% for my area. There may even be traffic issues. Leaving for Jay at 7AM!

I was in Oxford England in August/early September 1999 (???) and I think they were something like 97-98% totality. I was in a work meeting and we paused and went to the windows to watch  and I'd describe the experience as a really dark cloud moving across the sun on a sunny day. It left most of us confused!

1 hour ago, Ed, snow and hurricane fan said:

Billboards on I-45 in Corsicana, a third of the way before DFW and Houston advertising the eclipse.  Not sure that would be a destination.  San Antonio and Austin probably have the most other tourist-y things to do in full eclipse areas of Texas.  I'll be working and will not be allowed to go outside, except maybe for a three minute break.

 

Hah! Navarro county doesn't get mentioned much on this board. Know it well with family just south in Hill county. Perfect place to watch - but I plan to be in Maine hoping for good weather!

watching the webcam at MRG today. It has been pounding snow all day.

A real tragedy. 

Can't understand what these people who are putting themselves and their rescuers in danger are thinking quite frankly. Is it just simple lack of awareness about preparation and the conditions they will face, does a mobile phone provide some sort of security blanket, i.e., if I get in trouble I'll just make a call, youthful invincibility or is it trying to emulate social media influencers and/or post 'cool, look-at-me' stuff on the internet?

A MWV skier who is widely followed on social media posted video from the floor of the ravine last Thursday. The place is a complete mess - crevasses, waterfalls, rocks sticking out, low snow levels - the little headwall below the ravine is a waterfall. Under these weather conditions, huge blocks of ice are separating from the walls and tumbling down. It's crazy. The parts of the Sherburne trail shown in the video had almost little snow and lots of patches of dirt.

Skied yesterday at Mount Cranmore participating in the NE Ski Museum's Hannes Schneider Meister Cup.

This fund raising event also recognizes the history and continued contributions of the 10th Mountain Division. The event is always a good time and had good symmetry with my recent visit to Mount Hale/Ski Cooper in Colorado.

Spend the night in Meredith where the bottom half of the lake is ice free - not sure if it ever froze up. There is still ice in Meredith Bay and Center Harbor. Didn't encounter any snow in the woods en route up to MWV until Sandwich and Tamworth.

Mount Cranmore and N. Conway has almost zero natural snow but the mountain is generally covered pretty well in man-made. Their closing date is in two weeks - probably enough snow to push around if they want. 

Berkshire East announced yesterday they are closed until Saturday to preserve snow.

Just arrived home after 11 days out west, it was great trip in many respects including the fact, I ignored NE weather and news of any kind!

With that said, how grim do things look after this week up north in ski country - which looks pretty grim but with some chance of something up north at the end of the week?

With that said, here is a quick summation of the trip.

Two days at Palisades (aka Squaw) - I had never skied in California before and 'wow' to some of the terrain off the KT-22 lift. What a great mountain, you could spend a month skiing there and maybe be able to ski the majority of the terrain they have available between Alpine Meadows and Palisades.

After Palisades, flew into DEN and headed to Taos where wind kept us off the mountain for 1 of our 2 days, I hadn't been there since 2006(?) and was real interested to see how it measured up now versus back then when I was a much less competent and experienced skier. They had a great late January/ early February snow-wise but things have been dry since then but what a great mountain. Steeps are very legitimate and it's just a fun mountain with a great vibe. One thing I noticed now with the perspective of having skied all over the west in the last 15 years...it's not a huge place but definitely will keep a very good skier entertained for some time.

Next drove up to Pagosa Springs and skied Wolf Creek. Stumbled onto this place a decade ago and had been itching to get back. There was an article in the NYT a few months ago about the place so it's - for better/worse - being discovered. Skied in whiteout conditions the first day and then a blue bird day on the second day. The mountain is essentially 1,700 vertical feet of tree skiing spread across a ridge of 2-2 1/2 miles (also the continental divide). The mountain gets the most snow of any resort in CO. The mountain was forecast to get 2-3' on the first day we were there but I think they reported 12". What was amazing was their ability to run the lifts in crazy high winds. I always recommend this place to people and my second visit did not disappoint.

Last two days of the trip were spent one day each at Ski Cooper (Mt. Hale, birthplace of the 10th Mountain Division) and Monarch Mountain. Both days were absolutely gorgeous, cloudless days.

Arrived at Cooper after it had received 18" inches from the above referenced storm. This place is a wonderful family mountain. Skis much bigger than the advertised vertical (somewhere around 1,000') feet. The front side of mountain is wide open slopes and trails that have a really consistent 'intermediate' pitch. Also, the vista is essentially a range of some of Colorado's highest peaks. They have recently opened a backside pod serviced by a t-bar which has more expert terrain but it might only be 500-700' of vertical. IMO, definitely worth the visit. Was speaking to an expatriate NEer about the ability to ski the I-70 corridor, Cooper, an extensive cross country system(s) as well as backcountry and thinking I may need to come back for a longer stay.

The final day was at Monarch. Another non-destination area which is just up the road from Salida - known for fishing, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Great mountain - again not huge vertical but lots of fun terrain. Unfortunately, one of their chairlifts was on wind hold(?) which services some very steep bowl and trail skiing so probably didn't get to experience maybe a 1/3rd of the area's terrain. The terrain I did ski were essentially 1,000' vertical runs. A really nice mountain and definitely worth the visit.

The talk on the lifts in CA, NM and CO was about this winter's funky weather. As one guy said about Colorado, they've had a normal about of snow but between storms there have been warm ups which has prevented them from building base.

As of today, I've had 14 days of skiing in the western US and Canada and only 5 days of lift-serviced skiing in the east. Really hoping I can get some good days here at home over the next 6 weeks or so.

Drove west and south yesterday to ski at Catamount (IndyPass) with my son who drove up from Hoboken and was talking about the crazy band of snow that set up from Staten Island over to JFK Friday night.

It snowed most of the day with total accumulations maybe 2" (probably generous and including Friday night total) but it definitely helped the ski surface and ambiance. Nice hill - holiday crowd and lift lines were 5 minutes.  Some steep terrain in the middle of the mountain with mellower stuff to the sides. You go to these places and see kids who definitely have never skied who follow their friends up the mountain and have no idea how to turn or stop...definitely a few wipe outs and near misses witnessed on the mountain today.

There was zero natural snow and you could tell it has been make snow/thaw/rain/snowmaking repeat all season. With the snow that fell and a nice mountain layout, it was a fun day.

I guess we call it climatic resiliency. As I said in an earlier post, I really haven't had a bad day of skiing in NE this season. Add to that my morning skinnng at WaWa where the their base easily exceeds 4', I can't complain. The real problem has been the local XC - either out my back door or at the local nordic center.

Other fun facts - Catamount terrain sits between Massachusetts and NY so I added that to my list of skiing between ID and MT at Lost Trails and Alberta and BC at Sunshine Village.

Stopped at Butternut on way back to the Pike - good holiday crowd and that mountain was bigger than I expected - only been there in the Summer and Fall and never really looked carefully.

Headed to Tahoe for 2 days and then 6 days in NM and CO.

random flakes just began to fall in concord ma

but our roads are prepped for the incoming 12-24"