How many inches to open the trees?

[abc]

How much snow does it usually take to make glades safe to ski? A foot? 2'? 3'?

If the forecast pan out, almost every mountain will get at least 2 feet by Friday! That's a lot of snow, probably will open up almost all the trails? So I'm guessing it'll be worth planning a trip, for the weekend. Sadly, I won't be able to take Thursday or Friday off. So 1st chair fresh powder will not be in the cards...

And consider it's a holiday weekend, it's probably going to be crowded in most places. I always worry about out-of-control yahoos crashing into me. Usually, I look into the trees to avoid these speeding human bullets. But knowing there's almost no base to speak of, will the trees be (safely) skiable? Assuming we do get in the neighborhood of 2-3' of snow, would it be worth considering mountains with significant glade skiing (Jay, Burke, Bretton Woods, Magic, Belleayre)? Or should one focus more on just cruising the groomers because the trees will still be too thin and iffy?

I know we won't know for sure how much snow actually falls. But I'd like to get some target area in my radar and start hunting for lodging.

 

[ScottySkis]

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You know were in the Catskills to avoid crowds and I hope to ski some glades this winter at my favorite, platty.

 

[goldsbar]

So many answers. 2' of dry blower powder on no base and you'll still be hitting your bottoms. Not that you'll ever get that type of snow in the NE. I've found a lot has to do with letting the snow consolidate. The first run right after a storm is the best way to get fresh tracks but also the best way to gouge some edges. Snow seems to take a day or so to consolidate.

To contrast the first example, a few inches of man-made drifting into the woods can sometimes be plenty if the terrain isn't to rocky.

Overall, it's really best to have two or three layers of snow. I've ignored this advice many times and always pay with some sort of base damage.

 

[abc]

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You know were in the Catskills to avoid crowds and I hope to ski some glades this winter at my favorite, platty.

If splattekill gets the forecasted high end of 3 feet, I'll not look elsewhere! (I haven't had much success with glades at splattekill. Though with such low skier traffic, I never have to worry about crowds so glade or no glade no big difference)

But in case the cold & moisture decides to veer just a tad north or east, than I'll be hunting somewhere else.

I'll be only hitting the less busy mountains like Magic, Pico in central VT or Jay, Burke in northern VT etc. So I'm trying to decide whether to look at mountains with lots of glades or mountains with more groomers.

 

[ScottySkis]

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Also Elk in PA is supposed to get over 12 inches and they open for night skiing on Thursday.

 

[HowieT2]

2' settled snow depth.Woods are already skiable in n. vt. And quite well i might add.

 

[riverc0il]

Depends. Pitch, type of tree, how cleared out the glade is, how well maintained the glade is, is the glade rocky or grassy, density of the snow, did it fall on an established base, if so what type of base, are there downed trees and other nasty potential snow snakes, is it an on map glade or off map glade, etc.

I'll go with three feet base depth for everything on any mountain to be skiable. Some on map glades are good to go with a foot. But those are merely rough benchmarks. It always varies depending on a number of factors. Right now, not all woods are good to go even in NoVT. By Sunday... probably will be wide open.

 

[Big Game]

If it looks ok, just do it. P-Tex isn't meant to live forever.

Also, it helps if early season yahoos go into woods with thin cover, pack it down and knock out all the summer growth. Then you get a dump.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I'd suggest taking a look at Sugarbush. North or South. It's now 100% open and the woods were great a couple days ago. After any more snow it's going to be even better.

Like riverc0il said it depends what kind of woods but there's enough snow at Sugarbush and I presume MRG / Stowe as well to the point where it doesn't matter you can ski basically any woods there.

Check out my Mt. Ellen report from 12-23-2012 ... there's some pics, you can see the woods were very, very skiable already. I was even skiing some powder pillows up in there!

 

[abc]

I'd suggest taking a look at Sugarbush. North or South. It's now 100% open and the woods were great a couple days ago. After any more snow it's going to be even better.

Like riverc0il said it depends what kind of woods but there's enough snow at Sugarbush and I presume MRG / Stowe as well to the point where it doesn't matter you can ski basically any woods there.

The Bush hasn't been on my radar for last minute trips because of its high window price and relatively scares (and again, expensive) lodging in the Mad River Valley. The same goes for Stowe.

I'm not seeking out woods specifically. I just thought that's an additional option to get away from the busy slopes on a holiday weekend. And I should add, only "mellow" woods. My legs aren't ready for anything intense this early in the season.

If the Cats get all snow, Plattekill will be my first choice since I can day trip it. But if the Cats end up getting a lot of their precips "mixing", that's when I'll be looking further north. Pico is another of my usual "crowd avoidance" destination. Not sure how the lodging looks though. Never been there on New Year weekend.

 

[ScottySkis]

The Bush hasn't been on my radar for last minute trips because of its high window price and relatively scares (and again, expensive) lodging in the Mad River Valley. The same goes for Stowe.

I'm not seeking out woods specifically. I just thought that's an additional option to get away from the busy slopes on a holiday weekend. And I should add, only "mellow" woods. My legs aren't ready for anything intense this early in the season.

If the Cats get all snow, Plattekill will be my first choice since I can day trip it. But if the Cats end up getting a lot of their precips "mixing", that's when I'll be looking further north. Pico is another of my usual "crowd avoidance" destination. Not sure how the lodging looks though. Never been there on New Year weekend.

Burlington in Vermont always has some cheap hotels and is less then an hour to the Bush, Platty will so crowed you probably have 6 hours wait for the chair lift line.


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[abc]

Burlington in Vermont always has some cheap hotels and is less then an hour to the Bush, Platty will so crowed you probably have 6 hours wait for the chair lift line.

You think so?

I've never seen Platty having lift line, never mind one more than 30 seconds

 

[ScottySkis]

You think so?

I've never seen Platty having lift line, never mind one more than 30 seconds

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I was just kidding.

 

[abc]

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I was just kidding.

LOL!

Well, Lazlo would loved a 6 hr lift line, if even for once!