Mt Snow Thread

[chuckstah]

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.

Yeah, I skied a couple hours this afternoon, and the pond is bone dry. They managed to get a few more runs open with not many more to go, but it'll be a while for the rest. Conditions are good for what it is. At least everything from the summit is finally in play to spread people out, and you don't have to ski the same two trails off the top all day.

 

[SLyardsale]

as far as Mt Snow skiing goes on a weekend, this one was pretty good. The hill was more or less closed for wind Mon-Thur. Fri still had wind but lifts ran 1/2 speed and kind of a fun groomer day after having 4 grooming passes on unskied terrain. Sat - Sun nice stuff available with no/minor winds - snow showers on Sat, bluebird on Sun with some glades in play and asshole factor only at medium for both weekend days. Next weekend probably a different story.

 

[shadyjay]

Was there 8am-12:30pm. Was pleasantly surprised at the snow conditions, which actually I thought got better as the morning went on. Winds in the morning were coming right down the liftline on most lifts leading to a cold ride up, but the wind was at your back heading down so it was quite pleasant.... not a cloud in the sky, either! Only rode the bubble once... I'm guessing it had a substantial line most of the day for those that don't like the wind. All the other lifts I rode, I waited at most maybe 5 minutes, if that, otherwise it was ski right up in the singles line to the queue point.

 

[drjeff]

Very solid weekend. Crowds not as crazy as I anticipated (being the non black out weekend for NE local passes in between 2 holiday periods with blackouts) some wind scoured areas were slick, lots of soft snow too.

Snowmakers after a few days off are back at it this evening!

 

[jaytrem]

Couple interesting things this weekend. Halfway down the tree at Carinthia they have a bunch of lollipop closed signs and arrows pointing you towards Mine Shaft. They also have a rope across at the top of the tree where one would typically enter. Haven't seen it "open" all year. Very odd.

Late Saturday I rode up Sundance with a guy who was there for the first time. He was telling me that staff had stopped him and a bunch of other folks for skiing some "unauthorized" trees. He said they went in where there was no rope, but went under a rope to get out. He entered and exited on an open trail. Unfortunately he wasn't sure where is was. I can think if a few places where you could duck a rope to get out if you wanted to, but never really necessary. I just hope my kids don't get harassed when I'm not with them. They spend most of their time in the trees whenever possible. A bunch of them are not on the map, so are they now "unauthorized"? From the website...

Tree Terrain​

Tree skiing/snowboarding areas are not maintained or regularly checked by ski area personnel. Ski or ride at your own risk. All tree terrain is considered most difficult and is recommended for advanced skiers/snowboarders only—use extra caution.
Unmarked obstacles and other natural hazards exist throughout. Never ski/ride alone. It is your responsibility to access and depart from tree terrain using open designated trails.

 

[SLyardsale]

Couple interesting things this weekend. Halfway down the tree at Carinthia they have a bunch of lollipop closed signs and arrows pointing you towards Mine Shaft. They also have a rope across at the top of the tree where one would typically enter. Haven't seen it "open" all year. Very odd.

Late Saturday I rode up Sundance with a guy who was there for the first time. He was telling me that staff had stopped him and a bunch of other folks for skiing some "unauthorized" trees. He said they went in where there was no rope, but went under a rope to get out. He entered and exited on an open trail. Unfortunately he wasn't sure where is was. I can think if a few places where you could duck a rope to get out if you wanted to, but never really necessary. I just hope my kids don't get harassed when I'm not with them. They spend most of their time in the trees whenever possible. A bunch of them are not on the map, so are they now "unauthorized"? From the website...

Tree Terrain​

Tree skiing/snowboarding areas are not maintained or regularly checked by ski area personnel. Ski or ride at your own risk. All tree terrain is considered most difficult and is recommended for advanced skiers/snowboarders only—use extra caution.
Unmarked obstacles and other natural hazards exist throughout. Never ski/ride alone. It is your responsibility to access and depart from tree terrain using open designated trails.

I saw a vail employee (blue coat) go into claim jumper off mineshaft on Wed with a couple of civilians. There was a rope across the main entrance - they went in lower - just above the old sign. I'm unsure if they just went down to tunnel vision and had to dump back out onto mineshaft or if there was a long rope along the downhill side of mineshaft etc. There is so much rope used at Carinthia to create "gates" on to each "park" trail, it mind numbing. One gate to get from the top on mineshaft onto nitro is less than 3 feet wide. must be insurance company loss control rules. a violation to duck a rope to exit trees is so vail.

