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The 2016-17 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2

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2 hours ago, Angus said:

Darn, that's an impressive drift. it has been snowing/icing at Sugarloaf since yesterday it appears looking at their instagram account. Sunshine's normal closing date is late May. You take a gondola up to the base area, it's easy to see how they go so long. 4 hours each way is tough! But I guess if you have two adults driving, it's somewhat mitigated. I've done 3.5 hours - Stowe and Sugarbush - plenty of times but SR is tough because you have a long drive on secondary roads which to me are fatiguing. 

Definitely a great late-season spot in the Alberta Rockies.  That zone can be brutal in mid-winter...extreme cold and dry that might make a snow weenie go crazy despite being in the middle of huge mountains...but they get awesome early and late season snows once the seasonal jet starts moving north.  They do get a good bit more snow than Lake Louise (close by) which can be the poster child of cold and dry or suppression depression, but the moisture seems to come early and late season there.

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2 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

I did Jay Peak as a day trip back in late April 2015...right after that got that 12" upslope snowstorm around 4/25-4/26. That was really pushing the edge of my limit though...close to 4 hours each way. But I got some pretty amazing skiing in. No lines, deep snow cover and powder in the glades.

Yeah that's quite the haul but that one paid off.  I think the longest day trip for skiing that I personally drove was from Albany to Sugarbush which was around 3 hours.

I did do a 4-hour Stowe to Albany round trip for a funeral, but didn't include something as physically tiring as skiing all day.

Lots of coffee, music, podcasts, whatever, ha.

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My son and I skied Sunshine Village last year for two days on our Fernie, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke tour and enjoyed. He went back this winter for 2 days at Sunshine Village and 2 days at Lake Louise. He preferred Lake Louise, said the back bowls were a ton of fun. We had very comfortable temps two years ago. This year, my son experienced very cold temperatures. 

Did a 4.5 hour each way trip to Saddleback back in March 2012 during the melt out, skied in hi 70's/low 80's sunshine and then drove back to metrowest - alone - killer day. 

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I used to do the day bus trips from Long Island to Vermont before my friends got the house near Stratton/bromely/magic.  The furthest they would go is kilington. 5-6 hours each way. The bus meets up at sundown ski shop on the south shore of the island at 330am. Granted your not driving but it's brutal. Leave at 330am and get back about mid night. And the bus's are always sold out during prime season! 

 

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19 hours ago, LongBeachSurfFreak said:

I used to do the day bus trips from Long Island to Vermont before my friends got the house near Stratton/bromely/magic.  The furthest they would go is kilington. 5-6 hours each way. The bus meets up at sundown ski shop on the south shore of the island at 330am. Granted your not driving but it's brutal. Leave at 330am and get back about mid night. And the bus's are always sold out during prime season! 

 

my son has been doing that from binghamton to killington and mt snow.  brutal.  better him than me.  Not a big fan of the bus for anything, let alone a 5 hour trip.

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On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 6:51 PM, powderfreak said:

That'll be there for a while.  Nice...looks like the mountain passes I saw in Norway in June back in 2011. 

Props to them for clearing that much snow...that road is sketchy as sh*t.

Not just the mountain passes.  On one of my brother's 3 times stationed in Germany, he and the family did a driving tour of Scandinavia, in June IIRC.  That included a couple hours on a narrow road along the central Norway coast, with the seaward side a near-vertical drop into saltwater and the landward mostly like that MWN-Road drift, no guardrails either side and very dense fog blowing in off the water, also very few turnouts.  The only gaps in the snowbank occurred where snowmelt-swollen streams came crashing down from the mountains - no guardrails there, either.  They've traveled to all 7 continents, and that section of road was probably the most terrifying time they've encountered.

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7 hours ago, tamarack said:

Not just the mountain passes.  On one of my brother's 3 times stationed in Germany, he and the family did a driving tour of Scandinavia, in June IIRC.  That included a couple hours on a narrow road along the central Norway coast, with the seaward side a near-vertical drop into saltwater and the landward mostly like that MWN-Road drift, no guardrails either side and very dense fog blowing in off the water, also very few turnouts.  The only gaps in the snowbank occurred where snowmelt-swollen streams came crashing down from the mountains - no guardrails there, either.  They've traveled to all 7 continents, and that section of road was probably the most terrifying time they've encountered.

Yeah I should've clarified that a bit more...basically any area above treeline looked like that, and up there above treeline is like 1,000ft above sea level, ha.    There are some terrifying roads there...its all huge drops straight to the ocean.  There was some serious snow left in June there in a lot of the places we traveled, except for Oslo area which is further south and right on the ocean. 

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Today showed the nastiness that is New England skiing in late April.  Afternoon temps were 32-38F from top to bottom with heavy mist/drizzle. 

The snowpack is so filthy in a lot of areas as an entire winter of debris is accumulating on the top of the snow as it melts down.  Glades here at 2,500ft (below the Fifth Avenue trail) were still skiable but below 2,300ft became too patchy so you have to exit. 

18033306_10102955167487530_3247523389974

Sharp gradient in snowpack, but moving higher with each day.  Goes from zero snow cover to multiple feet pretty quickly.  Still over 5 feet in the Nosedive Glades and Rim Rock area.

