Crotched Night Skiing (1/20) Burrrrr!!

[Angus]

Angus and Son of Angus arrived at about 5 PM and were on the mountain by 5:20. We bought Midnight Madness tickets for an extra $6 so we could ski past 9 PM – we wouldn't make!

It was windy and cold on the drive up to the hill but the wind seemed to pick up after the sun went down and the temperature dropped quickly. The summit chairlift was working when we arrived but was shut down when we got back outside to ski. Someone told us it was due to a mechanical problem but we were later told it was due to the high winds.

Our first run was down Galaxy which had nice snow until you turned the corner – the wind was coming right up the slope and any snow on the trail had been blown away leaving either pure ice or ice packed snow. We skied Meteor a bunch which was nice. After awhile, we jumped over to the far right double. At this point, the triple by lodge had been shut down leaving only the two boundary lifts operating. This created essentially was two separate ski areas. We skied SuperNova, Final Frontier (dimly lit) and Comet Drop (hard pack with poor lighting at a point where the pitch drops significantly) – SuperNova was the best. About 7:15 Son of Angus' feet were numb and we went in for hot chocolate. After the warm-up, we were back out at 7:45 and skied until about 8:45 on both sides. It was just too cold and windy and Son of Angus having played two games of b-ball that afternoon was whipped and fell asleep almost immediately in the car!

The car thermometer read 8 degrees when we got in the car. The mountain was empty although the college/high school crowd seemed to be arriving when we were leaving. Without the summit lift running, a good amount of the terrain (and the majority of the better quality) is unavailable. One solution would be to have the Eclipse cut-through open (I was told it was open but it was bare when I skied over) which would have provided access to Pluto's Plunge and Equinox.

Tough night to try to ski with marginal weather and trail conditions – lots of snow being pushed off the trails by the winds. I would say that I was impressed by the amount of snow that the mountain has been able to lay down, the base is an honest 1 to 3 feet deep. I was reminded of the bumpa sticka “a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work” - substitute skiing for fishing!

 

[tcharron]

Aye, I went thursday and they where in the process of extending the base of the entire area. Too bad about Galaxy, that section after the turn always seems to get packed and icy as all hell, but Thursday I actually thought it had TOO much fluff on it. Must have all blown up, hopefully depositing on the newly cut trail they havent fully opened yet. I've also found boarders are really nasty to that hill, maybe that's why it gts so bad in crappy weather.

Nice to hear the Final Frontier and Comet drop was open, they where still building it up on Thursday, have to check it out this week.

Surpised Eclipse was closed, could have sworn they where making snow on it last week with portable guns.

Was the lower section of meteor dug in from the racing they where doing last week? Hate going accross and all of the sudden hitting the one foot high snowbank caused by them skiing thru the flags.

 

[Mapnut]

Ditto, I mean really ditto

Amazing, Angus, that almost word-for-word describes my outing with Daughter of Mapnut, even to noting the need for a crossover to Pluto's Plunge. Except we skied until 8:50. Also bought the Midnight ticket instead of the 5-to-9. We got started at 5 but didn't get a ride on the summit quad either.

 

[tcharron]

If you guys go often enough, a season long midnight madness pass for 5pm-3am is only line 110$, FYI. Personally, I have a family pass which includes it, but then, we've got 4 people skiing often.

 

[Angus]

reading my trip report again, I didn't want to make it seem like I expected the mountain to be able to control the winds and cold. as I said, the base they have laid down is very good considering winter we're having - who knows about the cross-cut - I'd never skied it before and assume whatever coverage that was laid down got blown away - how many wind holds have they have had in the 3 years they've been re-opened? - handful at best I assume. it is interesting though to note that when the summit lift isn't open, it's a very choppy mountain - not sure what you can really do about that other than make sure that Eclipsys has snow on it in the future.

 

[tcharron]

reading my trip report again, I didn't want to make it seem like I expected the mountain to be able to control the winds and cold. as I said, the base they have laid down is very good considering winter we're having - who knows about the cross-cut - I'd never skied it before and assume whatever coverage that was laid down got blown away - how many wind holds have they have had in the 3 years they've been re-opened? - handful at best I assume. it is interesting though to note that when the summit lift isn't open, it's a very choppy mountain - not sure what you can really do about that other than make sure that Eclipsys has snow on it in the future.

Yes, definatly is hard without Eclipse being open. Getting from the Super-Nova/Velocity side isn't bad, as you can cut thru Shooting Star and/or the 'unnamed' cutthru at the bottom of velocity/top of Zero-G, but in order to use it from Super-Nova, you have to get balls to the walls speed to cut accross, or your walking some With the summit lift getting extended further up the peak eventually, the problem could get even worse. :-(

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Back in the day, Onset/Bobcat/Crotched West almost never had wind holds. Now granted, the west side summit chair only ran for the last 2 or 3 seasons, but wind was rarely a problem. Of course, the summit T-bar offered an alternative, too.

