Mt Snow Thread

[NYDB]

I'm so old I remember Mt snow trying to be one of the first to open and expand terrain and a become a major early season player after they revamped their snowmaking system.

is this the most underutilized system now?

I remember hearing about all the pipes and pumps and how muscular it was and now it's seems like it's on par or below with the other so VT snowmaking powers.

they open around Thanksgiving now like everyone else.

I guess vail felt the early season juice wasn't worth the squeezing.

 

[thebigo]

I'm definitely switching back to Ikon next year. This is killing me watching Stratton and Killington have great seasons and yet Mt Snow (and even Stowe) still have a lot of good stuff closed. I noticed Olympic ended up back on the closed list today which sucks because that's one of the biggest things I wanted to see open (in order to access the Trials). The word from Stratton is that the woods are not only skiable but actually very good, and yet Olympic doesn't even have enough snow to be open?

My choices for Tuesday are pretty much limited to Mt Snow or Okemo as I don't have time to make the drive further north. Okemo had Outrage open yesterday and already roped that, no other glades open besides some of the dumb intermediate flat ones. But at least Okemo has most of the snowmaking trails open sans what looks like a piss poor effort in expanding Jackson Gore. Based on your report maybe Mt Snow will be caught up on snowmaking trails? Thursday I'll be day tripping to somewhere in southern NH and it might very well be Pats Peak because what the Vail mountains have open is fucking pathetic, and meanwhile Pats is 100% open. Possibly Waterville if True Grit and Bobby's open by then.

Next weekend I'm thinking a trip further north is in order but it might have to be Bolton/Jay because Stowe is slacking too (although less so than the others). Killington has Snowdon nearly 100% open yet Stowe doesn't have a single glade open? And people at Stowe are jizzing themselves over how much better they are about opening terrain this year. It's insane.

I hope the BS going on at Park City breaks Vail's back because they are a disgrace to the ski industry and I definitely learned my lesson about switching to Epic this year.

Was about to recommend crotched over pats before checking their report. Pluto, jupiter and magnitude all closed? Vail really does suck.

Sounds like you have indy and epic. Cannon has four of the front five open if looking for steep groomers but bring sharp edges.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

I'm so old I remember Mt snow trying to be one of the first to open and expand terrain and a become a major early season player after they revamped their snowmaking system.

is this the most underutilized system now?

I remember hearing about all the pipes and pumps and how muscular it was and now it's seems like it's on par or below with the other so VT snowmaking powers.

they open around Thanksgiving now like everyone else.

I guess vail felt the early season juice wasn't worth the squeezing.

After mt snow had a similar upgrade at the same time as Sunday river, I expected them to complete with stratton for snowmaking firepower. No idea what the weak link is there.

 

[letitsnow1]

After mt snow had a similar upgrade at the same time as Sunday river, I expected them to complete with stratton for snowmaking firepower. No idea what the weak link is there.

Vail is the weak link

 

[drjeff]

After mt snow had a similar upgrade at the same time as Sunday river, I expected them to complete with stratton for snowmaking firepower. No idea what the weak link is there.

I mean it's January 6th, and the only snowmaking trails, per my recollection, they haven't atleast started yet, are Ego Alley, Yardsale, Beartrap and the 1/2 pipe. They have some hoses hooked up on Beartrap now, and I suspect that once they're done hammering middle Ex, they'll start sending water down the line through Ego and Yardsale. Not sure if they'll make snow in the half pipe area or not this year as it's relevance these days is definitely fading.

They have had a major gun show going on since the cold air returned on the 2nd

 

[Zand]

Was about to recommend crotched over pats before checking their report. Pluto, jupiter and magnitude all closed? Vail really does suck.

Sounds like you have indy and epic. Cannon has four of the front five open if looking for steep groomers but bring sharp edges.

Looking for woods but Vail doesn't want to open theirs even though the Ikon and Indy mountains in between have no problem opening their woods.

Late this week looks promising. Hopefully will get Stowe to the 75 inches of base they apparently need to actually open anything on the front. Will get a room in town this weekend but willing to use a Jay day if necessary and maybe even buy an MRG ticket.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Looking for woods but Vail doesn't want to open theirs even though the Ikon and Indy mountains in between have no problem opening their woods.

