-
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!
Killington Opens Friday at 10 AM
- Thread starter Zand
- Start date
slatham
Well-known member
I love the confidence of calling it own when 90% of the required snowmaking hours are ahead of them!
drjeff
Well-known member
180
Well-known member
yee haa!
Jully
Active member
Love it. Last year Wildcat (and a bunch of other areas) announced opening before any snowmaking had taken place!
drjeff
Well-known member
The simple reality is that most ski areas have way more concrete data on realistic production quantities at very precise wet bulb temps now than ever before. So as long as the forecast isn't a total bust, or some major mechanical or power failure occurs, it's much more predictable than guessing than it used to be.
That's also why unless an area is going for HUGE base depths and a long Spring season, you won't see them spending the money very often to make more snow later in the season than their historical data shows that on average they'll need to get them to their targeted closing date. Water flow rates through the gun, accurate production estimates at basically any wet bulb temp, and then post production on hill accurate snow depth measurements of the entire trail via in cat GPS systems give GM's and Mountain Ops folks more hard data about what is actually on the hill and coming out of the guns than ever before
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app
That's also why unless an area is going for HUGE base depths and a long Spring season, you won't see them spending the money very often to make more snow later in the season than their historical data shows that on average they'll need to get them to their targeted closing date. Water flow rates through the gun, accurate production estimates at basically any wet bulb temp, and then post production on hill accurate snow depth measurements of the entire trail via in cat GPS systems give GM's and Mountain Ops folks more hard data about what is actually on the hill and coming out of the guns than ever before
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app
Mmmm...data!
Seriously though, you're absolutely right that the amount of data available now is incredible and gives resorts a ton of extra power to use to make decisions.
sull1102
Member
Mount Snow has the guns going as of about an hour ago and looks like they might be able to keep em running for 36 hours if not more! Can they somehow pull a miracle and match K's public opening with TTB Cascade-Canyon on the Bluebird????
Probably not. That's like 5x the acre feet of snow to open vs Rime. The vast majority of it being at lower elevation and likely much warmer temps.
Good for them for getting started though.
Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app
chuckstah
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2013
- Messages
- 1,565
- Points
- 83
That would be great. But really unlikely. I think a weekend park on Discovery is much more realistic. But a
ny opening will be awesome.
Sent from my moto e5 cruise using Tapatalk
ss20
Well-known member
They are still blowing at the summit as of 7am on the webcams. Nothing at the base. Those fan guns can produce a lot of snow but it takes a lot of time, little wind, and colder temperatures to maximize output than traditional air/water guns. I am kinda surprised they did anything last night with the strongish winds and marginal temperatures. Sunday night and next Wednesday night look cold enough for them to blow again.
ss20
Well-known member
Probably not...fan guns silent at the base area on the webcams and they're going to lose temperatures today.
It's been years since they're done it, IIRC.
sull1102
Member
In person... its barely BARELY 20° out here. Fan guns are going at the base over on Canyon and there's the one lonely gun running next to the Waffle Cabin. Also low-e guns are working hard up top with some good production. They're just about to cross the 12 hour mark and likely will not lose temps all day today at least halfway up the hill and then can run tonight again likely...
Sent from my Pixel using AlpineZone mobile app
ss20
Well-known member
Excellent! The only thing worse than an armchair quarterback is a webcam skier :lol:. The snowstake cam at the summit read 30 degrees this morning...didn't seem likely but I took it at face value.
Newpylong
Well-known member
Even in an ideal wetbulb and no wind they would be hard pressed to get T2B open via Canyon in this window. If they downloaded on the Canyon Quad perhaps they could get Cascade.
sull1102
Member
I am really liking your thinking here! From where I'm at I can't see "around the corner" to North Face so I'm not sure if freefall is going as well.
Sent from my Pixel using AlpineZone mobile app
Smellytele
Well-known member
May go Monday if they are open but don't want to deal with the crowd on Saturday.
drjeff
Well-known member
Per their recently updated social media pages, and from the "frosted" lens on the Somerset Reservoir View cam picture, the HKD's on Freefall are lit up as well.
Their social media pages also stated that this isn't a test of the system, and to check back for opening info...
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app
180
Well-known member
Similar threads
