Worst Ski Season Ever?

[KevinF]

Granted, the 11/12 winter probably ended faster than anything else courtesy of a week of 60-degree days, but at the beginning of that stretch, EpicSki had the New England Gathering at Stowe and MRG. The thread discussing that is pretty endless, but some of my pictures are here: http://www.epicski.com/t/105860/the...2012-march-15th-18th-vermont/270#post_1446581

I skied Stowe's Chin Clip earlier this season during the week or so it was open... trust me, it didn't look like it does in those pictures. It was random piles of bumps around rock.

Yes, variances in the weather are part and parcel of the New England skiing experience. I don't ever recall a winter that was so short on snow in the mountains. The 06/07 winter (which eventually produced the Valentine's Day Storm) had a dreadful start, but it turned around in epic fashion... This winter is doing nothing but producing sucker punches.

That said, I've still had fun on my various outings. Skiing beats not skiing.

 

[mikestaple]

Just left Killington a day early. They are toast. (As is the rest of the northeast I'm guessing). Rain locked in a solid 10 inch base. Should keep them running through March 15th. As expected an ice ladened mess today. Nothing the grooming crew can do with that. They are trying but nothing to work with. Killington TV crew all geeked up over the prospect of a dusting to an inch in the next three days.
Worst
Wintah
Evah!


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Breakout12]

It is for me! I haven't even gotten out once yet.

 

[Abubob]

Careful what you wish for. If we hit 80 in March, the current man made snow pack would last maybe two days in many places.

I KNOW! I only wanted things to be a LITTLE warmer than last year.

 

[dlague]

While the conditions have been tough, skiing overall has still been fun! We have had a few crappy ice days and we had some really good days as well mostly due to snow making. To date we are only 4 days off from last year. I still hope to hit 50 days providing no supper warm ups and maybe a storm or two that might bring storms that have crystallized precipitation.

 

[rocks860]

Way too early to say whether it is the worst. For me the worst in recent memory was 2011-2012. I recall the end of March skiing Mt Ellen where you had to upload and download on GMX and there was still barely anything open up top (only 2 people were allowed per chair on Summit due to the narrow path you had to ski on when getting off the chair onto Panorama).

View attachment 19046View attachment 19047

I skied sugarbush st Patrick's day week that year, first day skiing was about 45 by Wednesday it was 70. I went to Burlington one day and it was 83 degrees. I skied the whole week in a t shirt and wore shorts when I wasn't skiing

 

[JDMRoma]

the only thing we have going for us right now is the Lindsey Vonn thread...........thats it !!

 

[farlep99]

Whether or not one has fun skiing is irrelevant to the OP question. Yes, this is the worst winter ever condition-wise, at least back to the mid-90's which is as far back as I can remember. Look at forecast for Saturday. 47 & rain Saturday. That's 2 blowtorch rain events in one week. In mid-February! Ouch. I only hope March brings some redemption.

 

[dlague]

Whether or not one has fun skiing is irrelevant to the OP question. Yes, this is the worst winter ever condition-wise, at least back to the mid-90's which is as far back as I can remember. Look at forecast for Saturday. 47 & rain Saturday. That's 2 blowtorch rain events in one week. In mid-February! Ouch. I only hope March brings some redemption.

I will call it that in May!

 

[cdskier]

It ended fast for sure. They had to make snow at Sugarloaf and Sunday River late Mach that season to absorb British Invasion business that Killington ended up turning away. However, as you say, there was at least a decent amount of snow that season until the nuclear melt down in March. Killington received 152" on the season that year. By far their worst total since 1988.

This year 44" so far. They need NINE feet of snow the rest of the year just to equal 2011-2012. It's happened before on a handful of occasions. Hopefully it does again this year.

http://www.killington.com/site/mountain/mountain-info/snowmaking_snowfall

What is interesting is that Sugarbush has almost an identical snowfall total at this point this season as it had in 2011-2012 (105" this year vs 103" on 2/17/12). Granted in 2012 they did have much more base right now on the mountain due to less mid-season thaws and rain.

I've already skied significantly more so far this season compared to the entire 2011-2012 season. I did learn a lot from that season though. That year I tried to plan ahead too much about which weekends to go up to VT. Now I just plan to go pretty much every weekend and make the best of whatever is out there.

Like I said earlier though, it is still way too early to call this the worst season. I'm still optimistic that we can get some big dumps and have a great March and April to make all this talk about this being the worst season completely irrelevant...

 

[flakeydog]

I know it is not the the same but a nod to having fun in "sh!t-f*ck" conditions.
https://youtu.be/m4u_z3T9U-8
https://youtu.be/m4u_z3T9U-8

Really just a typical day in the east. In reality, i can have fun skiing just about anything but yeah, it's been a bit rugged this year...

 

[Domeskier]

The Poconos seem to be doing well.

 

[JamaicaMan]

Getting the dayzzz in, but they're a lot shorter with the repetitive groomers. The liver has gotten more of a work-out than my legs...

 

[4aprice]

I would say in 50 years of skiing that this is a bleak as it gets and in many ways parallels the 97-98 year which was another very strong El Nino. I did all my 9 days skiing in the Rockies that season. I keep thinking that there will be at least one more storm cycle that produces enough to salvage at least March in NNE as the El Nino dies. That happened in 97-98 where an early month storm produced at least a couple of weeks of good skiing in NE. I personally have had a different but decent season so far. Days are way down of course but I had a super busy Christmas so the little skiing I would have done then isn't a great loss. Props to my home hill for getting the mountain 100% open after a trying start. They got that done just in time for the storm we had down here which gave us a 2 week period of very good skiing. Rain, then one weekend of Pocono Pavement, then a good resurfacing job before last weekend which was good again. Now it looks like spring this weekend which should be enjoyable. I've got a bunch of Vermont Tickets so I'm still hoping for a little rebound in March to spend those. Of course if the snow doesn't come to you, one must go to the snow so I'm saving the best for last and taking a trip out west in April.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[Puck it]

Yup. A broken shoulder makes the worse for me. At least you guys are skiing! So shut up!

 

[ss20]

I'm having fun so far. Really tired of hearing all the doom & gloom.

Holy crap yes.

I spend most of my time on man-made flatland snow anyway. When I have been "big mountain" skiing it's been OK.

We're having a typical CT Flatland winter, which means snow and 10 degrees one day, followed by rain and 50 degrees. Unfortunately Ski Country is getting this type of winter as well.

 

[deadheadskier]

Cdskier glad SB is working out this year.

Yup, don't know unless you go. Of course that decision is a bit more difficult when driving all the way up from NJ. It's not that big of a deal for me if I drive two hours up to Wildcat and conditions are poor.

 

[Warp Daddy]

For me worst season ever , ZERO days due to Hip Replacement surgery. Sux

 

[from_the_NEK]

 

[chuckstah]

This year has been very poor for sure. Worst ever? Thinking no. Some really bad years in the 80s if my failing memory serves me right. Sure it's been mainly groomers, but there have been some great spring bumps as well. Out of season for sure but fun none the less. Two weeks in the woods but nothing deep enough to rip. 2-3 good spring storms could quiet the gloom and doom. Hell, i went for a snowshoe today in southern NH. I think we had a net gain in snow as it only rained hard for a short time after an icy 2". Pic from couple hours ago. Still a decent base where it is useless to most.