Mount Snow - 3/22/2009

[skijay]

Date Skied: 03/22/2009
Resort: Mount Snow
Conditions: Spring Snow, ice, fresh snow, sun, some clouds, wind & snow squalls
Trip Report:
Today had a little bit of everything for weather. I drove up after church, leaving my area at 46 degrees. I arrived at Snow at noon and it was 33 degrees with some clouds and flurries. Never waited for a lift, no crowds.

Conditions were a little bit of everything. There was spring snow and some hard pack ice and even after the last squall there was some powder on North Face.

Overall it was a fun 4 hours.

The snow squall while at North Face:

Overbrook trail (near the Canyon quad):

Plummet with the fresh snow:

 

[Glenn]

Cool TR! Looks like they still have some decent coverage.

 

[drjeff]

Yesterday was hands down the epitome of the old addage "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!"

From 1st chaie to last chair, there were a total of 4 squalls that rolled through and in between each, you at worst had a partly cloudy sky, and often a cloudless, bluebird sky! Very interesting day, with some seriouslt sweet areas of corn snow

 

[MommaBear]

Crowds must have left with us late morning. 2 of our party ventured out Sunday arriving at 9:30 at the Carinthia lodge. There was a decent size crowd waiting at the Nitro lift. When I came back to pick them up at 11, the crowd was still decent. Maybe it was just that side of the mountain?

The two bailed early. One was bored in the parks with out his companion (who took a bad fall Saturday afternoon at 4pm and was instructed by medical personel not to be back out there for a few weeks - thankfully, nothing broken, just really, really bruised). The other was looking for soft spring bumps. Beartrap was frozen and closed. And based on our experience on Saturday afternoon - Beartrap soft but everything we tried on Northface was still rock hard at 3pm! - he didn't even venture over to North Face.

Hoping things will be softer for next weekend!

 

[drjeff]

This pic was from the 1st "bluebird session" of the day around 9AM on Snowdance. My 3 year old son showing off his "power pizza" wedge

 

[Glenn]

I love the helmet!

 

[Mapnut]

Beartrap was frozen and closed. And based on our experience on Saturday afternoon - Beartrap soft but everything we tried on Northface was still rock hard at 3pm! - he didn't even venture over to North Face.

I rode up the chair over Beartrap about 2 pm Sunday; it was open then and there were a whole bunch of little kids coming down it! Might have been some kind of class. There was only a 10-foot-wide strip of snow on one side of the off-ramp by which to get to the trail.

North Face was still rock-hard on Sunday, though Fallen Timbers and Free Fall were groomed and very nice.

 

[drjeff]

Beartrap was frozen and closed. And based on our experience on Saturday afternoon - Beartrap soft but everything we tried on Northface was still rock hard at 3pm! - he didn't even venture over to North Face.

I rode up the chair over Beartrap about 2 pm Sunday; it was open then and there were a whole bunch of little kids coming down it! Might have been some kind of class. There was only a 10-foot-wide strip of snow on one side of the off-ramp by which to get to the trail.

North Face was still rock-hard on Sunday, though Fallen Timbers and Free Fall were groomed and very nice.

If one of those kids on Beartrap was in a pink coat with a "princess" helmet cover, that was my older kid She told that that Beartrap was GREAT! (and her instructor backed her assessment up Sunday PM)

 

[drjeff]

I love the helmet!

Helmet covers are key in my house for the kids! I can't begin to explain to you how much easier it is for my wife and I to pick out our kids from a distance when their in their lessons because of their helmet covers, since it seems like 75% of boys wear a blue/black outfit and 75% of girls wear a pink outfit

 

[Ice Queen]

RISkier and I were also there on Sunday. We thought conditions were fantastic compared to what we had in Stowe earlier in the week, Tuesday through Friday. From what we heard, it sounds like it got warmer in Stowe than it did at Mt. Snow, and there may have been more rain. Anyway, we were sorry not to have spent more of our week at Mt. Snow. That place has really impressed us this year.

 

[vcunning]

Beartrap was frozen and closed. And based on our experience on Saturday afternoon - Beartrap soft but everything we tried on Northface was still rock hard at 3pm! - he didn't even venture over to North Face.


If one of those kids on Beartrap was in a pink coat with a "princess" helmet cover, that was my older kid She told that that Beartrap was GREAT! (and her instructor backed her assessment up Sunday PM)

If the kid was 6'3" and wearing a "princess" helmet, it might have been DrJeff himself. I think he lost a bunk bed assembly dare with his wife Just a rumor. I have no photos to back it up (although I am pretty good at PhotoShop).

 

[drjeff]

If the kid was 6'3" and wearing a "princess" helmet, it might have been DrJeff himself. I think he lost a bunk bed assembly dare with his wife Just a rumor. I have no photos to back it up (although I am pretty good at PhotoShop).

I'll just not think about what you may very well do with some of the photoshop material I provided you with this past weekend! :lol: I heard there's a rumor that Captain Fan Gun is a fan of photoshop, especially if someone gets one of the limited edition items he has

 

[MommaBear]

Anyway, we were sorry not to have spent more of our week at Mt. Snow. That place has really impressed us this year.

That's interesting. We were thinking its been an "ok" season at Mount Snow but nothing impressive with our two "wow" weekends being found at other mountains. Its truly all in what you are looking for and the timing...and our timing has just been way off this year (miss the powder, arrive for the ice; or arrive for the good stuff and someone gets hurt, ending the day). The groomers have been well maintained, they just aren't for us.

But its all good cuz it still beats working or ew, house/yard cleaning at home. We'll keep going till the lifts stop turning.

 

[Ice Queen]

Ya, we're pretty much looking for groomers. We were there first this year the Sat/Sun after Thanksgiving, and conditions were amazing for that time of year. We were back again about a month ago and hit a pretty good snowstorm on Sunday so we had some powder to play in. Then we went from skiing on piles of sand interspersed with ice at Stowe (even the expert skiers we were with weren't enjoying it) to some pretty good groomed stuff at Mt. Snow with some ice but nothing horrible.

I think the problem with Stowe this week was that all of the black trails were closed most mornings because they were rock hard, so everyone skis the same few runs off the Quad, leading to really deteriorated conditions by mid morning. And there were a lot of out of control skiers on those runs on Friday, I almost got hit by a guy who went on to hit a kid. Then, by the time we thought about retreating to Spruce Peak, it was total slush over there. So you're right, it's all timing!