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Holiday week bust???

ss20

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Obviously a rocky start to the week with freezing rain and rain in ski country...but it looks like most places will pick up 5"+ by Christmas dinner after this rain passes. I'd have to imagine with a deep base and a freezing rain "protecting" the snow that ski conditions will be pretty good the rest of the week (as long as your ski resort gets enough snow to keep you on top of that crust).

However...it's going to be BITTERLY cold Wednesday through the rest of the holiday week (potentially longer...but trusting the weather beyond the 1st is foolish). And by bitter I mean single digit and negatives as highs...without the windchill. That's stuff for the hardcore skiers....not for the family that skis this week as their big ski trip of the year and gets in a few days outside this week.

So will resorts that are normally bustling this week have a bust, even with good snow? This happened one or two seasons ago over Presidents week...it was bitterly cold and the masses did not ski. How does this affect the resorts like Mt. Snow, K, and SR who blew crazy amounts of snow to protect themselves from a "warm" week, only to see the complete opposite ruin their busy season?

I'll be watching webcams next week gauging the crowds...stuff like this is interesting for me.



Your thoughts?
 

slatham

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From a snow perspective, North of I90 it's been a great start and a great lead in to the holidays, today's weather notwithstanding. From a base building perspective, today's weather is beneficial. And if the Christmas storm delivers it will be very good skiing.

From a skier visits perspective, today's weather is obviously a negative but big crowds don't arrive until the 26th/27th. But to your point on temps, I agree that having the extended forecast from 26th to 1st with high temps in single digits will be a major deterrent to normal holiday crowds. I recall the cold Presidents week and it was pretty empty. I hope this turns out differently - not that I want huge crowds, but I want the areas to do well and capitalize on great skiing over Christmas break.
 

benski

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Wasn't their major snow in New York for much of December. That's got to drive a lot of people to the mountains. I have not been in New York since august so I don't know for sure.
 

boston_e

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I’m sure the super cold temps are something that the resorts are concerned about. The number of people who will go rent skis / buy lift tickets / lessons at a high temp of 0F is a lot less than when it is 22f.
 

Lefty4514

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Since I plan on skiing next Friday and Saturday at SR, selfishly I hope the cold keeps some of the crowds away. From the resorts perspective I’m sure they will lose some ticket sales. I assume with the on mountain lodging and lift ticket packages that are usually bundled that will dampen the effect a bit?
 

crank

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We are heading up and skiing on 26th and 27th, then driving home Thursday. Too cold says the SO. I would be happy dealing with it if the snow is really good and it kept crowds down. She may change her tune as well.
 

Bumpsis

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I'm certain that the bitter cold will affect the attendance. If it's going to be crowded, it will be in the lodges. I've seen this often enough. People come out and after a couple of runs they find out it's just really brutal to be in the cold. Frostbite is a real danger.
I actually like the cold, but I draw my line when windchills start approaching -20F range. It's just not fun, even if you're working aerobically, like in XC or snowshoeing. Imagine if a lift malfunctions and you're dangling out there in the cold.
 

kingslug

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I feel bad for anyone that did not ski yesterday as it will probably be the best day for at least a while. Today's rain and ice event is going to be noticeable until it gets a good coverage. It was good..until it wasn't.
 

Smellytele

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Some locations actually got some snow today. Wildcat had snow and when I checked smuggs webcam a little after noon it was snowing there as well.
 

drjeff

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Especially for Southern VT, today's icing event in the big scheme of things is a GREAT thing!! While they did receive 18-24" of snow in the past 10 days or so, it was light and fluffy and fell on essentially bare ground, and while the naturals and trees LOOKED good, while skiing them, you quickly realized that there was little real base.... Add in today's icing on the snow that fell yesterday, and then a likely moderate Christmas Day snowfall, and it will be better than before...

Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app
 

jmgard

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Was planning on going to Snow the 29th then Wildcat the 30th-31st... That mountain is cold on a normal day though so this does not look great. May have to chill out at Attitash instead. Hopefully it isn't too crowded and they can use the cold to make some snow and expand terrain at least... that place has some good trails and surprisingly decent trees when it's all open.
 

cdskier

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With the ridiculous day ticket prices, one would think many tickets have already been bought in advance. Will there be less people on the mountain? Absolutely with those temps. The on-mountain bars and lodges could be packed though especially if people already paid for the tickets/lodging for the holiday period. People will go, ski a run or two and then head to the bar. I'm sure you'll lose some revenue compared to having warmer temps, but I'm not quite sure what the exact correlation these days is between how crowded the mountain looks and how much money they're making that day.

If someone has pre-paid tickets that can be used any day of the season, then those people could stay away, but ultimately they will still show up to the mountain at some point this season to use them. So overall you may lose some money this week but make it up on those people elsewhere during the season.
 

Keelhauled

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I got curious and looked up Whiteface's weather. 40+ mph winds and -55 windchill before dawn on Thursday. Practically balmy compared to Mount Washington... 90+ mph winds and -70 windchill. Good god.
 

ss20

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At least it looks good for the local hills...0 degrees in VT means 15-20 degrees in the Flatlands. Coupled with White Christmas mania and temps that make people think of skiing without scaring them away I'm hoping for a good week at Thunder Ridge!
 
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