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The 2021-2022 Ski season thread


Skivt2
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2 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

Took a ride to where the Olympians train today; Burke.  First time there..cool mountain.  It seemed like it was made for speed.  The woods looked cool too, but after dipping in once, it was pretty bad conditions.  Anything natural was also garbage, but the groomers were fast and fun and in great shape.

 

Hit jay in the afternoon and the 2” up top really made a difference.  Upper tramside glades were legit packed powder.  What a difference from Burke.  Really dreading this upcoming thaw/freeze.  It’s gonna destroy the Vt mountains that relay on natural.  Hoping for a more productive March and maybe a little help fixing it from the weekend clipper.  Def want to hit Burke again with good snow.

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Love Burke!  Place is a blast when it has snow!

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41 minutes ago, radarman said:

Wind turbine blade snapped in half at the Beast.  Just absolutely awful news that they really didn't need.  Schaefer family could use some support., IG video tough to watch.

Terrible news. It’s not like you can just order a blade up and have it delivered tomorrow either.  That is a big, challenging, technical  project, that probably can’t be done in winter. 

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45 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Terrible news. It’s not like you can just order a blade up and have it delivered tomorrow either.  That is a big, challenging, technical  project, that probably can’t be done in winter. 

Yeah I was just going through it mentally... giant crane req'd or maybe (?) a big sky crane and ex-navy seal type heli pilot.  Probably lifting the whole rotor down for autopsy and inspection of the other two blades.  Removal of the broken section, meanwhile fabricating the 91' blade and shipping from who knows where.  Then reinstall and relift.   Serious, serious PITA.  Slight chance they could swap out the blade in place but man that is a delicate undertaking.  There's several hundred bolts that hold the blade to the turbine and you have to keep it steady.

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39 minutes ago, radarman said:

Yeah I was just going through it mentally... giant crane req'd or maybe (?) a big sky crane and ex-navy seal type heli pilot.  Probably lifting the whole rotor down for autopsy and inspection of the other two blades.  Removal of the broken section, meanwhile fabricating the 91' blade and shipping from who knows where.  Then reinstall and relift.   Serious, serious PITA.  Slight chance they could swap out the blade in place but man that is a delicate undertaking.  There's several hundred bolts that hold the blade to the turbine and you have to keep it steady.

 

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36 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

 

awesome stuff.  I was kind of thinking about getting it down like a tree limb... basically cutting it into sections to get the leverage off the bolts before you detach it from the rotor.  Wasn't sure they actually do it though.   Usually they use two cranes to hold each end of the blade but that's probably not an option with it broken in half.

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total speculation (but that's what we like to do!) but suspect this means less snowmaking late season - I don't know the structure of these electrical contracts from the perspective the generator guaranteeing some amount of electricity back into the grid versus what they consume from the grid, et cetera but would think if they need to buy from the grid on the spot market(??) they are going to curtail any unnecessary consumption - assume they use electric pumps for snowmaking. the day I was up there over MLK weekend, the turbine was not spinning. I think I read that catamount has had snowmaking infrastructure problems this season. Plus securing that turbine so there is no risk to skiers is surely going to be a big undertaking. running a ski area is like being a farmer!

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4 hours ago, Professional Lurker said:

Their wind turbine is made by a company called powerwind, they're based out of Germany. ... so yeah, it'll be an undertaking to get another blade brought over.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk
 

Summer project for sure.  I can’t imagine how to get big cranes up that access road. I know they did it initially to put it up though. 

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Skied Pat's Peak Saturday and Bromley Sunday, a couple of observations...not sure about the before but after last Thursday's rainstorm... there is very little natural snow in soVT. Between the resiliency of man-made snow, ability to turn guns on and modern grooming equipment/techniques; these ski areas can get a hill back into shape within 24 hours of temperatures falling below freezing after a deluge. The skiing wasn't great, and on a few occasions I was just skidding across boilerplate on steeper terrain but it wasn't bad...flip side is the skiing business in NE is capital intensive.

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Berkshire East did a really good job resurfacing.  They blew some whales before the warmth and rain and groomed it all out pretty good for Saturday. Fresh couple inches of snow was super fun.  There was definitely plenty of ice but over all it was decent. Yesterday and this morning was even better.  All the manmade terrain is open so there are plenty of options. Gotta make the most of what you have.  I hope they can survive the rain and warmth.   

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Okemo was brutal this past Friday.  They must have groomed before temps dropped so there were large ice chunks all over the mountain that chattered the hell out of my knees and my buddy's back.  Saturday was far better with snow all day.  All in all, still a great trip.  Now I just hope for a really good reload for my trip to Stowe 3/11-3/13

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Does anyone have any good intel on Gore? Heading up there for the first time on Saturday. I'm very excited, Gore's been on my list for quite a while and now that I live only a 9 Iron away it seems like it's time to check it out.

With the pack pretty decimated I'm not so sure heading into the trees will be worth it even after this storm, which is a shame because I've heard a lot of great things about the zones off of Burnt Ridge. Mostly looking to cruise around each pod and sample a few bump runs. The pitch off of Straight Brook looks very enticing.

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Some great powder skiing in the lower angle woods that are trustworthy.  The trails are pretty horrific.  Ungroomed is just blue ice bumps (literally blue) with a bunch of fluff.  Found some spots today though with a good 15" of champagne in them from the storm and we've picked up 3-5" so far today.

Extremely variable skiing with a very firm subsurface.

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On 2/17/2022 at 3:57 PM, radarman said:

Wind turbine blade snapped in half at the Beast.  Just absolutely awful news that they really didn't need.  Schaefer family could use some support., IG video tough to watch.

How did it break? He mentioned in the video having prior, internal issues before? Faulty product all around?

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52 minutes ago, amarshall said:

Favorite month of the year for skiing for me. Incredibly tough to find time with spring sports starting up but the days you can sneak out are the best.  Saturday looking perfect. High of 30.  Sunny. 

Totally jealous man. My time of the year. I miss it more than anyone can imagine. Have a blast

 

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Feel very lucky to have skied in Colorado with my boy last week. 2 days at Copper, 1 at Winter Park and 1 at A-Basin. Stayed in Frisco. Loved all 3. Copper had very good snow conditions and was almost completely open. It snowed 2-4” each day. The new 3 Bears lift was amazing serving excellent terrain including some really fun chutes. Winter Park has the best snow with 13” of fresh. I loved the mountain. Mary Jane was awesome but exhausting. It’s like 2 Outer Limits on top of each other lol. The moguls were soft and perfectly sized with beautiful lines. Last day was ABasin which was bluebird. They needed more snow but still an absolute blast. Incredible views. Ski patrol was doing avalanche control while we were skiing which was fun to watch. Boy do they have some steep stuff there. You can really get yourself into trouble! Well, back to the east. Here are some pics!!

Elevation was definitely noticed. Frisco is 9,000 ft. and lots of lifts are 12K+. We spent 2 nights in Boulder and one bought in Frisco before skiing. I did fine except I was out of breath all week when skiing bumps and exerting myself. Met a lot of people that didn’t respect the elevation and had a lot of trouble. Road the lift at A basin with a guy who was in Atlanta the day before. He felt like crap and was slurring his words. Oy! Met some tough guys in Frisco that thought they were too tough to get altitude sickness. Idiots. I might try to hit some lower mountains out west next year lol. This was the highest elevation that I have skied at.

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