New Year's Eve & Day - Crowds

[Jcb890]

Calling for 6 inches across most of NE.

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Some forecasters are calling for a lot more than that. Whether it happens or times right is to be seen.

For places like Loon, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, they are predicting around a foot or more. Even in Central MA, they are predicting 3-6" for Wachusett. It may switch to rain at some point supposedly in MA though. It seems like it could be a fine line between rain and snow as I have seen some predictions of temps closer to 40 than 30 for Central MA.

 

[bdfreetuna]

first time I've heard of Wachusett referred to as western MA!

(western MA starts at the Quabbin)

fwiw I think some of you guys are lowballing this one. I'm thinking 6-8" for the Berks, Vermont 8" most places, 12" @ Jay and Stowe, Burke maybe 10"+, a foot or more in much of NH, Wildcat/Sunday+Sugarloaf at 18".

Add a few inches the next night and I think we have a total refresh in the works. Next week looks productive as well.

 

[Jcb890]

first time I've heard of Wachusett referred to as western MA!

(western MA starts at the Quabbin)

Why did I say Western? I meant Central. I edited my post to fix that idiocy! haha

 

[Tin]

Lol. I'd say 12" will be on the low side for areas north of the Mass Pike.

 

[Jully]

Add a few inches the next night and I think we have a total refresh in the works. Next week looks productive as well.

That refresh would be perfect. I'm at SR for January 2nd and 3rd and would love a pow day in there as well!

If not 12" or maybe even a little more at SR over the weekend will make everything ski beautifully come Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Jully]

Better than nothing? Black Mountain is good on windy days as well. Not sure that really helps with options. Wonder if Jay Peak will be far enough away?

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Oh it is certainly better than nothing!! No complaints here, I just have other areas I'd prefer to hit. BW and its trees are incredible on a powder day.

Jay is going to be in tough wind shape as well it seems. Hadn't thought about Black, but that is definitely an option as well. I've never been and have been meaning to go for a few years now. Never made it over while I was in Maine because I had to pass by too many good areas on the way over.

 

[dlague]

Some forecasters are calling for a lot more than that. Whether it happens or times right is to be seen.

Yup just saw the latest forecast

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[Jcb890]

Yup just saw the latest forecast

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Clear your notifications!!! :-o

:lol:

 

[rocks860]

I'm having a tough time trying to figure out the crowds. I've been watching the Sugarbush web cams the past few days and the mountain keeps being empty looking. I get people are busy on Christmas Eve and Christmas, and I suppose yesterday could have been a travel day for people. Then maybe today the weather last night is keeping people away. I'm inclined to think things will get busier as the week goes on and the New Years weekend will be the peak of the crowds, but New Year's Day itself could be empty at least early in the morning if people were up late NYE and can't drag their asses out of bed in the morning. Then again with fresh snow predicted coming in before the weekend it could be crowded the entire time. So hard to even use historical experience to try to predict this as there are so many variables that come into play on any given day.

It was pretty empty yesterday. I don't think I waited more than 1 or 2 chairs at all


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[hammer]

Holiday weekend plus snow prediction = big crowds.

That said, if I didn't have plans to visit family in NJ I'd still be out somewhere.

 

[kevben23]

Planning on a Killington trip Monday, hopefully they get slammed with some fresh powww

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[Kleetus]

Planning on a Killington trip Monday, hopefully they get slammed with some fresh powww

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Headed there myself Sunday and hoping the same. May stay and ski there Monday too dpeending on how the snow totals shake out

 

[Jcb890]

We were at Stratton yesterday. A fun night at Wachusett lead to us getting up later than I wanted and I didn't get out on the mountain until 9:30 or so. The place was absolutely packed. Lot 1 was full completely, Lot 2 was just about full, but we wound up being able to park at the Sun Bowl which was good. Lifts and the lodge were crazy and I guess the Gondola was down till around lunch time making lines everywhere even worse.

By the time I got to the summit most of it was windblown and icy, but sides of the trails were still soft. Most of the day was like this, a lot of good snow, but a surprising amount of windblown and ice. By 11 anything that had a pitch was scraped off into ice and moguls... I'm guessing the large crowds and large percentage of people who had no idea what they were doing led to this issue. I quit for the day at about 1 when the after-lunch crowds started to pick up some. It was still much less busy than in the morning, but by then all the good snow had seemingly been used up.

I wish I had gotten there to get 1st chair. The crowds were nuts and there were a lot of people who were just assholes or oblivious to anyone other than themselves. Oh well, we made the best of it and had a nice day. My wife didn't ride because she wound up not feeling well when we got there and she wasn't a fan of the crowds.



We are debating heading up to Loon tomorrow, it looks like they could get another 3-6" today/tonight which might be nice tomorrow morning and stay nicer with less crowds.

 

[prsboogie]

The crowds were nuts and there were a lot of people who were just assholes or oblivious to anyone other than themselves.

This is pretty much my impression of Stratton any weekend of the year! Been there midweek and not holiday time and had a blast but once the TriState crown makes its way up, fagetaboutit!


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[KustyTheKlown]

Tremblant was a shitshow on 12/29 and 12/30 and not so bad on 12/31 (very cold). Sad to miss the big NE storm, tremblant was skiing pretty scratchy, but was a good time, and MTL nye was super

 

[SkiFanE]

Survived the holiday weekend at Sunday River. Friday lines were crazy with half of lifts shut down and double people that showed up. But we managed fine and the 20" made it worth it. So by the time they opened Jordan half of mountain it was like a new pow day. Saturday was nuts but we still avoided lines longer than 5-10 mins. So much snow there was still tons of once tracked stuff yesterday. Incredible weekend and crowds hardly put a damper on it - the crowds tend to stick to the groomers. We couldn't get ourselves to even stop in lodges for a break - but have never ever seen a true traffic jam at SR - Friday was gridlock. Very pleased for the ski industry as a whole tho - people came out in droves and opened their wallets.

 

[Robbski]

Big thank you to the folks that stayed home nursing a hangover on 1/1. Ragged was very manageable on New Years day. Arrived at quarter to ten and got one of the last spots in the top parking lot. Lodge was busy with families etc. but not crazy. Most importantly we never waited longer than a few minutes in the lift lines! (Off topic for this thread - conditions were fine snow was pretty nice firm w/ a few icy patches - sunny and high 20s low 30s)

 

[VTKilarney]

Burke was much less busy on 1/1. It's been a great start to the year.

 

[WJenness]

Was at Wachusett last night (about 5:30 - 8:30 or so)... Crowds were not an issue at all. 4 or 5 chair wait most of the time, but that's nothing for WaWa!

 

[dlague]

Vail was empty on New Years Day! 5200 acres and 31 lifts and it was ski on ski off and wide open trails - Awesome. The drive on I 70 easy peasy both directions.

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