1. CM has removed the non-fixed snowguns from the hill. Snow making is over.
Apparently there was a change of heart according to their facebook page and snow report.
You've got to admit: Pulling the guns off the hill would give most sane people reason to believe snowmaking is done for the season, (even if it wasn't the 2nd weekend in March!)
We're still going to make snow on the main trails. We're just taking portables off.
You've got to admit: Pulling the guns off the hill would give most sane people reason to believe snowmaking is done for the season, (even if it wasn't the 2nd weekend in March!)
O ye of little faith. There are season passes good until the end of the season in need of selling
Frankly, I think the new snow next week will draw crowds, and there's no way 8-12 of natural will hold up for long over bare ground. Also, there's a USSA open (Mug) race scheduled for March 26th that's been cancelled the past 2 years. Perhaps they hope they can get that in with this additional snowmaking.
The only trail that could probably use the portable guns is Super Nova as there are still school groups coming in next week.
You've got to admit: Pulling the guns off the hill would give most sane people reason to believe snowmaking is done for the season, (even if it wasn't the 2nd weekend in March!)
O ye of little faith. There are season passes good until the end of the season in need of selling
Frankly, I think the new snow next week will draw crowds, and there's no way 8-12 of natural will hold up for long over bare ground. Also, there's a USSA open (Mug) race scheduled for March 26th that's been cancelled the past 2 years. Perhaps they hope they can get that in with this additional snowmaking.
The only trail that could probably use the portable guns is Super Nova as there are still school groups coming in next week.
OK, so call me "ye of little faith". I accept that and hope you are right!
(Couldn't help but notice, that the sluice in the snowmaking pond is down at summer levels!)
And while I agree that next week's snow will help, the old adage goes, "an inch of natural in January will outlast a foot in March." In March, the new snow rarely has time to set up. Never-the-less: If we're open, I'll probably be here!
It is bitterly cold. Estimated windchill this AM: -25°F. As of 1PM +, it still hasn't reached +10°F.
The skiing is pretty much the same as the last few days and that has been pretty good.
There was 1/2" new snow yesterday and another 1/2" overnight. As such, I was unable to distinguish the areas where snow was made last night from just the new snow that fell. I conclude that the snowmaking was related more to marketing than to actually improving the skiing.
Sunday was bitter cold, but with excellent grooming and diminishing, the skiing was quite lovely.
When Meteor was open to the public following Saturday's race, it was clear that Friday's snowmaking effort was targeted to providing the racers a really good experience, and my discussions with participants in the race would confirm, that the racers were happy with the course that CM provided.
Closing day has not yet been announced, although it appears that there is at least one scheduled event for Sunday, March 26.
CM's ability to stay open is mostly based on the weather for the next couple of weeks. It's clear that the top of the west double can't hold up to sustained warm weather. it's not clear that Satellite Summit and/or Moon Walk could.
CM has not been willing to do so in the past, but if they wanted to operate just the Valley Chair, there is excellent depth of coverage on Galaxy, West side of Magnitude and Meteor - and with minimal effort to open Eclipse, both Pluto's and Equinox are nicely covered.
19 of 25 trails. Cold and windy. The day started at -3°F and slowly rose to 20°F. They appear to have made some snow. And with outstanding grooming, combined with the fact that there was no one there made the skiing quite enjoyable. The lack of crowds kept it from being skied off in the usual spots on Moon Walk & Milky Way. Pluto is consistent top to bottom even though it is less than half width now in spots. They had a randonee free hill race in the morning & tele demos all day. The Little Green Giant Sprout made an appearance in the base lodge and they were handing out tasty vegetable samples.
The aerators are off in the pond so snowmaking must be done. But with it this cold stretch and this potential storm coming in on top of that, next weekend looks to be good.
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
CM seems to have been mentioned more in the Mar. 14-15 Snowfall thread than here.
Mar. 15 was one of those rare days when pretty much everything by the end of the day was soft powder bumps.
The snow was great, but as a pure powder day, Tuesday was better. The surface was windblown and while very pleasant, it was a lot of work!
Jupiter Storm was not reopened as the wind had scoured it down to the icy crust. Pretty much everything else was open except the Blast Off Chute.
