How would you "rank" your ski season?

[Greg]

Along with the poll below, let's use this thread to discuss our individual ski seasons. How many times did you get out? Was this above or below average? How would you classify your ski season overall? For me I got out 13 times so far as follows:

Jiminy Peak (4X) - 12/18/03, 1/19/04, 2/1/04, 3/14/04
Ski Butternut (4X) - 12/29/03, 1/18/04, 2/8/04, 3/28/04
Loon Mountain (4X) - 2/23/04 - 2/26/04
Berkshire East (1X) - 3/19/04

I'm glad I chronicled all my trips in the TR forum this season. I still have three more days coming up at Sugarloaf next month. That will be a total of 16 days which is slightly above my typical 10-12 days/season. The cold weather in the beginning of January hampered a few outings. Overall, I would say I had a great season. Eight of my days were under bluebird skies and I had the opportunity to do an extended trip to Loon for a 5 night mid-week slopeside. Sugarloaf is another two night bonus trip. I feel I progressed most on my mogul technique this season. I will more than likely plan an early season trip next year to Killington in November despite historically having my date of choice be rained out the last two years. Only eight months away!

 

[ChileMass]

Only 6 days this year, which unfortunately is becoming pretty standard. Between kids, changing jobs and everything else, it gets harder each year to get top the hills on a regular basis. Plus, it's 2-3 hours to decent skiing up in NH/VT from my house, so that compounds the problem......

 

[skijay]

I keep my ski trip log on my PDA. I went 20 times this season.

Canada
12/12/03, 3/26 Orford
12/13/03 , 2/14 Montjoye
2/15 Shefford

USA
Butternut- 12/19/03, 1/1/04, 1/10, 1/25, 2/22, 2/29, 3/14, 3/20 (It seemed like I was there more than that...Thanks to the season's pass ($199) my price per trip was approx. $25.00)

Catamount- 3/28
Berkshire East- 2/10, 3/19
Jiminy Peak- 1/31, 3/7
Crotched- 1/18
Ski Sundown- 12/23/03

It is now looking like either Killington or Mount Snow to wrap up the season in April.

 

[GadgetRick]

Not the best...

I will have 30+ days skiing this year--mostly at my home mountain of Belleayre. I'd have to say, overall, this was far from the best season. It seemed to be either rainy, foggy and warm with soft snow or bright and sunny but bitterly cold. I love the cold but we had a few days I just couldn't take. We had very few perfect ski days this season (that I experienced, anyway).

We also had a substandard year for snow this year. Sure, it started out just fine but it stopped snowing for the heart of the seaon. Yeah, we made LOTS of great snow but it's much more fun skiing on a few inched (at least) of freshies after a storm. We didn't get much of that and what we did get seemed to fall in the middle of the week. Since I'm a volunteer patroller and only patrol on weekends, this didn't do me much good. The one good storm we caught on the weekend I wasn't up there!

Anyway, it was far from my worst season but it couldn't compare to the likes of two seasons ago...

 

[RISkier]

Very dissapointing!

Only 6 days. Weather just wouldn't cooperate in late November/early December.

1 day at might Yawgoo (good snow, actually).
2 days at Stowe (slightly fractured knee on 2nd day).
No skiing till end of Feb.
3 days at Bretton Woods
1 day at Wachusett

Had wanted to get as much mileage in as possible, but... As knee injuries go, it wasn't that serious -- very slight fracture with no discplacement, just had to give it sufficient time to heal. Was just starting to get pretty comfortable again after the injury and the season pretty much came to a screeching halt. Really hesitant to ski on heavy slushy snow till I get more mileage on the knee.

 

[riverc0il]

15 total: 9 cannon, 2 burke, 1 magic, 1 waterville valley, 2 wildcat

last year's total was 20 i believe? so i got fewer days in this year, mostly due to only skiing once in january because of the cold. i also took fewer weekend trips this year (only 1) and only skied once on my vacation (which i'm still on).

i had a lot of epic days this winter including 4 sensational powder days at cannon. last year, i couldn't even ski powder. that's my proudest accomplishment this year, i can not only ski powder... but ski it well, and i love it! included in those powder days was an epic of a life time, probably my best day on skis ever, with boot to knee deep untracked freshies all day at cannon/mittersill.

epic base destroying powder days aside, this season was disappointing. although i did ski a ton of natural snow, bumps in general never set up well this year and scraped up quickly. although, i still feel that i'm better in the bumps and natural snow as well as powder, so i've improved quite a bit. also, i ducked into the trees this season now that i have a helmet and love them! four years ago i set as a goal to be an "all mountain skier," to be able to ski any trail at any mountain in new england. i feel i've reached that goal this season, a mastery of my gear and the trails which is an awesome feeling.

i never met my goal of checking out three new ski areas. i wanted to do weekends at both smuggs and saddleback and ski dartmouth, crothed, and middlebury. none of this happened because i kept saying "one more big storm, then i'll ski them when they're fully open." needless to say, that big storm never came. when checking out a new area, i like to see them at their best, especially when driving 3+ hours. next year!!!

so overall, this ski season for me was high on quality but low on quantity of turns. i made dramatic improvement in the trees and powder and overall technique, but didn't see any new resorts or make 25 ski days, both major disappointments.

