Grooming question

[ckofer]

It seems that we've had a nice dose of snow lately. It is, however, fairly dry and at some places, already thin. Since it will probably rain at most mountains tomorrow night, would they be wise to flatten out some of the ungroomed trails now for the purpose of building a better base for the rest of the season?

 

[billski]

grooming and snowmaking

That's a broad-sweeping question and the answer will most likely be, "it depends." Some resorts are skiing opened trails entirely on natural, which may actually be an unusual event for them. One resort staffer told me that it would not be prudent to send a groomer up some of the trails yet because they could possibly do more harm than good, kicking up dirt in the process.

For those trails with substantial enough base, it makes sense to keep them in groomed form.

Speaking of grooming, I am particularly interested in hearing about snowmaking strategies this year, given the great early season conditions. I see a some of snowmaking work in progress, but only sporadically. I expect they are waiting now for this niar to pass us by. Have you placed your sacrifice to Ullr yet? :roll:

Snowmaking is going to be very, very expensive this year, given the cost of energy. I expect to see much more selective use of snowmaking this year, but I'm not a pro and not in the business. Just my gut.

 

[Terry]

Sunday River has been running snowmaking round the clock nonstop since early Nov. They are def not cutting back. They are getting close to 100% open already. Boyne is def being aggressive with the snowmaking and the skiing has been awesome.

 

[Geoff]

Sunday River has been running snowmaking round the clock nonstop since early Nov. They are def not cutting back. They are getting close to 100% open already. Boyne is def being aggressive with the snowmaking and the skiing has been awesome.

That has been true at most of the major resorts. 24x7 snowmaking since November 1 other than a few days off during warm spells.

Eastern resorts have to make snow. Only Jay Peak, Stowe, and Smuggs have received enough natural snow this year to skimp on laying down a manmade base.

 

[basemoto]

i bet the bigger resorts aren't to worried about the energy costs. You pay for it somewhere, and real estate at the big resorts bring in so much money they probably could survive without skiing and riding.

 

[Masskier]

"Eastern resorts have to make snow. Only Jay Peak, Stowe, and Smuggs have received enough natural snow this year to skimp on laying down a manmade base"

You can add Burke to this list.

 

[davidhowland14]

and mad river glen, and bolton, and k-mart, and..

 

[thetrailboss]

FWIW Burke prepared for this storm by grooming anything that they could...including Dipper Doodle, McHarg's Cutoff, Mountain Marsh, Little Dipper, etc. You're right...they want to groom out anything they can to make it dense and firm for this crap we have gotten. Not sure what things will look like tomorrow, but give them a day or two and we will have some great skiing on the groomers...

 

[kcyanks1]

That has been true at most of the major resorts. 24x7 snowmaking since November 1 other than a few days off during warm spells.

Eastern resorts have to make snow. Only Jay Peak, Stowe, and Smuggs have received enough natural snow this year to skimp on laying down a manmade base.

I don't think Sugarbush made snow on that many trails either.

 

[billski]

and mad river glen, and bolton, and k-mart, and..

Berkshire East and Black. Very little snowmaking, on just a couple of troublesome trails.

This may all change with the niar...

 

[davidhowland14]

i don't think so. a couple of other people have said, and I agree, that this crap will just consolidate and pack down the snowpack, leading to a killer base for the rest of the season.