Your 2022-2023 Ski Season Thread

[KustyTheKlown]

1) 10/28/22 - Big Snow, NJ
2) 11/23/22 - Windham, NY
3) 11/25/22 - Sugarbush, VT
4) 11/26/22 - Stratton, VT
5) 12/04/22 - Windham NY
6) 12/10/22 - Loon NH
7) 12/11/22 - Stratton, VT
8) 12/17/22 - Stratton, VT
9) 12/18/22 - Killington, VT
10) 12/27/22 - Tremblant, QC

11) 12/28/22 - Tremblant, QC - another great day. 2-3” overnight to refresh an already very soft situation. Perhaps the best consistent all day all mountain conditions I’ve ever skied in the east. Spent the morning hitting all the north side glades, then skied the south side upper mountain chair when the lines at north base got big. the lines did get big but again I managed to avoid them almost entirely. they are kinda conservative and some terrain remain closed and it made for some epic fucking poaching. 30k vert of powder skiing in 7 hours.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Two other Tremblant thoughts…

It’s Stratton north in that it has really good tree skiing that punches above its weight class, and a clientele nearly completely disinterested in skiing trees. Mining fresh all day.

And, the reason I hated Tremblant in the past is because I came with a group of couples. This is wrong. Do not do that. Do not do anything that will cause you to want to spend anytime at the south side Epcot center France exhibit. Basing out of the north side makes a tremendous difference. Also being alone makes even the burliest lift line not SO bad.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

and then the sun came out …

with plentiful leftover pow too

 

[JimG.]

1) 11/18/22-Belleayre opening day
2) 11/19-Belleayre
3) 11/26-Belleayre
4) 11/29-Belleayre
5) 12/2-Belleayre
6) 12/4-Belleayre
7) 12/9-Belleayre
8) 12/10-Belleayre
9) 12/13-Belleayre
10) 12/15-Belleayre
11) 12/17-Belleayre powder day 19"
12) 12/20-Killington
13) 12/21-Killington
14) 12/27-Belleayre
15) 12/28-Belleayre

So the word around the hill at Belle is that since the last big 19" storm it has snowed a bit every day for a total additional accumulation of 12-15". This explains why there is such good coverage here. Low angle trees were excellent:





Did a lap on steeper tree terrain in Winnisook glade and it was still low tide; hit a ton of sticks and pebbles. Skipped the cliff on Dreamcatcher and jumped in lower down on Deer Run and it was pretty good. Also saw plenty of coverage on Tomahawk lift line skied it from the top which I rarely do:




Plenty of nice little bumps in many places too. Yahoo and Winnisook skied great. Really everything did!

Enjoyed talking to folks on the lifts which is not my usual style but it was fairly crowded so I decided to be a talker. Word from several employees is that there are active discussions going on at the state level to rename most of the trails. Glad I will be a person who remembers and refers to all trails by the original names. Heading back tomorrow.

 

[tnt1234]

Thinking about Belle monday.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

1) 10/28/22 - Big Snow, NJ
2) 11/23/22 - Windham, NY
3) 11/25/22 - Sugarbush, VT
4) 11/26/22 - Stratton, VT
5) 12/04/22 - Windham NY
6) 12/10/22 - Loon NH
7) 12/11/22 - Stratton, VT
8) 12/17/22 - Stratton, VT
9) 12/18/22 - Killington, VT
10) 12/27/22 - Tremblant, QC
11) 12/28/22 - Tremblant, QC

12) 12/29/22 - Tremblant, QC - Another fine day of skiing in gorgeous 30 degree sunshine. But oh my the crowds have arrived. I got a hot 9000 vertical in from 8:20 to 10:00 and then basically was in unavoidable lines til I called it at 3. It’s fine. The skiing in between the lines was excellent stuff. I had good music, good reading material, and I still skied 22500 and could have pushed to 25k or 30k if I kept skiing - lines did die down after 2:30. But I was fine calling it. One more day at Tremblant tomorrow. Then a sick downtown Montreal hotel and a fine dinner in the city before jetting down to Bolton or mount Ellen for a half day on NYE. solid. I did discover that they start loading at 8 am. The website says 830. I’m on it at 8 tmrw for hot crispy groomers before anyone turns up.

 

[ThatGuy]

1) 11/21/22-Mount Snow
2) 11/23/22-Mount Snow
3) 12/03/22-Jiminy Peak
4) 12/04/22-Jiminy Peak
5) 12/05/22-Mount Snow
6) 12/10/22-Jiminy Peak
7) 12/12/22-Mount Snow
8) 12/17/22-Jiminy Peak
9) 12/19/22-Mount Snow
10) 12/21/22-Mount Snow
11) 12/29/22-Jiminy Peak


The fact this is called a glade tells you all you need to know about the level of gapers that ski here.

