Sweet Spot for Saturday?

[KustyTheKlown]

I’m going to berkshire east mainly because I can’t leave til Friday 4 pm at the earliest and I’m wary of 87>vt. 95>91 looks less messy for driving. Also B-East isn’t open Friday so only skinners will have gotten to anything. I’ll continue north Saturday afternoon once the weather and road scenario has improved.

 

[Tonyr]

It's pretty underrated. Definitely low angle, but its pretty expansive and most Stratton skiers won't leave the groomers so the snow is usually pretty good in the woods. The stuff off URSA is a lot of fun and Test Pilot is another popular one.

Thanks for the heads up on the better areas. I have the Ikon pass this season so we are going to go back there for the first time in about 7 years. I'll definitely try and hit those runs if they are open.

 

[Zand]

Thanks for the heads up on the better areas. I have the Ikon pass this season so we are going to go back there for the first time in about 7 years. I'll definitely try and hit those runs if they are open.

Moondance and Diamond in the Rough to be exact. Both fun glades and easily lappable off Ursa. The black and double black ratings on the surrounding trails is a total joke, so,those glades are decently low angle and hold snow well.

Why Not is surprisingly cliffy for Stratton, that one does need a lot to fill in.

 

[Vortex]

Sunday River still was making snow on Kansas and Race arena today. That is all I could see. It was around 40F at the base. The resurfacing since last Sunday is amazing. Some squalls going off and on.


Lower down draft does not have much snow. Worried about getting from Auroa to The top of North peak. I wonder if they can open that area tomorrow or Sat.

Escapade has ten-foot-high mounds.

They are obviously letting it cure out and that is ready to go whenever they want but connecting from the Chondola to Escapade does not have a path made yet up top, there is snow at the top of the North Peak chair but could not see if the base of the North peak is ready to go, but lower Escapade has the big piles as well. They are so close to opening a significant amount of terrain. Wait and see, but what was open was really good.

 

[Tonyr]

Moondance and Diamond in the Rough to be exact. Both fun glades and easily lappable off Ursa. The black and double black ratings on the surrounding trails is a total joke, so,those glades are decently low angle and hold snow well.

Why Not is surprisingly cliffy for Stratton, that one does need a lot to fill in.

Thanks again!

 

[ss20]

I would think Stratton would be good. They are much higher elevation compared to Mount Snow and Okemo. West Pilot is high elevation and is so low angle I'm sure it'd be skiable with 18". Also I'm thinking the glade skiers left of the Gondola should be good if it's gotten some blow-over from them making snow on Standard if they've done that yet.

 

[timmyc]

I’m going to berkshire east mainly because I can’t leave til Friday 4 pm at the earliest and I’m wary of 87>vt. 95>91 looks less messy for driving. Also B-East isn’t open Friday so only skinners will have gotten to anything. I’ll continue north Saturday afternoon once the weather and road scenario has improved.

Keep us posted.

 

[abc]

How about crowds?

Before Covid, mountains rarely get “crowded” pre-Christmas. Storms bring out a few more people. But not significantly, as most are busy with holiday preparing stuff.

But maybe post-Covid changed that? Has this year’s pre-Christmas been more crowded than years past?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

theres been no crowds on any of the days I've skied so far. mostly because there has been no snow.

 

[ThatGuy]

Been pretty dead every day I’ve been out this year. That will definitely change this weekend with our first real storm. Mt Snow and Okemo going to be overrun Saturday with FourRunner still down.

 

[drjeff]

Here's a pretty useful link to a part of the VT transportation website that will show you basically the real time location of their plow trucks, which can certainly be useful in a storm

VTrans Plow Finder Map - Current Plow Locations - Vermont Agency of Transportation

plowtrucks.vtrans.vermont.gov

One of the folks in my condo association FB group posted this link up about a week ago

 

[jimmywilson69]

It will be crowded this weekend with the snow. There is a lot of pent up demand that hasn't slowly worked their way into Skiing I'd imagine

 

[cdskier]

It will be crowded this weekend with the snow. There is a lot of pent up demand that hasn't slowly worked their way into Skiing I'd imagine

And even if the storm delivers it isn't going to allow all terrain to open. So less terrain than a storm in mid-winter will offset the fact that there may be less "crowds" than a storm weekend in mid-winter.

We'll see what happens...I'm already up in VT so at least I don't need to worry about timing anything with driving before the storm.

 

[Zand]

NWS Albany puts the jackpot right over Stratton. Hints at the possibility of 30-36".

 

[slatham]

Mountain Point Forecasts

www.weather.gov

The above has high peaks in SoVT too.

With a storm this dynamic it impossible to forecast which micro climate is going to pull off 4-6” more than somewhere else. All the high peaks areas of NY through to Maine will get 15” with many a report of 2’+ by Saturday night. So everyone is in a sweet spot. Actually, the sweet spot is wherever you happen to be in those mountains.

If you know the glade, and it’s low to mid angle, 15” is plenty.

Not sure about crowds. If you’re not up or on the way it’s gonna be bitch drive tomorrow. I have several NYC colleagues who are opting for Saturday morning drive. So Saturday afternoon late arrivals may crowd things. And I’m sure they'll stay longer on Sunday than normal.

 

[NYDB]

yeah noone sane is driving up Friday afternoon/ evening.

Saturday early may be sweet! I wish magic would open Saturday.

and regarding crowds-i think many people will have to skip this weekend due to holiday bullshit, etc. not to mention the drive up. even sat morn may not be great.

 

[ghughes20]

yeah noone sane is driving up Friday afternoon/ evening.

Saturday early may be sweet! I wish magic would open Saturday.

and regarding crowds-i think many people will have to skip this weekend due to holiday bullshit, etc. not to mention the drive up. even sat morn may not be great.

Thinking about driving late Friday night - but will decide after watching the storm.

 

[hespeler]

Thinking about driving late Friday night - but will decide after watching the storm.

Can probably leave early tomorrow morning for Hunter but I think that will be a rough drive too.

 

[Kingslug20]

I used to leave super early..no one on the roads but the plows...30 years driving in storms..never crashed...awd or 4wd and good tires..

 

[ghughes20]

I used to leave super early..no one on the roads but the plows...30 years driving in storms..never crashed...awd or 4wd and good tires..

Good tires make all the difference. I’d drive in almost anything with AWD and Snow Tires. Sadly, no snow tires on the current car.