Mt Snow Trip Reports 2018-9
Dec. 1, 2018 - Sat.
49-61 of 88 trails, 27 groomed, 6-8 of 20 lifts, 22” in 7 days, 24-35 degrees, no wind, sunny , packed powder and machine groomed.
They started the day with 6 lifts but turned on Grand Summit and Heavy Metal by 11am probably due to the big lift queues. I didn’t think the trails were that crowded. Lots of powder in places, mostly cut up, some early season soft bump but we found a few sections of untracked. People were in some woods. North face was open, but Sunbrook was not. We went over to check out the new lodge at Carinthia. Looked like only the lower floor with limited food and one bar were open so far. It’s only open Saturday & Sunday until further notice. You can park there all week. Walk up rate $87 until 12/7. 12/14 online $12. 3/15 online $17.
Sorry the pics are a little out of order. Tough from phone
Forecast rumors are for freezing rain tonight. Perhaps a lot of ice IDK. Boo!!
49-61 of 88 trails, 27 groomed, 6-8 of 20 lifts, 22” in 7 days, 24-35 degrees, no wind, sunny , packed powder and machine groomed.
They started the day with 6 lifts but turned on Grand Summit and Heavy Metal by 11am probably due to the big lift queues. I didn’t think the trails were that crowded. Lots of powder in places, mostly cut up, some early season soft bump but we found a few sections of untracked. People were in some woods. North face was open, but Sunbrook was not. We went over to check out the new lodge at Carinthia. Looked like only the lower floor with limited food and one bar were open so far. It’s only open Saturday & Sunday until further notice. You can park there all week. Walk up rate $87 until 12/7. 12/14 online $12. 3/15 online $17.
Sorry the pics are a little out of order. Tough from phone
Forecast rumors are for freezing rain tonight. Perhaps a lot of ice IDK. Boo!!
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
Comments
Nice of Peak Resorts to show their signature property this kind of love.
Couple of laps with plenty of untracked down Fools Gold, (was also impressed with the new Carinthia lodge!), Uncle's, Hop, Shootout, South Bowl "au naturel", Rollercoaster (then actually rode some real rollercoasters this afternoon at Six Flags on my way home to CT ahead of the Pats game tomorrow!), Overbrook, multiple repeats!! Didn't mind the lines as it was such a great day out there today!
You made the right call Dr J. 0nly Discovery & Heavy M open now separated by 2 miles. 10:30. 1/8-1/4” ice followed by light rain. They are shooting for 2 more FGs. I think they’ve thrown in the towels on the detachables. I’m at base but may not boot up unless the rain stops as forecasted by noon. Even then IDK. I see people walking up towards HM, ugh
49 of 88 trails, 4 of 20 lifts, 38-42°, rain, freezing rain, light wind, cloudy, fog, visibility poor, mostly wet snow, some frozen granular, crusted powder. Lift delays. Upper mountain closed. Up to 1/2" ice on some surfaces.
Well I finally made it out at 1pm. I was thinking the rain would end. It didn't. I thought my jacket was more waterproof. It wasn't. I thought I'd just take a couple runs. I didn't.
They were cycling Canyon as I headed over to Ego Alley, I didn't think they'd load it. They didn't.
It was pretty much Ego Alley or Heavy Metal. There were some other intrepid (idiots) out skiing/riding too, but not many. Still some were in the woods. Maybe it was drier in there? Did a few off Ego then headed over to Heavy Metal. That crossover was a wet ungroomed, water bar, small mogul mess but passable. Did a few over there including down under the lower Nitro before being told to go home. I counted 20 cars at Carinthia at 2:30pm. On the way back I saw no one on the Super Highway of Mt Snow, Long John, until I got to Ego Alley where I got one last run in. It was basically a ghost town as well it should have been.
All in all I'd count it as a good day because even though I got soaked it was pretty warm. The visibility was bad, but since my goggles didn't freeze up I could still feel my way around. The lack of traffic made you feel like you had the place to yourself.
The "waterproof" stuff often comes with a larger pricetag, however, as someone who many times in that same basic scenario you described (riding the arduous Ego Triple in the rain/mixed precipitation conditions since most everything else is on hold for de-icing) once you get past the initial sticker shock that sometimes comes with GOOD waterproof ski apparel, and see that it keeps you dry far better over time than water resistant clothing as your sitting on an exposed fixed grip lift in the rain for your 4th, 5th, 6th, etc runs enjoying some great soft snow, the price seems worth it!
Very true. Worse than that is I had some better rain gear available but choose not to go fetch it. Got away with it yesterday since I was only out 3 1/2 hours until last chair & the wind/temps weren't a factor.
Check out that snow on the left hand roof
Anticipating that it will be okay with him, I present the following:
Dec. 5, 2018 - Weds.
It was a pleasant day despite the fact that it was almost impossible to make a run without skiing thru snow guns. The fire power for their updated snow making system is impressive.
Mt. Snow is one of the great cruising hills of the northeast with many wide boulevards. The north face has some nice steeps and there was even a pleasant mogul run on Lower Challenger between Free Fall and Plummet. There were also some reasonable, albeit small moguls, on Ledges and the narrow run just to the left of it.
The size and quantity of features on Carinthia were unprecedented for this early in the season.
snowjournal.com/discussion/2055/mount-snow-2018-2019#latest
The skiing was pretty much the same as I reported for Dec. 5. I did ski pretty much the entire day with NELSAP which made for continuous great conversation. And I got my autographed copy of his new book.
Aside to cisco: Jeremy (NELSAP) took photos which will be posted later I presume.
Yea I expect JD to post a pictured report
A good percentage of the major trails were open. There was 3" of new, very light powder over firm groomed conditions. This made for some East Coast powder runs for the first few hours. The best was on Plummet, which is a bit out of the way. We made almost first tracks down it at 10am. This was the first time I had skied that trail as I realized I had missed it myself on other visits.
Skies were sunny, temps in teens, winds not a major factor, and no liftlines over a minute. Can't go wrong with those conditions!
Ledge was a nice early season surprise with natural snow and bumps, the new powder made it a fun trail. Other trails that were great cruising included Snowdance Pitch, Snowdance, NE Time, and Ridge. The only trail that was a bit funky was the steep pitch on Chute, where they had been snowmaking but the snow was quite thick from that.
21 runs, over 24k of vertical, 24 miles of skiing, and a perfect early season day!
Top of Freefall
Joshua on Freefall in the powder
Snowdance Pitch, great views
Jeremy
Plummet entrance
Snowy Sundance chair
FYI- had issues with attaching the photos.
I’m here too Yardsale. They were blowing snow on Fallen Timbers (edit: not Olympic) top to bottom and 95 % of Ego and few other rando locations like in front of Sundance Lodge. Why?
One pic today where chute & fallen timbers come together.
PS - its still a struggle to link images. I never had a problem before so not sure what has changed
Couple shots from late Saturday on Uncle. I've become like JS...I was picking up large dead branches off the trail. Despite how it looks on cam it was actually pretty good and bumped up. Although it was too much for one boarder who was walking down and they weren't even close to the hard part. I understand the why but I hate when people do that and boot track the trail.
ON another note, I left early Sunday and when I passed Living Memorial they were blowing snow!