VAIL SUCKS

[drjeff]

so Brian is working for Okemo now? I knew he had left Killington and was at Middlebury. Killington should bring that guy back...

Yup,

He is now at Okemo bringing the stoke, making snow, I presume piloting a cat, and was out bringing his awesome vibes to the public!

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Could they have opened yesterday or today at Mount Snow? Probably. From what I saw in the base area, they are laying it on thick, so they won't need to come back and rehit those trails anytime soon, so they can focus on expanding, not continuing base building efforts. That has been their opening mantra for the last few years now. They also started lighting up the fan guns on Ridge yesterday mid afternoon, and I wouldn't be shocked if when my son gets up to our condo tonight to hit opening day tomorrow, that he tells me that the fan guns on Snowdance are lit up as well now.

Parks wise, last year atleast what they did is they didn't open a trail that a park is on until they have a built park. Fanguns on Gulch were running the last few days. Guess we'll see in a few days if that same plan, open a park trail when it has a built park on it, is this years plan as well

Didn’t mount snow get the same 20” uphill pipe system at the same time as Sunday river? I saw one of those pipes at SR last season, pretty impressive.

I assumed last year they were still working the kinks out before diming it, and expected this year they’d outperform Stratton getting early snow down.

 

[urungus]

Didn’t mount snow get the same 20” uphill pipe system at the same time as Sunday river? I saw one of those pipes at SR last season, pretty impressive.

I assumed last year they were still working the kinks out before diming it, and expected this year they’d outperform Stratton getting early snow down.

I believe Mt Snow upgraded their snowmaking pipes first (West Lake project), then the designer of that system went to Sunday River and oversaw their new system.

 

[skiur]

Wasn't mt snow in the running for first to open the last few years of peaks ownership? Obviously Vail has no interest in that and instead wants them to compete in the last to open competition.

 

[drjeff]

Didn’t mount snow get the same 20” uphill pipe system at the same time as Sunday river? I saw one of those pipes at SR last season, pretty impressive.

I assumed last year they were still working the kinks out before diming it, and expected this year they’d outperform Stratton getting early snow down.

Mount Snow big feeder pipe went in a few years before Sunday River's. The guy, Brendan Ryan, who was behind most of the planning and implementation of the West Lake Snowmaking project at Mount Snow under Peak Resorts, went over to Boyne/Sunday River about the time that Vail Resorts bought Peak 5yrs ago.

He has been behind the expansion of Sunday River's system the last few years.

It has seemed anecdotally to me the last few seasons, that Vail's opening plan for their Eastern properties, is to put more snow down at opening, to get a good, deep base from day 1, verses just enough snow to get open and then have to go back and either resurface or fatten up trails prior to Christmas Week, so they can keep looking at expansion throughout December, verses having to keep rebuilding the base of a trail if/when the likely liquid/thaw events happen.

A slower open up/roll out is frustrating, but a GOOD product vs a white ribbon of death from day 1 isn't a bad thing either. Different school of thought

 

[drjeff]

Wasn't mt snow in the running for first to open the last few years of peaks ownership? Obviously Vail has no interest in that and instead wants them to compete in the last to open competition.

Truthfully the biggest challenge for Mount Snow getting open in marginal snowmaking temps/windows like have been around most of the last month, is the hydrant/fan gun spacing on Canyon to get down to the base. The amount of space between them on trails like Canyon, Snowdance, Lower Exhibition and Ridge is probably a good 150ft, if not more in some places, so that takes a BIG pile of snow to be able to be pushed out to play connect the dots and get open with the snow surface they want. That takes typically a good 75-100hrs of snowmaking in good temps to get them the volume of snow they need to get open with the base they want.

If I could magically get control of the Vail checkbook, I'd love to see probably a 1/3rd more fan guns than are on the trails I listed added to each one and then move a few existing ones to create a more consistent and closer spacing between them on the core trails they usually roll out 1st in the early season

 

[Zand]

Truthfully the biggest challenge for Mount Snow getting open in marginal snowmaking temps/windows like have been around most of the last month, is the hydrant/fan gun spacing on Canyon to get down to the base. The amount of space between them on trails like Canyon, Snowdance, Lower Exhibition and Ridge is probably a good 150ft, if not more in some places, so that takes a BIG pile of snow to be able to be pushed out to play connect the dots and get open with the snow surface they want. That takes typically a good 75-100hrs of snowmaking in good temps to get them the volume of snow they need to get open with the base they want.

