• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

First 1/3 of the season

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
4,208
Points
83
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
Pretty much today marks the beginning of the 2nd third of the season for me. I have 10 days under my belt, mostly decent but I wouldn't say great. I probably missed the best period here in the east when an unexpected trip took me to Florida but cest la vie. Couple of observations so far.

As has been documented the west and particularly Utah and Colorado have for the most part been skunked. While no panic yet I'm getting a little worried about that as my last 1/3 of the season (March and April) are planned to be spent out there. Needless to say out of the last 5 Thanksgivings skiing out in Colorado this one ranks as one of the poorest. The internal optimist in me keeps hearing maybe after the 15th things will get rolling out there. I know its snowing somewhat out there now but more is needed.

Back here in the east I just got home from 4 days up in Northern New England. Like I said I think I missed the best weekend by having to take care some of business down in Florida Mid December. But while for the most part things have been good for the east, it's the east. The rain the Monday after Christmas left its mark with hard surfaces, and patches of ice, and the cold was pretty brutal up in Northern Vermont. Did get a little woods action at Bolton but not too much and for the most part it was zoomer groomers. Gray New England weather doesn't help the experience either. A cloud enveloped Burke on Saturday making visibility an issue and driving me down to the lower slopes. Wife was really cold this weekend and didn't ski as much as she would have liked. Glass half empty or glass half full one really good storm and things would be really good but to me it seems we haven't had one of those in several years (talking 30-40+inches). So fingers crossed.

Was a little disappointed that some of the places I would have liked to have hit seemed to be having difficulty with snow making. In particular I would have liked to have hit Dartmouth Skiway's yesterday; however, they seem to be having some difficulties getting things open and the report I got was that they had not even touched Winslow and Holts was extremely limited. Certainly, a shame that they seem to have missed a great window of cold. We ended up skiing Saskadena 6 who is having their own issues with snow making. They were saying they hoped to get that fixed this coming week. To their credit what they did have open was in great shape and we enjoyed the morning there before driving home to NJ.

On the upside of things down south here in the Pocono's (yes BG those Pocono's) things have been better then normal. Camelback (new GM) and Blue have taken total advantage of the cold and seem to be racing to see who gets to 100% quickest. Blue had bumps Christmas Eve and report out of Camelback was that Marjies and Cliffhanger have bumps as well. Once those trails are laid in they will easily last till March and having everything open by MLK weekend will be huge for them. Doesn't get much better for them.

Looking forward to the second 1/3 of the season. Will be a combination of the Pocono's and maybe a Berkshire day or two migrating north to Northern New England (a bunch in February) before heading to Colorado come March. Loving the combo of Ikon and Indy so far, hoping to ramp up the days now that the Christmas holidays are over and hoping for more snow (maybe a little less scary cold).
 

AdironRider

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
3,842
Points
83
You do realize Dartmouth and S6 are tiny right? They aren't going to make snow like Killington, nor have a season length to compare. they both typically open the weekend before Christmas, so in effect are barely two weeks into their season.
 

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
4,208
Points
83
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
You do realize Dartmouth and S6 are tiny right? They aren't going to make snow like Killington, nor have a season length to compare. they both typically open the weekend before Christmas, so in effect are barely two weeks into their season.
Yes I have skied at both and not comparing them to any of the majors. Got the info on Dartmouth from a season pass holder who himself felt they were being a little slow. Been such a good stretch of cold I would think they would have wanted to take advantage of it. That’s why I ask if something might be up with the system. You would think they would get Winslow up and going. Isn’t Cum Laude a race trail along with Wordens?

Employees we talked to at Saskadena 6 told us that they had had some issues with the system. They said they were hoping to get things up and rolling this week and get more trails open soon.

Will be up in the Upper Valley again in February and hope to get a Skiways day in then. Would do Whaleback too if they get the chair up and running. These smaller mountains are a lot of fun when the snow is good
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
6,205
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
i dont think about any of these tiny indies in december. they just dont have the gun power to get open fast unless there is outstanding natural snow. i go to those places in feb - april once theyve had time to cook
 

Edd

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
6,910
Points
113
Location
Newmarket, NH
Each year with the Indy Pass I leave some days on the table and kick myself a bit. Waiting for the little guys to open fully contributes to that problem unfortunately. I was better about it last year and I'll try to improve this season.
 