 

[thetrailboss]

1. November 4, 2022: Brighton Bone Zone
2. November 12, 2022: Brighton (four lifts and midseason conditions?!)
3. November 13, 2022: Brighton
4. November 20, 2022: Snowbird (great first day with lots of open terrain and no crowds).
5. November 22, 2022: Alta (great snow and no lines)
6. November 23, 2022: Alta (first taste of powder for 22-23!)
7. November 24, 2022: Snowbird (early turkey turns)
8. November 25, 2022: Snowbird’s Tram Good Time (on the first ride of the new Tram and opening of Gad 2)
9. November 26, 2022: Alta (afternoon turns in the new snow!)
10. November 27, 2022: Snowbird (skiing with old friends on old favorites)
11. December 4, 2022: Snowbird (Little Cloud storm fest)
12. December 10, 2022: Snowbird (Mineral Basin Debut)
13. December 15, 2022: Brighton (cold night and new snow)
14. December 16, 2022: Alta/Snowbird (100" base, earliest run down Alf's, Baldy Express opening)
15. December 23, 2022: Brighton Night with the Daughter.
16. December 24, 2022: Alta (High Traverse on a Sleeper Powder Day)

17. December 29, 2022: Burke, Vermont (homecoming with the Mrs.)

 

[KustyTheKlown]

17. December 29, 2022: Burke, Vermont (homecoming with the Mrs.)

How’s it skiing?

 

[thetrailboss]

How’s it skiing?

Technical skiing.

Main runs that have snowmaking were ice or LG. Lower mountain was decent, but limited to two routes. Natural snow runs that are open are pretty thin.

 

[NYDB]

1. November 23, 2022, Killington
2. November 25, 2022, Stratton
3. November 26, 2022, Stratton.
4. December 10, 2022 Snowbird
5. December 11, 2022 Snowbird
6. December 12. 2022 Snowbird
7. December 16, 2022 Stratton
8. December 17, 2022 Stratton
9. December 27, 2022 Magic
10. December 28, 2022 Stratton
11 December 29, 2022 Magic. opened up some of the Westside today. Awesome afternoon in the warm sun

 

[Zand]

1) 11/18/22-Belleayre opening day
2) 11/19-Belleayre
3) 11/26-Belleayre
4) 11/29-Belleayre
5) 12/2-Belleayre
6) 12/4-Belleayre
7) 12/9-Belleayre
8) 12/10-Belleayre
9) 12/13-Belleayre
10) 12/15-Belleayre
11) 12/17-Belleayre powder day 19"
12) 12/20-Killington
13) 12/21-Killington
14) 12/27-Belleayre
15) 12/28-Belleayre

So the word around the hill at Belle is that since the last big 19" storm it has snowed a bit every day for a total additional accumulation of 12-15". This explains why there is such good coverage here. Low angle trees were excellent:

View attachment 55638
View attachment 55639
View attachment 55640

Did a lap on steeper tree terrain in Winnisook glade and it was still low tide; hit a ton of sticks and pebbles. Skipped the cliff on Dreamcatcher and jumped in lower down on Deer Run and it was pretty good. Also saw plenty of coverage on Tomahawk lift line skied it from the top which I rarely do:

View attachment 55641
View attachment 55642

Plenty of nice little bumps in many places too. Yahoo and Winnisook skied great. Really everything did!

Enjoyed talking to folks on the lifts which is not my usual style but it was fairly crowded so I decided to be a talker. Word from several employees is that there are active discussions going on at the state level to rename most of the trails. Glad I will be a person who remembers and refers to all trails by the original names. Heading back tomorrow.

I feel jealous about how fun Belleayre always sounds when you report from there. Sounds like it has a good amount of fun terrain. I wish my local hill actually had some fun natural terrain like that, I would actually go there more than once or twice a year.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I’m tempted to spend money at belle the next time I’m feeling Catskills motivated even tho windham is free! I like seeing ORDA do well

 

[JimG.]

I feel jealous about how fun Belleayre always sounds when you report from there. Sounds like it has a good amount of fun terrain. I wish my local hill actually had some fun natural terrain like that, I would actually go there more than once or twice a year.

Belle is not a consistently steep or challenging hill in general. It is an intermediate heaven. There are some steep pitches and it gets decent snowfall, better than Windham or Hunter. There are some good trees to ski. Until 2 years ago when they completed the new snowmaking infrastructure I was never impressed with their snowmaking but the past 2 seasons they have blown a ton of snow. It helps a lot that Bruce Transue, formerly from Hunter, is now the general manager and many of his ex-Hunter snowmakers are now at Belle. In addition, Bruce listened to customers who complained about overgrooming and not enough bumps. There are always trails devoted to bumps now and that really ups the fun factor.

