Weather forecast and ski visits

Mohawk Mountain just shared an interesting article regarding the affect of weather forecasts and skier visits. Does the forecast affect your decision to ski? We ski pretty much every weekend, so it typically doesn't drive our decisions (including being out at Gore yesterday in the cold), but I will admit that it does make me think twice sometimes!
https://www.outsideonline.com/23907...Ksz6I3q3PU-Vvb02YMT6vAnkFM1fP49IzQ9MPMZxa8aFE

ski&soccermom said:

Does the forecast affect your decision to ski?

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It affects where I go but not if I go (unless we're talking rainstorm). For example I'm not going to ski Pico or Magic on exposed lifts all day if it's -20 when I can ski on a bubble or gondola at Stratton, Killington, or Okemo.

While impressed by people's "cold weather" and "rainy day" setups, I don't have superior gear for these conditions. Why? Because a $300 jacket, heated gloves, heated boots, and facemask that looks like it could filter out radioactivity in the event of a nuclear bomb is a huge investment for something that I would use the 2-5 days a year I ski when its below zero. If Sugarloaf, Jay, or Smuggs was my "daily" mountain it'd be a different story...but I'm from CT.

Same with rain. I don't ski in a pouring rain. I could if I bought a nice Gortex jacket and pants...but how much $$ would that be for how much enjoyment?? My ancient rain poncho works fine for the light rain and showery conditions I ski in maybe 2 days a year.

All this said I am hardier than 95% of skiers out there. But this forum pretty much is the 5% that will bash away at this and fail to understand the majority of skiers from the cities won't ski below 20 degree days.

R@!n and high wind forecasts that are likely to shut down the mountain all weekend will cause us to scrap plans to ski. Anything else and we will still head up. If it's super cold, it's only SR so if my wife has enough after a couple hours, the condo is right there.

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ski&soccermom said:

Mohawk Mountain just shared an interesting article regarding the affect of weather forecasts and skier visits. Does the forecast affect your decision to ski? We ski pretty much every weekend, so it typically doesn't drive our decisions (including being out at Gore yesterday in the cold), but I will admit that it does make me think twice sometimes!
https://www.outsideonline.com/23907...Ksz6I3q3PU-Vvb02YMT6vAnkFM1fP49IzQ9MPMZxa8aFE

Click to expand...

As someone in the same boat as you are, where my family skis basically every weekend regardless of what the weather is (they make different types of clothing and accessories and skis to hand the changing weather is our attitude for the sport all 4 of us in my family love), I think as a whole, there's been a societal shift, especially among some demographic groups, to try and minimize as much "risk" out of their lives as possible. For what ever societal reasons they feel the need to do that, that's likely a much different topic for debate elsewhere.

That being said, when you take that demographic and "feed" them the often addictive in a way, short sensationalized news clips, especially I think in the weather sense where so much of what is reported today has a twist on some impact of climate change added in to make it seem like so many storms these days are of "historic" nature and then add in the other fact that there are an increasing segment of the population who doesn't enjoy driving, that plays an additive roll in "convincing" some potential skiers/riders to not venture out in less than optimum travel conditions to get to the mountain out of "fear" that they'll get stuck/stranded/crash/etc on their way to/from the resort.

Personally, I look at it this way, there's risk in life. You can't eliminate all risk. I now am driving in vehicles that have far more safety features and much better tires than what I used to go venturing out to the mountains in storms years ago,and arguably after many more years and 10's of thousands of more miles of winter weather driving experience under my belt, I'm now more prepared than ever to venture out to a mountain in all but the ACTUAL most severe of storms, regardless of how the media may portray what they think the storm will be....

ss20 said:

It affects where I go but not if I go (unless we're talking rainstorm). For example I'm not going to ski Pico or Magic on exposed lifts all day if it's -20 when I can ski on a bubble or gondola at Stratton, Killington, or Okemo.

While impressed by people's "cold weather" and "rainy day" setups, I don't have superior gear for these conditions. Why? Because a $300 jacket, heated gloves, heated boots, and facemask that looks like it could filter out radioactivity in the event of a nuclear bomb is a huge investment for something that I would use the 2-5 days a year I ski when its below zero. If Sugarloaf, Jay, or Smuggs was my "daily" mountain it'd be a different story...but I'm from CT.

Same with rain. I don't ski in a pouring rain. I could if I bought a nice Gortex jacket and pants...but how much $$ would that be for how much enjoyment?? My ancient rain poncho works fine for the light rain and showery conditions I ski in maybe 2 days a year.

All this said I am hardier than 95% of skiers out there. But this forum pretty much is the 5% that will bash away at this and fail to understand the majority of skiers from the cities won't ski below 20 degree days.

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If I wouldnt ski if it was under 20 degree I would never ski from dec-feb as Killington rarely gets above 20 mid winter. I am fine down to about 0 degree, can go negative if it is not windy. Rain sucks, while the snow is often nice and soft, and the temps are on the warm side, my biggest issue with rainy days is visibility. Normally with the warmer temps that rain brings it brings in thick fog which makes it hard to see and I also hate constantly wiping my googles. Skiing by braille is no fun in my book which is why I dont ski in the rain.

Wind and rain affect me. Wind shuts down Stowe..and rain just plain sucks to ski in. Other than that I'll go anywhere.

Forecasts can alter my plans. I generally try to ski every weekend, but if there's a rain/rapid freeze event occurring on a Friday or Saturday I may think twice. Temps usually won't stop me. A forecast of some rain itself won't often stop me (unless they say downpours all weekend and you know there's no way they will be wrong). A major winter storm also does potentially impact me if it falls on one of the travel days (either to the mountain or home). Sometimes I can plan around it and leave earlier/later, but sometimes I can't and need to just skip. No matter how good my tires, vehicle, experience in winter driving may be, a 5 hour ride drive through bad conditions is simply not fun and depending on severity not necessarily worth the risk (plus, even if I trust myself, the question is do I trust the others on the road around me?).

ski&soccermom said:

Does the forecast affect your decision to ski?

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I pretty much do my own weather predicting, with the additional help of some reliable sources, so for me, no, I'm not going to get scared by the media.

I do "get" how that does happen though. Especially since NBC purchased The Weather Channel and turned TWC into the fear-mongering "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" every 5 minutes network.

I will say, it's is a bit ironic that a ski area is upset about over-hyping of forecasts, but they'll be the first ones to find a map with the highest predicted snow totals to said weather event, then send out an e-mail blast. :lol:

We don't let the hype govern our plans. I use the NWS as my go to. If it's going to be bitter cold, rain or cold after a rain/thaw event, we'll skip out.

Rain will affect my decision on whether to ski (I hate skiing in the rain even if the conditions are somewhat better). Otherwise it's just a matter of what clothes to wear.

I'm retired and only ski midweek. Because we have total flexibility, weather is most important. We never make long range plans, and we look at the forecast 3 or 4 days ahead before we decide to go. We try to ski for 2 or 3 days every other week. If conditions look stellar, we'll go more often. But wind, rain and below zero weather will keep us home. At my age I don't need the aggravation.

Glenn said:

I will say, it's is a bit ironic that a ski area is upset about over-hyping of forecasts, but they'll be the first ones to find a map with the highest predicted snow totals to said weather event, then send out an e-mail blast. :lol:

We don't let the hype govern our plans. I use the NWS as my go to. If it's going to be bitter cold, rain or cold after a rain/thaw event, we'll skip out.

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I was thinking the same thing.

TWC sux now