AdironRider

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
3,842
Points
83
Dartmouth has enough water storage to blow maybe 1/3 of a run. Then it takes several days to fill it back up. Going to take a while at that rate.

In my five years as a passholder, this is about par for the course in regards to opening. The specific runs sometimes change, but this is about the pace they always run. They should hopefully have the WInslow side open by Saturday for the start of local programs, but that can be dependent on what the ski team's needs are as well.
 

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
4,208
Points
83
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
Dartmouth has enough water storage to blow maybe 1/3 of a run. Then it takes several days to fill it back up. Going to take a while at that rate.

In my five years as a passholder, this is about par for the course in regards to opening. The specific runs sometimes change, but this is about the pace they always run. They should hopefully have the WInslow side open by Saturday for the start of local programs, but that can be dependent on what the ski team's needs are as well.
So water is an issue. The pass holder I talked to mentioned water as a possible problem as well. That's understandable. Can't get anything out of the web site.

I not complaining just a little bummed I missed out on a day there. S6 only had a couple of ways down but the surface conditions were great and perfect for a couple of hours before hitting the road back to NJ
 

Smellytele

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Messages
10,536
Points
113
Location
Right where I want to be
i dont think about any of these tiny indies in december. they just dont have the gun power to get open fast unless there is outstanding natural snow. i go to those places in feb - april once theyve had time to cook
Only indies I go early to are the larger ones - Jay, Cannon. I usually don’t use the Indy pass on them early though as they are offering early season discounts.
 

2Planker

Well-known member
Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
1,807
Points
113
Location
MWV, NH
i dont think about any of these tiny indies in december. they just dont have the gun power to get open fast unless there is outstanding natural snow. i go to those places in feb - april once theyve had time to cook
Obviously you haven't been to Black (NH)
 

millerm277

Active member
Joined
Nov 18, 2006
Messages
1,825
Points
38
Location
NH
In particular I would have liked to have hit Dartmouth Skiway's yesterday; however, they seem to be having some difficulties getting things open and the report I got was that they had not even touched Winslow and Holts was extremely limited. Certainly, a shame that they seem to have missed a great window of cold.
I'm not sure what was open on the day you were looking, but looking at today's report (1/7) it looks like everything but Worden's is open on the Holts side.
You would think they would get Winslow up and going. Isn’t Cum Laude a race trail along with Wordens?
Thomas+Race Finish, yes. I don't think Cum Laude is. (Actually, I'm not sure if it has snowmaking?)

------

It is also worth noting that their supporting institution is closed until after New Year's and much of their user base is away over the Christmas-New Year's time period. It may be a major holiday week for most ski areas but I am not sure they look at it as an important period to focus on for their primary user base + benefactor.

Anyway, they have in recent years seemed to recognize that their more interesting skiing is on the Holts side and that it holds snow better, so they have seemed to put more effort into opening + full expansion over there early on, and running that lift daily. Personally, I very much agree with them on that choice.

Winslow is important for beginners, but I would not ski there much/ever if it was only Winslow open - especially without recent snow to have M.D. and the other bit or two without snowmaking open + in good shape.

Anyway, it appears that the Winslow side is supposed to open for this weekend (presumably with at least the main beginner/low-intermediate runs) - which is also the first weekend back for much of their user base.
 

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
4,208
Points
83
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
Had dinner in Hanover Saturday night so I’m aware the student body is not back (town wasn’t empty though).

I enjoy DS when both sides are open. I only have 2 days there so didn’t want to burn one for just Holts. (And limited Holts at that). Plan to be back in the Upper Valley in February and hope to get a day or 2 then. Big fan of the lower lift line of Winslow when it’s open and bumped up.
 

AdironRider

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
3,842
Points
83
With last year's hosting of the NCAA's, they have moved the race venue from Thomas over to Lyme Drop. Put in a decent amount of earth work, along with several SMI fans and a full slate of HKDs.
 
Top