This weekend, Crotched had great bumps under the Rocket, right side of upper park and left side of UFO. Skied in the glades till 5:45, then decided that skiing glades with a headlamp isn't very smart. Do-able, but not smart.
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Where are the moguls?
- Thread starter billski
- Start date
Wyatte74
New member
Now thats real night skiing ^^
Been there, done that. The Final Frontier glades are almost skiable without a headlamp. I regularly sneak off into them during night skiing. You're totally right that it's not a smart idea. I can generally see all they trees but am often caught by some unpleasant surprise in the snow (or not) surface.
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Yes, grooming helps to preserve the snowpack for two reasons:
1) compacting the snow keeps it from melting during the day. Instead of having to warm up just the loose surface to melt the snow, better conduction means you have to warm up nearly the entire base before the surface melts. When it cools down at night the compacted snow more efficiently "stores" the cold.
2) compacted snow is less prone to being blown off. One visit to Wildcat will show you what I mean. As soon as the wind picks up all the natural snow is blown off the mountain.
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Savemeasammy
New member
Does Crotched have a dedicated bump run that they leave untouched for the entire season?
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Both true, though number two should have a caveat: grooming is both a blessing and a curse in terms of wind. While the compacted base is highly wind resistant, the actual tilled layer (usually 2-3") will blow away easily unless it has already had hours to set up before the wind.
Moguls are actually ideal for windy conditions, as they act as miniature snow fences, catching the snow as is blows. We used to see this all the time at Sugarbush. On super windy days, when the groomed trails were sandblasted down to boilerplate, the bumps (while firm and windblown on top) were well filled in with freshly windloaded snow in the troughs.
Tin
Active member
We can usually stick in Darkstar and the Tbar line after dark because the lighting on Satellite and Jupiter's is enough. The exit is a little tough. Can also do it on Solstice. Can't do it on Kuiper, too thick with those pines and the lights are too high. The area around UFO might be though. I'll have to try.
Sammy - Nothing dedicated, they could seed under the Valley and UFO earlier but don't for some reason. There were bumps starting there in December.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
Skied at Elk Mountain for the first time ever yesterday, and found decent moguls on FOUR trails, yes FOUR.
Dont know if it's because the place truly get it, or if it's due to the owner(s) frugality which I heard about from locals, but either way it was fantastic to have such options. Nice and soft in the spring-like 40+ degree temps too.
UNGROOMED - As it should be!
Dont know if it's because the place truly get it, or if it's due to the owner(s) frugality which I heard about from locals, but either way it was fantastic to have such options. Nice and soft in the spring-like 40+ degree temps too.
UNGROOMED - As it should be!
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Cornhead
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Glad you enjoyed Elk, bumps, and meticulous grooming, both Elk trademarks. Happy to have Elk as a nearby option. If you ever go again, stop by Bingham's Restaurant, right at the bottom of the Lenox exit ramp, their cream puffs, eclairs really, are sinfully delicious!
https://www.binghamsrestaurant.com/ordereze/default.aspx
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https://www.binghamsrestaurant.com/ordereze/default.aspx
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ss20
Well-known member
I lol'd at that. Quote of the month?
Grooming on pow day = Terrible
Grooming every single day on NON pow days = Great
I love groomed slopes except on a powder day, then I hate grooming. Give me the powder. Then great real snow groomed trails are available the next when they groom all the tracked out pow. I don't like icy moguls/bumps. Just a personal preference. Banging your knees on bumps is not my cup of tea and has nothing to do with powder. Actually the complete opposite of powder.
As to your points:
1) Totally irrelevant on a good powder day, which are few and far in between therefore negating any significant effect on snow depth. Big meltdowns don't generally come on a powder day. lol
2)Depends on the storm/how much wind/how wind exposed the trail is.
Both of your points is not why ski areas groom on powder days.
Again, resorts on the gaper coast(east coast) groom on powder days because they get complaints from people who don't know how to ski pow. This doesn't happen out west. They don't pull a jiminy peak and groom all of alta flat on a powder day. lol What these ski area's dont realize is that they are blowing off potential customers by grooming all the powder away. Just look at how crowded sundown is on a powder day at first chair vs. mohawk. There's a reason for that. Mohawk grooms the pow to hell, while sundown leaves almost everything natural. Of course sundown is the go to place for pow hounds in CT. Sundown gets my best ski area in ct award due to that.(and that great gunbarrel trail)
It's nice they leave bumps on a trail for people who like that. But I really don't like seeing bumps on thunderbolt, which is southington's best trail. I like doing giant turns on that trail at speed. LOVE how wide and steep(for southington) that trail is. It's really fun. I wish they had a lift that just went to the top of that. Gunbarrel at sundown is also better with no bumps. Also, wildwood being left to bump up sucks because it's mohawk's only trail that is left with ungroomed powder. Pow over bumps = higher chance broken leg/blown knee ect. lol I like to have a surfy feeling in powder. Not driving the tips through pow into ruts/bumps ect. Not for me. I wish mohawk left timber completely ungroomed on pow days
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MadMadWorld
Active member
Woohoo! Welcome back. So much BS in that post I don't know where to start.
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Savemeasammy
New member
Snowmageddon is back! Oops... That's his TGR name. My bad.You need a bigger hook this time. Don't be so transparent.
4aprice
Well-known member
Skied at Elk Mountain for the first time ever yesterday, and found decent moguls on FOUR trails, yes FOUR.
Dont know if it's because the place truly get it, or if it's due to the owner(s) frugality which I heard about from locals, but either way it was fantastic to have such options. Nice and soft in the spring-like 40+ degree temps too.
UNGROOMED - As it should be!
You were there too BG? They actually have 5 bumped up right now though Seneca is a little ragged. All 3 (Blue CBK & Elk) have got good bumps going on now. Is it because they are finally getting it? Or just a product of the good snow and saving $ by not grooming everything. Elk has always let Tunk bump up and its the best bump run in PA. Either way NE PA has been skiing the best I've ever seen it this year.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
I guess I didnt ski that trail. I spent 1/2 the day on groomers with the gf (she really liked Elk too), and 1/2 the day on bump runs. We'll definitely throw it into the ski area rotation now if we can find deals, but it's very difficult to find anything less than full-freight there, which is really the reason I've never skied there before. I also liked how I could just ski back to my truck at the end of the day, reminded me of Smuggler's Notch. That Winter Garden restaurant had really good food too. Clocked in at exactly 2 hours door to door, so about 30 minutes closer to me than the Cats.
That was awesome, did it two or three times, and I know you're right that it's their signature bump run, but I actually enjoyed Chippewa (the picture above and below) better. It was far less trafficked, almost private, and the bumps were better formed / lined up.
4aprice
Well-known member
Too bad we couldn't have gotten our acts (collective) together as we could have had a mini AZ meeting with Scotty and Cornhead. Elk skied excellently this past weekend and I'm glad you had a good time. Chippiwa was a lot of fun and actually gets more sun then Tunk, so it was not a bad choice. You must have parked near me in the upper lot by the west side lifts. Lots of good tailgating going on in that lot both Saturday and Sunday. Still does not eliminate my biggest Elk complaint, the dreaded Elkmobile. Just put a small ticket booth down by the west side lifts. I had a multiday ticket with the race so it didn't really affect me this time but coming in for the day one still has to go up to the lodge to get on the snow.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
jrmagic
New member
Those bumps are still on at least 60 percent of the terrain even after the groomer was back in action.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
They opened back up this year. I see that their marketing department needs to get the word out! I learned to ski at Powder Ridge, so I am happy to see it rise from the dead.
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