Ski Season Grade

KevinF · Apr 6, 2015

How the hell are you people grading? There was an eight week period of insanely good conditions. No thaws, no rain events, just cold and snow, snow and more snow. This is the single best season I can remember in the north-east!

I ski primarily at Stowe. It seemed like I was skiing fluffiness on wide open trails more often than I wasn't. Yes, there have been previous seasons when they got more snow (i.e., that 2000/2001 winter where the snow fences atop Starr got buried), but I was nowhere nearly as a good a skier then as I am now, so I couldn't enjoy it as much.

Yes, it has been crazy cold. I've learned to dress for it and take more breaks.

I can't ever remember a season where conditions were as consistent everywhere as this one.

snoseek · Apr 6, 2015

KevinF said:
How the hell are you people grading? There was an eight week period of insanely good conditions. No thaws, no rain events, just cold and snow, snow and more snow. This is the single best season I can remember in the north-east!

I ski primarily at Stowe. It seemed like I was skiing fluffiness on wide open trails more often than I wasn't. Yes, there have been previous seasons when they got more snow (i.e., that 2000/2001 winter where the snow fences atop Starr got buried), but I was nowhere nearly as a good a skier then as I am now, so I couldn't enjoy it as much.

Yes, it has been crazy cold. I've learned to dress for it and take more breaks.

I can't ever remember a season where conditions were as consistent everywhere as this one.

I was skiing back east for most of 10-11 and still follow your weather and it seems like both seasons are similar except maybe a little colder this year. It certainly was an outstanding season...I give that an A by East Coast standards for sure

dlague · Apr 6, 2015

VTKilarney said:
That thread was for a mid-season grade. Not the same as this thread.

In that case

A-

Broke our record for the most days in a season and still more to go.
Skied Banff - while not powder conditions that was still a boat load of great skiing
While it was cold for a chunk of the season - found conditions on some of those freezing days to have been the best days
Many discount the season because of the cold - skiing 40+ days - well that is going to happen. If a perfect season requires 27 degree days - then perfection will never be reached.

I take away a few points because by family has been putting the brakes on and it is bumming me out. We missed 5 potential skiing days in the past month.

ironhippy · Apr 6, 2015

KevinF said:
How the hell are you people grading? There was an eight week period of insanely good conditions. No thaws, no rain events, just cold and snow, snow and more snow. This is the single best season I can remember in the north-east!

I agree completely, I've only gotten back into skiing the past 3 years, but this year blew away my expectations simply based on the continual cold weather.

This season has been a solid A for me.. it started off slow, but made up for it.

Up here between mid Jan and March, we averaged at least a storm a week. We didn't get any HUGE dumps (we had several that were about a foot) but all the snow that fell stayed in powder form until we got a warm up in March.

C-Rex · Apr 7, 2015

What I'm reading here just reinforces what I've learned over the years. If you want to have a killer season, you have to get after it. In the East, snow doesn't stay fluffy for weeks like it does out west. And we don't have lift serviced areas with thousands of acres that take that long to get tracked out. You have to keep an eye on the weather and position yourself to be in the right place at the right time. If you sit around and wait for it to come to you, you're most likely going to be really disappointed. People who only ski Saturday or Sunday and sit home when it goes below 20 degrees don't have the right to say the season wasn't good. It was good, you just missed it.

VTKilarney · Apr 7, 2015

C-Rex said:
If you sit around and wait for it to come to you, you're most likely going to be really disappointed. People who only ski Saturday or Sunday and sit home when it goes below 20 degrees don't have the right to say the season wasn't good. It was good, you just missed it.

Some people can't get out whenever they want to because of work and family obligations. It seems a little harsh to tell them that they can't factor this into their personal grade. And I've yet to see anyone say that they wouldn't ski if it is colder than twenty degrees.

〽❄❅ · Apr 7, 2015

C-Rex said:
-If you want to have a killer season, you have to get after it. -
-You have to keep an eye on the weather and position yourself to be in the right place at the right time. -
-If you sit around and wait for it to come to you, you're most likely going to be really disappointed. -
-

Allot easier for you to say up there in Enfield CT, it's a whole different ball game from where i'm sitting in Philadelphia!
Believe me, had i known Smuggs was gonna get +9" this past Saturday, I would've forgot about holiday commitments and headed there last Friday!

AdironRider · Apr 7, 2015

I hate to crush C-Rex's dreams, but very rarely does snow stay fluffy out west for weeks.

Hours here in Jackson.

The overall point of getting after it is spot on though. I can't even count how many banner days were made just by getting the hill an hour earlier than most.

bdfreetuna · Apr 7, 2015

Since the other thread went dead I'll post it here:::

Record breaking season
Most & deepest powder days possibly ever
Still skiing mid winter conditions in April
Skiing 60 degrees April day at Sugarloaf and then Blizzard at Saddleback the next days
Bolton Valley knee deep powder
Pico December Birthday powder day

And Engaged to my future wife on a 60 degree sunny day in Can't Dog 2 Glade

Still got a few days left. Downside: cold and windy season. But no thaws for most of the season and cool temps means I'll get to ski an extra month than usual.
A+

Not Sure · Apr 7, 2015

〽❄❅;900956 said:
Allot easier for you to say up there in Enfield CT, it's a whole different ball game from where i'm sitting in Philadelphia!
Believe me, had i known Smuggs was gonna get +9" this past Saturday, I would've forgot about holiday commitments and headed there last Friday!

Pa. was'nt much better than a C+ to a B, Many storm fails and ice glazing , Still colder and more snow than normal.
Hard act to follow after last year.

There's always next year

so-youre-telling-me-theres-a-chance-dumb-and-dumber-lloyd-christmas-meme-600x324[1].jpg

Domeskier · Apr 8, 2015

bdfreetuna said:
And Engaged to my future wife on a 60 degree sunny day in Can't Dog 2 Glade

Congrats, Tuna!

mlctvt · Apr 8, 2015

For me it was a "C".
Very few powder days this season I'd say less than normal especially since most of the storms happened on Mondays, 4 storms for 4 Mondays in a row. Now if they hit Friday that would have improved things nicely. I'm a weekend only skier.

Plus I screwed up my back shoveling snow so my last day skiing was March 7th. My season was over then. Maybe next year the storms will hit on weekends or towards the end of the week.

On to cycling, I'm probably one of the few here that looks forward to near 60 degrees this coming weekend.

fbrissette · Apr 8, 2015

mlctvt said:
For me it was a "C".

On to cycling, I'm probably one of the few here that looks forward to near 60 degrees this coming weekend.

Sarted riding my bicycle to work this morning. I really enjoy the few weeks where I can ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon.

Cannonball · Apr 9, 2015

fbrissette said:
Sarted riding my bicycle to work this morning. I really enjoy the few weeks where I can ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon.

Combine!

Ski Season Grade

KevinF

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snoseek

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dlague

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ironhippy

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C-Rex

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VTKilarney

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〽❄❅

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AdironRider

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bdfreetuna

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Not Sure

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Domeskier

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mlctvt

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fbrissette

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Cannonball

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