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Okemo 4/6/2014

Loaf Nut

New member
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
26
Points
0
Location
Brookfield, CT
Date(s) Skied: 4/6/2014

Resort or Ski Area: Okemo

Conditions: Bluebird, corn harvest

Trip Report: Planned to ski at Killington today, but with the summit forecast of 16 degrees, we opted for Okemo instead. We were greeted with warm weather and soft, deep corn snow all over the mountain. The South Face skied especially nice in the AM. They've already cut one of the trails for the new village expansion there, and the terrain looks even flatter than the existing ski area. Mountain was deserted, for the good and the bad... there were no lift lines, but there was also hardly any food left in the lodge. The few bump runs that Okemo offers (why groom so much on a warm spring day?) skied great after lunch. Overall, we found the elusive spring conditions we'd been waiting for all year, and enjoyed a mountain we would otherwise not have visited.

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spiderpig

Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
Messages
270
Points
18
Location
Ridgefield, CT
I don't know when you started, but if they didn't groom, it would have been crackling teeth over yesterday's frozen tracks in the morning.
 

Cheese

New member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
999
Points
0
Location
Hollis, NH
You didn't miss anything at Killington. The Friday/Saturday rain did a real number on the conditions there. Although snow depths are great there is a thick solid ice layer fairly near the surface. Any grooming offers a thin corduroy surface resting on this layer. If you're a carver you'll get a few turns to build confidence and then the corduroy essentially breaks free and slides away underneath you. The groom also skis off to this ice layer very early in the day. I suspect they're in trouble until the spring temps can melt this layer and hopefully reveal a softer surface beneath. If a trail is closed, do not poach it as it is extremely dangerous. Even the ones which look closed with a fresh groom (Ovation) are not safe. It's a groom that was laid down Friday before the rain and froze up hard. Not a crust, but instead a thick layer of ice.
 
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