Ski Season Grade So Far

SIKSKIER · Feb 24, 2014

Split decision.If you ski primarily in northern NE its been very frustrating to see 75% of the big snowfall occur in southern NE.Conversely,southern areas have had some pretty good snow totals although its seems most ahas been near the Cape.Good for Yagoo I guess.
We finally get good snow coverage at Cannon and bam,rain and freeze.WTF.I still have more snow at my house in Bedford than I do at Mittersill.

4aprice · Feb 24, 2014

Wow I guess the north really hasn't made out so well and its all about location. The Pocono's are pretty much having an epic season with the mixture off cold allowing a great man-made base and the natural we've been getting over the last month. Melt downs have happened but recovery has been quick. Last weekends snow and this weekends spring conditions were just great. Elk even has said they are ready to make more snow when and if needed, and I would bet Camelback hasn't put the guns away yet either. They should have a good run through March.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

xwhaler · Feb 24, 2014

Solid B so far for me mainly due to the qty of days. I'm at 14 which considering I have a 1 yr old at home it's been a good # so far for me....my wife has 7 days in which has been great for her to get out as well. Have met some cool AZ'ers and discovered new mtns (BMOM, return to Wildcat off a 20 yr hiatus, Dartmouth Skiway)
Have had a couple really awesome days none better than discovering Black Mtn of ME and skiing knee deep untracked powder for $15.
Pre-season goal of 20 days appears on its way to being surpassed as we have at least 7 days already planned for March. If I can get a couple more powder days in the grade will go up.

ERJ-145CA · Feb 24, 2014

steamboat1 said:
How are you feeling out there. You had a more serious injury than me, surgery, plates screws & all. I had no surgery but skiing this year with no ACL & a brace, ankle seems to have healed fine. Hope you're doing well. I've felt much better than I ever expected although I don't think I can ski more than 3 consecutive full days. Shooting for 5 days this week with a days rest after 3.

I'm feeling good. My leg healed well, rarely any pain or anything. After 7 or 8 runs my knee starts to ache a little. I've only been out 5 days so far and should be getting another one on Friday. I haven't been going out by myself every chance I got like I used to, just going with the kids and friends. Part of it is mental, I don't want to break that leg again. The orthopedist told me that if I break that leg again, with all the hardware, it's going to be very difficult for him or what ever orthopedist has to deal with me. Not to mention the wife is nervous, we can't really afford for me to be out of work for an extended time again. The last couple times out though I was skiing much more confidently albeit much slower than I used to. Now I just enjoy my time on the mountain rather than trying to get as much vertical in as I could in the time I had.

steamboat1 · Feb 24, 2014

ERJ-145CA said:
I'm feeling good. My leg healed well, rarely any pain or anything. After 7 or 8 runs my knee starts to ache a little. I've only been out 5 days so far and should be getting another one on Friday. I haven't been going out by myself every chance I got like I used to, just going with the kids and friends. Part of it is mental, I don't want to break that leg again. The orthopedist told me that if I break that leg again, with all the hardware, it's going to be very difficult for him or what ever orthopedist has to deal with me. Not to mention the wife is nervous, we can't really afford for me to be out of work for an extended time again. The last couple times out though I was skiing much more confidently albeit much slower than I used to. Now I just enjoy my time on the mountain rather than trying to get as much vertical in as I could in the time I had.

Glad to hear. I've never been a speed skier anyway so my style hasn't changed. I prefer being more like a mountain goat enjoying every foot of vertical. I leave the speed skiing to all those experts on the groomers at Okemo & Stratton. Put them on a mogul & they fall apart.

ScottySkis · Feb 24, 2014

B+

Several fun smow days at Roxbury NY. more day this year in Jan. then all of last year. we had some utah snow events. rain has happen to but that always happens. got to Sugarloaf first time back since i was young. learning how to save money so i ski several new hills this wintwe

bdfreetuna · Feb 24, 2014

MadMadWorld said:
I feel like a few years from now people are going to look back and see the snow totals and think it was a great season. To me it's a B- so far.

I agree, we may be very grateful for this kind of season in 5, 10 years.

However a C grade is supposed to be average. This season has been well below average of my experience due to big time thaws and lack of snow in January mostly. The 2-day thaw late last week even did a good deal of damage.

There have been very short periods where one could ski soft snow 2 weeks in a row. For this reason the excitement this season has been short lived and limited. We've yet to see how long this base will last into the spring, but suffice to say we'll not really get by on what's already on the ground for too long.

Also on the issue of global warming, I think it would be warmer than it already is if it wasn't for certain ski areas paying to seed clouds and other large-scale geoengineering efforts which are clearly well under way.

In other words I give it a D+ because at least it snowed a few times. There have been very few seasons where I can remember so many trails being closed so late in the season at various times.

joshua segal · Feb 27, 2014

joshua segal said:
Going into Feb., I would have rated the season as D to D+: Two major meltdowns; very cold January; not much natural snow; minimal glades skiing The spectacular 2nd half of February has raised it to a C for me. If we have a spectacular March it could move higher.