 

[salida]

10 Days this year.

Well, I was only able to ski from mid feb. until now so that is not bad considering. Wish it was more.

Cannon 5 times
Pat's Peak 1
Winter Park 1
Telluride 1
Wolf Creek 1
Taos 1

Not bad but still I can't wait for next year with more snow and a healthy knee.

note: last year i got out 55= days, quite abismal this year

 

[Buckeye Skier 1330]

I got out 13 days this year, same as last year. The only true powder/packed powder conditions I saw all year were my 4 days at Holiday Valley NY, thanks to lake effect snow. This is the 4th year in a row for a week long Northeast trip. The first year we went we saw 34" in 2 1/2 days at Stratton. The second year we had 1 day with about 5". The last 2 years we haven't seen a flake on our trip. It waits til we come back home to snow. I've actually skied in the rain on 3 different days this year. It wasn't the best but I still got to ski!! When you live in central Ohio you can't be picky.

4 days Holiday Valley NY
2 days Gore NY
2 days Whiteface NY
2 days Wisp MD
1 day 7Springs PA
1 day Timberline WV
1 day Mad River Mountain OH (certainly not to be confused with Mad River Glen) :lol:

 

[tree_skier]

Mount No 22
Haystack 8
Flatton 1
Stowe 3
mad river glen 1

hopefully a few more at Mount No

 

[Bumpsis]

Sugarlaof x 5
Cannon x 2
Sugarbush x 1
Mad River x 1

Not so great in numbers. I usually shoot for 10. What really counts for me is quality. I did catch a pure powder day (good 8 inches of fluff) at Sugarloaf, even manged to put my own tracks down from the top of Nitro - very cool.
Bumping arround (or rather, being bumped) on Winter's Way and Bubble Cuffer powder filled moguls was just great. I could actually pretend that I can ski them full out , stay in the fall line and live. Almost an epic day!!
Recent powder day at Cannon was quite enjoyabale as well.
A couple of days on skinny skis (xc) in the woods, actually, it was not a bad season after all. If the rain leaves something for this weekend, I'll be quite happy with what I got.

 

[Bumpsis]

Holliday Valley

Hey Buckeye,
It's nice to have someone here on the NE ski board who actually skis at Holiday Valley. I used to ski there a lot with UB (U. of Buffalo) Shusmeister ski club. Loved that placed. The snow belt location almost always provided decent conditions. So what that is was just mostly night skiing and it was colder than a witche's tit. The rides were short but sweet. Good place.
I was always amazed that people from as far as Ohio and Ontario would drive down and stay, but in retrospective, I guess I'd too if I lived in flatlands.
Either that or get into snowmobiling - yuck !!!!!

 

[skiguide]

I just put in the 5th vote for 26+ days... I'm estimating somewhere around 45-50 days, though I wish I had kept better track, because it probably was 50.

Started October 4th at Tenney Mtn, was out at Sunday River in November, Did the epic powder weekend at Killington in early Dec, went to Breckenridge for 5 days from there, did a few days at the river over the holidays, hit Stratton and Bretton for 2 weekends in January, had a bunch of week-day trips to the River, Attitash, Sugarloaf, Cannon, Wildcat, Cranmore, Tenney again, and some other random days, add in some xc skiing too

and I'm writing this from Park City, where I just did one day at PCMR, and I just spent 5 days in Telluride CO before heading here.

coming home tonite on the red-eye, might think about some spring skiing at BW, they're open until May 15th, and maybe a tucks run this year.

 

[severine]

Okay, this was my first season so it makes it even more interesting... Grand total was 17:

Ski Sundown: 5
Mohawk Mountain: 5
Mt Southington: 3
Catamount: 1
Sugarbush: 1
Mad River Glen: 2

I started at the Learning Area at Ski Sundown... progressed pretty rapidly, although I'm sure my form is less than desirable. Skiied some greens at MRG this year, and even did a few black diamonds at Mowhawk and Southington before the season was up here. All in all, I think it was a great season. I only wish I had started back in December. But there's always next season to make up for it.

 

[jimme]

Overall- Very good to excellent with P and PP on most days! (Remember when ski conditions had this kind of rating?)

Jiminy Peak- 11
Okemo- 1
Plattekill*- 2
Pico Peak*- 1
Hunter Mountain*- 1
Slogging in my back hills- 3
Killington- (1, mabye 2 both yet to come)
-- * These were first time there trips.

