The "Sugarbush Thread"

nhskier1969 · Nov 28, 2020

Shredmonkey254 said:
The two Alterra owned resorts are the only two major resorts that are not open or making snow in VT. Wondering if their other resorts are closed in other states.

I was wondering myself. As of a day or so ago the only Alterra resort open is Crystal mtn and that is on natural snow. None of their resorts were pushing to open up early. I wonder if Alterra have a whole bunch of actuaries sitting in a room to figure out how to squeeze as much money out of the year as possible.

cdskier · Nov 28, 2020

Here's a video update from John Hammond:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=382070863229424

LasersInTheTaiga · Nov 28, 2020

nhskier1969 said:
I was wondering myself. As of a day or so ago the only Alterra resort open is Crystal mtn and that is on natural snow. None of their resorts were pushing to open up early. I wonder if Alterra have a whole bunch of actuaries sitting in a room to figure out how to squeeze as much money out of the year as possible.

Mammoth, Squaw, and Big Bear are open (and have been for a little while). I genuinely don't blame them (yet) for not rushing to open in VT -- what's the point?

LasersInTheTaiga · Nov 28, 2020

Also it's really sad that friggin' Big Bear (and also a ski hill in *North Carolina*) opened before someplace like Sugarbush.

cdskier · Nov 28, 2020

LasersInTheTaiga said:
Also it's really sad that friggin' Big Bear (and also a ski hill in *North Carolina*) opened before someplace like Sugarbush.

What's so special about Big Bear that you think it is sad they opened before Sugarbush? They regularly open around mid to late November. As for the area in North Carolina that opened...they need to cover something like 700' of vertical while Sugarbush is trying to cover 2400' of vertical. In a normal year, Sugarbush would have been opened already with skiing off of Heaven's Gate. But this year they don't want to open until they have multiple routes/lifts available. Can't say I blame them one bit for that strategy.

There's plenty of other major resorts that haven't opened yet in the Northeast (look at NH).

For all the people that think SB should be open by now...what would you have done differently if you were in charge? It isn't like they haven't been making snow. Back in early November they even had piles on Pushover that were visible from the golf course cam (all completely melted out now...which shows the weather challenges they're dealing with). As far as I can tell, they've been running guns on the same number of trails simultaneously that they would have any other year, so I can't say they're cutting back and blowing less snow to save money (if they do that, it will be something seen later on with not blowing them as deep or skipping some trails or something along those lines).

KustyTheKlown · Nov 28, 2020

pretty grim snow scene at the moment, but single chair weather blog latest post talks about incoming series of storms thru mid December and looking much better in 2 weeks, which is when i show up in the valley. so that's cool i guess.

i got a new avatar. it felt on brand.

thetrailboss · Nov 28, 2020

nhskier1969 said:
I was wondering myself. As of a day or so ago the only Alterra resort open is Crystal mtn and that is on natural snow. None of their resorts were pushing to open up early. I wonder if Alterra have a whole bunch of actuaries sitting in a room to figure out how to squeeze as much money out of the year as possible.

They've been dragging with Solitude. As was said in another thread, they had a malfunction of their snowmaking system and they were not too fast in getting it fixed.

As to SB, it is not at all a normal year. COVID means that things are much different. Now under the ownership of a larger national company also means that they need to work through that. And SB, for a while now, has not been in the "first to open" market anyways.

thetrailboss · Nov 28, 2020

cdskier said:
Here's a video update from John Hammond:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=382070863229424

Honestly, they have done a lot from what I see there. The upper mountain looks pretty good. Spring Fling looks pretty thin, but it is lower.

machski · Nov 28, 2020

LasersInTheTaiga said:
Also it's really sad that friggin' Big Bear (and also a ski hill in *North Carolina*) opened before someplace like Sugarbush.

They have been getting natural snow since November in pretty good amounts. This was from two weeks ago flying by.

ducky · Nov 30, 2020

8 Rules for Skiing This Season8 Rules for Skiing This SeasonBeing out on the slopes is a perfect pandemic escape. It’s everything around the skiing that’s hard.Being out on the slopes is a perfect pandemic escape. It’s everything around the skiing that’s hard.

CastlerockMRV · Nov 30, 2020

BIG rains here in the valley tonight. Wondering how well the base will make it thru...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1333568091712843776

nhskier1969 · Nov 30, 2020

CastlerockMRV said:
BIG rains here in the valley tonight. Wondering how well the base will make it thru...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1333568091712843776

How long will it take for the resorts to recover. I know most aren't open yet but this is really going to be a hit for the snow that has been made.

ducky · Dec 1, 2020

We probably had 2" of rain yesterday. I can still see white trails up there, however.

Hawk · Dec 1, 2020

Web cams are still out on both app and the website.

tumbler · Dec 1, 2020

Hawk said:
Web cams are still out on both app and the website.

I got the super bravo one to work on the app and there is some snow left on Fling but not a lot. Temps don't look too good either. Thursday not gonna happen

Castlerockrisk · Dec 1, 2020

Currently hovering around sixty and windy at about 1200’ in Valley. i just went for a run in Tshirt and shorts. Almost same temp as Florida with snow forecast in Buffalo and down to West Virginia. Go figure? I would be surprised if they open, they blew some pretty high burms above Valley house but near as much below. temps will start to drop later but I forecast another delay in opening. Cross your fingers for some colder temps, we would be in epic conditions if the rain was snow. At least there is plenty of water for snow making.

Slidebrook87 · Dec 1, 2020

Temps look decent after tonight so there is still a chance they could open this weekend if they’re on top of the snowmaking, but I wouldn’t count on it. Thursday is definitely not happening.

HowieT2 · Dec 1, 2020

Slidebrook87 said:
Temps look decent after tonight so there is still a chance they could open this weekend if they’re on top of the snowmaking, but I wouldn’t count on it. Thursday is definitely not happening.

short window until Wednesday morning. Not looking good.

CastlerockMRV · Dec 1, 2020

Snowball and spring fling got pretty blown out. No longer edge to edge on either of them ... still some whales though. Organgrinder looks like it faired better.

1dog · Dec 1, 2020

Looks much better after tonight:

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

Most natural snow coming Sunday night.

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