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The 2013-2014 Ski Season Thread

Skivt2

By Skivt2,
in New England

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

Are fan guns kind of out of vogue? I feel like I see less and less new ones compared to five or six years ago.

No they are still very popular. They are fantastic in the base areas, terrain parks where massive snow is needed, and high traffic spots. All the new ones are fully automated so you just fire it up from a control room. Those put out so much snow it's ridiculous...300 gallons of water per minute per gun equals a lot of freakin snow. The reason it may seem like there's less is that the need for them is somewhat limited after a little while because they are expensive and overkill for most snowmaking trails. Once you buy a few and put them in your wide open beginner slopes or around the base of lifts, you really don't need to buy any more. Most of them are moveable so if a ski area has a handful they can just move them where they need to...the desire to spend more money to have 150 fan guns isn't there like it is for the more reasonable tower guns. I'm not sure if that makes sense...but it does in my head haha.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
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Berkshire east has nothing but fan guns. Another plus side of the fan gun is that each gun carries it's own compressor, so there's no neef to run both air and water lines throughout the trail network...

Oh yeah forgot to mention that... they don't take away from the capacity of the rest of the snowmaking system. You can run as many fan guns as you want (as long as you have enough water) without using up air from the compressor plant, so it doesn't cut into your capacity to run other guns.

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MidlothianWX

MidlothianWX

Posted
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Hi everyone - hope all of you had a nice Christmas. I'm taking a trip to SNE and was curious if any of the skiers in this thread would be able to give me some mountain advice.

 

I'll be in Danbury, CT until the 1st or 2nd of January. After that point I'll have ~3 solid days of free time to ski wherever I want within driving distance. I've been skiing for over ten years now (all in WV/PA) and have always hoped to get up to NE as soon as possible. Keeping in mind that I will be driving straight to Snowshoe Resort in WV to meet friends by the afternoon of the 6th (meaning I'll probably be leaving whichever resort I find myself at the evening of the 5th), I'm trying to create an optimal itinerary.  My original idea was to ski Hunter and Plattekill, as they are fairly close to western CT and would allow me to drive to WV in ~9 hours. However, if I can swing it, I'd love to get up to Vermont.

 

A quick Google search tells me that Killington (picked randomly) is an ~11 hour drive to Snowshoe, which is certainly doable if I break it up over two days. I'm not trying to go too much further though, and I am also trying to limit the distance I need to drive from Danbury in the first place. You guys know the nuances of everything up there; I'm only familiar with what I've read in magazines and on message boards. Anyone willing to take a stab at this? Is Vermont definitely worth it over NY? I know conditions play a roll here as well but it's hard to predict that sort of thing this far out. Long story short, I'm trying to balance driving distance with cost with excitement factor. If it means anything, I am able to tackle anything at the resorts down this way and have zero interest in park skiing.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edit: Just to clarify, I'll be in CT no matter what - that part of the trip has nothing to do with skiing.

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Sugarloaf1989

Sugarloaf1989

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone - hope all of you had a nice Christmas. I'm taking a trip to SNE and was curious if any of the skiers in this thread would be able to give me some mountain advice.

 

I'll be in Danbury, CT until the 1st or 2nd of January. After that point I'll have ~3 solid days of free time to ski wherever I want within driving distance. I've been skiing for over ten years now (all in WV/PA) and have always hoped to get up to NE as soon as possible. Keeping in mind that I will be driving straight to Snowshoe Resort in WV to meet friends by the afternoon of the 6th (meaning I'll probably be leaving whichever resort I find myself at the evening of the 5th), I'm trying to create an optimal itinerary.  My original idea was to ski Hunter and Plattekill, as they are fairly close to western CT and would allow me to drive to WV in ~9 hours. However, if I can swing it, I'd love to get up to Vermont.

