The Official 12/14 - 12/15 Storm Discussion Thread

[jlangdale]

Well, what can I say. I have 33" tires on my 88 Jeep Wrangler with shackles and extra lift and the snow was well over my tires nearly up to the door! So, you do the math for how much snow we got. I'm on a west facing mountain slope in the Waitsfield valley.

To test my Jeep I put my video camera on my tripod, put the Jeep into 4WD and tried to get out of my driveway without shoveling first. My Jeep has a smallblock chevy 350 V8 and it didn't make it. I got stuck with snow in my axels and springs solid all up to the top of the front tires where the snow plows piled up the really heavy stuff. Took me about an hour to shovel out, I got to work late.

I'm expecting to go skiing tomorrow at Sugarbush or Mad River Glenn, or both. Or I may just take two early half-days if my boss will let me. No reason for the Bush to not have more trails opened save for cutting back on staff. I'm hoping they'll have NASTAR up or the teams stuff going but last I heard was the 20th for that.

Greg, if you're thinking about going Thursday you might want to re-think that. If you ask me, based on what I've heard I would head out tomorrow or Wed by the latest. If you end up going Thursday you might want to make sure you have your hood for your jacket and something to wipe off your goggles.

 

[Greg]

Greg, if you're thinking about going Thursday you might want to re-think that. If you ask me, based on what I've heard I would head out tomorrow or Wed by the latest. If you end up going Thursday you might want to make sure you have your hood for your jacket and something to wipe off your goggles.

Yeah, I know...I know. Thursday looks crappy, but Tuesday and Wednesday are booked for me at work. :roll:

I will get out at some point this season...

 

[Joshua B]

Another great Mad River Valley snowfall indicator (like we need one after jlangdales's story!) is Mad River Glen is 100% open today!

On a side note, I still feel sad when I see Sugarbush unable to be at full operation like in their '80s glory days.

 

[jlangdale]

On a side note, I still feel sad when I see Sugarbush unable to be at full operation like in their '80s glory days.

It is a shame to have skiable terrain but not have the resources to open it. Then again, this is a Monday. You can't fault them too much because these recent dumps are dropping so much snow in a short period. Add to that the terriable losses we had and ice. There is only so much you can open in one day. The winds today don't make it worth having the whole thing 100 open either. Although it would be interesting to see the summit right now. Not sure I'd want to take the lift up there though. Maybe once this Lodge is done and hopefully is profitable they will be able to increase staff or something. Expect this coming weekend to be a good one, I hope. I want a 100 percent open blue sky day for the start of NASTAR. Easier to take pictures with some sun to brighten things up.

 

[Joshua B]

jlangdale, I'm glad you responded to my thought about Sugarbush. Too often I can make a sweeping statement and I'm glad you're there to fill in the facts. It sure does seem that in recent years they haven't been able to compete with similarly-sized ski areas and open terrain quickly. But as you pointed out, there are good reasons for that.

 

[MtnMagic]

I just returned from outside and used a metal ruler. It shows 16-18" of snow in this area. Plenty enough for 'shoeing or skiing.

 

[ChileMass]

Greg -

Any chance the big rainstorm predicted for Wed/Thurs will be snow up north? It will be a serious bummer if this latest 16-18" gets washed away like last week. What have we heard.....?

 

[Joshua]

looks like rain to heavy upslope snows, so it wont be all bad

just think of it as solidifying the base and then putting some more pow on top

 

[Greg]

looks like rain to heavy upslope snows, so it wont be all bad

just think of it as solidifying the base and then putting some more pow on top

I was just gonna reply and suggest waiting for our resident weather gurus (jfg15 or Jim) to comment.......and you beat me to it.

Intellicast.com (my default weather info site - not sure how good they really are) has two forecasts for Killington:

Forecast 1
Forecast 2

I assume one is for the base and one for the summit (?). Anyway, one calls for 39* and rain and the other 35* and mixed. So I guess anywhere south of Central VT/NH will probably seen unfrozen precip. I'm still aiming for Jiminy on Thursday, but maybe I'll make the 3.5 hour haul to Killington if conditions are significantly better. We'll probably have a better gauge on what we'll get tomorrow...

 

[jlangdale]

I'm thinking/guessing we will see a wintery mix ending with snows and it won't be as bad as last week. I mean last week was really bad. I'm talk'n bad. Like soo bad. In case you're wondering, I mean bad. If it's that bad again, I may have to slit my wrists.

 

[Joshua B]

Seems like all the great skiing opportunities so far have been mid-week. My four vacation days are coming up soon!

 

[skijay]

We had 24 inches of snow in Sherbrooke (Canada) where I was staying. When I went to Mont Orford on Tuesday (12/16) it looked to be 32 inches, but that could of been some drifting.

I purchased 4 snow tires as a result of this storm!

 

[ChileMass]

We had 24 inches of snow in Sherbrooke (Canada) where I was staying. When I went to Mont Orford on Tuesday (12/16) it looked to be 32 inches, but that could of been some drifting.

SkiJay - what did you think of Mt. Orford? Where did you stay? Did you bring any kids with you and if so, how was Orford for them?

 

[skijay]

I have been skiing Orford on a regular basis since 1996. I love the area. They have just completed their hybrid gondola/chairlift. According to their website it is now in operation! I have no kids. The place is kid friendly by the amount of small children there with their parents. I have been staying in Sherbrooke due to a major discount I receive at the Govenuer chain of hotels, however that property will be closing on 1/16/04. When we stay near the mountain we stay at the Auberge Estrimont. http://www.estrimont.qc.ca
If you check out Orford's website http://mt-orford.com their is a lodging link. I have stayed at all of the Hotels listed at least once. I can give you comments and my not so favorable opinion on one property, but email me for that.