How bad will it really be this weekend?

[watchoutbelow]

New guy here.

So I've been watching the weather all week and I am very bummed. I've had a trip up to Gore planned for this weekend all winter and I was really excited about all the snow they were getting.

Now they are saying 53 degrees and raining on Friday followed by 25 degrees on Saturday!!

Now, I am pretty new to skiing, so can anyone explain to me exactly how bad the conditions are going to be on Saturday morning? I am really worried that for a novice like me it will be pretty difficult.

How about Sunday and Monday? Do you think it will get better since they will have more time to groom?

Thanks! :beer:

 

[deadheadskier]

depends on how much rain they get. They might choose to let a lot of the trails drain on Saturday.

I was planning on skiing Saturday, I've switched to Sunday. I'm not someone who loves skiing groomers, but that's probably the only thing that will be decent until either:

A. we get new snow.

B. we enter into a spring corn cycle.

Hoping A comes soon and B doesn't come until April.

 

[watchoutbelow]

Yeah, I am definitely going Sunday and Monday. I was thinking about going super early on Saturday and getting in just a few runs because I have a three day lift ticket gift card that I need to use.

I'm just hoping that the rain somehow misses the mountain. My fingers are tightly crossed.

I just don't want to be skiing on ice all weekend. That would be a bummer.

 

[drjeff]

Yeah, I am definitely going Sunday and Monday. I was thinking about going super early on Saturday and getting in just a few runs because I have a three day lift ticket gift card that I need to use.

I'm just hoping that the rain somehow misses the mountain. My fingers are tightly crossed.

I just don't want to be skiing on ice all weekend. That would be a bummer.

A little patience will be key this weekend, if the anticipated weather happens. On Saturday you'll find that the mountain has groomed out a bunch of trails, which more than likely during the 1st couple of hours will ski decently. Realistically since this will be a very busy ski weekend, those nice early AM groomers will get a bit scraped off by late morning. There more than likely will be some trails closed Saturday if they do get a good thaw and then a hard freeze back up.

Come Sunday, things will be better do to more grooming and more water draining out of the snowpack, and if the possible storm comes on Monday, things will be getting back to decent pretty quickly.

Gotta remember as a mountain is managing their snowpack, sometimes the best thing they can do for the longterm benefit is to keep all equipment and people off a trail in the day or so immediately after a freeze up, to get as much water to drain out of the top layer of the snowpack as possible.

Also, we need to hope that the front comes through as early as possible Friday afternoon to start the cooldown, as the mountains won't want to start grooming the runs they decide to until after they freeze back up. The earlier they freeze back up, the more terrain they can groom out before 1st chair Saturday AM

 

[watchoutbelow]

Sounds like it won't be a total wash, but Sunday will be crazy busy I assume. I'm just hoping people decide to stay away for the whole weekend because of the weather. Either way I will be with friends, so I'm sure it will end up being fun.

 

[Greg]

Bummer. My one and only trip to Gore was under similar circumstances. Warm, spring-like leading up and then a deep freeze. All the good stuff was out of play. The steep groomers were okay, but pretty fast and flat, not my favorite conditions. Sounds like you prefer groomed intermediate terrain? That stuff might not be so bad. What made our trip worse was that we drove home into the St. Patty's Day storm we had a few years ago. Took 5+ hours driving in heavy snow after skiing frozen gran all day. Yuck!

 

[watchoutbelow]

Yeah, I was there early last February before they had any good snow and now I'm going up late February this year and all the good snow is gone! Guess I can't win.

I'm just hoping it's not as icy as it was last year. By lunchtime there were a lot of dangerous patches of ice on the intermediate trails and even the experienced skiers I was with were having a hard time.

Like I said, fingers crossed. Should get a little snow from 6pm to 10pm Friday night after the rain and then some more snow showers Saturday during the day.

 

[tjf67]

Yeah, I was there early last February before they had any good snow and now I'm going up late February this year and all the good snow is gone! Guess I can't win.

I'm just hoping it's not as icy as it was last year. By lunchtime there were a lot of dangerous patches of ice on the intermediate trails and even the experienced skiers I was with were having a hard time.

Like I said, fingers crossed. Should get a little snow from 6pm to 10pm Friday night after the rain and then some more snow showers Saturday during the day.

If you get out there early there is going to be pretty decent conditions. They have a decent base so they will churn it up good to put a decent product down. I dont exactly what time the cold weather is getting in here but there may be a chance that it stay warm enough friday night not to set everything up solid. The conditions are going to be bette for an intermediate than a expert. Gore expanded there terrain quite a bit so they shoul dbe able to disburse the crowds. Go for first chair and ski your ass off without taking any breaks until you are done. I would not stop for breaks as condtions are going to deteriate as the days go on. Get a good buzz on a go tubing while you are down there is a blast.

