Early Season Snowmaking 2017

[Glenn]

I'd be more impressed if they opened earlier than the day before Thanksgiving ever.

My wife and I were talking about that today. Wondering if they'll pull the trigger a week earlier. Forecast looks favorable. Although, could be mixed precip next Saturday. If they do wait until 11/22, they should have a boatload of terrain open.

 

[Jully]

My wife and I were talking about that today. Wondering if they'll pull the trigger a week earlier. Forecast looks favorable. Although, could be mixed precip next Saturday. If they do wait until 11/22, they should have a boatload of terrain open.

How much easier/more effective is it to make snow on trails that are not open versus opening then continuing snowmaking ops? Or do resorts strictly not open once they have one run ready because of operating costs?

 

[JimG.]

Exactly!

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Nobody's talking s**t about K.

But you have to admit that circumstances conspired perfectly to make K look bad with all of these other ski areas opening up all at once. Nobody is going to stop going to K because a few other areas beat them to TTB status almost by default because of the WC prep.

 

[Glenn]

How much easier/more effective is it to make snow on trails that are not open versus opening then continuing snowmaking ops? Or do resorts strictly not open once they have one run ready because of operating costs?

Good question. I have to imagine the ground is pretty cold up in SoVT now. I turned over our gardens in the flatlands today and found some icy bits of dirt. I have to imagine, any snow up there will stick around for a bit.

 

[drjeff]

Good question. I have to imagine the ground is pretty cold up in SoVT now. I turned over our gardens in the flatlands today and found some icy bits of dirt. I have to imagine, any snow up there will stick around for a bit.

Based on what I saw about 10 miles South of Stratton today, unless this week's forecast shifts dramatically to the warm and wet, the only stuff that might be lost this week is the fringe inches in the few feet at the absolute furthest reach from the throw of the gun!!

Whenever Stratton decides to open, in reality, they're going to have one of their biggest opening day trail counts ever with what the weather has been and what they're system can do!!

Plus I'm sure the new owners wouldn't mind opening with some big time mojo!!

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[mbedle]

View attachment 22841
Cruising past the Fish Hatchery in Allentown spotted someone’s local effort. Nice manicured Walnut tree grove, often thought about a quick poach of their 100’ vert.

Is that on Fish Hatchery road, towards 100?

 

[Jcb890]

The verdict - absolutely worth taking the trip up to Mt. Snow yesterday. Better snow quality than expected for only man-made snow. 3 different top to bottom options was great and the crowds weren't bad at all. My wife and I had our own chairs up the first 2 times up on the Bluebird. It did get busier by ~10 (per usual), but still wasn't bad.

 

[ss20]

Killington is playing catch up...and they're gonna catch up quickly... snowmaking on Chute, Launch Pad, Upper Double Dipper, and Upper Downdraft.

Meanwhile at Mount Snow, from the report-

On the snowmaking front, after an amazing run that started back on Tuesday night, we’re going to give the guys a break and temporarily suspend snowmaking operations for a few days to let them catch up on sleep. But don’t worry, we’ll be firing up the most powerful snowmaking system in the Northeast again soon.

It's cold enough tonight and tomorrow night so it definitely caught me off guard. If they just blow Thursday and Friday nights I don't think that's enough time to add another trail or two for the weekend.


Okemo also still blowing.

 

[Jully]

Interesting response from Mt. Snow. It obviously makes a lot of sense that this would be needed, but you don't normally see this from ski areas. Do other resorts have larger snowmaking crews? Or do they do this and just not publicize why?

Sunday River is also still making snow and aiming to have South Ridge open by next weekend. If they succeed with that, they will be right back in line or even a bit ahead of their usual expansion schedule. South Ridge usually opens right around Thanksgiving.

 

[drjeff]

Killington is playing catch up...and they're gonna catch up quickly... snowmaking on Chute, Launch Pad, Upper Double Dipper, and Upper Downdraft.

Meanwhile at Mount Snow, from the report-


It's cold enough tonight and tomorrow night so it definitely caught me off guard. If they just blow Thursday and Friday nights I don't think that's enough time to add another trail or two for the weekend.


Okemo also still blowing.

One of the rumors I heard about Mount Snow taking a couple of days off from snowmaking right now, is after the first BIG run off the entire new system, they wanted to give the system a quick once over to make sure everything is working fine....

Who knows the validity behind that or not, as it wasn't from one of my more trusted sources....

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[Jcb890]

Anyone have any updates on Loon or Wildcat aside from their Snow/Mountain Reports?

It looks like Wildcat is Weekends-Only for now and Loon plans to open towards the end of this week.

Loon:

After a long, cold weekend, I'm happy to report that we made a whole lot of snow.

Temperatures in the teens and twenties all weekend long allowed for exceptionally productive snowmaking, with large snowmaking whales gracing the mountain from base to summit. As of Monday morning, we've got a very healthy snowpack on a number of key trails, including: Exodus, Upper Bear Claw, Upper Picked Rock, Bear Claw Extension, Grand Junction, Link, Lower Bear Claw, Seven Brothers, and Lower Picked Rock. At this point, our snowmakers have shifted their attention elsewhere, and are currently cranking the guns on Sunset, Haulback, Lower Walking Boss, Basin Street, and Crosscut.