Late this week looks promising. Hopefully will get Stowe to the 75 inches of base they apparently need to actually open anything on the front. Will get a room in town this weekend but willing to use a Jay day if necessary and maybe even buy an MRG ticket.

looks like Saturday is a major dump at mt snow/stratton. Sunday should be AAA+++

 

[Smellytele]

looks like Saturday is a major dump at mt snow/stratton. Sunday should be AAA+++

So gfs says yes but euro and others are pushing it well south of NE.

 

[Zand]

So gfs says yes but euro and others are pushing it well south of NE.

Yup...more looking at this midweek event for northern NE that should get the northern Greens 1-2 feet by the time it wraps up Thursday.

 

[Zand]

Mother Nature made my decision easier today and I just ended up staying home. Lots of lifts on hold and it's too cold to want to just ski groomers off Sundance all day.

Fingers crossed that this midweek event gets northern VT in good shape for this weekend and hopefully throws southern VT a bone too.

 

[Smellytele]

Looks like nothing south of K for mid week and K is barely on the edge. Above K looks just light but could add up over the days.

 

[ctdubl07]

Im a MS homer but the recent years attempts (and this year) to blow snow on Ex and BTrap are wastes in my mind. Put the neergy and product elsewhere. Those 2 trails have been irrelevant in users minds for so long. BTrap doesnt have music or the cache it did from 30 yrs ago. so blowing snow so 4 kids in a bump program can use it is a waste...your not going anywhere. EX's snow goes everwhere but the surface and theres so much ground water and bars, its a disaster after 4 days. Forget both, the user volume and habits arent there.
Focus on putting wet snow on top of the glacier that is Sundance/Longhohn offload area so you can build up a protective layer and fix the perpetual ice issue. Then repeat with soft top ups.

 

[Newpylong]

They can move 10,000 GPM, it's not exactly an INSTEAD choice. 6 concurrent trails online at that place is not an issue.

 

[icecoast1]

They can move 10,000 GPM, it's not exactly an INSTEAD choice. 6 concurrent trails online at that place is not an issue.

Closer to 12 if they're running the west lake system wide open and pumping from carinthia pond

 

[Newpylong]

It depends entirely on what trails, what equipment and how many hydrants are in use. My 6 trails is a safe number at 50 hydrants per trail which is 300 guns running close to wide open ~35 GPM which is around the max they've run. I was looking over the shoulder of their pumphouse controller when this was occurring when West Lake first went in.

 

[NYDB]

So gfs says yes but euro and others are pushing it well south of NE.

Latest gfs is starting to agree more with the euro. maybe a couple of inches for the southern greens

 

[icecoast1]

It depends entirely on what trails, what equipment and how many hydrants are in use. My 6 trails is a safe number at 50 hydrants per trail which is 300 guns running close to wide open which is around the max they've run. I was looking over the shoulder of their pumphouse controller when this was occurring when West Lake first went in.

There's a pump that pumps out of carinthia pond completely seperate from the west lake system that feeds trails in carinthia, adding that into the 10k of west lake can bring it closer to 12, although yeah it does depend entirely on what trails they're sending water to

 

[Newpylong]

I am well aware of how their system works, I've done work on it. The numbers, like most areas are embellished. They never installed the last pumps to move a true 10,000 strictly from WL. The number between both West Lake and Upper Carinthia is 10K.

 

[machski]

Was about to recommend crotched over pats before checking their report. Pluto, jupiter and magnitude all closed? Vail really does suck.

Sounds like you have indy and epic. Cannon has four of the front five open if looking for steep groomers but bring sharp edges.

In all fairness to Vail regarding Crotched, they are water starved this year. That snowmaking pond is not getting refilled and even if this year were Peaks at their peak effort, doubt Crotch would look too much different. Crotched needs a serious investment to up it's water access some how. Doubt that would be cheap, even if it was, doubt Vail is interested in investing there. That last part we can bash Vail for.

 

[drjeff]

330 million gallons of water through the snowmaking system since January 1st! The snowmakers are getting a few, well deserved, days off this weekend!