• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Mount Snow 12-26

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
The day started in the single digits and not a cloud in the sky!

Mount Snow burned a bunch of diesel in the cats Christmas night, from what I saw, every open trail except for Fallen Timbers on the Northface had been wrapped in more corduroy than likely the entire state of VT opened up under the Christmas tree the day before!!

Lots of high speed laps on all 4 faces of the mountain this morning. Ego Alley, Rollercoaster (a touch slick in a few isolated spots down low), South Bowl to Drop, Cascade to River Run, Chute, Fallen Timbers ungroomed with stiff bumps, Plummet, Thanks Walt, Bear Trap, Mineshaft to Prospector to The Farm to The Junkyard, Milky Way, Long John back to the still minimal wait Bluebird late morning, Cascade to Canyon and then 1 more down Ridge before I met my kids for lunch and called it a morning after 14 runs

Lots of machine groomed packed powder with a few hard packed, slick spots in some higher traffic wind exposed areas.

The clouds rolled in quickly about 12:30 with quick, heavy burst of sleet and freezing rain starting about 2:15.

By the time I left to head home to CT about 3:45, the roads were UGLY, as it was per my car thermometer 23 degrees and at that point drizzling.

I was on route 9 heading towards Brattleboro when the state police shut it down in both Wilmington and Brattleboro because of icy conditions and to try and get the salt trucks out there to do their thing. From where I got on to 9 Eastbound about 1/2 way between Wilmington and Brattleboro, those just over 9 miles took an hour inching along over what where I was was wet roads at the time as the salt trucks had passed through the area before me.

Lost track after about seeing over a dozen cars off the side of route 9 in both directions how many spin outs happened as the masses were descending on the mountain for vacation week!! One of the top few sketchiest drives I've ever had for sure to/from Mount Snow!!

The good thing, per my daughter who's staying with friends up there until my wife, son and I return later this week, is that it's just been a light, frozen mix since I left, so even if it does switch over to some rain overnight as forecasted, any damage will be minimal, and then if Thursday's storm pans out, my guess is pretty much everything but Ripcord could open!! Ripcord had the majority of its rocky headwall still on full display when I skied by it on River Run this morning!! Should be about time for them to start the multi-day snowmaking effort to bury that headwall and get it open soon!!

Considering that a year ago it was Cascade to Canyon, Long John to Deer Run and Gulch open, what a GREAT difference a year makes!

c54d085a12480f0f4ee6fd02b15895b7.jpg


The Inferno build is underway

a6b23e174c1846c85bd5e092f4675dcd.jpg


Inching along Route 9 heading towards Brattleboro on the way home

Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app
 

MommaBear

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
710
Points
18
Location
CT
Thank you for the trip report for Rt 9! We were up yesterday to deal with our renters and didn't get to ski. Thanks to them abusing check out time, we found ourselves headed home about the same time as you, instead of an hour and a half earlier. But we chose to go back roads to Greenfield (100/112/2). Took 2-3/4 hours inching and sitting for long periods to get from West Dover to Greenfield. I have never seen a longer line of traffic on those roads in all my years of traveling back and forth. Crazy! We were wondering if Rt 9 would have been a better choice.
 

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
Thank you for the trip report for Rt 9! We were up yesterday to deal with our renters and didn't get to ski. Thanks to them abusing check out time, we found ourselves headed home about the same time as you, instead of an hour and a half earlier. But we chose to go back roads to Greenfield (100/112/2). Took 2-3/4 hours inching and sitting for long periods to get from West Dover to Greenfield. I have never seen a longer line of traffic on those roads in all my years of traveling back and forth. Crazy! We were wondering if Rt 9 would have been a better choice.

Thanks for the 100/112/2 report.... As I was inching along on 9, I was wondering if I should of gone that way instead! Just awful timing with that front that went through and the freezing rain/sleet it quickly put down! And at noon, as it was still sunny out, I had completely eliminated the thought that was in my head earlier in the day of having my son skip his 12:30 to 2:30 afternoon training session and head home early!!

I cringe to think how long it would of taken me to get to Brattleboro had I not gone Higley Hill Rd to Auger Hole Road and onto 9 about 1/2 to Bratt vs down 100 to Wilmington and over the entire length of 9!!

Just an ugly trip home yesterday, and now as I look at the weather for Thursday evening, when my work schedule has me heading back up, that drive looks like it is going to be UGLY as well. If it wasn't for work stuff that I can't change on Thursday afternoon and my kids having to be at Stratton at 8AM on Friday for a race, this next storm would be one way or another much less of a logistical travel challenge as well!!!
 

Glenn

Active member
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
7,691
Points
38
Location
CT & VT
Things are looking a lot better this year vs last at this time.

Glad you survived Rt 9. Wonder how the back way would have been through Dover Road/Newfane/Rt. 30?
 

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
Things are looking a lot better this year vs last at this time.

Glad you survived Rt 9. Wonder how the back way would have been through Dover Road/Newfane/Rt. 30?

I thought about giving that way a try initially yesterday Glenn, but when I saw that the Dover DOT hadn't hit Dorr Fitch Rd with salt yet, that thought quickly exited my mind after having just slid into the 7-11 parking lot to get D a taquito for the ride home! My nose was regretting that Taquito purchase by the time we made it down to Northhampton!! LOL!
 

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
You should of held out to vt country deli

Often that's the plan.... based on the roads when we left our condo, I knew that it was going be likely be a much longer ride than usually to get there, and the thought of a hungry, tired, almost 11yr old kid in the car asking me every few minutes when we'd be able to get a snack, was a risk far worse than the likelihood of him stinking up my car at some point on the ride home! ;-)
 

skifree

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
664
Points
0
lol.
i usually fight my son over back way to Greenfield (mcdonalds) or 9 to deli.
He usually wins.
 

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
lol.
i usually fight my son over back way to Greenfield (mcdonalds) or 9 to deli.
He usually wins.

100/112 is our usual, good road conditions way - our go to stop that way is Pine Hill Orchards, maybe 2 miles after you crest the hill climbing out of Colrain - really good baked goods and snacks, and for me, a small, but solid selection of bottles of local to the Greenfield area beer
 

drjeff

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,215
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
Where is the deli on RT. 9? Sounds like a good stop, but so does the local beer selection- I'll do both.
The deli is maybe 100 yards from the Southbound 91 ramp entrance on route 9 in Brattleboro - it's on the right as you're heading from Mount Snow down into Brattleboro

If you go the 100/112 way, the best beer selection IMHO is actually in the Big Y Supermarket in the plaza just off the rotary in Greenfield! A huge selection to say the least!!

Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app
 

Glenn

Active member
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
7,691
Points
38
Location
CT & VT
i thought about giving that way a try initially yesterday glenn, but when i saw that the dover dot hadn't hit dorr fitch rd with salt yet, that thought quickly exited my mind after having just slid into the 7-11 parking lot to get d a taquito for the ride home! My nose was regretting that taquito purchase by the time we made it down to northhampton!! Lol!

lmao!
 

mikec142

Active member
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
750
Points
43
We ate at the Hermitage Inn on this night. We drove up (slowly) around 6:45pm from Wilmington which was fine. When we came back to the parking lot around 9:30 it was a sheet of ice and I could barely get to my car. It literally took me 20 minutes to make it 50 yards to my car. We managed to drive the 5 miles back to our Inn at around 15-20 mph. Roads at that time had clearly been salted so they were better than I expected, but still slick and worthy of caution. The parking lot at the restaurant was treacherous though.
 
Top