Sunday River So Far

[Dickc]

Not sure where you heard that floating around. Would love to believe it but top of the food chain at SR has told me rather recently we are probably stuck with the current Barker for a while.

Yup, the western water feed is quite a big pricetag. Of course we are talking a whole new draw with associated pumps, water main up to Jordan and tie into the existing system. I've heard the plan is another 4-5000 gpm onto the mountain. That would boost water capacity to 12-13000gpm.


Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

It is my understanding from talking to certain individuals that Sunday River now has more air capacity than water capacity owing to all the high efficiency guns. They can move air to the Jordan basin quite well, but with water the efficiency drops off so when blowing snow in Jordan/Aurora, they cannot blow as much water as they would wish. The new pump and pond they are angling for would come into the Jordan basin so they would be able to blow at Jordan/Aurora and use the original feed to blow in the main South Ridge/Barker area at the same time. The firepower would be quite impressive!

 

[machski]

It is my understanding from talking to certain individuals that Sunday River now has more air capacity than water capacity owing to all the high efficiency guns. They can move air to the Jordan basin quite well, but with water the efficiency drops off so when blowing snow in Jordan/Aurora, they cannot blow as much water as they would wish. The new pump and pond they are angling for would come into the Jordan basin so they would be able to blow at Jordan/Aurora and use the original feed to blow in the main South Ridge/Barker area at the same time. The firepower would be quite impressive!

Yes, that's my understanding as well. Rather than just add feed on the current line, this would allow them to blow both the western and Eastern extremes more efficiently simultaneously. Look at the location of both hotels and you understand why this is put high up on the priorities list.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Newpylong]

The further you move water the lower the pressure due to head and friction losses. This is often negated with booster stations. I am not familiar with Sunday River's system but that is crazy if they are currently moving water at high pressure from one side to the other. Of course if that's your only option you deal with it but it is very inefficient.

Killington has both the Snowshed and Bear pump stations and up high on the Snowshed there is the Glades booster station and off the Bear feed is the South Ridge booster station. So they are only moving water up and not across.

 

[machski]

The further you move water the lower the pressure due to head and friction losses. This is often negated with booster stations. I am not familiar with Sunday River's system but that is crazy if they are currently moving water at high pressure from one side to the other. Of course if that's your only option you deal with it but it is very inefficient.

Killington has both the Snowshed and Bear pump stations and up high on the Snowshed there is the Glades booster station and off the Bear feed is the South Ridge booster station. So they are only moving water up and not across.

There is at least one booster station over in Jordan already.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[doublediamond]

There is no more loss for pumping long distances at high pressure c.f. low pressure. The pressure drop is based on distance & pipe characteristics as well as GPM, not pressure.

 

[Dickc]

There is no more loss for pumping long distances at high pressure c.f. low pressure. The pressure drop is based on distance & pipe characteristics as well as GPM, not pressure.

I do not have a degree in fluid dynamics, but from what I have seen, there are a few pretty good bends in the water pipes in varied places. Makes me wonder sometimes if an accountant laid the pipes. On the transfer double between Jordan and Aurora, you can hear the air making quite a bit of noise in the pipes as it hits the 45 degree corners under it when they are making snow at Jordan. Both the air and water go though 45's right under that double. I would think that a slow bend in the pipe would work better than a sudden 45.

 

[machski]

Huge expansion of terrain this weekend! Chondi spins up and Spruce 2.0 debuts Saturday along with Tempest Quad and Roadrunner and ski out of GS.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[machski]

Just an update on recent conditions. Early in the morning, the corduroy is really good everywhere that is open. But when it gets scratched up, South Ridge has deeper and softer snow to play on. Over at Barker, they've had 2 good soaking rains which caused the base to get packed down. There just isn't much to work with snow wise over the base, outside of Cascades. They could stand to spray some "maintenance" snow over those trails, but that would come at the cost of losing terrain expansion. Cascades doesn't get the traffic that Punch does and seems to have a deeper base. I haven't seen rocks and gravel coming up thru the snow as I have around the mid station on Punch.

Other trails at Barker are being set aside for races (Monday Morning and T-2), while upper and middle Punch are being used as a jib park for the kids. We crossed Jungle road to the Jib park and one of the maintainers asked us not to use the launching or landing areas, as they put a lot of work in it for the kids who do play there. We agreed to ski the sides of the trail, out of courtesy, but i also said, sure, but you gotta give us a show on these features! Which he did, with ease! Fun to watch. I thanked him for the show!

Ecstasy has had some mud coming up thru the snow in places, and Right stuff has had a few rocks and gravel coming up just over the first crest.

