Mt Snow Thread

[drjeff]

Just noticed that the mountain has officially striken Ego Alley from the Lift & Trail Report. A sad way to end the tenure of a historic lift.

I wonder if Vail will see the value in replacing it with a FGQ to help offset crowds during icing events etc. or just let it rot in place. Im not holding my breath

That may change. Heard from a VERY reliable source over the weekend that Ego will be spinning on Saturday's only, during the prime season, which will help get the race team athletes, or the bump team athletes once the bump course on Lower Ex gets built again this year, off of the Grand Summit. Bluebird, and Canyon lifts if they're training on Ego or Charlies or the bump course. Plus Ego will be available as an option should there be either wind hold or de-icing issues with the main base area primary lifts.

 

[doublediamond]

For some reason Vail has the asinine idea to strike trails and lifts from their reports early/late season when they are no longer scheduled to run for the year. It’s to fluff up their % open stats.

 

[Zand]

I arrived at 12:15 and Bluebird went on hold at 12:12 for "maintenance". What the actual fuck?

 

[icecoast1]

I arrived at 12:15 and Bluebird went on hold at 12:12 for "maintenance". What the actual fuck?

Did they at least run the Yankee slipper in its place?

 

[Zand]

Did they at least run the Yankee slipper in its place?

Just Sundance. Walked around the hotel and did a few runs there. Then they kind of reopened Bluebird without telling anybody. Cascade/Snowdance skiing much better and it's deserted over here. North Face never opened unfortunately.

 

[chuckstah]

I arrived at 12:15 and Bluebird went on hold at 12:12 for "maintenance". What the actual fuck?

I was there today as well. The bluebird was in serious need of maintenance as it stopped four ,five , six times every freaking ride. We could only suffer through two rides on it. It was a pretty s***** day overall.

 

[SLyardsale]

I was there today as well. The bluebird was in serious need of maintenance as it stopped four ,five , six times every freaking ride. We could only suffer through two rides on it. It was a pretty s***** day overall.

I skipped today and will tomorrow. The bluebird was having spacing issues in the terminals on Sunday / Monday. They would try and make adjustments on the fly without closing the lift, but causing 3-5 minute stops - obviously they came up a bit short and shut down. Their twitter/X notifications were 12:39 pm "closed for repair" then 1:36PM "At this time Bluebird Express is operational & loading"

 

[Zand]

Skied 12:30-4 today, kind of a lousy start but more enjoyable later on. All nats now closed due to crust (still looks deep everywhere, but after tomorrow may be a different story). So back down to just the main snowmaking routes.

After walking over to Sundance, found Ridge to be a bit skied off and then a bit springy/spongy closer to the bottom. Did one run around on Long John which was kind of sticky.

Honestly after 4 runs I was sick of riding the wet chair and the skiing not being great so I was ready to call it a day as the app still showed Bluebird down. But upon arriving back at the main base, Bluebird was indeed back up so I jumped on. Cascade from the top had the best snow on the mountain as the freezing drizzle didn't seem to affect the snow there and it was perfect packed powder (and totally deserted). Canyon was kind of more frozen crap, but after a couple runs I checked out Snowdance which was for some reason full of soft corduroy and perfect for wide open turns. With the Cascade/Snowdance combo skiing well and a nice dry ride on the Bluebird, I ended up taking 8 more runs off the summit and skied right to closing (unfortunately in the pouring rain the last run).

For some reason North Face never reopened after Bluebird opened which was a bummer, would've liked to have checked out Freefall. But a fun afternoon and racked up 18.5k vert which is one of my better first days in a long time.

 

[ctdubl07]

FCast looks wonderful….from 52 and near 2” of rain tomorrow right into single digit overnights this wknd.

 

[drjeff]

I skipped today and will tomorrow. The bluebird was having spacing issues in the terminals on Sunday / Monday. They would try and make adjustments on the fly without closing the lift, but causing 3-5 minute stops - obviously they came up a bit short and shut down. Their twitter/X notifications were 12:39 pm "closed for repair" then 1:36PM "At this time Bluebird Express is operational & loading"

The joke with some of the crew I regularly ski with this past weekend with respect to the semi regular (especially in the morning) stop/start issues the Bluebird has been having recently is since this is it's 13th season of operation "now that she's a teenager, she's getting some of that grumpy teenager attitude at times!"

