I rarely have a free day anymore and happen to be off tomorrow. Usually I just go to Wachusett since I have my season pass there. Id like to spread the wings a bit and get a good day in somewhere preferably North of Nashua. With all the reports and the weather saying rain could head North followed by snow in higher elevations, what is the best way to make an educated guess as to where the snow will be. I make a big deal of this because I want good skiing and I really don't get free days (ever). Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Ill continue looking at forecasts and reports of course as well.
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Looking for mostly snow
- Thread starter LongStep
- Start date
Black Phantom
Active member
Northern Greens with large amounts of terrain above 2500 feet in elevation would be my gamble. Killington, Sugarbush, MRG, Stowe, Smuggs, Jay
Black Phantom
Active member
You should be able to get to Sugarbush in a hair under 3 hours in optimal driving conditions. I've done day trips to the Bush before from where I live over by Portsmouth.
hammer
Active member
Nashua to Jay Peak would be a solid 3.5-4 hours one way IMO, and that's assuming that you get no slow-downs below the speed limit.
awf170
New member
From Lowell Jay is only 3:20. So from Nashua you could probably get there in 3. Also, Sugarbush and Stowe are under 3 hours for me.
billski
Active member
I have done Stowe, Bush and MRG as day trips. It's a long day, but do-able if you can stay awake. It would take you 2:40+your time to the highway to Stowe, assuming the weather and traffic are in your favor. Similar for MRG and Bush.
Suggest you watch snowforecast.com for similarities/differences between the areas. I do that route a lot. You should also watch weather along the route. The precip should be over by Sat/Sunday, so road conditions should be OK. Remember, Stowe weekend lifts start turning at 7:30 if you are up for it.
Air temp in morrisville is 39 right now. My experience is that 5-10 degree delta between valley and mountain will keep things snow, but any more than that, it will probably rain on the hill. I can tell from the webcams that they've had rain in the valley and more is forecast.
I will be at Bolton/Stowe this weekend, so I'm watching this carefully. The high is going to hover around 32F for the weekend. That means it will be colder up top, which means it should snow, but it may be heavy snow like we experienced at Magic yesterday. Temp wise, Saturday looks like a better bet, but you can't count out mountain magic at these temps. I would put Bush and MRG and Bolton all in the same camp as Stowe.
Sorry for the diatribe, but this one is near and dear to me.
hammer
Active member
Not unless you are willing to do consistently over the speed limit...
From Google Maps, which I'm guessing assumes no traffic and driving at the posted speed limits:
Nashua to Jay - 3:27
Nashua to Stowe - 2:58
Guess my limited experience is a little different...I do drive slower than the posted speed limit when there's snow on the roads and I do run into traffic on occasion...
billski
Active member
We drive about 5 miles over the limit. It takes us exactly 3 hours Lexington to get to mountain road, 1 mile from Stowe. Done it dozens of times. It's exactly 22 minutes from my house to spit brook road. Calculate from there.
On snowy days, it has sometimes taken as much as an hour more.
billski
Active member
Recreational forecast
national weather service burlington vt
333 am est thu feb 25 2010
.the higher summits forecast for vermont and northern new york...
.today...summits obscured in clouds. A chance of snow showers this morning...then
snow or rain showers this afternoon. Highs 31 to 37. Southeast
winds 35 to 45 mph...increasing to 45 to 55 mph in the afternoon.
.tonight...summits obscured in clouds with snow or rain showers in
the evening...then snow showers overnight. Lows 23 to 28. East winds
70 to 80 mph.
.friday...summits obscured in clouds with snow showers likely.
Highs 25 to 30. East winds 50 to 60 mph...decreasing to 35 to 45 mph
in the afternoon.
national weather service burlington vt
333 am est thu feb 25 2010
.the higher summits forecast for vermont and northern new york...
.today...summits obscured in clouds. A chance of snow showers this morning...then
snow or rain showers this afternoon. Highs 31 to 37. Southeast
winds 35 to 45 mph...increasing to 45 to 55 mph in the afternoon.
.tonight...summits obscured in clouds with snow or rain showers in
the evening...then snow showers overnight. Lows 23 to 28. East winds
70 to 80 mph.
.friday...summits obscured in clouds with snow showers likely.
Highs 25 to 30. East winds 50 to 60 mph...decreasing to 35 to 45 mph
in the afternoon.
Excellent! I have not skied in Vt ever, and owe myself a personal day of skiing. If I can get a friend to come ill prolly check out Jay, if not Sugarbush or Stowe should be it. I will keep an eye on the forecast and I appreciate the info.
damn those winds look daunting. hope they die down for Saturday. I'd imagine many lifts will be shut down on Friday.......
hammer
Active member
Seems reasonable...is that non-stop?
Also, 5 over the limit on 3 north from Lexington to Nashua (60 MPH) is about 10 MPH slower than the prevailing traffic.
billski
Active member
That's nonstop.
I know, I find it more relaxing a drive to let everyone pass me. I'll save my energy for the slopes. Believe it or not, I drive to the right, while the prevailing Mass. strategy is slowest cars are in the middle. :roll:
billski
Active member
NWS shows winds winding down early Friday evening. Goods will be in the woods.
hammer
Active member
I'm just impressed that you can make such good time without pressing 70+ along the way.
billski
Active member
I must be wrong. I must be going 65. It's exactly 200 miles which would be 67mph average.
Unrelated: I notice my GPS has me going 2-3 mph slower than my speedometer. Go figure.
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