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Prez Week 2020 thumbnail intel thread

legalskier

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Sep 22, 2008
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Belleayre 2-19-20
Cold & windy with on & off snow squalls all afternoon. Surface was frozen cord & frozen hardpack, snow guns firing on two upper trails. Good weekday crowd with quite a few kids though not like a weekend. Saw several instructors doing lessons including a kids group.
Going forward it looks to my eye like Belle is in good enough shape to make it to April assuming seasonable temps. There appears to be enough cover for tree skiing but I didn't venture in. However, an employee told me that there will be no further snowmaking after this weekend. A decision has been made to go with low energy snowmaking and phase out the diesel powered system, which he said would end up producing far less snow. He said the cover is "thin."
I suppose only time will tell....
 

sledride

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Apr 20, 2018
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Sugarloaf 2/17-2/20
Some crowds at SQ and Whiffletree but no lines at King Ping and Skyline.
7" of powder to start Wednesday. Knee deep drifts on Bubblecuffer for first run of the day. Hoots and hollers everywhere.
Bracket Basin was phenomenal when you could get to it but all the woods were good. Unfortunately, King Pine and Skyline went on wind hold Wednesday and Timberline never ran but that means Brackett should be seeing low traffic.
Was able to get a Cat skiing ticket despite vacation week. Was a cool experience.
First time there, what a great mountain.
 

slatham

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Sep 17, 2012
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LI/Bromley
Here’s my theory. Everyone had MLK Monday and only MLK Monday. Decent snow means big crowds.

Everyone has a different vacation schedule for Presidents’ Day. Friday-Monday, Monday-Tuesday, the full week. I think this spreads the crowds out. It also means some people (like me) didn’t ski part of the weekend as I am off all week. I am also sure some people took advantage of more time off to travel out West.

Add to this a forecast for a very cold Saturday, and no recent (or forecasted) dumps and the crowds thin a bit more.

When it comes to having a really crowded day it’s at the margins - it’s what those last 5-10% of people decide to do.
 
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