That being said, I suspect the industry is doing OK with both good condx Christmas week and exceptionallly good condx Presidents' Day week

Updating my own posting:

At the end of Feb. vacation week, we had a thaw and from an economics point of view, I suspect the week was a resounding success: 9 consecutive great days!. Sunday's spring snow hard-froze and by Monday, we were back to January temperatures and frozen/groomed granular. If one cherry-picked his/her ski days this season, s/he could have found a dozen superb days, but this season at this point for me is back to D+ to C-.

dlague · Feb 27, 2014

bdfreetuna said:
Also on the issue of global warming, I think it would be warmer than it already is if it wasn't for certain ski areas paying to seed clouds and other large-scale geoengineering efforts which are clearly well under way.

Too much skiing at tunaspeed?

UVSHTSTRM · Feb 27, 2014

Thaws? Really? In western NH I feel as though we have only had one and that was a week ago. Perhaps I have missed a few. My perception is that it has been cold and dry for the most part. The only rain I can recall is what just occurred a week ago. Other then that I would have to go back pre xmas. In general the only saving grace this year has been the lack of thaws…lord knows NNE hasn't see and abundance of large snowstorms.

EDIT: I went and looked back at early January and we did get a thaw of sorts……I didn't remember it because we had nearly zero snow on the ground at the time.

JDMRoma · Feb 27, 2014

Thaws…Yes 2 in Jan, one last week and one right before christmas or christmas week…..very discouraging season for me.

So Im going with a D……..too many warm ups / @ain events and then Super cold forcing all snow south of the NH Border.

Snow Banks are smaller up north than they are in my own back yard…totally sickening, and to add insult to Injury I have to commute to work in southern Mass during most of these Shit Show Storms coming at us lately.

Cannonball · Mar 2, 2014

JDMRoma said:
Snow Banks are smaller up north than they are in my own back yard…totally sickening, and to add insult to Injury I have to commute to work in southern Mass during most of these Shit Show Storms coming at us lately.

We were talking about snowbanks on the lift today. This is my yard in Lincoln I was telling you about. All these widely varying grades in this thread make me think that the conditions have been widely varying and localized. Great morning BTW!

JDMRoma · Mar 2, 2014

Cannonball said:
We were talking about snowbanks on the lift today. This is my yard in Lincoln I was telling you about. All these widely varying grades in this thread make me think that the conditions have been widely varying and localized. Great morning BTW!

Wow thats some snowbank !! Yes Great Morning with you and L, Nice Surprise getting some new Snow….and seeing you on Skis !! I ended up staying till 1:30, trails still held up pretty darn good ! Cant wait to get back next weekend.

mikestaple · Mar 2, 2014

C- I would have bet the house if you told me it was going to rain at Jay two days after Christmas. Lots of rain destroying great snow packs.

Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app

fcksummer · Mar 3, 2014

C as of right now. It's been a frustrating year with all the southern storms and the thaws & rain we've gotten.

planb420 · Mar 3, 2014

SO I'd give it a B- with the potential for a B+ depending on the longevity of the season

Tin · Mar 3, 2014

C- and that is generous. Either frozen solid and nasty windchills or spring skiing in hoodies. Tough year for the woods up until the past two weeks.

AdironRider · Mar 3, 2014

B+ - Been a bit wetter and heavier here than usual, which has been incredible for the base (130+ inches currently) but if I had to be picky it could be a bit more blower. This will turn into a solid A if it keeps up and Im riding lift served on July 4th again.

Cannonball · Mar 15, 2014

Cannonball said:
I'm giving it a B+ so far. I got excellent days in October and November (rare). And December was way better than average. The torching in January was tough and so the grade slips for that. But the rebound was quick and substantial. Even with that bad January we have more snow right now than we did at this point the past two winters. Base depths are excellent, all the trees are in play. This week was some of the best conditions I've ever skied.
There is plenty of time left though and the grade could change considerably in either direction.

Checking back on my grade from Mid-feb. Everything I said then still holds, and since then it has just got better and better. Base depths are phenomenal, everything is BURIED. You know it's a good season when they close off sections of trail under the lift because the surface is too close the chairs. In the past 2 days I've ridden everything from untracked knee-deep, to head-high wind drifts, to perfect corduroy, to mushy spring bumps, and beyond. I'm bumping my grade to a solid A.

Euler · Mar 15, 2014

Euler said:
My grade so far is a solid B. I've had several phenomenal days...three in December and one in Feb. There have also been a bunch of good days, as well as a couple of pretty dreadful ones. I'm not psyched on the weather pattern I see in the upcoming week, but I'm hopeful that March will deliver, and I plan on skiing in April and perhaps May this year. I've never skied in May so if I find some opportunities for nice trips up to K this season may well end up being a solid A by the time it's over.

Season, I'm happy to inform you that your grade had improved to an A! You delivered the goods as I requested with the skiing at Killington and Pico this week, and I'm looking forward to several more great days of both winter AND spring skiing. At this point, it's worked out to be my best season ever in terms of getting things to line up for me in terms of weather, available time, and family. Good job season!! If you would like to improve even more, work on making sure there is a gorgeous sunny day for me to enjoy at Bromley on coned up spring snow before the winter ends, and also try to make sure the snow is skiable for me at Magic this Thursday if I'm able to head over for Throwback Thursday next week. I'm proud of all you've done, especially in persevering through the truly challenging January thaws.

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