 

A quick Google search tells me that Killington (picked randomly) is an ~11 hour drive to Snowshoe, which is certainly doable if I break it up over two days. I'm not trying to go too much further though, and I am also trying to limit the distance I need to drive from Danbury in the first place. You guys know the nuances of everything up there; I'm only familiar with what I've read in magazines and on message boards. Anyone willing to take a stab at this? Is Vermont definitely worth it over NY? I know conditions play a roll here as well but it's hard to predict that sort of thing this far out. Long story short, I'm trying to balance driving distance with cost with excitement factor. If it means anything, I am able to tackle anything at the resorts down this way and have zero interest in park skiing.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I personally would not come up this way to ski Hunter or Plattekill. Plattekill is more of a place to ski with plentiful natural snow, which they do not have right now. Your best best for open terrain and good snow conditions would be Bromley, Stratton or Mount Snow as all three have powerful snowmaking and good grooming. And they all have a decent amount of open trails right now. We just had a substantial thaw which wiped out all of the natural snow trails in Central/Southern Vermont and all that is opened right now are snowmaking runs.

 

I love Killington, but would stay away from the mountain right now as they only have 53 trails opened and will probably be mobbed. One piece of advice that I would give we be to arrive at any mountain this week as early as possible to get first tracks on groomed snow before things get scraped down to ice and overcrowded.

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gravitylover

gravitylover

Posted
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Those are weeknights so I would just play it by ear and go where the snow is, rooms will be easy to find.  Western NY and PA may have smaller hills but if the snow is good who cares how big the place is and it will leave you doing fewer miles overall without the big push to get where you're going at the tail end.  

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MidlothianWX

MidlothianWX

Posted
Posted

Those are weeknights so I would just play it by ear and go where the snow is, rooms will be easy to find.  Western NY and PA may have smaller hills but if the snow is good who cares how big the place is and it will leave you doing fewer miles overall without the big push to get where you're going at the tail end.  

 

 

Midlo, you could pretty easily hit anything in S. VT going up I91 from Danbury but I think the drive to WV stinks no matter how you do it.  Looks like a system may be brewing for 29th-30th so maybe see how that plays out.

 

Thanks - thinking about it more, I suppose I am forgetting that the season is still young. A large storm in a specific area would certainly make my decision easier. Worst case scenario, I could chase snow down to Blue Knob or something like that.

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Ginx snewx

Ginx snewx

Posted
Posted

Thats a big if, and they need quite a bit of snow to open up the black runs, especially with no base to start with. If we do get alot of snow, I'd choose Magic over Bershire East, but if now, forget about Magic.

You are really jaded , the skiing has been great today from all accounts and getting better daily.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

It rained last week so better wait a while to ski or ride ... leaves more powder for me ;)

 

 

 

The best thing is that its aesthetically pleasing out there again... the picnic table deck was down to no snow after the thaw but today's snow has started filling it back in. 

 

 

Looks like mid-winter again.

 

 

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radarman

radarman

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone - hope all of you had a nice Christmas. I'm taking a trip to SNE and was curious if any of the skiers in this thread would be able to give me some mountain advice.

 

I'll be in Danbury, CT until the 1st or 2nd of January. After that point I'll have ~3 solid days of free time to ski wherever I want within driving distance. I've been skiing for over ten years now (all in WV/PA) and have always hoped to get up to NE as soon as possible. Keeping in mind that I will be driving straight to Snowshoe Resort in WV to meet friends by the afternoon of the 6th (meaning I'll probably be leaving whichever resort I find myself at the evening of the 5th), I'm trying to create an optimal itinerary.  My original idea was to ski Hunter and Plattekill, as they are fairly close to western CT and would allow me to drive to WV in ~9 hours. However, if I can swing it, I'd love to get up to Vermont.

 

A quick Google search tells me that Killington (picked randomly) is an ~11 hour drive to Snowshoe, which is certainly doable if I break it up over two days. I'm not trying to go too much further though, and I am also trying to limit the distance I need to drive from Danbury in the first place. You guys know the nuances of everything up there; I'm only familiar with what I've read in magazines and on message boards. Anyone willing to take a stab at this? Is Vermont definitely worth it over NY? I know conditions play a roll here as well but it's hard to predict that sort of thing this far out. Long story short, I'm trying to balance driving distance with cost with excitement factor. If it means anything, I am able to tackle anything at the resorts down this way and have zero interest in park skiing.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edit: Just to clarify, I'll be in CT no matter what - that part of the trip has nothing to do with skiing.

