Night Skiing Dark Areas

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Sunsets are always nice to see, but for skiing it means flat light until it gets dark enough for the lights to take effect.

Plus if it's warm..the snow sets up uber fast...it's good for mad steezy speed on the smooth areas but the choppy areas become frozen crud..

I'll have to look back through my stats but I think 50+ percent of my sessions last season were night sessions..

 

[Hawkshot99]

Woods?

Yup, there are some fun tree runs at Jiminey. Take most of them at night to hide from the red coats.

 

[RENO]

Never gone at night. What goggles are best for night riding/skiing? I have Amber lens on my goggles. Would just a clear lens be best or, like Steeze, Rose or Blue?

 

[Greg]

Never gone at night. What goggles are best for night riding/skiing? I have Amber lens on my goggles. Would just a clear lens be best or, like Steeze, Rose or Blue?

You'll get a million different opinions on this. I prefer clear. The lights usually light up the terrain well enough that no special enhancement lens is needed for me.

 

[tree_skier]

Last season at Pat's during race night some guy was skiing the trees with a head lamp. We thought it was BobR wishing he wasn't a quitter trying to keep an eye on us but then realized he was taller then the average 10 year old.

 

[skimore]

Are both very dangerous and annoying.

I would say this is not always true. If you are very familiar with the area and have a bunch of untracked, floating through powder in complete darkness can be an unreal feeling. We hit a local spot well before it gets light and do laps before the sun comes up. Don't need to see in an untouched powder field.

On the way in the morning snow guns blasting

this was all done before the sun came up

 

[campgottagopee]

Greek is well lit---not a big fan of night skiing but do hit it when we're getting pounded.

 

[loafer89]

Reading through the older summer threads, this one got me thinking about one of our best ski days, or should I say nights this past March.

Warren and I night skied at Black Mountain Of Maine on March 31st, 2008 with 4" of light new powder snow. Talk about a dimly lit ski area, some trails had no lights, but only some illumination from the adjoining trails.

There was one glade that was opened, but quite dark. Warren wanted to ski it but I was hesitant about it, when suddenly a group of ski patrollers came flying down the hill and vanished into the glade:-? I then lost the battle to stay out of the glade.

Night Glade Skiing:

Fairly dark trails (the flash added alot of light):

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Awesome stuff Loafer..skiing new powder under the lights is a real treat..and visibility is over-rated..until a snowsnake bites you..

 

[loafer89]

Awesome stuff Loafer..skiing new powder under the lights is a real treat..and visibility is over-rated..until a snowsnake bites you..

Luckily there where no snowsnakes, only perfectly groomed snow underneath the powder.

 

[bvibert]

I wanna do some true night skiing using my headlight at a closed ski area sometime...

 

[RootDKJ]

I'm looking forward to starting to ski at night this season.

 

[MichaelJ]

Every time I've been to Wachusett the lighting's been excellent. Were it not for the crowds of school groups I would go a *lot*.

I agree, though, that while sunset on the chairlift is beautiful, the flat light for the next half hour can really suck.

Best spring skiing I've ever had is at night, perfect corn, right around freezing temps, under the lights but with a full moon shining down.

 

[Maksim]

My only skiing last season was at blue, and went to Blue mountain on sunday nights. Was fairly well lit. Had amber goggles but found it easier to just ski without them.

 

[Hawkshot99]

I wanna do some true night skiing using my headlight at a closed ski area sometime...

Doesn't work that well. That is what we did when we hiked Bellearye. The light was very easy to over ski, so basically only skiing in the dark.

 

[RootDKJ]

My only skiing last season was at blue, and went to Blue mountain on sunday nights. Was fairly well lit. Had amber goggles but found it easier to just ski without them.

I have a yellow lens that works fairly well in low light conditions, but I might just order a clear lens anyway

 

[Hawkshot99]

I have a yellow lens that works fairly well in low light conditions, but I might just order a clear lens anyway

I would not waste the $. A little bit of tint is good at night. It darkens out the bright spots under the lights so your pupils dont shrink as much in the brightness, then have to grow as much in the dark spots.

 

[RootDKJ]

I would not waste the $. A little bit of tint is good at night. It darkens out the bright spots under the lights so your pupils dont shrink as much in the brightness, then have to grow as much in the dark spots.

thanks for the tip

 

[JasonE]

I agree, though, that while sunset on the chairlift is beautiful, the flat light for the next half hour can really suck..

I hate that flat light around sunset! Ugh!

Last season, late March at Wachusett, had been skiing most of the day and right around sunset I skied down 10th Mountain in very flat light. My legs were burning and I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to keep skiing, but I also wasn't ready to pack it in yet. So when I reached the bottom I decided I'd take a rest break and slid over to the double chair to do a run (or two) on the beginner trails while I waited out the bad lighting. Seemed like a good plan (bad light wouldn't matter on a beginner trail, right?)

What I didn't know is that at some point last winter they'd set up a miniature version of a snowboard park on Sundowner. Nope - that was information I didn't have.

I rocketed down Sundowner - not skiing out of control by any means, just skiing fast. In the flat light, I couldn't see the contour of the terrain. I hit the mini-park going fast, got totally unexpected air, crashed down into another terrain feature and popped right back up into more totally unexpected air.

Somehow (do NOT ask me how) managed to stay upright and in my skis. By all rights I should have yardsaled, but somehow I didn't. Got to the bottom of the run, popped my skis off, and called it a day. Just couldn't seem to get up the motivation to go back out there after that experience (it was absolutely terrifying to suddenly be thrown into the air - twice - without having any idea why or how). The friend I was skiing with (who has better night vision than I do) saw it happen but didn't have time to warn me. Freaked him out, too - he called it a day after that, too.

So I can officially say that I was defeated by the bunny hill :roll:

 

[bvibert]

Doesn't work that well. That is what we did when we hiked Bellearye. The light was very easy to over ski, so basically only skiing in the dark.

Then you need a brighter light. If my bike headlight can illuminate enough of the road while I'm riding 20MPH I think it'll be fine for skiing.

I've seen videos of people skiing at night with head lamps on the internet, so it must be possible. The internet knows all. 8)