Rain on Friday......Grrrrrr

[Rowsdower]

Weird storm. Snow to the west and north....NJ in a pocket of nothing.

There's nothing in NJ anyway.

 

[Cornhead]

There's nothing in NJ anyway.

Oh come on, there's The Boss, Southside Johnny, and...Bon Jovi [emoji16]

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[ThinkSnow]

In my 50 years of skiing, I've skied a lot of crappy days, but usually find something positive about any day on the mountain.

Still beats a day at the office

 

[SIKSKIER]

What about Xanadu?

 

[ThinkSnow]

What about Xanadu?

The rollerskating movie with Olivia Newton John and ELO?

 

[skifree]

Still beats a day at the office

post of the year

 

[SIKSKIER]

And whats up with Wildcat?They have almost half the open terrain as Attitash which started making snow almost a month later.Did they get hit that hard?

 

[BenedictGomez]

Oh come on, there's The Boss, Southside Johnny, and...Bon Jovi [emoji16]

None of those things are really good.

Pizza on the other-hand.

 

[catherine]

And whats up with Wildcat?They have almost half the open terrain as Attitash which started making snow almost a month later.Did they get hit that hard?

Yes, they got hit hard. I also read somewhere that they moved some snow guns from Wildcat to Attitash. Not sure if it’s true, only what I read.

 

[deadheadskier]

And whats up with Wildcat?They have almost half the open terrain as Attitash which started making snow almost a month later.Did they get hit that hard?

They only have snowmaking terrain open at Wildcat currently. Natural terrain is all apparently not good enough to open.

They've definitely not made as much snow as last year at this time though. 4 fewer trails.

Trails that they had made snow on last year by now, but not this year : Middle and Lower Catapult, Alleycat, Black Cat and Starr Line.

This year they have new pipe on Cheetah, so it's seen snow where last year it didn't.

So, if it were last year they'd have 20 trails open vs 16 this year given the weather.

It's just the way it goes. Cat will always be more reliant on natural snow than most places.

Would I like to see 30ish of their 48 trails be reliably open with snowmaking coverage? Yes. Do I ever see that happening under Peak? No. Probably not under any operator. It just doesn't do the skier visits to support a big snowmaking budget because of a poor location.



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[VTKilarney]

Burke is in the same boat. Their la k of snowmaking is really standing out right now.

 

[ThinkSnow]

Would I like to see 30ish of their 48 trails be reliably open with snowmaking coverage? Yes. Do I ever see that happening under Peak? No. Probably not under any operator. It just doesn't do the skier visits to support a big snowmaking budget because of a poor location.

While I fundamentally agree with what you are saying, what you mean by "poor location" ??

 

[drjeff]

While I fundamentally agree with what you are saying, what you mean by "poor location" ??

My hunch is that DHS is referring to the combo of Wildcat having the reputation of being a "cold" mountain mid winter, as well as that most of the masses, who make up the bulk of ski area business, have to then also drive by multiple other ski areas in the general 15 mile radius or so of Wildcat on their way there. Those 2 things do effect the number of people who decide to go there and buy a ticket on a regular basis, hence I'm guessing DHS's use of the "poor location" term....

 

[SIKSKIER]

I think almost all ski areas are pretty much skiing only mm trails.But still,they started making snow almost before anybody else and about a month before Attitash.Certainly have had the cold weather also so that shouldn't be an issue.I thought last year the snowmaking upgrade really paid off.IDK seems odd.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think almost all ski areas are pretty much skiing only mm trails.But still,they started making snow almost before anybody else and about a month before Attitash.Certainly have had the cold weather also so that shouldn't be an issue.I thought last year the snowmaking upgrade really paid off.IDK seems odd.

What's odd? They don't have a large snowmaking budget and they don't have vast amounts of water. It's as simple as that. Blow enough to offer a nice long season on a small selection of trails and hope mother nature takes care of the rest of the mountain.

That has been the operational plan for at least ten years. Only thing Peaks has changed from prior ownership is pushing for an earlier opening and a bit more resurfacing.

All of the trails that saw that upgrade have seen a decent amount of snow made on them every year since. It was basically 10 of their marked trails representing 3 top to bottom routes.

Of the 48 trails at Wildcat only about 25 of them have working snowmaking equipment and roughly 20 see snowmaking each year. They basically cover about 40% of their market runs, but it probably accounts for 70% of their trail acreage.

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[MEtoVTSkier]

Burke is in the same boat. Their la k of snowmaking is really standing out right now.

But imagine how bad it would be without all the upgrades of the past couple years...

 

[drjeff]

Burke is in the same boat. Their la k of snowmaking is really standing out right now.

Snowmaking water pump issue at Burke yesterday per a snowmakers FB users group. Not sure if it's a same day or a few days fix?? Probably not helping the situation in the short run...

 

[LookinForTreeS]

Has anyone found any decent glades after last weeks warm spell?
I know first hand that Strattons glades are still too thin even after Wednesdays storm.

 

[sugarbushskier]

Not sure how far north you want to go, but spent the MLK weekend at Jay and we were in the trees a good part of it as they were pretty protected from the deluge and lots of the 5-6 inches on the storm's backside blew into the woods. Bushwacker, Beaver Pond, Stateside Glades, Buck Woods and others I can't remember skied remarkably great!

 

[skimagic]

Southern vermont cant catch a break, finally warmer temps, sunny skies, for today ...and wind holds....

then rain on the way.... I love New England!