J.Spin

That seems right on track around here – they have our site in what looks like that sliver of 96-120” darkest red shading splitting the gap between the 120-180” light mauve shading for the Bolton Mountain/Camel’s Hump areas that surround us on the spine. If it’s on track, that light mauve would collapse into the valley here in another couple of storms. I have to think many places in SNE are ahead of average on snowfall at this point, but you still have to get into at least SVT to get into that darkest red shading, so the typical snowfall gradient is certainly in place to some degree. It doesn’t look like there’s sufficient data for the Jay Peak area though. They’re reporting 194” of snowfall on the season, and even if official sources wouldn’t incorporate the resort’s summit area number, there should definitely be some of that light mauve up there like there is for parts of the spine from Mansfield southward. There must not be any co-op or CoCoRaHS sites in the area to give them enough snowfall data?

I just checked my point forecast and they’ve got something in the 2-4” or 3-5” range for this next system, so that would be very similar to the last one.

Event totals: 3.3” Snow/0.10” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.1 inches New Liquid: Trace Temperature: 6.4 F Sky: Clear Snow at the stake: 21.0 inches

It had just started to snow when I headed up to the mountain with the boys this afternoon for a session. We had on and off light snow during the afternoon, but it started dumping those huge flakes when we were leaving. Today wasn’t the obvious powder day that yesterday was, but the snow continues to be fantastic. We just had to travel farther afield to get into fresh stuff around the resort today. It really just keeps piling up with each round of snow, making all the untouched areas more and more bottomless. A few shots from today’s outing:

Event totals: 3.2” Snow/0.10” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.7 inches New Liquid: 0.05 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 28.3 Snow Density: 3.5% H2O Temperature: 19.4 F Sky: Flurries Snow at the stake: 21.5 inches

Don’t most sites in NNE at elevation have snowpack depths of 30”+ at this point? From the map, it looks like some sites in that area might be in the 20”+ range, but not 30”+ unless they really got hit hard with another storm today.

Event totals: 1.5” Snow/0.04” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.5 inches New Liquid: 0.04 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 37.5 Snow Density: 2.7% H2O Temperature: 25.3 F Sky: Snow (2-8 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 20.5 inches

Actually, I’m just starting to get some flakes here at our site in association with this next system (Winter Storm Quade).

Thanks for keeping us updated on the maps for this next event PF – good use of the NNE thread, because I’m not seeing it really discussed elsewhere.

I saw that Bolton Valley was reporting the same 8” in the past 24 hours, so that seems pretty consistent in this area. We headed up for a session at the opening of Timberline this morning. It was bright and sunny when we got there, but before it clouded up and we got some flakes. For the rest of the morning it was generally cloudy with a bit of snow and the occasional appearance of the sun. My depth checks in the 1,500’ – 2,500’ range revealed new snow depths in the 6-9” range, which was definitely consistent with the snow report. The powder was pretty dry (3-5% H2O) so the new stuff alone wasn’t quite bottomless on piste on steep terrain, but off piste it just bolstered the depth of that already bottomless snowpack that’s out there. A few shots from the morning:

Event totals: 0.1” Snow/Trace L.E. We picked up an additional 0.1” of new snow this morning while we were out on the mountain. It was tough to decide, but I think there’s been enough demarcation between what seemed like the end of Winter Storm Peggy, and the effects from these more obvious LES bands, to break it out into its own event. I can see from PF’s radar image that this area around Bolton Valley and our house was a bit south of the main LES band he was talking about, but there are certainly still echoes out there coming in from the southwest and we’ve had additional flakes flying here at our site Details from the 2:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.1 inches New Liquid: Trace Temperature: 30.4 F Sky: Cloudy Snow at the stake: 22.0 inches

That’s exactly the way I took it as well. I’d say he’s got his priorities straight, and so would renowned ski mountaineer Delores LaChapelle.

