Opening day in the northeast

[asnowmobiler]

Big Boulder today.Thought they would have more but they are very aggressive and bet they will be open next weekend.

 

[urungus]

Report says Downdraft Headwall is open. Also blowing on lower Ridge Run and the former Mouse Trap. Would be nice to have those Tuesday, very fun early season run.

Also shows Downdraft Upper as open. As I mentioned in other thread, I guess that means tomorrow, Downdraft will be open from the top of the gondola to Great Northern ?

 

[Newpylong]

Yes.

 

[machski]

Yes, SR is full of crap. The old position was not full time until a good TTB route opened. That should happen by the end of this weekend, and probably two solid routes to boot. They were definitely open last Veteran's day and that was only 1 day on the calendar later. I will grant last year was an amazing Snovember, but they are spinning what history has been.

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Wait for the new blowback on SR. Turns out Locke is spinning today....for Gould and perhaps a few other race teams only!! What a load of BS, on Veteran's Day Monday. I think Boyne really needs to assess the situation at SR. I used to like DB but some of these decisions recently have been poor and against the dedicated clientel that helped build SR skier base to what it is. May be time for a change in leadership at the mountain. Seems to have worked well for Killington going from Neyburg to Mike. Boyne needs to hit the refresh button and sooner rather than later.

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[steve22]

Wildcat opens Friday

https://www.skiwildcat.com/snow-report/

 

[cdskier]

Mt Snow opens Wednesday now apparently...

https://www.mountsnow.com/ski-ride/snow-report/

 

[bdfreetuna]

Mt Snow opens Wednesday now apparently...

https://www.mountsnow.com/ski-ride/snow-report/

Wow glad to read this. I was literally waiting on a call with Vail to complain about being sold a ticket for the 14th. Looks like it's game on!

 

[machski]

Mt Snow opens Wednesday now apparently...

https://www.mountsnow.com/ski-ride/snow-report/

Good for them, hope they don't get too much mixing tonight.

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[Edd]

Wait for the new blowback on SR. Turns out Locke is spinning today....for Gould and perhaps a few other race teams only!! What a load of BS, on Veteran's Day Monday.

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Yup, do not care for that. Too early to be blocking out terrain.

 

[Los]

Mt Snow opens Wednesday now apparently...

https://www.mountsnow.com/ski-ride/snow-report/

Nice opening plan: TTB green route, TTB blue route, black route on north face, plus the learner's area.

 

[deadheadskier]

Wait for the new blowback on SR. Turns out Locke is spinning today....for Gould and perhaps a few other race teams only!! What a load of BS, on Veteran's Day Monday. I think Boyne really needs to assess the situation at SR. I used to like DB but some of these decisions recently have been poor and against the dedicated clientel that helped build SR skier base to what it is. May be time for a change in leadership at the mountain. Seems to have worked well for Killington going from Neyburg to Mike. Boyne needs to hit the refresh button and sooner rather than later.

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That's some bad PR right there. Primary competitor is not only open, but offering I believe free skiing to Vets and SR is open only to race teams? I guess they made a calculated decision that very few people would notice.

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[spiderpig]

Okemo GM wrote a pathetic blog post about how focusing on one opening date provides for smoother operations and that a later Thanksgiving gives them longer to work out the kinks. You should take the opportunity to open sooner so you have more days of operations to work out the kinks instead. But I'm not surprised with holding back Okemo if Mount Snow can open even earlier than originally anticipated.

 

[machski]

That's some bad PR right there. Primary competitor is not only open, but offering I believe free skiing to Vets and SR is open only to race teams? I guess they made a calculated decision that very few people would notice.

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And low and behold, the Skiesta web cam was locked on yesterday all day today. Hmmm...

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[asnowmobiler]

 

[ss20]

Okemo GM wrote a pathetic blog post about how focusing on one opening date provides for smoother operations and that a later Thanksgiving gives them longer to work out the kinks. You should take the opportunity to open sooner so you have more days of operations to work out the kinks instead. But I'm not surprised with holding back Okemo if Mount Snow can open even earlier than originally anticipated.