I still can't recall a windhold back in the "old days". I don't really expect it to be much of an issue. While I miss the old trail layout, the new snowmaking is amazing.

 

[tcharron]

reading my trip report again, I didn't want to make it seem like I expected the mountain to be able to control the winds and cold. as I said, the base they have laid down is very good considering winter we're having - who knows about the cross-cut - I'd never skied it before and assume whatever coverage that was laid down got blown away - how many wind holds have they have had in the 3 years they've been re-opened? - handful at best I assume. it is interesting though to note that when the summit lift isn't open, it's a very choppy mountain - not sure what you can really do about that other than make sure that Eclipsys has snow on it in the future.

Was talking to some people. They haven't made snow on the cross-cuts for a reason. They are HOPING to be able to leave them natural for people to have some fun cutting accross with. :-(

Maybe they should just giveup and toss some snow on em, but I suspect they're holding out hope.

 

[hammer]

Was talking to some people. They haven't made snow on the cross-cuts for a reason. They are HOPING to be able to leave them natural for people to have some fun cutting accross with. :-(

Maybe they should just giveup and toss some snow on em, but I suspect they're holding out hope.

I also think they should give up and just make snow on the trails...while there's plenty of cold forecast I don't think that significant snowfalls are expected for a while...

 

[tcharron]

I also think they should give up and just make snow on the trails...while there's plenty of cold forecast I don't think that significant snowfalls are expected for a while...

Yea. I believe they'd also need to use the portable guns for the cut-thru trail, which, at least last week, where being used to heavy give coverage to comet-drop and the trees area on the right side of the mountain (short area, but fun as all hell). Come to think of it, that side has another cut-thru trail they ended up covering. So perhaps they're doing it right now. I'll letcha all know when I go some night this week. Went last night, trip report soon, but OMFG it was friggen awesome.

 

[Angus]

OK - we're going to beat this trip report to death! Your news of talking with an insider has me irritated (very mildly)! I skied over to the cross cut early in the evening to see if it was open and it didn't look promising. At the hot chocolate break, I went over to the customer service window, map in hand and asked specificaly about the cross cut being open and was told - "everythings open 100%" - mimicking the website - except glades.

On the next run after the break, I skated over an onto the trail and pretty soon myself skating on grass and rock. Assuming that a marked trail that can be found on the published trail map counts in the total trail count, I guess they were not 100% open. If they haven't made snow on the trail because they've been waiting for natural to fall from the sky and we haven't had any natural snow - it's not open.

I'm not really annoyed - but it should serve as a good example of the power of viral marketing - good and bad - and let me repeat, I think Crotched does a GREAT job and I'm so impressed by how they target their niche so well - if any ski people read this site which I believe they do!

 

[tcharron]

OK - we're going to beat this trip report to death! Your news of talking with an insider has me irritated (very mildly)! I skied over to the cross cut early in the evening to see if it was open and it didn't look promising. At the hot chocolate break, I went over to the customer service window, map in hand and asked specificaly about the cross cut being open and was told - "everythings open 100%" - mimicking the website - except glades.

I suspect that was ticket counter fools who perhaps didn't even have a clue. Regardless, in hindsight I believe I may have mistaken my trails. The trail they intend on leaving 100% natural is the new trail cut between Milky Way and Equinox, which I confused with Eclipse. (I always think of that as being one trail, not 2). Regardless, truth be told, they're at 90-95%, not 100%

On the next run after the break, I skated over an onto the trail and pretty soon myself skating on grass and rock. Assuming that a marked trail that can be found on the published trail map counts in the total trail count, I guess they were not 100% open. If they haven't made snow on the trail because they've been waiting for natural to fall from the sky and we haven't had any natural snow - it's not open.

I'm not really annoyed - but it should serve as a good example of the power of viral marketing - good and bad - and let me repeat, I think Crotched does a GREAT job and I'm so impressed by how they target their niche so well - if any ski people read this site which I believe they do!

I agree. Here's my honest opinion. I'm going to have to take another look, but I don't *believe* the Eclipse trail has any dedicated guns. The portable guns where being used to provide cover for Comet Drop and a connector to Super Nova, since the upper-half of Comet Drop (hrm, another small connector), AND another small connector from the end of Comet Drop to the bottom of Velocity.

But in the end, their pretty much open on all trails, but it's not 100%.