Mountain Slopes-Facing Side

[billski]

Is there a list somewhere that tabulates the facing-side of the slopes for each New England resort? That is, north-facing, south-facing, east west?

 

[smootharc]

Google Earth could help

Download, then go to the area in question, navigate in or out as desired, then look at it in relation to compass overlay GE provides. I'm sure there's many other ways, too.

Don't know of any master list.

Some mountains have more or less one or two aspects.....while a place like Sugarbush has about 250 degrees of the compass to bring into consideration.

Good luck.

 

[TwinTips21]

Most mountains face North-West. I know bromley faces south

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Most mountains face North-West. I know bromley faces south

Untrue. Most actually face northeast. In the Northeast, that is critical b/c it both protects the mountain from the prevailing westerlies and ensures that an sun hitting the hill is the weak morning sun instead of the warm afternoon sun.

For example, in VT there are only a few hill that have a primarily NW exposure. Magic, Ascutney, Smuggs, and half of Middlebury College Snowbowl. That's about it.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Untrue. Most actually face northeast. In the Northeast, that is critical b/c it both protects the mountain from the prevailing westerlies and ensures that an sun hitting the hill is the weak morning sun instead of the warm afternoon sun.

For example, in VT there are only a few hill that have a primarily NW exposure. Magic, Ascutney, Smuggs, and half of Middlebury College Snowbowl. That's about it.

Bolton is NW as well, but I think Tin is right

 

[Jonni]

Since I had an unusual bout of time where I'm not doing something, or skiing, I decided to go through using Google Earth and make list of some of the major ones. Here it is:

Vermont
Killington: East-North-East
Pico Mountain: North
Mount Snow: North, East-North-East, with a South-Eastern Face
Okemo: East, with a South-Eastern Face
Magic Mountain: North-West
Bromley: South-South-East
Stratton Mountain: North East, East
Jay Peak: North-East
Burke Mountain: North West
Stowe: East, North-East, South
Smuggler's Notch: North, North-West
Bolton Valley: West, North-West
Sugarbush: North-East
Mad River Glen: North-East, East, South-East
Suicide Six: North-North-East
Ascutney Mountain: North West

Maine
Shawnee Peak, ME: North-North-East
Sunday River: North East, with a South-Eastern Face
Saddleback: North-West
Sugarloaf: North-North-East
Camden Snow Bowl: North-East
Black Mountain, ME: East

New Hampshire
Bretton Woods: North East
Wildcat: North West
Attitash/Bear Peak: North-North-West
Black Mountain, NH: South-South-East
The Balsams: North-West
Cranmore: West
King Pine: East
Loon Mountain: North
Cannon Mountain: North-North-East
Waterville Valley: East-North-East
Ragged Mountain: North
Mt. Sunapee: North-North-East, with a South Eastern Face
Crotched Mountain: North
Pats Peak: North
Gunstock: North-East

This is only NH, ME, and VT. Feel free to add and change the list in any way!

 

[Greg]

Download, then go to the area in question, navigate in or out as desired, then look at it in relation to compass overlay GE provides. I'm sure there's many other ways, too.

Another option is to use the Ski Area Locator Map right here on this fine Web site:

http://skiing.alpinezone.com/resorts/map/

Click on a mountain icon and a balloon with resort info will display. Click the map tab for a Google maps satellite/map overlay. Easy!

 

[billski]

thanks Jonni!

Thanks Jonni - just what I wanted to see, perfect!
I took your data and thew it into a spreadsheet. I broke different faces at the same resort into separate line items.
What was interesting was that the general rule of northerly facing predominate:
5- N
17 - NE & NNE (38%)
5 - NW (11%)
That's 62% of the resorts facing some amount north.

9 face East (21%)

I suspect East and North close their lifts earliest

4 south - go to bromley, black, mrg and spruce peak if you need warmth...

2 West - go to cranmore or BV to ski late, or minimize shadows...

 

[koreshot]

Genearlly speaking is NE the best exposure for a mountain on the east coast?

In my experience and from people have told me N or NW is optimal for resorts out West and South America. North for obvious reasons and West cause the sun in the afternoon can't bake the snow as much as it can in the morning. I saw an extreme case study of this in Jackson Hole where everything facing north (not very much) was in decent condition, slopes facing west were ok and slopes facing East were sun baked, iced over and crappy to the point that it was pointless to ski them.

 

[Birdman829]

Google Earth works quite well in my experience.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Genearlly speaking is NE the best exposure for a mountain on the east coast?

In my experience and from people have told me N or NW is optimal for resorts out West and South America. North for obvious reasons and West cause the sun in the afternoon can't bake the snow as much as it can in the morning. I saw an extreme case study of this in Jackson Hole where everything facing north (not very much) was in decent condition, slopes facing west were ok and slopes facing East were sun baked, iced over and crappy to the point that it was pointless to ski them.

This makes no sense. There is no inbounds terrain at Jackson Hole that faces West. JH is on the E side of the Tetons and faces primarily E and ESE with a little ENE thrown in for good measure. How could you arrive at this conclusion?

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Thanks Jonni - just what I wanted to see, perfect!
I took your data and thew it into a spreadsheet. I broke different faces at the same resort into separate line items.
What was interesting was that the general rule of northerly facing predominate:
5- N
17 - NE & NNE (38%)
5 - NW (11%)
That's 62% of the resorts facing some amount north.

9 face East (21%)

I suspect East and North close their lifts earliest

4 south - go to bromley, black, mrg and spruce peak if you need warmth...

2 West - go to cranmore or BV to ski late, or minimize shadows...

Bill - I would recommend against listing MRG as "South" facing. It's Sunnyside double faces almost due E, but the vast majority of its terrain off the Single chair faces NE. Only the beginner terrain off the Birdland double could be said to face ESE or SE.

 

[Marc]

Genearlly speaking is NE the best exposure for a mountain on the east coast?

In my experience and from people have told me N or NW is optimal for resorts out West and South America. North for obvious reasons and West cause the sun in the afternoon can't bake the snow as much as it can in the morning. I saw an extreme case study of this in Jackson Hole where everything facing north (not very much) was in decent condition, slopes facing west were ok and slopes facing East were sun baked, iced over and crappy to the point that it was pointless to ski them.

Would it not be preferable to have a South facing slope in the Southern Hemisphere for the same reasons it is preferable to have a North facing slope in the Northern Hemisphere?

 

[koreshot]

Would it not be preferable to have a South facing slope in the Southern Hemisphere for the same reasons it is preferable to have a North facing slope in the Northern Hemisphere?

Yes, slopes facing away from the sun. North in NA/Europe and South in SA/NZ.

 

[koreshot]

This makes no sense. There is no inbounds terrain at Jackson Hole that faces West. JH is on the E side of the Tetons and faces primarily E and ESE with a little ENE thrown in for good measure. How could you arrive at this conclusion?

I was wrong on West facing inbound slopes, there aren't any, but there is some north facing which what I must have been thinking of. I did get to ski a bit of West facing in the OB.

Here are the stats for JH inbounds exposure:

North - 10%
East - 60%
West - 0%
South - 30%