Over to South Ridge is some pretty decent snow coverage for what is open. And with all they are adding today! It's just getting better! Ski in and ski out of the Summit, via RoadRunner and the White Cap (Tempest) chair.

I'll give them a pass on lack of refresh snow. Weather hasn't really cooperated to make that a worthwhile venture. Of we get the sustained cold the weather folks are talking about, then I expect to see a more balanced approach. They are way ahead of where they were the last two years now in terms of open terrain. Sunday Punch alone is likely to get a remake since they have yet to add anything since they pulled the guns back to their normal location.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[machski]

We went skiing today, and wow, was it fast and crisp. The groomers did what they could, but by the time they got to Sunday Punch, their window of opportunity had passed. Mother nature is not co-operating. Skied a little over 3 hours. Almost no one there.

Now onto an issue with the Spruce lift, or rather what is under it. We had noticed that the old haul rope was just left lying on the side of Risky Business and all along Gnarnia. Some of the haul rope was coiled around onto part of the skiing area of Risky business, though it was flat on the ground, so a groomer probably won't wind it around the tiller. Probably.

Just sloppy work, IMO. They could easily have had some of the crew hook onto it with a ATV or their summer track machine (an old tank chassis) and dragg it out, cut it up and sold it for scrap. Eh, that's above my pay grade apparently.

But today, we saw it from an entirely new light. Turns out the cable crosses Lazy River. This was made plain for all to see, because a groomer had tilled the snow and the cable is exposed for a portion right under the lift. 4-6 feet of or so, right in mid trail. Just poor oversight of the job as a whole. I suspect they'll be tackling it somehow. They did put some 8-10 bamboos around it and flagged it.

So, anyways, we are now looking up Gnarnia, as we ride the lift up over several runs. There are 2 places, just below tower 9 and 13, where the cable is held off the ground by logs or rocks, that could trip ups someone skiing down it after a good dump. The snow may well bury it, but I can see some realistic scenarios where a ski would get hooked under it. And then, just below tower 11, there is a cut off piece of the cable sicking uphill at a 15 degree angle or so, maybe a foot off the ground. I see some impalement of shins or thighs with that!

I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow. I'm not so sure I'll be tackling Gnarnia this year, I still need to improve my skiing, but this scares me, more than a little bit. I can see people getting hurt here. Anyways, if you are planning on skiing the river, and in particular, Gnarnia, be aware of the cable left behind. Just below towers 9,11, and 13.

Back to good news. The river plans to blow maintenance snow over a bunch of open terrain tonight! They need to give something to the groomers to work with after this third soaking rain! Trails to have snowmaking are: "[FONT=&quot]Ecstasy, Cascades, Sunday Punch, Risky Business, Right Stuff, and more"!!![/FONT]

I noticed that too with the old haul rope. They actually cut it into several pieces after they detensioned the base station just after the topple. Most of it is lying flat but I know where you are talking about. The part that sits up over the xmountain airline by 3 Mile after gnarnia's cliff band is disturbing.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[machski]

I noticed that too with the old haul rope. They actually cut it into several pieces after they detensioned the base station just after the topple. Most of it is lying flat but I know where you are talking about. The part that sits up over the xmountain airline by 3 Mile after gnarnia's cliff band is disturbing.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

And the reality is it was lurking there last season for the side country skiing.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Jully]

Thank-you for the awareness post. Definitely will watch out for that!

Excited for the resurfacing effort. Will be heading up there Saturday I think. Should hopefully be the best conditions of the season thus far!

 

[mbedle]

We went skiing today, and wow, was it fast and crisp. The groomers did what they could, but by the time they got to Sunday Punch, their window of opportunity had passed. Mother nature is not co-operating. Skied a little over 3 hours. Almost no one there.

Now onto an issue with the Spruce lift, or rather what is under it. We had noticed that the old haul rope was just left lying on the side of Risky Business and all along Gnarnia. Some of the haul rope was coiled around onto part of the skiing area of Risky business, though it was flat on the ground, so a groomer probably won't wind it around the tiller. Probably.

Just sloppy work, IMO. They could easily have had some of the crew hook onto it with a ATV or their summer track machine (an old tank chassis) and dragg it out, cut it up and sold it for scrap. Eh, that's above my pay grade apparently.

But today, we saw it from an entirely new light. Turns out the cable crosses Lazy River. This was made plain for all to see, because a groomer had tilled the snow and the cable is exposed for a portion right under the lift. 4-6 feet of or so, right in mid trail. Just poor oversight of the job as a whole. I suspect they'll be tackling it somehow. They did put some 8-10 bamboos around it and flagged it.

