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The 2018-2019 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2
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So much snow up north.

Mansfield stake at 80" (2nd highest ever recorded for this time of year) and we've got a settled depth of 42" at the parking lot elevation of 1,500ft.  The place is just straight buried.

The high winds led to very slabby snow conditions but the drifts are out of this world.  Ski Patrol had to dig a trench so the Mountain Triple could operate as the snow was too high to let the chairs move freely with people seated in them.   Upper Liftline at Stowe is closed due to lack of clearance from the chair to the snow surface.  The wind put a good 5-8 foot drift down the trail.

This is a photo of the old Nosedive (not currently a ski trail) but this was pretty flat before the storm.  Now the wind has loaded the old trail with 6-10 foot drifts.  The shear quantity of snow is pretty incredible on the mountain right now.

Nw119nt.jpg

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Beyond frustrated.  After last weekend fell apart on me, really thought this saturday would be good skiing.....crap.

 

Anyplace gonna strive this rain?  Stowe?  MRG?

 

What about going west to greek peak?

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5 minutes ago, tnt said:

Beyond frustrated.  After last weekend fell apart on me, really thought this saturday would be good skiing.....crap.

 

Anyplace gonna strive this rain?  Stowe?  MRG?

 

What about going west to greek peak?

Snow Ridge looks like money in the bank this weekend.

if you can even get there.

 

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On 1/22/2019 at 4:07 PM, powderfreak said:

So much snow up north.

Mansfield stake at 80" (2nd highest ever recorded for this time of year) and we've got a settled depth of 42" at the parking lot elevation of 1,500ft.  The place is just straight buried.

The high winds led to very slabby snow conditions but the drifts are out of this world.  Ski Patrol had to dig a trench so the Mountain Triple could operate as the snow was too high to let the chairs move freely with people seated in them.   Upper Liftline at Stowe is closed due to lack of clearance from the chair to the snow surface.  The wind put a good 5-8 foot drift down the trail.

This is a photo of the old Nosedive (not currently a ski trail) but this was pretty flat before the storm.  Now the wind has loaded the old trail with 6-10 foot drifts.  The shear quantity of snow is pretty incredible on the mountain right now.

 

Hey Scott.....The amount of snow in N. VT is amazing.  How would you rank this winter as far as rain events and overall snow quality.  Seems like a lot of rains to Maine with thaws and refreezes?  Seems like just a crap load of precip overall?

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3 hours ago, amarshall said:

How do you think the conditions will be saturday.  Hoping 2 days of grooming will soften up a freeze after a rainstorm. 

I think they're gonna suck.  Warm rain at all ski areas summits and all.  Gonna freeze hard Saturday.  Check the reports and maybe there's enough upslope somewhere for decent conditions?

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14 hours ago, amarshall said:

How do you think the conditions will be saturday.  Hoping 2 days of grooming will soften up a freeze after a rainstorm. 

I think they will be bad. I went to Killington several weeks ago after a cutter and it was pretty bad. I mapped out all of the snowmaking trails and skied only those trails where they blew or were blowing snow on, it was still bad. Perhaps Okemo has better snowmaking capacity and would produce a better product . Or ski the Northern Greens Upslope Machine.

Jason

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I would be very very wary of boiler plate ice. Most of the bigger resorts will make snow to resurface so mornings can be good. But as soon as that surface is scrapped off watch out. Solid ice is concrete when you fall on it. 

My buddy on the ski patrol at Stratton said today was a nightmare. Major melt down with full rivers going down trails. We really can’t seem to catch a break this winter 

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On 1/23/2019 at 10:16 AM, snowgeek said:

Hey Scott.....The amount of snow in N. VT is amazing.  How would you rank this winter as far as rain events and overall snow quality.  Seems like a lot of rains to Maine with thaws and refreezes?  Seems like just a crap load of precip overall?

There has been a lot of thaws, but honestly, that seems to happen more seasons than not anyway.  There have usually been quick recoveries and we've escaped a lot of events with minimal damage to snowpack.  But every time it rains it does reset the surface conditions to an unpleasant variety.  Hard to say on ranking but we have had a lot of great skiing this season.  November was awesome, December not as much, but January has been solid to now.  Some big upslope events, too.  This winter sure hasn't been boring from a weather perspective though.

It has been a "you should've been here yesterday" type of season though.  You hit when it's good because who knows what will happen in the next few days.