Of these 5, yes five glorious powder days or nights! 1/28, 2/4, 3/8, 3/12, 3/17. One of these was a Powder Daize at Plattekill, one at Hunter and the rest at Jiminy Peak. Thankfully I have a very understanding family and boss who put up with my scheduling ski days based on weather conditions.

Got my money's worth out of my Jiminy season pass, and will buy another rather than the Value card I was thinking about.

After taking a quick look at my Ski Journal, I had only two "tough" days. Since I was skiing, I can't really say they were "bad", one extremely cold night and one that was the most ice I've ever skied.

The one stand out day was at Pico. Clear blue sunny sky, just right Winter temps, great snow conditions, not crowded, good food and friendly crowd all rolled into one fantastic day.

So, looking back I guess it was better than I thought. I was lucky to catch some of the better days during or after a decent snowfall.

Detailed stats because I'm geeky enough to compile them:

1,556 round-trip miles driven logging 36 hours in the car.
65-1/2 hours actually on the slopes and lifts.
All inclusive of food, gas, tickets and pass the money came to average $40. per day. ($32. per day if I didn't indulge in ski area priced food on so many trips. )

Again, this Summer I will try not to concentrate on skiing so much. I'll try to Golf, hike, canoe and camp more than I have. :idea: I took my youngest daughter to a birthday party at an indoor ice skating rink. Should things get really "jonsey" this Summer I can go there for a taste of some nice cold weather. Maybe I'll be adding ice skating to my Summer recreation list.

Jimme

 

[Joshua B]

Maybe I'll be adding ice skating to my Summer recreation list.

I skated a few times at my local rink that's open year round...mostly for training. I love the idea of cooling down on a hot summer day. I'm going to try to do more of it this summer. Just another addition to my list of activities that widens peoples' eyes.

 

[severine]

I have to add Killington to my prior post, which makes for a grand total of 18 days skiing this year. Not bad for a first timer!

 

[goldsbar]

Somewhere between 15-20 days. I'd consider it a fairly good season overall. My main daytrip location - Plattekill - actually got some decent natural snow even when most areas were lacking.


Hunter - 1 or 2 in Dec - so-so conditions
Windham - 1 or 2 in Dec - so-so conditions
Platekill - ~5 - mostly good (got to use the base repair tool a couple of times)
Sugarbush - 2 during MLK weekend - surprisingly good
MRG - 1 (actually 1/2) during MLK weekend - ok
Jackson Hole - 5 - good despite no fresh snow (one great day of new snow)
Grand Targhee - 1 - Decent but foggy
Mt Snow - 1 - Good - shortly after fresh snow

All told a good season. If I can ski in the woods, I'm happy. Judging by the posts, I think Platekill fared better than a lot of VT & NH areas. They never had a ton of snow (plenty of bare spots), but they had enough. Also, I agree with the one poster about bump skiing - they were there but often icy and too far apart (Sugarbush & Jhole trips excluded - good bumps).

 

[loafer89]

This year the weather was not very cooperative for alot of skiing, that and living in the middle of Long Island does not help for alot of ski days. Here are my days so far this season:

Woodbury 11/9
Hunter 12/26 - 40 - 50F with spring snow conditions & sunshine (no crowds)
Mowhawk 1/1
Sugarloaf 1/12 - 1/14 - 1 day with 5" new snow , 1 day cloudy , 1 day -10F
Mt Orford 1/15 - sunshine and great snow but -20F +
Saddleback 1/17
Catamount 2/1
Plattekill 2/14
Belleayre 3/20- nice packed powder conditions ans sunny
Sugarloaf 4/9 - 4/11 - nice overall, my 2nd best trip at Sugarloaf in 15 years
Belleayre 4/17- Really hot 75F , with decent snow conditions

I have 15 days so far this season, I am still hopefull that I will ski Killington for a weekend in mid-May, if the snow and weather cooperate. My best day of the season was April 11th at Sugarloaf, the weather was bluebird clear, with great grommed snow and cool weather.

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

2003-2004 Ski Season Days

Started on Thanksgiving and wound it up April 25, 2004

11 @ Loon Mountian, NH
4 @ Waterville Valley, NH
3 @ Sugarloaf USA, ME
3 @ Mount Sunapee, NH
3 @ Killington VT
3 @ Crotched Mountain, NH
1 @ Pats Peak, NH
1 @ Hunter Mountain, NY
1 @ Gore Mountain, NY

I had a blast this year and looking forward to next season.

 

[teachski]

Stowe 2
Wachusett 7
Okemo 1
Butternut 1
Bousquet 3
Pine Ridge 7
Cranmore 2
Burke 1
Crotched 1
and a couple runs at Living Memorial Park in Brattleboro, VT.

Not a very good year for me at all. I usually have a much higher numbers than this because I work at an area and have a pass to another nearby area. An injury to my neck really slowed things down this year. I am on the mend and going to PT, but it will take a while.