Mount Snow's NEW snowreporting policy!

[drjeff]

Check this out. Pretty cool IMHO, especially the tree skiing part

From their main website

http://www.mountsnow.com/snowphilosophy.html

"Our Snow Philosophy


Have you noticed that it’s tough to find a trail count on mountsnow.com? That’s because we’ve changed our snow reporting strategy to reflect honesty and accuracy. The bottom line: skiable acres are what’s important, not a high trail count.

We’ve all seen it: Mount Snow reports 28 open trails, but in reality there are only 4 top to bottom runs made up of connectors and “lower” and “upper” portions of trails. We would report 54 out of 107 trails open and it gave the impression that our mountain was 50% open, when in fact, only about 25% of our terrain was skiable. Misleading, right? That’s why we’re dropping out of the trail count game and reporting open acreage instead. An acre is an acre – you can’t spin that. When you read our snow report you’ll know exactly what to expect.

Take a popular trail like Snowdance as an example. It has 24 skiable acres. On the other hand, Upper Lodge, Lodge, Choke, Charlie’s Chase, Yard Sale, Uncle’s and Launch Pad, added all together, give you 19 acres. In this case, one trail has more skiable terrain than seven trails combined.

No trail count? How will I know what’s open?
As we say bye bye to trail count, we welcome a new mountain measurement: acreage. We’ll let you know how many acres are open, and what percentage of the whole mountain is open. Don’t worry, we’ll still let you know exactly which trails are open, and if they’ve been groomed or if they saw overnight snowmaking. Everything else – like snowfall tallies, snow conditions, base depth, etc. – will be reported as usual.

I noticed your trails are now categorized into Premium, Classic, and Natural. What’s that?
That’s our new trail designation system. Every trail on the mountain falls into one of these categories:
Premium –The kings of the hill. They are long, wide runs that are flanked by new-technology fan guns. They are groomed nearly every day, if not every day, and feature the best snow conditions. Try: Snowdance, Standard, Exhibition, Ridge, Deer Run, Long John
Classic – Classic trails feature traditional air/water snowmaking. They are groomed 1 to 3 times a week and are generally geared toward the more advanced skier and rider. Try: Free Fall, Ego Alley, Fallen Timbers, South Bowl, Thanks Walt
Natural – For the hardcore skiers and riders. Natural trails feature no manmade snow and are groomed only after certain weather events. Try: Olympic, Big Dipper, One More Time, Jaws, Uncle’s, Hop

This all sounds nice, but will you be sacrificing smaller trails to perfect the Premiums?
No way. If a trail has enough snow to sustain a skier or rider, we’ll open ‘er up. We realize there are those of you who live for ungroomed, “classic New England” trails, and we’re not about to change that.

What exactly is an acre?
Picture a football field. Got it? That is approximately one acre. Now picture 20 football fields, all laid out in front of you, blanketed in snow and groomed to perfection and you’ll have an understanding of why we work so hard to open Standard, a blue square cruiser on the Main Face.

How will tree skiing be affected?
From now on, glades will be open AT ALL TIMES – from opening day to closing day. Please use caution and sound judgment. Tree skiing will not be included in overall acreage statistics.

Will the new Carinthia be included in this new system?
Carinthia freestyle terrain parks will be included in overall acreage statistics, but they will not be designated in the Premium, Classic and Natural categories. Instead, each park is tagged by size, from the extra small Grommet all the way up to the extra large Inferno park.

That’s it. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@mountsnow.com. After all, this is all for you.

As always, watch for obstructions both natural and manmade. Ice, thin spots, bare spots and variations on the snow surface can and will exist. "

 

[MrMagic]

well its a little confusing, but not to the season skier/ rider i guess we will see how this all works out

 

[OppositeGeorge]

Interesting. I don't know if I like it, but it just might be because it's something different. Time will tell.

Classic – Classic trails feature traditional air/water snowmaking. They are groomed 1 to 3 times a week and are generally geared toward the more advanced skier and rider. Try: Free Fall, Ego Alley, Fallen Timbers, South Bowl, Thanks Walt

Has this always been the case? Not that I'm a big fan of grooming but I didn't realize they groomed some of these that infrequently.

 

[drjeff]

Interesting. I don't know if I like it, but it just might be because it's something different. Time will tell.

Classic – Classic trails feature traditional air/water snowmaking. They are groomed 1 to 3 times a week and are generally geared toward the more advanced skier and rider. Try: Free Fall, Ego Alley, Fallen Timbers, South Bowl, Thanks Walt

Has this always been the case? Not that I'm a big fan of grooming but I didn't realize they groomed some of these that infrequently.

That's been their "decent weather" policy the last couple of years. The main trails get daily cat love, the secondary trails get cat love a couple of times a week, and then a few rarely(if ever) see cat time. The exception to the rule is recovery after a thaw/freeze cycle

 

[riverc0il]

Interesting idea. I don't know if I like it. It is hard to visualize how much terrain 5 acres is but I could definitely visualize exactly what is open when ski areas list what trails are open on a map. I think this is the better way to go. I do appreciation the honesty of saying "hey, trail counts are artificially inflated and they are junk numbers" but skiers have gotten used to reading between the lines.

 

[Edd]

Acreage reporting makes sense to me but I doubt everyone will follow suit because some benefit more than others.

