Rating Your 2021-2022 Season (or So Far....)

[jaytrem]

If I finally make it to Crystal on Friday, I'll give this season and A+ just for that. This will be attempt #5. It's our first day out there, so I'll need thing to go smoothly on Thursday. But if something goes wrong, I guess I'll just laugh it off and maybe try again next year.

 

[ThatGuy]

@ThatGuy , you have to put a label on those photos. Nice looking lady, what's the story behind "wrong"?

Her brother made the hat years ago, he probably doesn’t even remember why at this point

 

[jimk]

Day 50 at Alta, 4/12/22:

 

[boston_e]

So I'd probably say somewhere in the C+ range overall.

Snow: A couple of good powder days and some days skiing fun groomers and spring like snow, but a lot of "meh" days after the many thaw/rain/freeze cycles.

Number of Days: Did very well here - above average when compared to the past several seasons. My youngest son had his most days ever.

Variety: N/A - we bought Killington passes with the plan to pretty much only ski at Killington and Pico.

Season Pass Resort Rating: I thought Killington did pretty well considering the cards they were dealt with weather and covid employee outbreaks

 

[Hawk]

It is amazing how much the year varied from person to person. Perspective is everything.
I am a simple man. A good season to me is only guaged by the number of good power days and how many days I can ski safely in the woods. The rest is gravy.
- So an average year in days for me is around 55. I am there with that. Check
- Number of days in Slidebrook 5 - Average 20 - Worst ever.
- Number or days sking woods - Maybe 10 days I spent the majority of my ski day sking in and out of the woods this year. Average at least 30 to 35 i bet.
- Number of powderdays this year above 6" - maybe 4 or 5 - Average I would say 15 to 20 days ususally.
In general this was a top 5 worst year in my last 30 easily. Maybe # 2 or # 3 worst. ACL year was definately the worst.
So what is that D.....D- Tough to say.

 

[cdskier]

It is amazing how much the year varied from person to person. Perspective is everything.
I am a simple man. A good season to me is only guaged by the number of good power days and how many days I can ski safely in the woods. The rest is gravy.
- So an average year in days for me is around 55. I am there with that. Check
- Number of days in Slidebrook 5 - Average 20 - Worst ever.
- Number or days sking woods - Maybe 10 days I spent the majority of my ski day sking in and out of the woods this year. Average at least 30 to 35 i bet.
- Number of powderdays this year above 6" - maybe 4 or 5 - Average I would say 15 to 20 days ususally.
In general this was a top 5 worst year in my last 30 easily. Maybe # 2 or # 3 worst. ACL year was definately the worst.
So what is that D.....D- Tough to say.

I think this is a pretty good summary and somewhat aligns with my ratings and reasoning. I'm not the prolific woods skier that you are, so I'm super picky about my woods days. I think maybe I hit ~5 days in the woods...and even those days were usually just a couple runs in the woods. Most years I'd have at least 15 days exploring the woods a bit.

My number of days will be 42...which is right in my normal range as my typical goal is 40+. Last year was 47 or 48. 50 remains elusive for me.
Number of powder days was absolutely below average.
Another factor I consider is how many days I've skied on each pair of my skis. This year my hardpack skis were probably used around 75-80% of my days. My Hell n Back skis I feel like I only used under 10 days. I'll generally use those any time conditions are packed powder with minimal hard pack or better. Many years those skis are used 50%+ of my days. Not even close this year.
I'd probably agree with the D rating if it wasn't for that one powder day where I had the epic run down Paradise. I'd put that run in one of my top 2 or 3 runs of all time...and that alone I feel redeemed the season a bit. So I'll bump my rating to a solid C. Absolutely below average. The constant thaw/rain/freeze cycles after seemingly every storm were just a complete bummer. Maybe someone that can ski all the time mid-week could have lucked out with cherry picking and hitting more of the better days. But for the weekend crowd I think the year was a huge disappointment overall.

 

[ThatGuy]

Maybe someone that can ski all the time mid-week could have lucked out with cherry picking and hitting more of the better days. But for the weekend crowd I think the year was a huge disappointment overall.

Dont worry this year was a disappointment for cherry pickers too

 

[Kingslug20]

Looking at my notes the season started out good with a storm at Stowe 11/26,27..then blue skies 28th. Then we moved here and didn't ski until 12/23. Things were not good until then. Then it picked up and it was good. 21 snowing/ powder days recorded between all places visited . Went to JH for 10 days and it only snowed once but blue bird days and good conditions. Sun Valley had not had any snow since xmas ..until KS arrived and it snowed for 3 days straight. The KS effect is real..lol.
I'm at day 63..legs a bit shot and need new boots..as they are shot..or at least new liners.
No complaints at all. Even tried snow mobiling in the most amazing place..Togwotee WY..now I want one.
I'm giving the season a solid B. And I started exploring the woods at Stowe and K....

 

[jimk]

The west is having some good snow right now. The best I've experienced since driving from the east in mid-Jan.
Day 51 Snowbird, a ski buddy:


Yesterday 4/15/22, day 52 at Mammoth Mtn, CA, entering Dropout Chute:

 

[abc]

I think I might upgrade my season from a C+ to a B-. There're multiple factors to justify that upgrade...

But I'll just wait a bit more. My season may or may not be done yet...

 

[JimG.]

Dont worry this year was a disappointment for cherry pickers too

Agree with this. I cherry picked as much as I could and didn't wind up with a big basket of cherries.

And being limited to a lot of "snowmaking trails only" days always seems to take its' toll on my aging body. Carving turns on hard pack snow makes my rebuilt right knee hurt. Much more so than skiing bumps or powder.

I've taken the last 2 weeks off, partly from boredom and partly to rest my aches. Hope this snowstorm pans out Wednesday and Thursday in some powder would be fun.

 

[ThatGuy]

Charging down hardpack is my least favorite thing to do from a consequence and impact on the body standpoint.
I’ll be at K 4/20, really would love one more powder day to end the season on

 

[Kingslug20]

I pretty much beat the hell out if myself this season...almost broke my collarbone while smashing my left side on an ice mogul..all still hurt..my knees for the first time hurt a bit..but thats from going through mogul fields at mach speed...may have to start slowing down a bit.

 

[ThatGuy]

Twisted the same knee a few times this season, just did it again last week at Sugarbush on Steins. Thankfully not bad enough for serious injury but its been bothering me. Last season pulled my calf really bad, never went to the doctor but my whole calf was black and blue.

 

[Kingslug20]

Joining a local gym and bikram yoga...
It aing getting easier..thats for sure.

 

[jaytrem]

Might make it to Killington for a day or 2 (and of course some dome skiing), but close enough to done.

Lets get the negative out of the way. Southern Vermont whether sucked. Seemed like every time it snowed, the rain was sure to follow. I'd give Mount Snow a C+ for the year. Snowmaking could have been more aggressive, but they did run more chairs more often than I ever remember. I'm not a fan of the expanded pay parking, but I did okay by parking below the carpet. To protest the parking fees, the only money I spent all year at a Vail resort was for the passes. Trees were skiable enough for my taste on most visits. so that was a plus. I spent a lot of time elsewhere, so the plus/minuses of MS and the Southern VT weather won't effect the final grade too much.

Part negative. Skiing with friends/family. I didn't get to ski with my sister and Mount Snow friends as much as I would have liked. Also my primary travel partner got very sick with COVID and couldn't make our trip. On a positive note, I had a great time with my kids, and my wife even came to Whistler with us (she won't deal with the changing hotel thing every couple nights). Also got to ski with a Snow Journal friend for 5 days in WI/MI, so that was nice.

Minor negative, no PA skiing. Didn't bother with Jack Frost since I heard Vail was doing such a lousy job there. Would have liked to use my Indy at Montage, haven't been since high school, just didn't work out.

Huge positive, all 3 big trips were outstanding!!! Definitely lucked out a bit with the snow.

Huge positive, skied a lot of different places and easily hit my goal of 10 new places per year. Start from July 1, I think I hit 39 places, 30 of them being new to me.

Small negative, missed out in 2 small New England places. 1 had too little snow and 1 had too much.

Huge positive, on my 5th attempt, I finally made it to Crystal. Scored a fair weather powder day, can't ask for anything more than that. Not sure which ski area is my new nemesis, I'll have to think about that one. Would have been Cochran's, but I finally got that one too.

Positive/negative, broke 5 pieces of equipment. If you're not breaking stuff, you're not skiing hard enough! Tore off a tele binding, snapped a tele cable, snapped off the bottom of a pole (required precision pole plant between hidden rocks to do that one), snapped snow board binding in 3 of 4 connection points, and snapped a ski at Blackcomb (hit tree and maybe rock hidden under the snow, ski looks like I tried make a tele turn on alpine skis, I guess I kinda can now).

Quick ski area run down....

Big Snow - The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, we don't need no water, let the....

Mount Snow - Been there forever, it is what it is. Still have a great time in the trees and the NF, seems like lines back there are shortly and shorter every year. Almost always ski on when I was there.

Big Trip #1 mostly Indy New England trip with the girls (10 year old twins).

Berkshire East - Always a have a good time there. Coverage was good enough for trees and lines were and line were very short for a Saturday. Both summit lifts were running.

Suicide 6 - New - Short and steep, snow was excellent spring like. Cool history stuff in the lodge.

Northeast Slopes - New - Awesome fast ropetow, probably even faster then the midwest ones. The seem to speed it up when nobody is loading. Cool little place.

Bolton Valley - Woods were good if you don't mind the rocks, first time on Wilderness since High School.

Stowe - Was the ski area that I had been to but hadn't been back to for the longest time. Still awesome! Trees were great and bumps softened up nicely. Got to ride 2 new gondolas!

Cochran's - New - Racers racers everywhere. Nice lady selling tickets let the kids ski free! No actual tickets though, so can't add to collection.

Jay Peak - More great tree skiing but much rockier than Stowe. No tram due to wind. The girls were a little disappointed, will get it next time.

Black Mountain of Maine - New - The Angry Beavers are killing it there! Nice work! Started to rain later int he day, but the snow line dropped a few towers every run.

Titcomb - New - Snow line was a little higher up, so had some t-bar night skiing in the rain. Girls still insisted on staying until they kicked us out.

Saddleback - from the dead! Such great place, so glad it was saved. All snow there, about 1.5 feet, light crowds meant powder all day, even had the new t-bar running! Probably the best day of the year.

Black Mountain NH - Boat load of powder there too, first day of the summit lift for the year, so plenty of fresh to start out the day. Only downside of the day was witnessing the owner berate some low skilled snowboard lady for no good reason. Rest of the employees were super nice. That man is a disgrace though.

Campton - New - Rope tow only that night, so didn't get the full feel. All the kids out skiing seem to be having a blast though. I think I was the only adult.

Pat's Peak - New - Groomers were nice, but bumps were rock solid. Upon arrival I go the immediate feeling that this is a place that knows what they're doing. Very impressive!

 

[jaytrem]

Big trip #2, what the hell, the South was so much fun last year lets got to the Midwest! No kids and friend dropped out due to Covid after effects (coulnd't walk a block with out getting out of breath). Did meet up with Ciscokid from Snowjournal for 5 days though, so that was nice.

Buck Hill - New - Got off the plane and then quickly learned that chairlifts, snowboards and 300 vert are not a good combo. Much better on the rope tows where you don't have to unstrap. The park tows in the Midwest are everywhere and most are very fast. They also have different shapes that make them easier to hold onto the the old classics. Some are square and some are lumpy. Only stayed about 1.5 hours, but very much enjoyed myself. Nice sunset the evening.

Hyland Hills - New - If you haven't seen the web cam pointing at the rope tow at this place, it's worth a look. Wasn't to crowded, so not as crazy as what I've seen on the web cam. Midwest park rats move none stop, very impressive skills. Cut and paste... Only stayed about 1.5 hours, but much enjoyed myself.

Trollhaugen - New - They were open until some time after mid-night, so took the opportunity to knock off another one just in case they closed before I got back to the MSP area. Fun place, even got to do some night time tree skiing. Some nice bumps too. Only problem was the bitter cold. Stuck around a good while though. The highlight of the night was watching a good number of people crash and continue to hang on to one of the rope tows. Thank you alcohol!

Welch Village - New - Planned this one for a Saturday so that the steeper back side would be open. It did not disappoint. Steeps were short but were indeed steep. Another place where you got the impression that they really know how to run a ski area. Excellent grooming, but still too cold for the bumps to soften up.

Afton Alps - New - A lift lift here a lift lift there, here a lift, there a lift, everywhere a lift lift. Check the trail map. All Halls I think, those things run forever. Easy parking 50 feet from the snow since I didn't need to pick up a ticket. Snow had softened and made from a nice afternoon.

Spirit - New - Excellent views of Duluth and Superior. Snow had solidified again, so skiing was so-so. Nice place though, friendly locals.

Mont Du Lac - New - The answer to the question...What ski are is east, west and south of another state? All groomed, but still a nice night with snow starting to fall.

Mt. Itasca - New - Small place with a big ski jump. Got about 2 inches of fresh which made for a nice morning. Somehow manged to double eject and flip in an ungroomed area. Was very please that I was not injured. Snow from a previous storm was still soft.

Giant's Ridge - New - A rare former Indy place, so I had to pay. Great place! Lots of trees and bumps and once again very friendly locals. Felt much bigger than the vert and maps. First lines of the trip that I saw, but only at the HSQ. I was still by myself, so the single line was a breeze. They also stayed open until 6. So it felt like a full day even when combined with Itasca in the morning. Spent the night in Virginia, MN, cool little town.

Lutsen - New - This one I was really looking forward to and it did not disappoint. First day with Ciscokid, The got around 6 to 8 inches the day before and there was plenty left in the trees. Seems that tree skiing is not that popular, especially tighter ones. REAL nice trees runs with drops and stuff. They also had some seeded and non-seeded bump runs. On one trail they seemed to be trying to seed some VW sized bumps. Not sure how that worked out for them, but I guess they know what they're doing.

Chester Bowl - New - Little place in the middle of Duluth. Longest lines of the trip, go figure. I think I only took 5 runs due to the line and long drive ahead. Lots of kids were trying snowskates (skateboard type thing) that they rent. Always wanted to get one of those, but will probably hurt myself.

Indianhead - New - Things started to turn more spring like, very nice day. Was able to get into the trees a bit. Funny, they still have signs rotting away that warn you that you will lose your pass if you ski in the trees. Meanwhile, the have the very same trees on the map.

Whitecap - New - Another one I was really looking forward to. Very weird place. Had minimal grooming from days before and partially disassembled lift which looks like their newest one. One section has some short but legit steeps. Could have used some more traffic to pack down the former powder. now mush. I made the best of it though and enjoyed the mini steeps and trees.

Mt Zion - New - The bad news, closed due to late season schedule. The good news, you can drive half way up. So shuttle bunny Bob (Ciscokid) came in very handy. Walk to the top was not bad and I did 4 runs which were all quite nice, no crowds!!!

Blackjack - New - Yet another beautiful spring day, had a nice streak going at this point. Trees were getting more bare in the area, so mostly stuck the grooms. Very empty on a Thursday, the soft snow was super carve-able, very nice on a snowboard. Could still see some groomer lines at the end of the day. Quite nice indeed!

Porcupine (aka the Porkies) - New -Another place that I was really looking forward to. Last day with Ciscokid. Still super nice weather, and it was the first day open since a good amount of fresh. Unfortunately it had turned to untracked mush by then. I was doing reasonably well on my snowboard until I came to an abrupt halt and tore my the top part of my binding mostly of. It was still held on by one spot and I managed to get down. I knew my skiing bump skis would not do to well and the was indeed true. The have sooooo many nice looking tree runs, little disappointed that groomers would now be the only reasonable option. Still a very nice day at a very cool place.

Mt. Ripley - New - Stopped in Houghton on the way and picked up some new snowboard bindings, at least they were on sale. Quickly installed them in Mt. Ripley parking lot and headed to the lifts. Very glad I got the bindings, this place turned out to be the surprise hit of the trip. The place was nice and steep and the untracked mush was just right for a snowboard. Next best thing to power I guess. Had no clue the place would be so good. It's owned by Michigan Tech and has lots of character.

Mt. Bohemia - New - Yup, just about the coolest place ever! Great vibe, bump and trees everywhere, no groomers. Took a little while to soften up, but when it did, it was just about the best spring day ever. Was back on skis for the day. Did I mention bumps and trees everywhere. The 2 lifts and 2 shuttle bus system works great. The bus never seem to be more than 3 or 4 minutes away. I will say the trail ratings are a bit overblown. The double blacks were pretty mellow and the triple blacks were no more difficult then mid-level New England trees. Think like the Trials at MS or Andre's at Jay. There are few cliffs sprinkled in, but nothing too crazy. They did do a great job with the place. Can't go anywhere there without finding an crazy fun way down.

Pine Mountain - New - I had the option of another day at Bohemia, but it was a cold night and it looked like it was going to take a lot longer to thaw out than the day I was there. I decided to head to a couple smaller places. Pine is another small place with a huge ski jump. Was nicely groomed and had some very low angle glades. I enjoy a few hours and head off to...

Brule - New - Snow was nice and soft by the time I arrived. Once again perfect for carving on the snowboard. Little short for dealing with the binding, but that was fine. Lots of redundant lifts there.

Camp 10 - New - Brule closed early enough that I had time to hike Camp 10 which had already closed for the season. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to have some real nice pitch. I did three nice snowboard runs in some untracked mush and headed out. I didn't see any no trespassing signs, just a warning that it wa sunder surveillance, so I guess it was okay.

Granite Peak - New - Last area on the trip. Great ending at Lutsen's sister mountain. The trails on each end of the place had some good character and there were 3 seeded bump lines along with some funky cliff chutes up top. They were calling for rain, but lucky for me it seemed to be holding off. Around 2:30 I was riding the slow triple and a huge flock of birds flew under my chair and to the left and right (all below the cable). I thousands and thousands of lift rides, it was by far the coolest ever. I was considering doing one more, but decided there was no better way to end the trip. Glad I did, it started to pour when I was half way to my car.

 

[jaytrem]

Big trip #3 Crystal/Whistler with the wife and kids.

Crystal - NEW finally!!! - Such a great place! Steeps everywhere (which surprised me), fresh powder and sun. Couldn't ask for a better day!!!!

Whistler - With the girls spring break being so late, the usual ski safari was not a reasonable option. Plus my wife was willing to come along if we stayed mostly in one place. I decided to roll the dice and book a slope side condo right by the Blackcomb gondola. Wasn't sure how much of a pain it would be to get in to Canada at the time. But it paid off and most restrictions were lifted. Border crossing both way was smooth. Spent the first 2 days on the Whistler side since those were the last 2. No lines either day, skiing was just about perfect. Storm total for the day/night was about 20 inches, 8 inches during the day. Had a really good time the Garbonzo area, seems like nobody goes there. Also got a few really nice runs at Blackcomb at the end of day 2. I guess everyone really was at Whistler, but we need to head over via the Peak to Peak to get to our condo. Place was deserted.

Blackcomb - Did 5 days on the Blackcomb side, first day was prefect powder, but of course a good amount of people. 7th Heaven brake that day and we never got up it. That worked out well though, they ran Glacier for the week instead. So the next day it was all still untracked up there. Spanky's also opened, so we got a bunch of nice runs in the Gem Bowls. The rest of the week was a combo of snow and sun, so couldn't ask for anything more. Kids did great, they skied opening+ to closing+ every day. Not sure why they open so early and close so late compared to the posted times, but I wasn't going to complain about that one.

Guess I gotta give the season an A. All trips were just about prefect, but definitely room for improvement with the Southern weather/conditions.

 

[ThatGuy]

Great read Jay. Very in depth.

 

[Kingslug20]

Damn...never heard of most of them..I think you win for most diverse season!