 

Last time you came up to New England was epic :)

 

Loved that footage you took wow.

 

The skiing should be solid, it's been an excellent start to the season.  I totally concur with Gravity and Bobbutts to reconvene this discussion in a couple days.  You have a lot of options based on the eventual storm tracks... minor shifts in any direction will influence your decision because of all the mountains we have in somewhat varied climo spots.

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Sugarloaf1989

Sugarloaf1989

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You are really jaded , the skiing has been great today from all accounts and getting better daily.

 

 

Skiing primarily snowmaking groomers is not my idea of fun, especially paying nearly $200 for two people to do it. Obviously the conditions are getting better with snowmaking.

 

The conditions on the west coast are horrible with Timberline having a 30" base and Mammoth at 45" of snowfall for a season total so far.

 

Colorado seems to be doing quite well, I havent checked Utah.

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MidlothianWX

MidlothianWX

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Last time you came up to New England was epic :)

 

Loved that footage you took wow.

 

The skiing should be solid, it's been an excellent start to the season.  I totally concur with Gravity and Bobbutts to reconvene this discussion in a couple days.  You have a lot of options based on the eventual storm tracks... minor shifts in any direction will influence your decision because of all the mountains we have in somewhat varied climo spots.

Thanks for the post. Funny you remember me coming up there for the Boston storm - I was just organizing my pictures/videos from that. Had a helluva' time, one I certainly won't ever forget.

 

Powderfreak's pictures make me salivate. I've never really skied in true pow, or perhaps just once or twice at Snowshoe. The groomers come out real quick though. Don't want to clog up this thread too much as I know you guys use it more for obs etc. but I'll certainly return around or just before the New Year. Hoping for a dumping!

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Sugarloaf1989

Sugarloaf1989

Posted
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How does Gore compare to the southern VT mountains? Looks like it's about 20-30 minutes further from Danbury, although in a slightly different direction of course.

 

Gore is a nice place to ski with lots of natural snowfall. It roughly compares to Killington with several peaks and a vertical drop of 2,100' They have a really nice glade system. Right now they have 39 trails opened that are spread out all over the resort, so that might be a good option for you. The mountain is fairly close to I-87 as well, so you can head south fairly easily.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

 

The conditions on the west coast are horrible with Timberline having a 30" base and Mammoth at 45" of snowfall for a season total so far.

 

Colorado seems to be doing quite well, I havent checked Utah.

 

Wow I didn't realize how bad it was out there... I just took a look and the Sierra look to be significantly lacking snow.  Squaw/Alpine Meadows/Mammoth/etc all seem to have less than 50% of terrain open (even only 30%), and it hasn't really snowed in weeks.

 

Colorado has been having a good early season... places like Steamboat are at 150" on the season so far, while Vail is 107". 

 

But back to the Sierra....Check out this report from Mammothsnowman.com (which is a local website for Mammoth conditions)...

 

The Mammoth Weather Outlook:  Looks like highs in the 40s with clear skies for the next 1 – 2 weeks.  We are in a drought pattern for now, snowmaking will be king until things change.  We are seeing some possible changes for January so pray for snow!

 

So how much terrain is open at this point?  It’s less then the Christmas drought of 2 years ago.  Snowman would estimate we have around 500+ acres of terrain open at this point. 

 

There is some low tide rocky fun to be had off the groomers.  The Face of Five is accessible from about 100 yards down solitude.  What you will find in here is the lowest ski able snow base I have ever seen. 

 

Plan on hitting rocks and stumps and going slow to get to the good turns.   Once you make your way thru the low tide there are some fun turns on the lower 2/3rds of the face.  Experts only in here and bring your rock board only.

 

2013-12-22_0759.png

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radarman

radarman

Posted
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Yeah... I have family in for the week from Truckee... I remember him complaining a couple weeks ago because the big dump they got was pure fluff.  Thought at the time, oh poor you.  But as usual he was right.  The low water content did nothing to cover up the huge rocks.  They are really suffering now at Squaw.  It's been several years since they've had a big winter wire to wire, although IIRC they had a big end of winter maybe 2 years ago.  I miss it, when it's good it's very, very good.

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