Solstice and Final Frontier Glades are back to primo. Dark Star skied nicely. Uranus was bony and I stayed off the rest of the glades so I am not in a position to comment.
Just curious. Has any reader of this thread either chosen to come to Crotched Mtn. or not to come to Crotched Mtn. because of anything I have written on this thread? Your inputs will be appreciated.
While I don't exactly fit in either of your two categories, I plan on hitting Crotched in the FUTURE, because of what you have posted over the years, and what others have over on AZ.
Some of the reasons is if I end up with a Peak's Pass, it's a good option for a Blackout day...
While I don't exactly fit in either of your two categories, I plan on hitting Crotched in the FUTURE, because of what you have posted over the years, and what others have over on AZ.
Some of the reasons is if I end up with a Peak's Pass, it's a good option for a Blackout day...
If you're going to go definitely go midweek. On weekends, the upper section of the mountain is skied off by 11:00-12:00. Still super fun place!
Just curious. Has any reader of this thread either chosen to come to Crotched Mtn. or not to come to Crotched Mtn. because of anything I have written on this thread? Your inputs will be appreciated.
I couldn't get away for the entire weekend to ski on what I would anticipate to be one of the better weekends of the season...Thus I will come to Crotched tomorrow for the day because a) it is an easy day trip at just under 2hrs from where I am on the So Shore , b) I have a Peak pass and c) that Rocket enables some serious laps. I do appreciate your on going conditions reports from CM. Overall, I would say that I came to Crotched this season without much influence from this thread.... either way.
HI Joshua - I generally go one midweek night a week - your reports help me anticipate which night (when I have a choice) would be better... otherwise, most of the time, I get a good idea of what to expect!!!
Crotched was great today!!! Sun came out, nice soft snow, bumps forming, skied Darkstar(little rough) and Solstice glade(really nice) and poached Jupiter's Storm a bunch(just look out for the rocks).
Crotched was great today!!! Sun came out, nice soft snow, bumps forming, skied Darkstar(little rough) and Solstice glades(really nice) and pouched Jupiter's Storm a bunch(just look out for the rocks).
Joshua- stupid question , is any of the old east onset Bobcat skiable for hikers? From an aerial it looks pretty grown in Just curious A very interesting read( re-read)
i have seen tracks into that area - after the last storm from the top of Jupiter's Storm and today when I skinned to the actual summit - there were quite a few tracks heading in that direction - not sure if they just looped back or not
i have seen tracks into that area - after the last storm from the top of Jupiter's Storm and today when I skinned to the actual summit - there were quite a few tracks heading in that direction - not sure if they just looped back or not
I have hiked over to the east area and the summit during the summer. The trails on the east side are very overgrown, but you can still see their outline, in part because the new tree growth is younger (noticeably smaller) and a different species in many places.
I know that a lot of people hike over there and ski it in mid-season. "sledhaulingmedic", formerly an active member of this forum and patrolman at CM told me about catching some powder runs over there.
There are a number of people who own condos at the east side who ski back and forth for the few weeks of the season that conditions permit it.
For ciscokid's question: The closed area is the original Crotched Mtn. The current Crotched Mtn. is the ski area that operated previously as Onset, Bobcat and Crotched West before closing. It operated as Crotched West when it combined with (original) Crotched ca. 1985.
There was a huge master plan for combining the two areas and developing the land in between. When the area went under following the 1989-90 season, the plan was abandoned and the value of the condos took a huge hit. Public real estate records for the 1990s show series of foreclosures where the sale prices dropped as low as 15% of the original construction (1986) sale prices. My suspicion is that much of the value of the condos was based on the area becoming large destination resort comprising hundreds of acres. That would explain why current prices for the condos near the West Double are still priced below what they sold for in the late 1980s.
I will repeat what I have said a number of times in this forum: Living ski-on/ski-off changes the sport.
- No worrying about road conditions
- No worrying about shoveling on a powder day before skiing
- Ability to change wet clothes
- No loading and unloading the car
- No big deal if you forget something
- No worries about being hacked on public wifi
- etc.
