2018-2019 Sunday River

[WWF-VT]

Was gonna take Monday off to get a 3 day weekend in at Loaf/SR, but that Sunday forecast is a huge buzzkill and then everything will freeze solid behind it.

Welcome to skiing in New England

 

[MEtoVTSkier]

Yep, got to get it while the getting is good!

 

[Zand]

Welcome to skiing in New England

After the last 2 months of last season and the first month of this season I forgot what New England is supposed to be like

 

[Zand]

Trend for Sunday is positive right now. Looks like the majority of precipitation will fall before temps rise above freezing, then the dry slot moves in. Also looks like temps at SR won't get much above the mid 30s anyway. Hopefully we can avoid a huge freezeover so everything stays skiable.

 

[Smellytele]

Trend for Sunday is positive right now. Looks like the majority of precipitation will fall before temps rise above freezing, then the dry slot moves in. Also looks like temps at SR won't get much above the mid 30s anyway. Hopefully we can avoid a huge freezeover so everything stays skiable.

Not seeing that with the GFS nor the NAM.

 

[Smellytele]

 

[Smellytele]

 

[Zand]

All of those prove me correct lol....that last panel at 18z is still sleet then the dry slot is lurking about 100 miles away. Most precip should shut off before it warms above freezing.

 

[crazy]

Snow-forecast.com is showing 1.2 inches of rain and then freeze-thaw. I checked a few hours ago and Sunday River was only supposed to get 0.4 inches of rain or something along those lines. Of course, I hope this is wrong and it's all snow .

 

[skiMEbike]

Go to the LOAF...The extra hour drive is worth it !! From those models, it looks like the Loaf will hang onto mostly snow, however I don't think anyone is escaping the mixed precip (and some r@!#) this weekend.

 

[Zand]

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-70.90584068151655&lat=44.4602393519294#.XAGthfZFyM8

Forecast for 2500' doesn't look all that bad right now. And it's been trending colder so hopefully they'll escape the liquid altogether and only be above freezing for a few hours so the snow doesn't soften up too much. If it does I suppose they'll have a hell of a base even though it would be unskiable till the next snowstorm.

 

[Jully]

I skied some 3 hours this morning. Fast and crisp after all the rain and the cold temps. Short lines, never mind that, no lines. Windy however, which meant wind holds. But what was open was good.

This weekend, they are aiming for access to the Jordan, there is already access to the Summit, ungroomed though. Today, that means a tough slog back. They are spreading out and blowing snow, notably on Dream maker and Obsession.

TTB on Obsession or still just Snowbound and below?

 

[Cat in January]

Ungroomed all crust?

 

[machski]

TTB on Obsession or still just Snowbound and below?

TTB, White Heat Quad opens this weekend

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[machski]

Bring your skis with edges. If not, park at White Cap. Everything there accessible today was nice and soft. Hit Barker, Spruce and Escapade late, edges of trail ok but middle, ehh. Risky was good as it has had some Snowmaking. Aurora was on wind hold. Based on what I saw today, I would recommend staying to newly opened terrain.

For all the park fans, T72 was lit up today.

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[machski]

Freshly opened trails skied great today. Nice to have a glad back in play too. A bit crusty but silky snow beneath in Wizard's Gulch. The benefits of no traffic in there until now.

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[machski]

The skiing was surprisingly good today. A couple inches of fluff and groomed. We tried a little bit of the ungroomed areas, and they were..... well, not rock hard, but not soft either. Some folks were lapping Ai Karumba as we rode the Jordan lift. Cold and windy, colder than expected, but nice and sunny.

You should have skied the naturals in Jordan, they were much better than I thought possible this weekend. Not fluff, but soft after the crust got broken up.

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[catherine]

I just want to say that if you need some better than average skiing, this is the year! The River is opening terrain and it is just nice!

I didn't ski too much today as I left a ski behind in a snowgun pile and twisted my other leg coming out of it. (Okay, I'll admit it, I wiped out twice yesterday and it was at Bretton Woods! LOL!) I felt it inside the joint last night and was a little nervous I had really done it now. But this morning and it's only the tendons on the outside of my leg that are sore. It is healing up nice and I can traverse the stairs tonight no problem. I skied just enough to work out the leg and not let it get stiff. A lot of open terrain I want to try out!

Tomorrow is a new day!

Seriously considering Wed next week. Love reading your reports! Thank you!

 

[Jully]

Amazing. Getting back up there for the first time since the rain. Was worried I'd be sorely let down, but sounds like gromers are in great shape. Natty trails closed everywhere but Jordan is kind of a bummer still, but nothing the resort can do about that.

Seriously considered dropping my pass there this year, but glad I didn't with the effort and improvements.

 

[machski]

I gotta say that I am nothing but pleased with what Sunday River is doing this year. I skied around from Barker to Jordan. They are continuing to blow snow to open up more trails, but they are also blowing maintenance snow onto heavily used areas. Punch, Risky Business, Broadway, Sundance, Grand rapids, and others are getting more snow!

Just an FYI, they replaced the water line from the pond to the pump house this summer, doubling water capacity, though they only added on pump so they can't yet take full advantage of that capacity. But, they can count on having water to work with for the snowblowers, a great improvement over last year. Additionally, I saw two groups of snowmakers one day, about 8 workers each, last year, I only ever saw a single group of 3 or 6 snowmakers. Increasing their pay to $20.00 an hour seems to be paying off!

Grooming continues as it always has. As they get more and more trails blown, they add them to the grooming list. All natural is not getting groomed.

They have 62 trails and 9 lifts open and this is only December 13th! Most all of the open trails are in mid season form, plenty of snow depth and just looking great. Only the occasional brown spot or ice flow, and you have to look for them!

If you are waiting for good conditions, wait no longer, it is awesome out there! The lines are short first thing in the morning and nonexistent during the day (weekdays, can't speak for weekends).

Ok, first off the doubling of water capacity has not yet happened. It only will if the western water line from the river gets installed as has been on the board for almost a decade now. They boosted water by 15% this year with the new primary line and feed pump.
Second, a lot of what we see is because that new line is solid and has not cut off the system. Additionally, mother nature has been super beneficial with terrific natural snow for this time of year and good, long cold. Very difficult to compare to the last several seasons given the change in weather.
Finally, if Sunday River was way ahead of the competition I would give there investments cuddos. The reality is they are basically on par with the rest of the Northeast. And some areas (Aurora) are still not getting the type of love they should. To me, they are about where I would expect, nothing to get excited about (other than mother nature's early giving that is).

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