If I could magically get control of the Vail checkbook, I'd love to see probably a 1/3rd more fan guns than are on the trails I listed added to each one and then move a few existing ones to create a more consistent and closer spacing between them on the core trails they usually roll out 1st in the early season

Any intel from Mt Snow as far as opening natural terrain tomorrow? Not sure how much snow they got compared to Stratton/Okemo/Killington. I see Okemo has now added Mueller's Run to the ungroomed open list and now has 5 trails open natural. Leaning that way tomorrow unless you tell me Mt Snow might open Challenger

 

[drjeff]

Any intel from Mt Snow as far as opening natural terrain tomorrow? Not sure how much snow they got compared to Stratton/Okemo/Killington. I see Okemo has now added Mueller's Run to the ungroomed open list and now has 5 trails open natural. Leaning that way tomorrow unless you tell me Mt Snow might open Challenger

My son on Saturday when we arrived shoveled probably 12-14" of snow that had settled a bit off of the deck of our condo which is across 100 from the mtn and at about 2200ft. There was a definite 1.5 - 2" of a dense, frozen crust at the bottom of it all from the early hours of the storm last Wednesday when it was a mixed bag of frozen and semi frozen stuff before it went over to all snow

Having watched 1st hand yesterday at Okemo how quickly a natural trail went from looking like a pristine, untouched powder run to something resembling cookies and cream ice cream with ample quantities of free stone grinds and likely core shots being handed out on anything over a semi moderate pitch, if the patrol at Mount Snow drops some ropes on naturals tomorrow, and you don't mind the risk of doing some day 1 damage to your skis, go for it, but tread lightly as the water bars and any other ground debris don't have much coverage on top of them now

 

[joshua segal]

...

Having watched 1st hand yesterday at Okemo how quickly a natural trail went from looking like a pristine, untouched powder run to something resembling cookies and cream ice cream with ample quantities of free stone grinds and likely core shots being handed out on anything over a semi moderate pitch, if the patrol at Mount Snow drops some ropes on naturals tomorrow, and you don't mind the risk of doing some day 1 damage to your skis, go for it, but tread lightly as the water bars and any other ground debris don't have much coverage on top of them now

I was on a pair of junkers and only got one or two scratches from the runs I took on the natural snow. 50 years ago, before the Snowmaking era, those natural snow trails would have been reported as:
2-5" base, pp, good skiing.

By 10 AM, World Cup to Lower Chief were pretty burnished. Sapphire was scary on the pair of skis that I was on, but I'm sure it would have been fine if I had been using my Peak104s.

 

[Zand]

Have to bag todays trip, I came down with the flu or something over the weekend and it's not getting better. Sucks seeing all the pics and not being able to get up there till next week now. I guess the good news is the weather looks to stay good.

 

[urungus]

Any intel from Mt Snow as far as opening natural terrain tomorrow? Not sure how much snow they got compared to Stratton/Okemo/Killington. I see Okemo has now added Mueller's Run to the ungroomed open list and now has 5 trails open natural. Leaning that way tomorrow unless you tell me Mt Snow might open Challenger

Mt Snow report from this morning. Zero natural terrain and with only two real trails scheduled to open, Cascade/Canyon and Freefall, it will be crowded. Promisimg significant terrain expansion by Saturday.

Good morning skiers and riders, opening day of our 70th anniversary season is here! Join us for first chair at 9:00 at Bluebird Express and snag a free breakfast sandwich (while supplies last)! Bluebird Express, Challenger, Discovery Shuttle, Canyon Express, and Apollo are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to bring you to Cascade, Canyon, High Traverse, Launchpad, River Run, and Free Fall, all freshly groomed. The hard work of the snowmaking and grooming teams combined with 15" of natural snow in the past week will make for a great opening day!

Today's forecast is calling for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 23 degrees at the summit and NW 20-35 mph winds.

At Carinthia, there's a hike park on Grommet! Carinthia Base Lodge will have bathrooms only; no food, tickets, or services until Saturday. Please go to the Clocktower for all tickets and pass needs. Everyone must have a valid ticket or pass with waiver signed. There will not be access to ski or ride between Carinthia and Main Base, you'll need to drive or take a MOOver.

