Mad River Glen 3/25/09

[polski]

Very much looking forward to reporting here on harvesting a bumper crop of corn:

TONIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 16. LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS.
.WEDNESDAY...SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 40S. LIGHT AND VARIABLE
WINDS.

... even if only off the Single (the double isn't spinning this week).

Unfortunately this may be the last best ski day of the season for MRG. Thursday will see comparable temps but cloudy, then NCP is possible at various times through the weekend. And today this went up on the web site:

The way things are looking with the extended weather forecast it would appear that this coming weekend may be the last weekend of the season. We will make a more definitive call as we approach the weekend. Even if we close after the 29th we will do our best to try and pull some skiing together for Saturday, april 4 for the Co-op Shareholder Meeting day.

 

[riverc0il]

Holy crap! I still have three Mad Card tickets left. I don't recall Mad River not making into April as long as I have been skiing there. Looks like I will be skiing MRG on Sunday!! Looks like rain though. Maybe I will split Saturday between both Bush and MRG. Gah, that sucks. March has been brutal, that is for sure.

I just checked MRG's site. It looks like the wording was changed as to whether they would open mid-week after this weekend and they plan to reopen on the 4th. No word after the 4th, but it does put a big question mark on even the 5th. The wording is less definitive compared to the quote above.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

All the late February snow really saved MRG..enjoy the corn harvest!!!!

 

[deadheadskier]

March has been brutal, that is for sure.

worst March I can ever recall for snowfall. I'd be surprised if a single area in the NE has received over 12" of snow this month. Certainly has been some great spring conditions, just with they came in April instead of March.

 

[Chesser]

worst March I can ever recall for snowfall. I'd be surprised if a single area in the NE has received over 12" of snow this month. Certainly has been some great spring conditions, just with they came in April instead of March.

Jay, Smuggs, Stowe, and Bolton are all above that. But not by a ton. The 6-8" that fell north of Route 2 Saturday night and Sunday morning pushed those hills into the 15-20" range for March. Still shockingly dry.

 

[Chesser]

Holy crap! I don't recall Mad River not making into April as long as I have been skiing there.

The end of the 2005-2006 season was actually even worse. Mad River was taking weekdays off by early March due to lack of snow, and shut down operations before April 1st (if I'm remembering correctly). That season suffered from low snowfall totals all winter long, though, and bizarre warm stretches that melted away what did fall. This season is odd because snow totals haven't been that off, but the warm spells have been poorly timed, and this dry March has brought the season to a screeching halt. So for suddenness, this season beats it--but for overall craptacular-ness, 05-06 is still the king.

 

[riverc0il]

Yes, I recall the shovels on the side of the trail in 05-06. However, March 20th was a pretty sick day that year according to my records (at least at Jay) with a HUGE dump the first week of March and a good storm mid-March, there were three really good storms in March despite the tough warm ups and rain cycles and general lack of a deep base (which we have this season and is the only reason so many areas are still open). MRG closed on April 1st in 05-06 though that year had a MUCH better March than this year from a new snow perspective.

 

[polski]

I just checked MRG's site. It looks like the wording was changed as to whether they would open mid-week after this weekend and they plan to reopen on the 4th. No word after the 4th, but it does put a big question mark on even the 5th. The wording is less definitive compared to the quote above.

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's more optimistic or pessimistic ... the forecast really isn't too good, with the "freeze" part of freeze-thaw seemingly going away and several episodes of r@!# in the forecast.

No time now for more than a quick summary: Real fun day, solid though not epic spring conditions. Base temp climbed above freezing at mid-morning and peaked at 53 shortly before 3 p.m. Cover was ample up top, except for a burned-out part of Catamount Bowl (I was with my boys so we did not try Fall Line much less Paradise when those were open in the afternoon. Ropes also dropped for a couple hours on Upper Glades, which looked nice, and Lynx but we didn't get to those either).

Most of the lower part of the mountain had cover too except for sizable bare patches on the Sunnyside. Lower Antelope was great for the most part, even some leftover fresh dust/windblown from the weekend at higher elevations (I don't think it got above freezing from Sunday until yesterday). Also some serious gnarl in a couple spots on middle LA ... skiing across an ice floe is a skill I don't need to tap too often.

Proud papa must note the boys (who got a day off from school as reward for stellar report cards) skied their first MRG black diamonds ... and second, and third, and fourth. They encountered some tougher challenges than they'd ever faced before, but as the saying goes, that which does not kill you makes you stronger.

Pix and a video or two tonight I hope.

 

[polski]

Another update from MRG:

The Mogul Challenge scheduled for Saturday, March 28th has been cancelled. We will operate through Sunday, March 29 and re-open on April 4th for the Cooperative Annual Meeting, if snow cover permits.

 

[polski]

All right, some pix from yesterday. Didn't shoot much video and none really worth uploading.

My sons on the two chairs behind me on our first ride of the day up the Single:

The boys tackling the steepest part of Lower Antelope, their first time on an MRG black diamond:

The boys preparing to drop into Catamount Bowl for the first time:

Second annual serendipitous shot of my shadow from the Single, this time on Chute:

And finally just a bit of an odd shot that I like a lot, also from the Single over Chute. (I was demo'ing the Mythic Riders, liked them a lot though I imagine they'd be even better in deeper corn than we generally had yesterday ... or of course in deep pow):

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

nice pictures..looks really good up high..

 

[Angus]

famous kids

http://www.madriverglen.com/gallery...1&set_seq=1&imageSet=1238168535-49ccf3d732cb0

 

[loafer89]

We just finished off two days of skiing at Mad River and the snow is holding strong above the Single Chair Mid-Station, but it's going fast around the base area and on Lower Easyway and Rockerfellers.

Sunnyside was opened, but most trails are thin with lots of bare spots. Canyon was fun except for a thin area. Fall Line, Chute and Lynx have tons of snow.