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jay/k, river/loon, tremblant/whiteface

KustyTheKlown

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i was planning on yesterday getting some snow on the back end. bah!

i have friday off. a buddy is driving (yay for sparing my car the miles). and we can leave after work tomorrow

considering jay friday>k Saturday>okemo sunday. but i don't think jay will be worth it unless they open tramside and upper mountain lifts, which seems more questionable after yesterdays soak and today's freeze

considering tremblant fri/sat>whiteface sunday. so our final drive isn't 7 hours long. tremblant also took it on the chin yesterday, but open snow seems to indicate steady light snow thru the weekend. whiteface could catch the far eastern fringe of the lake effect snow.

considering sunday river>loon>maybe okemo (to shorten final drive). i think this may be the best bet. river is generally a little out of my driving orbit, but we have time. and i think river, loon, and okemo may put the best product out due to their grooming and snowmaking abilities.

where would y'all go?
 

Jully

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Snowmaking firepower is indeed what you're looking for. Sunday River is resurfacing open terrain and then pushing to new terrain over the weekend. I'm willing to bet the conditions there will be as good as they've been, if not the best, of the season thus far. A Friday play there will have current conditions skiing nicely, Saturday might have new terrain.

Not sure what Okemo or Loon's plan for resurfacing terrain is, but they're both solid options. I might choose those options over Tremblant and Whiteface.
 

KustyTheKlown

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yea im leaning towards river and loon. what a bummer yesterday was, and waking up this mornign to confirm yesterdays utter shit.
 

mister moose

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Snowmaking firepower is indeed what you're looking for.

Agree. There's little grooming magic to be had after a rain-freeze. Okemo runs the same tillers everyone else does, the rest is marketing. You can either ski gravel on concrete or fresh machine made. For me, the gravel/concrete is a break from the guns and reinforcement on why skiing the guns is worth it.
 

boston_e

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Sounds like a lot of driving for what will be pretty similar conditions (man made snow and groomed after a thaw) everywhere.
 

ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
Sounds like a lot of driving for what will be pretty similar conditions (man made snow and groomed after a thaw) everywhere.

He religious follows his Max Pass... I have the same thing but will spend the $$ on day tickets if snow is better at mountain A than mountain B.

And ditto on not driving crazy conditions for the same product everywhere. The southern VT giants, K, Loon, and SR are all gonna have the best snow purely because they have the biggest snowmaking systems. Driving 7 hours to Tremblant is hardcore...but no reason to.
 

tnt1234

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Hm.

If Tremblant go rain, I would not make the long drive to ski frozen granular and drink Rickards. Let's rule that one out.

Jay claimed they got 1-2" last night. And you never know with them....could get a surprise couple inches almost any time. Plus, good beer abounds up that way.

I think I would head that way, make the call tomorrow morning - if Jay opens Timbuktu and Hells woods, ski there, if not, Stowe? You'll get twice the vertical, and you can't beat the Matterhorn.....Matterhorn bowl and a beer.....then score a case of Heady Topper on your way out of town?

I've never been to Sunday River, but have been to Sugar Loaf, and man, Maine is far.....

I would head to northern VT and hope for the Jay cloud.
 

Edd

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Hm.

If Tremblant go rain, I would not make the long drive to ski frozen granular and drink Rickards. Let's rule that one out.

Making the effort to get up there only seems worth it if the mountain is at least close to fully open. Never tried Rickards but just thinking about drinking Alexander Keith’s IPA makes me angry.

Agree it’s all about snowmaking this weekend.
 

Kleetus

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I would definitely avoid WF. They appear to be resurfacing, but they don't have the snowmaking firepower that the VT mountains do. I would also rule out Tremblant due to the drive and fact that there is too much risk it could suck.
 

tnt1234

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Making the effort to get up there only seems worth it if the mountain is at least close to fully open. Never tried Rickards but just thinking about drinking Alexander Keith’s IPA makes me angry.

Agree it’s all about snowmaking this weekend.

Rickards is on tap in just about all the bars in the village. Three flavors - the blonde, red and white. Sometimes the dark instead of the white I think. They all taste exactly the same.

I saw a can of that Alexander Keith's IPA in the grocery, and I was all like...."Awesome! Found some good beer! At least have something good in the room refrigerator...." Boy way I wrong!

That said, I really like the mountain when it's all open. Lots to do, lots to explore. Fun place.
 

SIKSKIER

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While I'm not a Loon fan even having a house 10 minutes away,they make an impressive amount of snow quick.They already have 3 times the acreage of Cannon at about 180.
 

KustyTheKlown

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I don't totally religiously follow the max pass. I was willing to do jay this weekend if the midweek storm brought snow and they opened upper mountain lifts. not gonna waste cash or a skiVT 5 pack for what's on offer this weekend. we are going to sunday river and loon. I don't mind the distance. I'm off work tomorrow, and long weekends are the best times for me to go to maine. I don't want to use up all my vt and ny max pass days early in the season. I can't wait for feb and march when I will use my skiVT passes at stowe, sugarbush, smuggs, magic, and jay. those places are all so much better than the max pass spots, but the value of max is just too good to pass up
 

Steve@jpr

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We'll be back to about 2 dozen trails tomorrow. Still snowing here (as of 12:49p). Not sure what we're reporting at this point but I suspect it's 3-4" since last night. Snowmaking on Tramside will allow us to open it tomorrow but only for the Metro to take folks over the Stateside and connecting via Perry Merrill. Timbuk is open now and Hells may open tomorrow along with SS Glade but not sure they'll be worth driving for to be completely honest. Save the gas and go to K and come back and see us when we're humping.

sw

Hm.

If Tremblant go rain, I would not make the long drive to ski frozen granular and drink Rickards. Let's rule that one out.

Jay claimed they got 1-2" last night. And you never know with them....could get a surprise couple inches almost any time. Plus, good beer abounds up that way.

I think I would head that way, make the call tomorrow morning - if Jay opens Timbuktu and Hells woods, ski there, if not, Stowe? You'll get twice the vertical, and you can't beat the Matterhorn.....Matterhorn bowl and a beer.....then score a case of Heady Topper on your way out of town?

I've never been to Sunday River, but have been to Sugar Loaf, and man, Maine is far.....

I would head to northern VT and hope for the Jay cloud.
 

KustyTheKlown

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We'll be back to about 2 dozen trails tomorrow. Still snowing here (as of 12:49p). Not sure what we're reporting at this point but I suspect it's 3-4" since last night. Snowmaking on Tramside will allow us to open it tomorrow but only for the Metro to take folks over the Stateside and connecting via Perry Merrill. Timbuk is open now and Hells may open tomorrow along with SS Glade but not sure they'll be worth driving for to be completely honest. Save the gas and go to K and come back and see us when we're humping.

sw

that sort of honesty is why I love jay peak. thanks steve.
 

bdfreetuna

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keep the faith
Way too much time spent in the car from your location to any of those mountains for the conditions and amount of terrain available.

Do a few night skiing turns at a local hill.
 

KustyTheKlown

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night skiing at a local hill both sounds terrible and does not exist. I've got the day off tomorrow and my buddy is driving and we'll make the best of what we find. gfs and snow-forecast showing 3-5" for sat into sunday.
 

bdfreetuna

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I would do Killington then, they have enough trails open that a few of them should be good.

IDK but I try not to hit "rare" mountains like Whiteface, Jay etc when there's barely any terrain open. Killington is more like a modular, organic beast which expands and contracts depending on the time of year.
 
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