So when is opening day, you ask? Our current plan is to open toward the end of this week. Mother Nature always has the final say, though, so you'll want to check back here for daily updates, follow @loonmtn on Twitter and @loonpov on Instagram, and like Loon Mountain Resort on Facebook. We'll see you soon!

Wildcat:

Thanks everyone for coming out for the first weekend of skiing and riding at Wildcat! Our 60th Anniversary season is off to a great start. We look forward to seeing you again on Saturday... In the meantime, be sure to check out our e-tickets page to purchase in advance and save a few bucks. ​

-Nate

 

[Jully]

Loon may be opening with a ton of terrain this weekend if they can finish up everything they list in that report! Maybe I'll end up there over the River even.

Wildcat is indeed weekends only right now. They started blowing on Polecat on Sunday. Lower and Middle Lynx are buried, but they might spend some time blowing a bit more on upper Lynx too this week.

 

[benski]

One of the rumors I heard about Mount Snow taking a couple of days off from snowmaking right now, is after the first BIG run off the entire new system, they wanted to give the system a quick once over to make sure everything is working fine....

Who knows the validity behind that or not, as it wasn't from one of my more trusted sources....

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I doubt that how hard can it be to tell if the system is working normally. Could they of checked for leeks when it was warm and the guns are the same. And how new is this system. I thought they did this by using air more efficiently over the past couple of years adding a water source along with a few larger pipes to the old system.

 

[Jcb890]

Loon may be opening with a ton of terrain this weekend if they can finish up everything they list in that report! Maybe I'll end up there over the River even.

Wildcat is indeed weekends only right now. They started blowing on Polecat on Sunday. Lower and Middle Lynx are buried, but they might spend some time blowing a bit more on upper Lynx too this week.

Loon might be the play this weekend for us as well. It looks like possible rain on Thursday and Saturday, so I'll be watching. Hopefully no rain at all.

It sounds like Wildcat still needs some time, so we'll probably wait on Wildcat for now.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

Interesting response from Mt. Snow. It obviously makes a lot of sense that this would be needed, but you don't normally see this from ski areas. Do other resorts have larger snowmaking crews? Or do they do this and just not publicize why?

I'd be willing to bet that it has to do with power contract issues. This is way earlier in the season than anybody was expecting to be able to run balls to the wall. I know that using extra power out of contract can be quite expensive. Also, "when" you set your peak power demand for the month can affect your price for the next 12 months going forward as much as the amount of the energy that was used. Most ski areas spend a lot of time and energy finding and exploiting all of the contract loophole that they can.


Just a guess, but I have seen this happen many times before.

 

[skiberg]

You are probably right. At Cannon I know the Meter Read day is today. This past weekend they were only operating at like 20% efficiency because the cost to go all out was too high. That changes as of today. I imagine most resort have the same issues depending upon when they have their meter read day.

 

[Jcb890]

I wonder if Mt. Snow caught some flak, the part about snowmaking is no longer in the Snow Report.

On the snowmaking front, after an amazing run that started back on Tuesday night, we’re going to give the guys a break and temporarily suspend snowmaking operations for a few days to let them catch up on sleep. But don’t worry, we’ll be firing up the most powerful snowmaking system in the Northeast again soon.

 

[slatham]

I'd be willing to bet that it has to do with power contract issues. This is way earlier in the season than anybody was expecting to be able to run balls to the wall. I know that using extra power out of contract can be quite expensive. Also, "when" you set your peak power demand for the month can affect your price for the next 12 months going forward as much as the amount of the energy that was used. Most ski areas spend a lot of time and energy finding and exploiting all of the contract loophole that they can.


Just a guess, but I have seen this happen many times before. QUOTE]

Lets also consider that at 2:50pm Monday it was 29 degrees at the summit and 37 at the base. So whatever other reasons may be true or not, its too warm to efficiently make snow. Sure they will be able to make snow tonight, but given progress so far and forecasts for a few more high efficiency cold shots before Thanksgiving, not an unusual decision.

 

[Jully]

I wonder if Mt. Snow caught some flak, the part about snowmaking is no longer in the Snow Report.

That is unfortunate if that is the case. I like the honesty and I 100% feel it is necessary to give them a break given what they've accomplished wit a new system! A resort being transparent about snowmaking plans and showing they are treating their employees well/properly... I'm all for that!

 

[Jcb890]

That is unfortunate if that is the case. I like the honesty and I 100% feel it is necessary to give them a break given what they've accomplished wit a new system! A resort being transparent about snowmaking plans and showing they are treating their employees well/properly... I'm all for that!

It was just a guess by me, but I appreciate the transparency also. The reasoning doesn't really matter, but the sharing of information and the sharing of a snowmaking schedule I find quite interesting and helpful.