How's snow holding up in this heat?

[MAD777]

I'll be coming up to Sunday River for a week of skiing shortly.
With the weather so far this season, I've been estatic with anticipation.
Now, seeing the springtime temps, I'm having nightmares about all the snow melting!

Anyone ski today, Jan 8? Any drownings to report?

 

[Hawkshot99]

I skied Bellayre(southern NY) today. Real soft snow, was alot of fun. Was able to really dig in on the turns, and actually do decent in super soft bumps.

There were a few spots that were thin, but all real high traffic spots.

 

[thetrailboss]

See my report for Burke. Some pics:

Sunday:

Today:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Yikes for Burke..natural snow doesn't hold up as well as manmade..duh

 

[Johnskiismore]

Trails that had a lot of snow blown on them are holding up well. I know that sounds really obvious, but the last couple of days wreaked havoc on a few trails at Loon and Cannon. I wouldn't cancel your trip though, we have received a lot of natural snow, and there are plenty of trails to choose from. Colder temps are coming back at the end of the week, and hopefully the snow guns will fire back up.

 

[snoseek]

Sunday river is one of the best at bouncing back after crappy weather. They blow a deep base on 80% or more of the trails, you should be fine.

 

[millerm277]

From Hunter's webcams today, looked like everything that's had snow made on it is holding up fine (Lower K27 and 42nd St look nearly bare), and I didn't see much in bare spots in the base area.

EDIT: Today(1/9/08)...doesn't look quite so good. Midstation and up looks fineish, but Gun Hill looks like it's got some bare spots, and Park Ave looks melted out.

 

[MarkC]

Stowe looked like sh*t today. A good amount of their steeps are bare or partially bare. The natural snowfall in the cats is pretty much gone. Southern Vermont looked a bit better. MRG did not look bad from a far on the drive by.

 

[JPTracker]

Jay still looks good. Snow making trails still have good coverage. Some of the natural snow trails also have good coverage. Woods are in good shape considering. There are many holes and streams in the snow pack but still plenty of snow. Only problem will be the freeze up. See my trip report for more details.

 

[bobbutts]

drip drip drip

fog.. :'(

 

[deadheadskier]

The inevitable thaw like this one is the EXACT reason why I prefer the heavy natural snowstorms to come late as opposed to early. Don't get me wrong, December into the first week of January was fantastic and I bummed that due to injury I couldn't get out and enjoy it as much as I would've liked, but for ski season longevity, I think it's best to have the natural from February on. Hopefully we'll get lucky and it will be a great late season of natural like last year.

My concern is that after the great early season success due to the natural snow, most areas haven't put as much effort into snowmaking/base building as they normally would. They simply didn't have to. Now that there is a need to crank up the guns again, I'm sure many resorts will make the effort, but I don't think the investment will be as great as it would've been had they needed to make more snow in December. I recognize it's barely half way through the money season for most places and that the areas that are known for their snowmaking will gear back up, but I still think all of them will hold back some to try and preserve some of the profits they realized over the holidays.

 

[millerm277]

I recognize it's barely half way through the money season for most places and that the areas that are known for their snowmaking will gear back up, but I still think all of them will hold back some to try and preserve some of the profits they realized over the holidays.

MLK Weekend and Presidents weekend are both bigger than Christmas for ski areas I believe....they will all try to get the best conditions possible for those two.

 

[deadheadskier]

MLK Weekend and Presidents weekend are both bigger than Christmas for ski areas I believe....they will all try to get the best conditions possible for those two.

Presidents week out west definitely, but not in the east. At the resorts I've worked at, Christmas week is KING in terms of revenue. The other two weekends are certainly the two second best, but the revenue for those was more like 75-80% of that that is realized over Christmas week.

Like I said, I'm sure most areas will crank up the guns, but I doubt the investment will be as great as the typical base building efforts that are seen in December on a normal year.