Can Okemo overcome 30inches+to open more then 1 lift???

[MidnightJester]

So I dirving up early tommorrow to VT. Trying to decide if Okemo will get their mountain open from the 30+ they recieved. They only spun up one LIFT today and 8 trails. They were at 35 trails give or take before the storm. I am hitting it only on Friday as on Monday I am hitting Killington with Sunday open if I wasnt to brave the crazy weekend I feel it will be with lift lines and the snow bringing out the exrtras.

Would I be better off hitting MT snow instead of Okemo. Wondering aloud??

 

[slatham]

Actually Okemo got 40” or so. This was way more than forecasted and prevented staff from getting to the Mountian. Then once there they had to dig out 40”. Plus that amount of snow needs to be groomed to be skied on all but the steepest terrain. And until 10 or so it was snowing at a rate of 2-3” per hour. So today is definitely not a precursor to tomorrow IMHO.

 

[MidnightJester]

So that is what I am hoping as I have to purchase my ticket before midnight to get the lowest day price locked in which I then have to hope to get refunded lol( VT 4 skipass) at the end of the day acording to the fine print.

Dig, Groom, Lift and unleash the Riders and Skiiers we will groom the inbetweens

 

[kingslug]

40" is a lot to try and open in 1 morning..Western resorts can't do it.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

okemo isnt steep enough for that much snow. they'll groom it all and open at 100% with really nice groomers. but who chases a 40" storm for groomers. but even their woods arent steep enough. I've been to okemo on a big 18"+ storm day and its the last mountain id want to be at for that. i was at Stratton today, which is the 2nd worse, and there was plenty of too much snow to move happening all over the place

the best move tomorrow is pico opening day or killington, or magic opening red. killington and pico are already sold out of parking. i don't want to drive another 2+ hours down 100 at 6 AM so i will prob suck it up and ski mount ellen. today was outstanding so i can relax tomorrow. magic sunday for me when its free and I'm on my way south to home anyway.

 

[Zermatt]

Jackson Gore was spinning in the afternoon. they'll be fine this weekend.

If a western mountain received 40" overnight they would have an equally hard time opening.

 

[MidnightJester]

Just a update. Killington opened up more parking it seems. When I booked my Monday spot they showed the weekend open again.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

thanks for the heads up. honestly i hadn't even checked killington. i checked pico and then said 'oh that makes sense'. but i did just check killington and Friday 18 is X'd out as of 8 PM

 

[Vince]

Only 2 lifts open today The Jackson Gore lower chair and Chair A on the main Mountain. I went to Jackson Gore the upper covered chair never opened and it was pretty obvious they weren't even gonna try. Skied 30 runs on the Jackson Gore lower chair today 11,700 vert. First time out this year so I had a great time. Just good to get out. Don't think I ever skied the same trail 30 times in a row before

If it was mid season I would be bitching about lack of staff and lack of effort to get things open. They did get 36 + of snow. Not much wind either. Only the handful of steeper pitches will be skiable until groomed. Otherwise too flat too much snow.

I did not see a snow cat on any of the upper Jackson Gore trails all day and they are already warning about late lift openings tomorrow. If I was going tomorrow I would pick a place where I know more terrain will be open.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

lol. okemo and vail are both so lol.

yes it takes time to open a resort after a huge snowfall. and yes, okemo is quite flat for a big dump. uniquely so.

but the post above reads to me that vail did not want to spend the money to give their passholders a decent product today

they already have the pass money, they are losing $, and they answer to the shareholder, not the skier. lol okemo. lol vail.

i don't mean to schadenfreude, and i'm sorry you had a meh day on what should have been a great one, but i am just feeling really vindicated about continuing to decline getting the epic pass. its so bad.

 

[MidnightJester]

Well heres hoping that they open more then Green Green Bunnie lifts. If they can open the Sunburst 6 lift and any other lift that you can chain off that lift would make the Mountain much more usable to someone besides a beginner.

 

[crystalmountainskier]

Look what happened when Vail bought Whistler Blackcomb. The alpine is now closed like half the time.

 

[thebigo]

Only 2 lifts open today The Jackson Gore lower chair and Chair A on the main Mountain. I went to Jackson Gore the upper covered chair never opened and it was pretty obvious they weren't even gonna try. Skied 30 runs on the Jackson Gore lower chair today 11,700 vert. First time out this year so I had a great time. Just good to get out. Don't think I ever skied the same trail 30 times in a row before

If it was mid season I would be bitching about lack of staff and lack of effort to get things open. They did get 36 + of snow. Not much wind either. Only the handful of steeper pitches will be skiable until groomed. Otherwise too flat too much snow.