I'll admit I've been gushing about it this season and they have really delivered for me as my local hill.

 

[JimG.]

Thinking about Belle monday.

Thinking of going Sunday but also considering Monday. Early Sunday should be good.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

1) 10/28/22 - Big Snow, NJ
2) 11/23/22 - Windham, NY
3) 11/25/22 - Sugarbush, VT
4) 11/26/22 - Stratton, VT
5) 12/04/22 - Windham NY
6) 12/10/22 - Loon NH
7) 12/11/22 - Stratton, VT
8) 12/17/22 - Stratton, VT
9) 12/18/22 - Killington, VT
10) 12/27/22 - Tremblant, QC
11) 12/28/22 - Tremblant, QC
12) 12/29/22 - Tremblant, QC

13) 12/30/22 - Tremblant, QC - with warm temps overnight the pow party is over. I started at 7:45 with first tracks - somehow my pass scanned fine. I beat the hell outta the crowd and have 10k down by 9:15. But a day in Montreal is preferable to this especially considering how great the past 3 days were. I’ll head out by 11.

 

[Zand]

Belle is not a consistently steep or challenging hill in general. It is an intermediate heaven. There are some steep pitches and it gets decent snowfall, better than Windham or Hunter. There are some good trees to ski. Until 2 years ago when they completed the new snowmaking infrastructure I was never impressed with their snowmaking but the past 2 seasons they have blown a ton of snow. It helps a lot that Bruce Transue, formerly from Hunter, is now the general manager and many of his ex-Hunter snowmakers are now at Belle. In addition, Bruce listened to customers who complained about overgrooming and not enough bumps. There are always trails devoted to bumps now and that really ups the fun factor.

I'll admit I've been gushing about it this season and they have really delivered for me as my local hill.

Low angle is fine...especially in an area with not much snow. I'd love Wachusett if they devoted one or two trails to bumps (or at least let them go ungroomed when the natural is good) and cut a couple glades. They actually have some decent lines through the pines at the summit, but they also have patrol that is as strict as Vail mountains so you're risking it by skiing off trail. It's extremely rare to have a trail go more than 12 hours without grooming (yes they groom twice daily) and after a snowstorm you're lucky if they leave one trail alone for a day or two. They usually seed bumps on a small section of one trail, but the patterns are always shit and they usually end up bulletproof within days and unskiable until a warmup occurs.

I know the Cats get a lot more snow than the Worcester Hills so it helps their cause, but you're lucky to have a hill that caters to more than just groomer skiers. I enjoyed Gore and Whiteface when I visited...the ORDA places seem to have a cool laid back vibe to them and Belleayre sounds like it fits in with the others.


Also, I've never had any interest at all in Tremblant but that may have changed because of this thread also. Lol

 

[jimmywilson69]

1) Okemo 12/9
2) Stowe 12/10
3) Killington 12/11
4) Roundtop 12/24
5) Roundtop12/26
6) Roundtop 12/28
7) Roundtop 12/30

Soft Cream Cheese snow today. another fine climb this morning, no jacket, hats, or gloves. Crazy that 6 days ago the temperature was 34 degrees colder at 8 AM!

 

[tnt1234]

Thinking of going Sunday but also considering Monday. Early Sunday should be good.

Rain sunday, no?

Hoping for spring conditions monday.

 

[tnt1234]

Belle is not a consistently steep or challenging hill in general. It is an intermediate heaven. There are some steep pitches and it gets decent snowfall, better than Windham or Hunter. There are some good trees to ski. Until 2 years ago when they completed the new snowmaking infrastructure I was never impressed with their snowmaking but the past 2 seasons they have blown a ton of snow. It helps a lot that Bruce Transue, formerly from Hunter, is now the general manager and many of his ex-Hunter snowmakers are now at Belle. In addition, Bruce listened to customers who complained about overgrooming and not enough bumps. There are always trails devoted to bumps now and that really ups the fun factor.

I'll admit I've been gushing about it this season and they have really delivered for me as my local hill.

Yeah, they came out strong this season for sure. I always assume the model of the state run properties is a little different - and unfair to their competitors! - like, sure, lets make snow! Keep our people employed, and give our tax payers a place to play...

And I agree, their attitude toward moguls, and tree skiing is great.

And I see they mowed the Tomahawk lift line this year! I don't think they did a few years ago.

The steep pitches are short, but they make the most of it.