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10 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Today showed the nastiness that is New England skiing in late April.  Afternoon temps were 32-38F from top to bottom with heavy mist/drizzle. 

The snowpack is so filthy in a lot of areas as an entire winter of debris is accumulating on the top of the snow as it melts down.  Glades here at 2,500ft (below the Fifth Avenue trail) were still skiable but below 2,300ft became too patchy so you have to exit. 

18033306_10102955167487530_3247523389974

Sharp gradient in snowpack, but moving higher with each day.  Goes from zero snow cover to multiple feet pretty quickly.  Still over 5 feet in the Nosedive Glades and Rim Rock area.

Without sun, late april snow cover is like a tree falling in the forest. 

 

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3 hours ago, Albert A Clipper said:

that's awesome, did you make this with iMovie? thanks for the shoutout of my daughter's dog....we just got back from Engelberg Switzerland where we had a late season dump of epic proportions. upper mountain classed for two days, while skiing/riding at mid elevation was basically blind at times between the snowfall, clouds and above treeline elevation. Last day was the payoff with unreal powder for late April. 

I didn't do anything.  Apparently the iPad has this new function where it autonomously makes these slideshows.  I just went to look at the photos and it was there with some music options.  Too funny that I coincidentally took pictures of the snow board with your daughters dog on it.  Small world.

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12 hours ago, Albert A Clipper said:

home now....here's a slideshow. The picture that is completely white is basically how visibility was one day between the snow, clouds and lack of trees. If you look close, you can see an orange marker....we could barely see them too until we were on top of them, it was hairy....

 

 

 

Sweet.  Did the iPad do that?  That doggie gets around.

ive never been skiing in Europe, but my son is going to the Netherlands next semester, so may have to make the trip.

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On 4/22/2017 at 6:41 PM, Albert A Clipper said:

home now....here's a slideshow. The picture that is completely white is basically how visibility was one day between the snow, clouds and lack of trees. If you look close, you can see an orange marker....we could barely see them too until we were on top of them, it was hairy....

 

 

 

Great shots! Brace yourself though for youtube trolls reminding you to shoot in landscape mode ;).

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23 minutes ago, radarman said:

Was actually Squaw that was considering it in the Shirley Lake area, a short hike along the ridge from High Camp.

Here's some specifics on what was said:
 

Quote

 

“We’ve had long seasons where people ski well into May. This year not only are we going into May, we’re going into May with huge, 30-foot bases,” he explained in a phone call from his office in Tahoe. “The views outside right now, they’re just like what you’d have seen in January.”

Erdman says July 4 is a no-brainer. Staying open through August, though, is a bit far-fetched but “conceivable,” he says. “Our latest summer outlooks expect a hot summer in California eventually, especially as we get towards July and August.” But with low temperatures sticking to the 40s even in peak summer months, Pierce is confident that good grooming on the north side of the mountain will preserve and extend snow conditions, keeping some of the runs in good shape until snowmaking season kicks off again in the fall.

 

 

 

I'm skeptical they stay open through August...but it will be interesting to see if they even try it. I wonder if the July 4th skiing will be more impressive than 2011. When I saw 2011 pics, I was thinking it would be very difficult to get that much snow cover again that late in the year, but this year might be the one to break it given how much they have already. I do think a couple good May snowstorms would help...2011 actually had a very big June snowstorm the 1st week of the month. I think it dumped 2 feet on the ski resorts. That really must help with preservation because that much new snow has to make the albedo really act as an melt inhibitor.

Though I should probably note that I compared Independence Lake snow depth in 2017 vs 2011 and this year is 191 inches vs 159 inches on this date in 2011. So there's a pretty good lead. I guess we'll see how well that holds up into early summer.

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27 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Here's some specifics on what was said:
I'm skeptical they stay open through August...but it will be interesting to see if they even try it. I wonder if the July 4th skiing will be more impressive than 2011. When I saw 2011 pics, I was thinking it would be very difficult to get that much snow cover again that late in the year, but this year might be the one to break it given how much they have already. I do think a couple good May snowstorms would help...2011 actually had a very big June snowstorm the 1st week of the month. I think it dumped 2 feet on the ski resorts. That really must help with preservation because that much new snow has to make the albedo really act as an melt inhibitor.

Though I should probably note that I compared Independence Lake snow depth in 2017 vs 2011 and this year is 191 inches vs 159 inches on this date in 2011. So there's a pretty good lead. I guess we'll see how well that holds up into early summer.

191" is a lot of snow, wow. 

I took this pic in Jan of the Shirley Lake area in question.  Faces due N, which I suppose was obvious given that was the area that was singled out to possibly stay open.  Shirley and the adjacent Solitude area (not pictured, skier's right) are an intermediate paradise for those learning to ski western powder or those that like wide open groomers.  Small rocks, decent pitch but not hair raising... a lot of fun and a somewhat more laid back crowd than other parts of the mountain where folks are trying to go go go

 

shirley_lake.jpg

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What an awesome season and yesterday was quite possibly the best closing day I've ever had.

I skied in the woods more yesterday, on April 23rd, than I did all last winter. 

Final run of the lift-served season after hanging out up top for a bit...4:30pm in the glades on a 5+ foot base on April 23rd.  The costumes yesterday were ridiculous.

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