So, anyways, we are now looking up Gnarnia, as we ride the lift up over several runs. There are 2 places, just below tower 9 and 13, where the cable is held off the ground by logs or rocks, that could trip ups someone skiing down it after a good dump. The snow may well bury it, but I can see some realistic scenarios where a ski would get hooked under it. And then, just below tower 11, there is a cut off piece of the cable sicking uphill at a 15 degree angle or so, maybe a foot off the ground. I see some impalement of shins or thighs with that!

I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow. I'm not so sure I'll be tackling Gnarnia this year, I still need to improve my skiing, but this scares me, more than a little bit. I can see people getting hurt here. Anyways, if you are planning on skiing the river, and in particular, Gnarnia, be aware of the cable left behind. Just below towers 9,11, and 13.

Back to good news. The river plans to blow maintenance snow over a bunch of open terrain tonight! They need to give something to the groomers to work with after this third soaking rain! Trails to have snowmaking are: "[FONT="]Ecstasy, Cascades, Sunday Punch, Risky Business, Right Stuff, and more"!!![/FONT]

Any chance that you mentioned this to someone at the resort? The piece sticking a foot off the ground pointing up hill seems like an accident waiting to happen.

 

[SkiFanE]

Any chance that you mentioned this to someone at the resort? The piece sticking a foot off the ground pointing up hill seems like an accident waiting to happen.

Have to say in 15 years solely at SR - it's always like this. Not sure why - if they have confidence the liability waiver covers them? The rope is maybe out of or ordinary - but last year there was a cable all winter eventually marked half ass. When they cut the "new" blind ambition section it was a mess of tree limbs and logs that made it nearly unusable for a few years. After about 5 years husband was close to edge and caught a branch under snow and cartwheeled - one of those bell ringing "wtf was that" falls. Saw it out of corner of my eye lol. All was well luckily. But for some reason they do this all the time. I don't think it requires log removal but rather chainsawing to let things lie flat so they can break down safely and quickly. Frustrating and dangerous.

 

[Gnarcissaro]

Have to say in 15 years solely at SR - it's always like this. Not sure why - if they have confidence the liability waiver covers them? The rope is maybe out of or ordinary - but last year there was a cable all winter eventually marked half ass. When they cut the "new" blind ambition section it was a mess of tree limbs and logs that made it nearly unusable for a few years. After about 5 years husband was close to edge and caught a branch under snow and cartwheeled - one of those bell ringing "wtf was that" falls. Saw it out of corner of my eye lol. All was well luckily. But for some reason they do this all the time. I don't think it requires log removal but rather chainsawing to let things lie flat so they can break down safely and quickly. Frustrating and dangerous.

Gimme a break, if you’re in the woods you need to be ready for unmarked obstacles. Not ready? Stick to Lollapalooza.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SkiFanE]

Gimme a break, if you’re in the woods you need to be ready for unmarked obstacles. Not ready? Stick to Lollapalooza.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Puhlease...I know the risks - but also know from skiing SR that this was a result of crap left from bad woods clean up on this particular trail. That's all I was saying.

 

[ironhippy]

Gimme a break, if you’re in the woods you need to be ready for unmarked obstacles. Not ready? Stick to Lollapalooza.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I help clean the glades at my local hill, we take the time to ensure stuff lays flat so skiers don't get caught up on it.

If you are skiing in the woods outside of a marked trail, then yeah what you are saying is true, but it's a marked trail, there should be some effort to ensure things are smooth.

Of course there is always rocks and stumps and stuff, but if the maintainers are cutting the trees, then they should be leaving them in a way that makes sense.

 

[Jully]

While I agree it would be nice if the mountain cleaned the glades themselves, picking up logs and whatnot during the offseason is another workaround.

 

[Jully]

Love the update! Heading up there this weekend and looking forward to it, though I can only ski Sunday. Expansion plan is into Aurora and Whitecap, IIRC? Will they blow Obsession top to bottom or just complete the hotel ski in/ski out loop and wait to open the full peak until they get both hotels ski in/ski out?

Those hazards do make me a little nervous... though I wonder if the risk is actually any greater than hitting any other number of unmarked hazards in a glade. Either way, I'll be avoiding that until we have PLENTY of snow.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

ill be there tomorrow, maybe Saturday, probably loon sunday. gotta figure out lodging now.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

booked motel 6 Portland tonight, a place in Gorham NH fri and sat nights. 30 from river, 60 from loon. options.