On another note - ripcord on Wed...

 

[SLyardsale]

MLK Jr day

 

[SLyardsale]

some wind issues today - worked around them

 

[urungus]

Cold windy bluebird day today. Naturals are skiing great.

Olympic woods has deep coverage:




Saw some snowboarders grind this log:




Uncles:


Looking up Moonwalk:


Looking down Moonwalk:


Ledge:

 

[drjeff]

Going to be spending Saturday AM on Charlie's Chase as the race starter, then Saturday PM on Southbowl bowl prepping it for a U14 Soutern VT Council race on Sunday. Then on Sunday not sure if I am the starter or race referree at the finish on Southbowl yet. Hope to actually get to ski a bit on Monday.. The mountain should be in good shape this weekend!

 

[GregoryIsaacs]

Praying that they can open ripcord this weekend. I found the snow report quite comical on the matter:

"Ripcord fans: you're wondering why the trail isn't open yet! Our snowmakers completed making snow on the trail, but due to the long stretch of cold temperatures, the surface is solid and did not get Patrol approval to open, and grooming it will not get it where it needs to be and would likely cause the snow to slide to the bottom. We're waiting for more natural snow or warmer temperatures to get the surface skiable, stay tuned and trust that we'll open it for you as soon as we're able to. Thank a snowmaker, thank a patroller, thank a groomer, thank a lift operator: all of our teams work hard to get you to every part of the mountain safely, it's what we all want!"

How many runs in the NE are closed because of an avy risk?

 

[Newpylong]

That is ridiculous. Never remember that in the entire Peak ownership.

Here you make fairy dust on top of the cement which is what they always did.

 

[SLyardsale]

That statement on ripcord has been up for about 6-7 days - as has the progress on the Challenger lift which is finally back tomorrow. And, closing Nitro with the excuse - we have a great snowmaking run is BS - there is no window until tomorrow afternoon so just wait until Sun. Hey Doc, were you hanging on the sprinkler pipe at Cuzzins last weekend ?

At Carinthia, Nitro is closed for a fresh build, and it will be closed into next week. We're sorry to have it closed for the weekend but needed to take advantage of the run of snowmaking weather so that you can enjoy that park well into April as planned.

 

[slatham]

Praying that they can open ripcord this weekend. I found the snow report quite comical on the matter:

"Ripcord fans: you're wondering why the trail isn't open yet! Our snowmakers completed making snow on the trail, but due to the long stretch of cold temperatures, the surface is solid and did not get Patrol approval to open, and grooming it will not get it where it needs to be and would likely cause the snow to slide to the bottom. We're waiting for more natural snow or warmer temperatures to get the surface skiable, stay tuned and trust that we'll open it for you as soon as we're able to. Thank a snowmaker, thank a patroller, thank a groomer, thank a lift operator: all of our teams work hard to get you to every part of the mountain safely, it's what we all want!"

How many runs in the NE are closed because of an avy risk?

Sounds like the snowmakers fucked it up with wet snowmaking? Why don't they make more snow - lighter snow - on top if existing? If it's too slick to ski, no amount of natural will help. ITs either more man made, or 40+ degrees.

 

[Yo VT Raps]

Any good moguls this weekend?

 

[drjeff]

Sounds like the snowmakers fucked it up with wet snowmaking? Why don't they make more snow - lighter snow - on top if existing? If it's too slick to ski, no amount of natural will help. ITs either more man made, or 40+ degrees.

Opened up today. A bit wind buffed from this last week, but fun to ski nonetheless!

 

[gittist]

Can you pull up close to the ski lodge to at least unload and then go park? The last time I was there there was no paid parking. I was thinking about giving up skiing in a few years due to age and ailments but I may go sooner.....

 

[gittist]

P.S. where would I park if I had a handicap plate?

 

[drjeff]

Can you pull up close to the ski lodge to at least unload and then go park? The last time I was there there was no paid parking. I was thinking about giving up skiing in a few years due to age and ailments but I may go sooner.....

They do have defined short term drop off areas

 

[drjeff]

P.S. where would I park if I had a handicap plate?

In the defined handicap spaces close to the various base lodges. No different than the close, well defined, handicap spaces of any business