I did not see a snow cat on any of the upper Jackson Gore trails all day and they are already warning about late lift openings tomorrow. If I was going tomorrow I would pick a place where I know more terrain will be open.

You skied a 400 vert green run 30 times in feet of powder? Not giving you shit, it just amazes me.

 

[BenedictGomez]

they already have the pass money, they are losing $, and they answer to the shareholder, not the skier. lol okemo. lol vail.

Correct; but I find this strange behaviour nonetheless. Makes me wonder how "tight" Vail will be operating this season.

 

[Zermatt]

Nobody was forecasting Ludlow to get 40" of snow in under 24 hours (likely close to, if not a new state record). At the end the short range models starting picking up on a heavy band of snow that was supposed to be farther south. So moving staff closer to the mountain just wasn't a thought and I'm sure covid had some effect on that. You can't plan and spend money to prepare for a 100 year event, it's not worth it.

As I mentioned earlier, no western resort would have fared better with 40" in under 24 hours. You'd be surprised to know that a dump like that exceeds Little Cottonwood Canyon 24 hour records which are in the 30" range. Yes, they get multi day storms though that deliver much more.

 

[Vince]

You skied a 400 vert green run 30 times in feet of powder? Not giving you shit, it just amazes me.

Kept telling myself just a few more. I think I skied 11:30 -4. Did a puff and had my powder skis. Now I know how they ski in the mid west. Just thankful to be out.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Nobody was forecasting Ludlow to get 40" of snow in under 24 hours (likely close to, if not a new state record). At the end the short range models starting picking up on a heavy band of snow that was supposed to be farther south. So moving staff closer to the mountain just wasn't a thought and I'm sure covid had some effect on that. You can't plan and spend money to prepare for a 100 year event, it's not worth it.

As I mentioned earlier, no western resort would have fared better with 40" in under 24 hours. You'd be surprised to know that a dump like that exceeds Little Cottonwood Canyon 24 hour records which are in the 30" range. Yes, they get multi day storms though that deliver much more.

those resorts have to do serious avalanche mitigation and the surrounding roads need the same. okemo doesn't. okemo needed to get one summit chairlift dug out, a groomed down lift off-load area and loading area, and a single one to two cat-wide groomer path down one open t2b route so people could bail when they inevitably got stuck in the powder. its not a reasonable comparison to say 'but alta wouldn't open after 40 inches'. its absurd.

 

[drjeff]

those resorts have to do serious avalanche mitigation and the surrounding roads need the same. okemo doesn't. okemo needed to get one summit chairlift dug out, a groomed down lift off-load area and loading area, and a single one to two cat-wide groomer path down one open t2b route so people could bail when they inevitably got stuck in the powder. its not a reasonable comparison to say 'but alta wouldn't open after 40 inches'. its absurd.

And get that steep access road plowed again and again and again, as well as some of the parking lots, and the entire, what is it, maybe 150 -200 yards from the parking lots to the base area quads cleaned out enough to get people between the parking lots and the lifts. Sometimes it's not just about the lifts that may be the issue, its the stuff that isn't 100% skiing related, but needs to be done as well.

And when you have multiple hours of 4-6" an hour snowfall rates as they did yesterday morning, that's an almost impossible task to do safely and timely for most any sized staff. Mother nature threw them a crazy storm yesterday

 

[KustyTheKlown]

they did all those things you mention. they cleared the access road, they cleared parking, they got staff up, they got guests up, who then apparently skied the bunny hill 30 times. they didn't get the lift and the mountain open. they did everything else you wrote. they made it so customers could get there and then enjoy a shit product. every other resort in the region got it done. everyone got a shitload of snow, okemo got a little more.

 

[Newpylong]

lol. okemo and vail are both so lol.

yes it takes time to open a resort after a huge snowfall. and yes, okemo is quite flat for a big dump. uniquely so.

but the post above reads to me that vail did not want to spend the money to give their passholders a decent product today

they already have the pass money, they are losing $, and they answer to the shareholder, not the skier. lol okemo. lol vail.

i don't mean to schadenfreude, and i'm sorry you had a meh day on what should have been a great one, but i am just feeling really vindicated about continuing to decline getting the epic pass. its so bad.

Yesterday had nothing to do with Vail or not Vail. They had 30 inches by 7:30AM and 45 by early afternoon. How do you expect people to get to work, take a flying carpet? Should they have all slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the lodge so they were ready to go?

That is so much snow so fast many employees needed to be dug out with tractors. 3 lifties and 1 mechanic made it in by noon, do the math on what they can open with that.

Time to be realistic.