Except for Killington-very weak effort to get open

[puckoach]

Temperature of snow making water a factor too.

Which changes slower, than ground temp.

 

[mister moose]

Yes...Downdraft Headwall is the steep, often frozen solid section that drops off the peak lodge to High Traverse. "Upper" Downdraft shouldn't count as a separate trail as its only a few hundred more feet down to Great Northern and rather uninteresting.

This is the best time of the season to ski the Headwall until soft spring days. After it gets rained on once, bring your ice skates.

For the record, Killington splits Downdraft, which really isnt very long, into 4 sections lol.

The section from High Traverse to GN is where they hold Loaded Rail Turkey Jam (Or whatever its called) and they break that out as a separate segment. All 4 segments open and close independently as weather and conditions dictate. Lower gets snowmaking last. The headwall closes frequently. So it actually is handy to know which segments are open, like the 3 on Superstar. Counting that as 4 trails though is embarrassing.

 

[bdfreetuna]

The section from High Traverse to GN is where they hold Loaded Rail Turkey Jam (Or whatever its called) and they break that out as a separate segment. All 4 segments open and close independently as weather and conditions dictate. Lower gets snowmaking last. The headwall closes frequently. So it actually is handy to know which segments are open, like the 3 on Superstar. Counting that as 4 trails though is embarrassing.

Pretty much why I miss their Interactive Trail Map. Especially early season when all these little bits are opening up one at a time, it's hard to envision how much actual skiable terrain there is.

 

[kbroderick]

The section from High Traverse to GN is where they hold Loaded Rail Turkey Jam (Or whatever its called) and they break that out as a separate segment. All 4 segments open and close independently as weather and conditions dictate. Lower gets snowmaking last. The headwall closes frequently. So it actually is handy to know which segments are open, like the 3 on Superstar. Counting that as 4 trails though is embarrassing.

+1 on that.

I thought it was incredibly silly how many named segments Sunday River had during some of the "add trail count without cutting trees" years until I worked patrol elsewhere for a couple of years. Having shorter named segments can be super-helpful in trying to locate a reported incident (assuming, of course, that the reporter actually knows where said incident occurred), as well as for calling for additional help.

So yes, it would be nice if there were separate "run" vs "trail" stats—e.g. "three top-to-bottom runs, 12 trails open"—but there are operational reasons beyond trail-count numbers to split things up into shorter sections. I also think it would be more informative to report new snow as "dusting", "buckles", "mid-boot", "mid-shin", or "too deep, just stay home and leave it to us", as accurate snow reporting is damn near impossible once wind enters the picture, but then we'd probably see a bunch of really short people get hired as snow reporters.

 

[mbedle]

Those issues yes, plus the insane traffic too and from the resort that the added pass base has caused.

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I don't believe that day pass prices are affecting the outcome of the ski mag survey. I highly doubt that a large percentage of voters on a skiing specific website are paying daily lift ticket window rates. I will say that the overall hatred of Vail Resorts most likely had something to do with it (whether realized or not). I agree 100 percent DH, that the traffic and parking issue has created some ill feelings towards Stowe (three Saturdays this past season they ran out of parking completely and turned people away). Their health and safety program might also have a lot to do with it. It might be me, but last year seem to have a rather high amount of lift closures. And don't forget their worthless snow reports. It took a lot of complaining just to get Scott to start doing the snow phone reports again.

 

[kingslug]

The only way to deal with Stowe parking is to get there very early..which I know id hard for those with kids. Their snow reporting is a joke. I have never heard a good thing said by anyone up there about Vail. But..they really haven't done anything yet..

 

[mbedle]

The only way to deal with Stowe parking is to get there very early..which I know id hard for those with kids. Their snow reporting is a joke. I have never heard a good thing said by anyone up there about Vail. But..they really haven't done anything yet..

So true, I can't even remember the last time that I had to park anywhere but in front of the Mansfield lodge.

 

[kingslug]

7:30 chair is the best..before the hordes arrive

 

[kingslug]

Looks like now until Sunday is the time to get up to K..Best early turns.

 

[chuckstah]

Looks like now until Sunday is the time to get up to K..Best early turns.

Maybe? Mount Snow will have Freefall open Wednesday on the North Face. If they leave it ungroomed whales like 2 years ago, that will be the best open terrain and it's over 1000 vert. If they groom it, not so much.

 

[icecoast1]

Maybe? Mount Snow will have Freefall open Wednesday on the North Face. If they leave it ungroomed whales like 2 years ago, that will be the best open terrain and it's over 1000 vert. If they groom it, not so much.

They were knocking down the whales on freefall today....

 

[drjeff]

Yup, above freezing today, then a flash deep freeze tomorrow afternoon along with some snow. Had to knock the whales down today, then groom it out again after the freeze to limit the death cookie size...

Hopefully later this week they'll go guns on on either Plummet or Chute and keep it in its whale state for the weekend!

They were knocking down the whales on freefall today....

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[bdfreetuna]

Maybe? Mount Snow will have Freefall open Wednesday on the North Face. If they leave it ungroomed whales like 2 years ago, that will be the best open terrain and it's over 1000 vert. If they groom it, not so much.

You like skiing whales? I hate that shit..

 

[chuckstah]

You like skiing whales? I hate that shit..

Love it, as long as they're not a block of ice, and it's certainly better than having everything open groomed out flat as a pancake.

Sent from my moto e5 cruise using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[kingslug]

Hunter blew whales on Anapurna once that were insane..weird place to do it though.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I guess most of my Whale experience is blocks of ice. At least flat pancakes I can work on my technique. Problem with whales is you can't see over them so it's slow-go.

Just realized "Canyon" and "Cascade" are the same trail. Add Freefall and that's basically 2 runs. River Run counts as a 1/2 run.

Really hoping they open Long John for Thursday! It's all about building up those thighs for the main season though..

 

[ss20]

You need a few things to enjoy skiing snowmaking whales...

1. Good light (can't be cloudy)
2. Consistent snow conditions (not have ice on the back sides of those things)
3. Quite a few previous runs on the trail so you know where everything is

I've "skied" some 12-15 footers at Mount Snow, Windham, and Killington. "Ski" is a relative term...when they're that big you're just going up and over them like a roller coaster. It's a lot of fun once you get comfortable if there's not much else to ski.

I'd prefer whales to groomed flat this time of year. Nice way to switch things up.

 

[kbroderick]

You need a few things to enjoy skiing snowmaking whales...

1. Good light (can't be cloudy)
2. Consistent snow conditions (not have ice on the back sides of those things)
3. Quite a few previous runs on the trail so you know where everything is

I had an unexpectedly good few runs last year when Sunday River was making snow on White Heat; the whales weren't entirely consistent, but they were acting as effective wind-interruption devices, and if you could get into the pocket of soft, fresh manmade on each one, it made for some really fun turns. Having the pitch of an already-not-flat trail increased was a bonus, although it was a bit unnerving on the first run to let myself get light over the top and aim for a landing on the back of each whale.

 

[andrec10]

Hunter blew whales on Anapurna once that were insane..weird place to do it though.

I remember that. It was 2016 I think. Looked like a Dr. Seuss Story...

 

[thetrailboss]

Looks like this thread is moot. Mount Snow is opening tomorrow.

https://www.wcax.com/content/news/Mount-Snow-among-ski-areas-set-to-open-this-week-564822261.html