Event totals: 7.4” Snow/0.37” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.0 inches New Liquid: 0.06 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 33.3 Snow Density: 3.0% H2O Temperature: 16.2 F Sky: Cloudy Snow at the stake: 23.5 inches

Alpine skis generally top out at waist widths of ~140 mm, and these wider skis of 100 mm+ are unquestionably better performers in powder. The extra surface area allows the skier to float higher in the snow, making turns easier, since you don’t have as much snow to push around, and not going as deep means that you have less of that third dimension (depth) to deal with in your powder skiing. From a photographer’s perspective, the fatter skis can diminish the magnitude of face shots somewhat, so that’s always a bit of irony with respect to the advancement of the equipment. There’s a limit to how fat you want to go, because the skis eventually get somewhat ungainly to the point where they’re impractical on any firmer surfaces. The skis will also have varying degrees of reverse camber/rocker to further enhance their performance in the powder: A more rockered configuration is preferred in powder because it keeps the tips of your skis up and out of the deep snow so that you don’t have to be quite as perfect with your fore-aft balance or worry about your tips diving. This makes them somewhat more forgiving compared to a cambered ski where you can get more tip dive if your balance is too far forward. Also, a rockered configuration (much like a whitewater kayak vs. a flatwater kayak) is going to facilitate easier rotation of your skis in deep snow vs. a more traditional cambered ski. The issue is, while the extra width and rocker are really helpful in the soft snow, they’re detrimental to performance on groomed surfaces. Edge-to-edge transition is much slower on the wider skis, and you’re getting less edge contact with the snow and rebound out of your turns if you have more rocker and less camber. Many companies address this issue somewhat by making skis with rockered tips and tails to facilitate easier skiing in deeper snow, but keeping some regular camber in the middle of the ski for better performance on firmer snow surfaces. The bottom ski image in the figure shows this general structure. Expat’s point is a good one though, in that you’ll see many people skiing groomed terrain on skis that are woefully too fat and/or rockered for the available snow surface. Sometimes it’s just that they only have one pair of skis, and they went with something on the wide side because they want that for when they are off piste. Also, people typically think fatter skis are “cool”, and they may have just wanted them and/or the salesperson could easily sell them on the allure of something fatter than they really needed.

Event totals: 5.4” Snow/0.31” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 3.6 inches New Liquid: 0.17 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 21.2 Snow Density: 4.7% H2O Temperature: 30.6 F Sky: Heavy Snow (5-25 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 21.5 inches

Phin, it really depends on what kind of snow you’re skiing, and at how high a level you’re going to be skiing on hard snow/ice. For a high-level racer who’s going to be on hard snow all the time and wants performance, they’re going to sharpen their skis very frequently - many, many times a season. They want the perfect bevel and all that for their desired performance. Also, for someone like the guy from VT who was recently lost in that avalanche in the Presidentials, you’re going to want your edges in tip-top shape. For the most part, someone like that is going to be skiing relatively soft snow, but if you’re in no-fall-zone terrain like some of those ravines, you never know when you’re going to come across a hidden ice bulge, and you don’t want to leave anything to chance. Those sharp edges could save your life. For just about everyone else, the frequency of sharpening is going to be much less, and there’s a lot of preference involved in the exact interval. I think Brewbeer is probably being a bit cheeky based on the emoticon, but that’s not too far from the truth for many people I know. Unless I’ve got obligations for a ski program day or something along those lines, I typically don’t even go out unless there’s fresh powder or really good snow, so on most of my pairs of skis, really sharp edges are hardly a priority. Those skis do eventually get sharpened every couple of years or so when I decide it’s time for a full tune. And, I have carving skis that I will sharpen and tune myself when I know I have to go out on a crap day. I kind of make the call on sharpening them based on how bad the conditions are going to be. For the typical recreational skier who is being selective with their days, you can get away with infrequent sharpening up here in NVT, much like many areas out in the western U.S., because of the frequent refresher snows we get. Obviously you can get away with it in other parts of NNE as well, depending on skier traffic and how the snow’s been falling. Stretches like this with no freeze/thaws make it very easy, as long as you stay away from manmade snow or very high traffic areas. If you guys are skiing five days a week and not choosing just primo snow days though, you’re probably going to be encountering hard snow at times (basically hard snow is essentially anything that makes noise when you’re making a turn). If I was going out five days a week and had to ski regardless of the conditions, I’d probably be sharpening every couple of weeks. If you’re not at a level where you can obviously tell that your edges need sharpening, then it’s not an imminent issue for you. Can you scrape off some fingernail on the edges? How do your bases look with respect to scratches? What I’d recommend though, with the amount of skiing you appear to be doing, is to get a mid-season tune from a professional (just your skis, not the whole family’s). You’re the one in the family who is actually cognizant of the potential issue, so you might as well be the test pilot. If you don’t notice any difference, that’s fine, you may not yet be skiing at a level where it matters too much. We’re around that mid-season point now, but the conditions are pretty good, so you could always wait on a tune until the conditions go south. But if you’re skiing a lot of icy stuff like what you mentioned you found at Cannon, those would be conditions that would let you recognize a difference.