I never understood the logic of the "major" players opening late. If you're a 500+ acre resort not getting 300" of snow a year you have a LOT of terrain to cover by Christmas week. For these big resorts like Okemo, Sunday River, Killington, Mount Snow, etc- in an average year they won't hit all their snowmaking terrain by Christmas. So places like Okemo and Stratton getting a late start never made sense to me. Killington is always the first to open but they have so much terrain to make snow on there's a 50/50 chance you can ski to the bottom of the Skyeship or ski Outer Limits by Christmas.

Starting late just seems like you're putting yourself a week behind your competition.

 

[icecoast1]

I never understood the logic of the "major" players opening late. If you're a 500+ acre resort not getting 300" of snow a year you have a LOT of terrain to cover by Christmas week. For these big resorts like Okemo, Sunday River, Killington, Mount Snow, etc- in an average year they won't hit all their snowmaking terrain by Christmas. So places like Okemo and Stratton getting a late start never made sense to me. Killington is always the first to open but they have so much terrain to make snow on there's a 50/50 chance you can ski to the bottom of the Skyeship or ski Outer Limits by Christmas.

Starting late just seems like you're putting yourself a week behind your competition.

They're not really any further behind if they're making snow and stockpiling it. Stratton could open this weekend with less terrain and still have the same amount of terrain open next weekend that they're gonna have anyway by waiting.

 

[machski]

I never understood the logic of the "major" players opening late. If you're a 500+ acre resort not getting 300" of snow a year you have a LOT of terrain to cover by Christmas week. For these big resorts like Okemo, Sunday River, Killington, Mount Snow, etc- in an average year they won't hit all their snowmaking terrain by Christmas. So places like Okemo and Stratton getting a late start never made sense to me. Killington is always the first to open but they have so much terrain to make snow on there's a 50/50 chance you can ski to the bottom of the Skyeship or ski Outer Limits by Christmas.

Starting late just seems like you're putting yourself a week behind your competition.

Vail logic right there. Remember this is year 2 under Vail for Okemo, they have been assimilated. With that said, it doesn't mean they start snowmaking later. They started as early as Killington and Sunday River. It just means they hold back opening day so when they do, they hope to push out of the gate with considerable terrain options.

If you are a Mount Snow devotee and enjoy them pushing the early season, pray all year that Vail decides they want them to continue to play in that arena.

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[thebigo]

Wildcat has announced a friday opening, same for loon, nothing on bretton.

 

[Newpylong]

I never understood the logic of the "major" players opening late. If you're a 500+ acre resort not getting 300" of snow a year you have a LOT of terrain to cover by Christmas week. For these big resorts like Okemo, Sunday River, Killington, Mount Snow, etc- in an average year they won't hit all their snowmaking terrain by Christmas. So places like Okemo and Stratton getting a late start never made sense to me. Killington is always the first to open but they have so much terrain to make snow on there's a 50/50 chance you can ski to the bottom of the Skyeship or ski Outer Limits by Christmas.

Starting late just seems like you're putting yourself a week behind your competition.

Most years (and this year seems to be the worst so far) it is very difficult to get fully staffed early on. It is not as simple as hiring earlier because the people just aren't out there, and many that are do not want to wait months before starting. Sunapee could not open if they wanted to right now - not enough lifties or snowmakers. Attitash has had the Snowmaking Manager position open since summer. Etc.


So to echo what others have said, this is why many areas (and specifically Vail resorts) will begin snowmaking as soon as they can but will open closer to Thanksgiving with more acreage. They can utilize economies of scale with staff between resorts until they are ready (or can) really ramp up.

 

[slatham]

I never understood the logic of the "major" players opening late. If you're a 500+ acre resort not getting 300" of snow a year you have a LOT of terrain to cover by Christmas week. For these big resorts like Okemo, Sunday River, Killington, Mount Snow, etc- in an average year they won't hit all their snowmaking terrain by Christmas. So places like Okemo and Stratton getting a late start never made sense to me. Killington is always the first to open but they have so much terrain to make snow on there's a 50/50 chance you can ski to the bottom of the Skyeship or ski Outer Limits by Christmas.

Starting late just seems like you're putting yourself a week behind your competition.

From what i’ve seen on cams and social media, and recall from prior years, everyone’s is fully engaged making snow, equal to past years (given similar weather), regardless of when their opening day happens to be.