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20 minutes ago, amarshall said:

I just got an update from Stowe.  Much better than expected

My question is how much better will Stowe be than Killington

We did get an inch or two last night then another 1-2" this morning in snow showers.  

I think having realistic expectations could give a better than expected response.  There's definitely no shortage of snow, it's just firm.

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We did get an inch or two last night then another 1-2" this morning in snow showers.  
I think having realistic expectations could give a better than expected response.  There's definitely no shortage of snow, it's just firm.
I'm fine with firm I just don't want to go ski on a hockey rink. Big difference

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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Posted this in NNE thread but probably belongs here...

So they say it rained two days ago...

The skiing did not suck today.  I mean, everything that can go right has gone right this season.  It rains 1-2" and then the Greens get 6-8" of snow showers to save the weekend skiing.

Everyone today was totally blown away.  Expecting the worst after Thursday's torrential rain, only to find 40-80" natural depths and powder turns in the woods.

Late this afternoon I went to some of my stashes to get away from the crowds.

50529012_10103643407813400_3702779919646

 

And a photo from a buddy... I mean look at the snow on the trees?!  You'd never know it poured for 10 hours two days ago.

50609366_10213885856082871_8989883582986

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Took my niece skiing for the first time today at Royal Mtn. in the southern DAKS. Great coverage and it snowed about 4-5” while we skied. They’re closed midweek so the snow was really great. Powder covered bumps on the lift line were fantastic. Trees weren’t great because under the fresh powder was a breakable crust, but nice powder / packed powder on the trails. 30 runs on the small mountain lol. 1 hour drive and $45 lift ticket. Sweet day!! Oh, and tried my new K2 Shredinator 112mm Twin Tips and they were so much fun!!!97a9e552b2d9b5f7acc6517f19faf424.jpgf54d32c07287e34c3dc24c642d8bd4dc.jpgce54c70e10498f2dbcea3a4de070fa74.jpg6769c0bcec5707911959b89aece1cc71.jpg


.

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22 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Posted this in NNE thread but probably belongs here...

So they say it rained two days ago...

The skiing did not suck today.  I mean, everything that can go right has gone right this season.  It rains 1-2" and then the Greens get 6-8" of snow showers to save the weekend skiing.

Everyone today was totally blown away.  Expecting the worst after Thursday's torrential rain, only to find 40-80" natural depths and powder turns in the woods.

Late this afternoon I went to some of my stashes to get away from the crowds.

50529012_10103643407813400_3702779919646

 

And a photo from a buddy... I mean look at the snow on the trees?!  You'd never know it poured for 10 hours two days ago.

50609366_10213885856082871_8989883582986

I never would have thought 6-8” of upslope would be sufficient to cover boilerplate. Amazing! Perhaps this was a fairly dense snow?

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18 minutes ago, mreaves said:

Yup, had to evac the Lookout Double.  Fully loaded line while the FourRunner Quad was on wind hold. 

Went as smoothly as those things can go and most seemed to be in good spirits.  Sh*t happens. 

I got evacuated off the old FourRunner Quad several years ago, it was an interesting experience.

The only other local lift I know that's had that this year is the MRG Single Chair had an issue and was evacuated, but with one person to a chair that makes for a more timely rescue.

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16 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Yup, had to evac the Lookout Double.  Fully loaded line while the FourRunner Quad was on wind hold. 

Went as smoothly as those things can go and most seemed to be in good spirits.  Sh*t happens. 

I got evacuated off the old FourRunner Quad several years ago, it was an interesting experience.

The only other local lift I know that's had that this year is the MRG Single Chair had an issue and was evacuated, but with one person to a chair that makes for a more timely rescue.

Couple of moms in my town posted harrowing experience on Facebook. I'd expect a lawsuit :D

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1 hour ago, amarshall said:

Couple of moms in my town posted harrowing experience on Facebook. I'd expect a lawsuit :D

Suburban moms don't like that type of stuff lol.  My mom would probably rather just stay on the lift until it's fixed in a few days. 

@cpickett79 had quite the meltdown rant on Stowe's Facebook over the fact that they only got a free lift ticket.  In the past it would've been a hot chocolate vouchure as the industry standard and I'd love to know a ski resort that gives guests more than a free ticket in that situation.  Maybe a free season's pass or something?

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