 

[watchoutbelow]

If you get out there early there is going to be pretty decent conditions. They have a decent base so they will churn it up good to put a decent product down. I dont exactly what time the cold weather is getting in here but there may be a chance that it stay warm enough friday night not to set everything up solid. The conditions are going to be bette for an intermediate than a expert. Gore expanded there terrain quite a bit so they shoul dbe able to disburse the crowds. Go for first chair and ski your ass off without taking any breaks until you are done. I would not stop for breaks as condtions are going to deteriate as the days go on. Get a good buzz on a go tubing while you are down there is a blast.

Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks!

 

[Warp Daddy]

3 of us will be at Gore sat , sun and mon -- it will be whatever it is and THAT is better than siting on the sidelines watching life go by .

The "weather - guessers" do their best but , over many yrs i can't tell u how many times i've been out skiing when they said it would be less than great . Life ain't a dress rehearsal relax and enjoy

 

[watchoutbelow]

3 of us will be at Gore sat , sun and mon -- it will be whatever it is and THAT is better than siting on the sidelines watching life go by .

The "weather - guessers" do their best but , over many yrs i can't tell u how many times i've been out skiing when they said it would be less than great . Life ain't a dress rehearsal relax and enjoy

I like that. Definitely going to go with the flow.

 

[marcski]

3 of us will be at Gore sat , sun and mon -- it will be whatever it is and THAT is better than siting on the sidelines watching life go by .

The "weather - guessers" do their best but , over many yrs i can't tell u how many times i've been out skiing when they said it would be less than great . Life ain't a dress rehearsal relax and enjoy

I kind of agree....you can't outguess the weather....and you got to be in it to win it!

With that said we are headed to my bro's in Burlington and I was planning to get out to thebush on sat with my bro and the bolton sunday with my girls and neices. We probably still will ski sunday......not sure now about sunday ....make a game time decision but I will being both my downhill skis and mh BC XC ones and do something on saturday.....outside and enjoy the company of my family!

 

[Bumpsis]

This upcoming ice glazing event seems to be yearly event, at least for the past two years now.
We've been doing the school vacation trip to Sugarloaf almost every year so what's coming is is an exact replay of events from 2009 and 2010:
just as the Presidents weekend comes up, so does a warm up, showers and immediate freeze. What a pisser!

I know that Sugarloaf has had some really superb conditions, great moguls, that new tree skiing area that (Bracket ? basin) they opened up this year - all that stuff will be taken out of play.
Sure, the mountain will do a good job working the groomers, they always do, so not all's lost, but so much of what makes Sugarloaf great fun will be just crap.

Oh well, I guess I won't feel bad taking time off downhill and snowshoe to top of Burnt Mt or XC.

 

[watchoutbelow]

3 of us will be at Gore sat , sun and mon -- it will be whatever it is and THAT is better than siting on the sidelines watching life go by .

The "weather - guessers" do their best but , over many yrs i can't tell u how many times i've been out skiing when they said it would be less than great . Life ain't a dress rehearsal relax and enjoy

Hey. Quick question. Do you think they will have to shut down the lifts if the wind gusts are actually 40mph like they are predicting? Hope not.

 

[rocojerry]

you don't know until you go --

That being said, I'm gonna pass.

 

[HowieT2]

I'd be surprised if the conditions are even decent on saturday what with the thaw freeze and winds. Should improve on sunday to the point where the groomers are OK.
Quite the bummer given how great things have been the last few weeks. But this has happened the last 3 Presidents day weekends IIRC, followed by copious snow and powder days at the end of the week. Here's to a repeat of the late week heroics.

 

[WinnChill]

Winds are definately going to be a concern this weekend...anytime from Friday PM thru early Sunday AM. Strongest would likely be Saturday night. We'll be fine tuning this in our forecasts before the weekend.

 

[watchoutbelow]

Winds are definately going to be a concern this weekend...anytime from Friday PM thru early Sunday AM. Strongest would likely be Saturday night. We'll be fine tuning this in our forecasts before the weekend.

Yeah, I'm worried about the wind the most. If there are no lifts then it doesn't really matter what the snow conditions are.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Winds are definately going to be a concern this weekend...anytime from Friday PM thru early Sunday AM. Strongest would likely be Saturday night. We'll be fine tuning this in our forecasts before the weekend.

At least the worst of the wind will be cold. Strong warm wind = :flame: for snow.

 

[billski]

It will be so bad, I'm heading to NJ :blink: