Oh jeez.
Well, I have my AT rig and skins in the car....I guess I can climb if need be. Maybe try Highmount.
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Storm skiing..... Chasing the snow vs knowing the mountain???
- Thread starter drjeff
- Start date
Oh jeez.
Well, I have my AT rig and skins in the car....I guess I can climb if need be. Maybe try Highmount.
sankaty
Member
I hadn't thought of that! Maybe tomorrow is my chance to rent AT gear if everything is on hold. Thanks!
I find that actual winds frequently don't quite live up to forecasts, so I'm hopeful, but tomorrow does look touch and go for lifts.
Rowsdower
Member
Chase the snow. You can find ways to have fun even at small mountains if you've got a ton of snow to play with.
abc
Well-known member
Catskills IS where the MAIN action is!
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
It's possible there could be wind holds on Saturday as well, kind of close-looking right now.
abc
Well-known member
And, wind hold means the snow will stay untouched... till the lift starts spinning!
I'd say I generally chase snow over mountain familiarity, but there are a lot of factors involved. I'd rather ski a place that gets 12" and has less traffic than a place that gets 2 feet and is mobbed.
Depends on the storm. For this event there are only three mountains I'd bother with and one is closed for the season- Plattekill and Magic being the viable choices and Hickory the wish-it-was-spinning moonshot.
This snow will be thick and heavy, so you're going to need a good fall line to work with. Add in that it's going to be super windy and that further reinforces that choice with fixed grip lifts that run more effectively in storms. They're also not super popular places, so you won't run into the "resort pow day" bs, which basically means the snow is continually crushed into tiny diamond bumps all day, not the "free refills" we all love to get. Nobody wants to ski tracked out pow- NOBODY!
It's even a weekday. If you aren't headed to Platty or Magic you're doing it wrong. Whiteface would be a killer spot, but their lifts will run for *maybe* a combined 15 minutes with the winds forecasted for Friday, and that's being generous. Anywhere with detachable lifts will be on wind hold for the vast majority of this storm.
This snow will be thick and heavy, so you're going to need a good fall line to work with. Add in that it's going to be super windy and that further reinforces that choice with fixed grip lifts that run more effectively in storms. They're also not super popular places, so you won't run into the "resort pow day" bs, which basically means the snow is continually crushed into tiny diamond bumps all day, not the "free refills" we all love to get. Nobody wants to ski tracked out pow- NOBODY!
It's even a weekday. If you aren't headed to Platty or Magic you're doing it wrong. Whiteface would be a killer spot, but their lifts will run for *maybe* a combined 15 minutes with the winds forecasted for Friday, and that's being generous. Anywhere with detachable lifts will be on wind hold for the vast majority of this storm.
Jully
Active member
Is this rhetorical? I'm intrigued at this too. Looking to hit Gore + Whiteface in a weekend coming up. Not sure where the better place to be on Saturday is and am interested in hearing this too (not to derail the thread...)
bdfreetuna
New member
It's a possibility for this Saturday especially if they get the goods. So I guess that makes it non-rhetorical.
I've never experienced any major crowds at Gore on Saturdays...but it has also been several years since I've been there. I always felt it was one of the more pleasant places to ski on a Saturday. Lots of different pods to spread people out. If one area did get crowded, just move to a different lift/pod.
Sounds good, going tomorrow.
Wise choice!
We came in to 8-10 up top this morning- significantly more than forecasted or even reported early. Killer day already and it’s supposed to nuke cats and dogs until 3am!
J dot O dot
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bdfreetuna
New member
Depends on baseline conditions.
If it's a matter of that storm making the difference to open up terrain, I'll chase the powder just for the terrain.
If the conditions are already good everywhere I'll just go where I want to ski.
So overall, terrain driven mindset. Powder is a means towards more terrain. I do really enjoy skiing powder, but I'd rather ski awesome woods leftovers than a featureless slope with fresh powder. Unless that slope was actually not featureless, and steep, then give me the powder.
If it's a matter of that storm making the difference to open up terrain, I'll chase the powder just for the terrain.
If the conditions are already good everywhere I'll just go where I want to ski.
So overall, terrain driven mindset. Powder is a means towards more terrain. I do really enjoy skiing powder, but I'd rather ski awesome woods leftovers than a featureless slope with fresh powder. Unless that slope was actually not featureless, and steep, then give me the powder.
kingslug
Well-known member
I like vertical, riding the lift not so much, Stowe has I think the most continuous vert next to Whiteface.
56fish
New member
kingslug
Well-known member
says vert is 2K but all the skiing is to mid MT. But it should be on the list. Want to hit all the VT places I can.
kingslug
Well-known member
I like this site..gives true ski vertical: http://mountainvertical.com/
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