The condos on the north side of Rt. 47 and those on the east-side are much cheaper than the ones by the west double, because they are not ski-on/ski-off. I do not know of another ski area of the size and quality of Crotched Mtn. where you can own ski-on/ski-off property for well under $100K. Prices are recovering following the 2007 real estate bust, so if you're interested, don't wait!
Who owns the land of the original Crotched Mtn.? Someone with a condo over there told me that the town/state was strongly against redeveloping over there but I didn't have time for a follow up question. Damn Rocket lift...it's too fast to hold a decent conversation!!
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
Who owns the land of the original Crotched Mtn.? Someone with a condo over there told me that the town/state was strongly against redeveloping over there but I didn't have time for a follow up question. Damn Rocket lift...it's too fast to hold a decent conversation!!
Who owns the land of the original Crotched Mtn.? Someone with a condo over there told me that the town/state was strongly against redeveloping over there but I didn't have time for a follow up question. Damn Rocket lift...it's too fast to hold a decent conversation!!
Well then I would nominate C east to the dreams thread as re-opening possibility combined with those you know at C west it could be Killington Junior . Hey dreams are cheap
Another question I would have for you Josh what is being that C West is open to all hours of the night here and there does the noise ever keep you from your dreams sleep ?
Who owns the land of the original Crotched Mtn.? Someone with a condo over there told me that the town/state was strongly against redeveloping over there but I didn't have time for a follow up question. Damn Rocket lift...it's too fast to hold a decent conversation!!
The town of Francestown took it for back taxes. While I grew up skiing on the East side with its neat trails like Dipsy Doodle and Old Glory, the West side was the better of the two to redevelop.
I believe Francestown wants their back taxes paid as part of any redevelopment offer. So short of volcanic or tectonic activity adding another 500 feet of vertical, that's pretty much a non-starter.
Another question I would have for you Josh what is being that C West is open to all hours of the night here and there does the noise ever keep you from your dreams sleep ?
The condos were originally designed for electric heat. (Most have since been converted to small gas furnaces.) As a result, the units are very well insulated. The same insulation that is good for heat retention also works for sound. I have never been awakened by any activities on the hill.
One "mid-night madness" the first year i was here, the manager of the condo association asked me if the helicopter woke me. I asked, "What helicopter?" Apparently there had been a 2AM accident and the med-evac copter flew right over my unit. If I didn't hear that, I suspect nothing on the hill will bother me.
On the other hand, if the wind is blowing in the right direction and snowmaking is close enough, I have gone to sleep with the soft hum of fanguns: ah! music to my ears!
Who owns the land of the original Crotched Mtn.? Someone with a condo over there told me that the town/state was strongly against redeveloping over there but I didn't have time for a follow up question. Damn Rocket lift...it's too fast to hold a decent conversation!!
The town of Francestown took it for back taxes. While I grew up skiing on the East side with its neat trails like Dipsy Doodle and Old Glory, the West side was the better of the two to redevelop.
I believe Francestown wants their back taxes paid as part of any redevelopment offer. So short of volcanic or tectonic activity adding another 500 feet of vertical, that's pretty much a non-starter.
Thanks for answering my question. I guess they would want the interest on that too. I'm sure besides the eco concerns no one in the area would want a big expansion that failed again either.
ISNE-I Skied New England | NESAP-the New England Ski Area Project | SOSA-Saving Our Ski Areas - Location SW of Boston MA
Comments
OK, so call me "ye of little faith". I accept that and hope you are right!
Mar. 12, 2017 Sun.
19 of 25 trails. Cold and windy. The day started at -3°F and slowly rose to 20°F.
They appear to have made some snow. And with outstanding grooming, combined with the fact that there was no one there made the skiing quite enjoyable. The lack of crowds kept it from being skied off in the usual spots on Moon Walk & Milky Way. Pluto is consistent top to bottom even though it is less than half width now in spots.
They had a randonee free hill race in the morning & tele demos all day.
The Little Green Giant Sprout made an appearance in the base lodge and they were handing out tasty vegetable samples.
The aerators are off in the pond so snowmaking must be done. But with it this cold stretch and this potential storm coming in on top of that, next weekend looks to be good.
Some of the reasons is if I end up with a Peak's Pass, it's a good option for a Blackout day...
Just curious
A very interesting read( re-read)
http://www.nelsap.org/nh/crotched.html