 

[chuckstah]

The joke with some of the crew I regularly ski with this past weekend with respect to the semi regular (especially in the morning) stop/start issues the Bluebird has been having recently is since this is it's 13th season of operation "now that she's a teenager, she's getting some of that grumpy teenager attitude at times!"

Recently? It has stopped and started constantly since the first time I rode it years ago. My crew avoids it whenever there is another option open.

 

[doublediamond]

I agree, it’s had sensor issues since the day it was installed.

 

[SenorQuesadilla]

The joke with some of the crew I regularly ski with this past weekend with respect to the semi regular (especially in the morning) stop/start issues the Bluebird has been having recently is since this is it's 13th season of operation "now that she's a teenager, she's getting some of that grumpy teenager attitude at times!"

I'd be grateful to my friends for only ripping me the rest of the day if I broke out that cornball joke

 

[icecoast1]

I was there today as well. The bluebird was in serious need of maintenance as it stopped four ,five , six times every freaking ride. We could only suffer through two rides on it. It was a pretty s***** day overall.

It's been that way for years

 

[urungus]

I was there yesterday too. Had been planning on going to Stratton bit their conditions report showed no summit access and no ETA on getting it open. So pivoted to Mount Snow. Started with a warn up lap down Ridge but as mentioned by @Zand it was pretty meh. Then Bluebird lift attendant was telling everyone North Face was closing because of falling ice from the lift. Bluebird line speed seemed slow and there were many stops and starts. Meanwhile trails are getting roped off left and right. So took a last run down Long John (which I thought had a much better snow surface than Ridge) and headed up the road to Stratton, which was posting that they had restored summit access. Photos in the Stratton thread.

Sundance lift ski-on:

 

[slatham]

I received an email from Mt Snow just now 1:27pm Wednesday Dec 11: “SNOW ALERT: 5 inches just dropped”

WTF? It’s pouring! That snow is from yesterday, and even then it was a bit misleading as the reports above indicate. They make it sound like a pow day. But at least yesterday it had a thread of truth. But today? Vail fail.

 

[drjeff]

I received an email from Mt Snow just now 1:27pm Wednesday Dec 11: “SNOW ALERT: 5 inches just dropped”

WTF? It’s pouring! That snow is from yesterday, and even then it was a bit misleading as the reports above indicate. They make it sound like a pow day. But at least yesterday it had a thread of truth. But today? Vail fail.

That one showed up in my inbox yeaterday morning. And even at that point, yes, technically 5" fell late Monday (the Summit snowstake webacm showed that) however, the crust factor, based on what the weather station data from my condo was showing me, knew that the reality was different than what the likely email that was generated out at the mothership in CO was suggesting

 

[urungus]

Ouch

 

[drjeff]

Ouch

View attachment 63783

Yup, they're just running Canyon and Discovery today. You can see from the various webcams that they've tracked up a bunch of snow, which will help it drain and dry today and then they'll groom it out tonight with a much better overall surface (They've done this many times in the past with good results). Also they're already into expansion mode snowmaking wise, which should bring Sunbrook and more main face and Carinthia trails online in the coming days.

Guessing after yesterday, the water flow rate in the Cold Brook, which is where they draw the water to fill West Lake from, is back at a level where they can pump as much as they want out of the Cold Brook.

The mtn ops teams know what they're doing, and while it won't be as soft as it was before yesterday's liquid and warm event, by the weekend they'll have a bunch of terrain open with a decent snow surface I would imagine. Keep the skis tuned and make the most of what makes us East Coast skiers, variable weather and variable conditions!

 

[ctdubl07]

Carinthia update: looks like those chairs are all now hung. Still a little messy around Nitro staging area. Guns finally ripping on Fools Gold...