It looks like another burst is just about to hit the spine around here:

We picked up just shy of an inch in the past 30 minutes, so that would put the snowfall rate near 2”/hr.

It’s not our tried and true NW or WNW flow, but it is coming down pretty heavily out there. It should be hitting you in short order unless there's some sort of Froude issue.

I saw those stronger echoes as well – it’s always interesting to see what they do when they hit the spine.

Yeah, I see that moisture approaching on the radar, and flakes have started falling here at the house.

Event totals: 1.8” Snow/0.14” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.8 inches New Liquid: 0.14 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 12.9 Snow Density: 7.8% H2O Temperature: 30.9 F Sky: Cloudy Snow at the stake: 18.5 inches

Snow from this next incoming system (Winter Storm Peggy) just started up here at our site.

January Totals Days with new snow: 29 Accumulating Storms: 12 Snowfall: 41.0” Liquid Equivalent: 3.05” SDD: 311.0 I just got around to assembling my January snow data. I think I recall people being rather “meh” on January’s winter weather in general, but it really snuck its way to just about average around here in terms of snowfall. And, snow fell on 29 out of 31 days of the month, so that’s going to provide a rather wintry feel right there.

With that period of 2”/hr snows we had on Tuesday afternoon, I stopped in at Bolton for some runs yesterday morning to see how the powder was skiing. When I got there about 30 minutes after the opening of Timberline, it seemed surprisingly busy for Bolton on a weekday morning, but I must have caught part of the initial burst of skiers, because it was back to walk-on by my second run. I was surprised to run into freezing mist and drizzle as I was heading through Bolton Flats, and that was the main precipitation type right on up to the mountain. My experience was similar to yours, in that it was pretty inconsequential with respect to the overall snow quality. It was irrelevant on the groomed terrain, and in the powder out in the open, while you could tell the layer was there, it was so thin that it just didn’t make a difference with respect to turns. The powder overall was denser than I thought it would be with my evening snow analyses coming in roughly 5 to 6% H2O, but perhaps the freezing drizzle had its effects there in terms of compacting things a bit. As you mentioned, in the trees it was even better because they catch most of the mist/drizzle. While the snow was relatively unaffected, the biggest hassle I found with the freezing drizzle was visibility. My goggles would glaze up pretty nicely during a lift ride. The great solution I found was to simply pop out my lens for the lift ride (another nice benefit of magnetic lenses), stick it in my coat, and by the time I reached the top, it was thawed and clear to start another run. At the Timberline Base I found about 5” of new snow, and depth checks I did around the mountain in the 1,500’ – 2,500’ range revealed roughly 5-8” of accumulation. I think was a bit more than what they mentioned in the snow report, but I’m currently seeing a report of 9” in the past 48 hours, so I’d say that’s pretty similar overall. The precipitation was changing back over to snow as I was heading out, and then later in the day that next round of backside upslope finally came through to finish off the storm. Even with that bit of freezing drizzle, we really haven’t had too much weather to specifically knock down the fluff or push the snow off objects, so it just continues to stack up on various surfaces. I’ve added a couple of shots I got of the snow while I was at the mountain: