So WHO Will Be the FIRST to Offer Lift Served Skiing in the Northeast?

[Vortex]

"Our goal will be to continue to lead the East with early skiing at Sunday River and retaining the King of Spring crown at Sugarloaf. Will we be first for a third straight year? The team is ready to make it happen again if all goes as planned."


from SK form the Az challenge.

 

[tarponhead]

"and retaining the King of Spring crown at Sugarloaf.
from SK form the Az challenge.

I plan to take them up on that!

 

[sLoPeS]

Killington!.............no, but seriously, SR since they have the right setup for upper elevation skiing. they need what like 36 hours of snowmaking to get it going? K needs like a 5 day window and good 3 of them down to 2500'. when the snow falls, ill be up in the glades making turns. and then when that gondi starts spinning its GAME ON!

 

[Newpylong]

Sunday River. I like early season ribbon skiing on T2. Good ol' Locke Mountain

 

[Rogman]

Sunday River will probably win out with their one day Halloween opening, however I wouldn't be surprised if Killington gets open for the season first. Mt Snow will probably put up a hikeable jib park early as in previous seasons, and might be the first to offer any skiing, so I expect that all three will be able to claim victory of some sort. I don't expect anyone else to seriously compete. While it is good publicity, it is expensive to blow snow at those temps.

Sunday River has a good opening plan; Killington does not. The glades triple, Killington's best option, is inaccessible and lacks capacity. K1 Top to Bottom requires opening Lower Bunny Buster which melts out quickly due to its exposure. Right now, their best option would be Superstar, which they can blow open in 24 hours if they want to.

 

[bousquet19]

In the East: Cataloochee, NC

In the East: Cataloochee, NC. They've been #1 before, and there's that 4660' base elevation going for them.

In the N-East: the odds seem to be with Sunday River.

Woody

 

[thetrailboss]

In the East: Cataloochee, NC. They've been #1 before, and there's that 4660' base elevation going for them.

In the N-East: the odds seem to be with Sunday River.

Woody

When do they open?

 

[tcharron]

When do they open?

November 4th last year. Pretty good for being so far south.

 

[icedtea]

I have a feeling Killington will be open to party on Halloween.

 

[andyzee]

I have to go with Killington. I think Powdr is seeing they need to go back to the old model to make money,

 

[Geoff]

Killington!.............no, but seriously, SR since they have the right setup for upper elevation skiing. they need what like 36 hours of snowmaking to get it going? K needs like a 5 day window and good 3 of them down to 2500'. when the snow falls, ill be up in the glades making turns. and then when that gondi starts spinning its GAME ON!

You can get Killington open top-to-bottom in 48 hours. ASC did it quite a few times. They have plenty of compressor capacity to blow the whole route top to bottom. The limiting factor is lower Bunny.

Last year, Killington could have opened several days earlier than they actually did. It turned out they opened on a Sunday and closed on a Saturday because that's their payroll period. A bean counter decision, not a snow depth decision. I was standing on lower Bunny on Friday morning. It had adequate coverage to open the trail. They started blowing snow on Wednesday.

 

[tcharron]

You can get Killington open top-to-bottom in 48 hours. ASC did it quite a few times. They have plenty of compressor capacity to blow the whole route top to bottom. The limiting factor is lower Bunny.

Last year, Killington could have opened several days earlier than they actually did. It turned out they opened on a Sunday and closed on a Saturday because that's their payroll period. A bean counter decision, not a snow depth decision. I was standing on lower Bunny on Friday morning. It had adequate coverage to open the trail. They started blowing snow on Wednesday.

Important thing to note. The pole says, 'Who WILL be the first, not who might be able to be.

:flame:

 

[mattchuck2]

I thinkthis was the first to open last year and the year before. Check out the top elevation 5400'!!!!!!!

http://www.cataloochee.com/trails.html

+1

In the NE, my money's on Killington.

 

[skiingsnow]

You can get Killington open top-to-bottom in 48 hours. ASC did it quite a few times. They have plenty of compressor capacity to blow the whole route top to bottom. The limiting factor is lower Bunny.

Last year, Killington could have opened several days earlier than they actually did. It turned out they opened on a Sunday and closed on a Saturday because that's their payroll period. A bean counter decision, not a snow depth decision. I was standing on lower Bunny on Friday morning. It had adequate coverage to open the trail. They started blowing snow on Wednesday.

When asc opened top to bottom their last 3-4 seasons it took them at least 5 days of nonstop snowmaking to open, and sometimes more.

They also dont have enough capacity to run Great Northern from the K1 all the way down to the bottom of Mouse Trap, Rime, Upper East Fall, and Middle Chute. Last year they blew the North Ridge/Upper Great Northern and a couple guns at the base, and then shut off portions of Great Northern and all of Upper East Fall to run Middle Chute/Lower Bunny Buster. Also dont forget the warmup on Friday and Saturday, which is why they opened on Sunday.


As seen here on Lower Bunny Buster on Thursday, the snow was just covering the top of the blades of the mowed grass.

Then Friday was too warm for any snowmaking.


And Saturday they were only making some snow up top

Sunday really was the earliest Lower Bunny Buster could be ready for a thousand skiers to go down a bunch of times. . . . Also they had set the open time for 10am on Sunday because they didn't think they would have enough snow by 8 or 9 am, as they had to wait till Saturday Night to turn the guns back on down low. . . .

 

[Greg]

When asc opened top to bottom their last 3-4 seasons it took them at least 5 days of nonstop snowmaking to open, and sometimes more.

They also dont have enough capacity to run Great Northern from the K1 all the way down to the bottom of Mouse Trap, Rime, Upper East Fall, and Middle Chute. Last year they blew the North Ridge/Upper Great Northern and a couple guns at the base, and then shut off portions of Great Northern and all of Upper East Fall to run Middle Chute/Lower Bunny Buster. Also dont forget the warmup on Friday and Saturday, which is why they opened on Sunday.


As seen here on Lower Bunny Buster on Thursday, the snow was just covering the top of the blades of the mowed grass.

Then Friday was too warm for any snowmaking.


And Saturday they were only making some snow up top

Sunday really was the earliest Lower Bunny Buster could be ready for a thousand skiers to go down a bunch of times. . . . Also they had set the open time for 10am on Sunday because they didn't think they would have enough snow by 8 or 9 am, as they had to wait till Saturday Night to turn the guns back on down low. . . .

Hey there! Welcome to AZ. Regardless of what the K-zone haters say, I for one really enjoy your pics. :beer:

 

[Geoff]

Hey there! Welcome to AZ. Regardless of what the K-zone haters say, I for one really enjoy your pics. :beer:

Skippy is talking out of his butt hole since he put up a Thursday photo. I was standing on lower Bunny on Friday morning. It had plenty of cover to open it. It didn't open because Chris Nyberg didn't want to put staff on payroll until Sunday. Killington closed on a Saturday for the same reason.

 

[tcharron]

To back up the apparently popular choice of Sunday River.. Last year, in October.

WOAH Nelly, sorry about the first post, uploaded to make it a better size.

 

[bvibert]

Looks like most people are betting on Sunday River. I can't wait for the snow guns to start firing, then we'll know for sure after not too long.

 

[bigbog]

Other.........Freak storm like a few years back with Wildcat opening up in October....

That's right!...I've forgotten about the Cat's early dumps...
SundayRiver and Sugarloaf always have great mountain crews...sometimes it's a little degrading to see them out shoveling manmade onto the trails just so that a few can travel down main trails...but mgmnt wants every buck it can make.
$.01

 

[Vortex]

Last year when they were shoveling snow, actually putting it in trash cans and puttiing the cans on the chairs to take it to the top to re-build the ramps after several NCP events..... That is what is was all about to me. They did not make money, but made some skiers happy. I would bet they sold some season passes for being open early and closing late.