We're planning to have more trails for the weekend, with snowmakers working on Ridge, Long John, Deer Run, Beaver Hill, Cooper's Junction, Lower Exhibition, Hop, NE Time, and Snowdance. Park Crew is putting together a build in The Gulch for the weekend.

 

[drjeff]

Mt Snow report from this morning. Zero natural terrain and with only two real trails scheduled to open, Cascade/Canyon and Freefall, it will be crowded. Promisimg significant terrain expansion by Saturday.

Good morning skiers and riders, opening day of our 70th anniversary season is here! Join us for first chair at 9:00 at Bluebird Express and snag a free breakfast sandwich (while supplies last)! Bluebird Express, Challenger, Discovery Shuttle, Canyon Express, and Apollo are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to bring you to Cascade, Canyon, High Traverse, Launchpad, River Run, and Free Fall, all freshly groomed. The hard work of the snowmaking and grooming teams combined with 15" of natural snow in the past week will make for a great opening day!

Today's forecast is calling for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 23 degrees at the summit and NW 20-35 mph winds.

At Carinthia, there's a hike park on Grommet! Carinthia Base Lodge will have bathrooms only; no food, tickets, or services until Saturday. Please go to the Clocktower for all tickets and pass needs. Everyone must have a valid ticket or pass with waiver signed. There will not be access to ski or ride between Carinthia and Main Base, you'll need to drive or take a MOOver.

We're planning to have more trails for the weekend, with snowmakers working on Ridge, Long John, Deer Run, Beaver Hill, Cooper's Junction, Lower Exhibition, Hop, NE Time, and Snowdance. Park Crew is putting together a build in The Gulch for the weekend.

My son will be on the 2nd chair. He got there about 6:15 this morning and him and his friend got places 5 and 6 on chair #2 - The folks filling chair #1 all got there around 9 or so last night and basically just tailgated all night long on Cuzzins deck as the grooming crew didn't want them over by the Bluebird queue area as they were working on pushing snow and leveling it out...

They got the snow where the need it, and it is what it is. If they felt that other terrain was safe for both the public and for patrol should they need to get to someone, then they would of dropped more ropes. Also with where they're actively making snow now, that likely is having them restrict access to some areas where equipment will be in operation on the mountain.

 

[skiur]

They got the snow where the need it, and it is what it is. If they felt that other terrain was safe for both the public and for patrol should they need to get to someone, then they would of dropped more ropes. Also with where they're actively making snow now, that likely is having them restrict access to some areas where equipment will be in operation on the mountain.

Prime example of one of the numerous reasons that this thread exists.

 

[jaytrem]

Prime example of one of the numerous reasons that this thread exists.

Indeed! Did Okemo and MS trade patrol directors? It's like bizarro world.

 

[drjeff]

They did open Drifter on natural snow as can be seen from the Summit webcam

 

[jaytrem]

The did open Drifter on natural snow as can be seen from the Summit webcam

OK, nice, a glimmer of hope!

 

[urungus]

When did Mt Snow reposition their main base area cam to hide the Bluebird queue ? Lame.

 

[drjeff]

When did Mt Snow reposition their main base area cam to hide the Bluebird queue ? Lame.

It's been that way for a few years now

 

[thetrailboss]

When did Mt Snow reposition their main base area cam to hide the Bluebird queue ? Lame.

"Me and my bros here wanted a different view since we routinely check it out from Broomfield. Don't hate me because I have so many friends who want to stand in line for an EPIC experience!"

 

[ctdubl07]

MS report: all in all a nice easy day. Getting in line and all that was left to the knobs.
We rolled up at 9:20, got our cool 70th magnets, waited maybe 5 min and then it was ski on the rest of the day.
Only trail crowding were various groups of instructors doing pre-season work.

Best trail by far was Challenger (a natural) which was fantastic....hadnt rode that well in years.
Just left it 15 min ago....still plenty of snow. Go get it.

Guns still firing in target areas since we arrived last night.
Live at C and blowers look mostly for the gulch build for this wknd with HMetal lift.
Guessing Nitro 12/13ish.

So all in all, I look at it this way: with these sustained temps, they are really building out for a more comprehensive opening than simply rushing to a "date" that only the folks on this forum care(complain) about.