If all resorts adopted a mileage reporting policy the results would be different too. Unfortunately different yardsticks favor different resorts and the truth can be hard to find if you're not familiar with a certain place.

 

[Glenn]

I'm interested to see how this works. I have to say, the consistent thing about Mt. Snow this upcoming season is all the changes! 8)

 

[Greg]

Interesting idea. I don't know if I like it. It is hard to visualize how much terrain 5 acres is but I could definitely visualize exactly what is open when ski areas list what trails are open on a map. I think this is the better way to go. I do appreciation the honesty of saying "hey, trail counts are artificially inflated and they are junk numbers" but skiers have gotten used to reading between the lines.

I agree for the most part. You're right, nobody knows what 5 acres really means. Perhaps mileage is better? Personally to me it really doesn't matter. When I check a trail report, the only thing I care about is which trails are open. Percentage of the mountain open is also a good way to set an expectation for what to expect.

In any case, I applaud Mount Snow for trying to redefine snow reporting and do away with the upper/middle/lower/crossover inflated trail counts. Perhaps others will follow suit and if/when acreage is a common metric it will be easier to visualize what it means.

 

[RootDKJ]

I agree for the most part. You're right, nobody knows what 5 acres really means. Perhaps mileage is better? Personally to me it really doesn't matter. When I check a trail report, the only thing I care about is which trails are open. Percentage of the mountain open is also a good way to set an expectation for what to expect.

In any case, I applaud Mount Snow for trying to redefine snow reporting and do away with the upper/middle/lower/crossover inflated trail counts. Perhaps others will follow suit and if/when acreage is a common metric it will be easier to visualize what it means.

I agree completely. I really hope this is a success for Mt Snow

 

[marcski]

I agree for the most part. You're right, nobody knows what 5 acres really means. Perhaps mileage is better? Personally to me it really doesn't matter. When I check a trail report, the only thing I care about is which trails are open. Percentage of the mountain open is also a good way to set an expectation for what to expect.

In any case, I applaud Mount Snow for trying to redefine snow reporting and do away with the upper/middle/lower/crossover inflated trail counts. Perhaps others will follow suit and if/when acreage is a common metric it will be easier to visualize what it means.

+2

 

[millerm277]

I like it, seems like a great move to me, although it will take a bit for people to get used to it. I think, at this point, most people have figured out how to look at the list of what's open, rather than just seeing "Oh, there's 50 trails open, lets go!"

 

[rachelv]

"How will tree skiing be affected?
From now on, glades will be open AT ALL TIMES – from opening day to closing day. Please use caution and sound judgment. Tree skiing will not be included in overall acreage statistics."

That part made me tear up a little bit. There were a bunch of days last year when the cover was fine, but the trees were closed for whatever reason. I love Mt. Snow, but having the trees open makes a huuuuge difference to me in how interesting the mountain is. I love trees.

I think this whole policy is a great idea. They're still going to list which trails are and aren't open -- I don't think it will take very long for people to get used to it, and I think people will ultimately appreciate the honesty.

 

[BigK]

Why don't they just get an Interactive Trail Map? That would take care of it right away. Also, several NE resorts already report open acres or miles. Just get an Interactive Trail map like most other major resorts already have and it should really clear things up! I think the tree skiing is a good decision.

 

[andyzee]

At least headed in the right direction, kudos to them for that.

 

[SpinmasterK]

Nice move on Mt. Snow's part! Pretty much every resort in the west reports acres, and more in the east are going down this road. At Killington we have programed the back end of our website with acres and length and we'll be able to report both this season.

 

[mondeo]

Interesting, but I think in the East mileage tends to be a better measure than acreage. Not that many bowls above the treeline on this side of the country.

 

[bobbutts]

The only big deal I see is not reporting the trail number.. Lots of places have been reporting open acres for a long time. Removing that number is Mt. Snow saying that trail counts stink and they're not playing that game.. Interesting since so many media outlets use trail count. I assume they'll still provide that too.

 

[TheBEast]

Step in the right direction to better describe what's open......interesting to see how it turns out. % open is also helpful since one can boast about all this acerage open, but the true measure is what % is open.

Might also be helpful to have what % of green, blue, black and double-blacks are open. That might give a more seasoned skier a good gauge of what kind of terrain they're likely to find open.....

 

[AdironRider]

Here in Jackson the most important totals include: base depth, new snow (24 hour, overnight, and previous 5 days), and percentage open (derived from total acres open/total acres). Trails arent really important other than telling your friends what general area you want to go ride. This system tells you everything you need to know, and you rely on ropes and cliff signs to tell you anything else that really matters.

The first half of Snow's new policy changes to this same system. Tells you all the important stats about whats skiable and how good it will be, and doesnt rely on marketing hype that only leaves one dissapointed. The second half of Snow's platform is stupid if you ask me. Whiteface, and pretty much every other ski hill, just puts a G, or a snowflake next to the trail name to let you know whats what, this classic, premium, and natural is just pure marketing.

Allowing the woods to be open all the time and based on a personal judgement call is a great move, despite a probable increase in liability. If Im allowed to go ski whenever I want in the woods in the backcountry, I should be able to treat the woods with the same respect and judgement.

 

[LonghornSkier]

I think that they should show on map what areas are open, it would give you a better idea of whats actually open then just saying we have 200 acres open.