Mt Snow Trip Reports 2020-2021

IBRAKEFORTBARS

NELSAP;c-46456 wroteThat snow looks terrific!

I absolutely agree. That’s some of the best powdah I’ve seen in VT.

marcski

IBRAKEFORTBARS;c-46465 wrote
NELSAP;c-46456 wroteThat snow looks terrific!
I absolutely agree. That’s some of the best powdah I’ve seen in VT.

Come on, VT can do much better than that. Here is some Grade A NYS powder from Sat.:

yardsale

I took Sunday off from the wind and cold. Skied afternoon on Monday 01/25/2021 and Tuesday 01/26/2021 9am until 1pm. Some observations.

The groomed / manmade surfaces have held up very well even with the weekend traffic. The natural and ungroomed are showing wear and are thin in spots (including the top portion of upper ex below tower 20 to the Ego barn :smile: ) but are still skiing well. Seems like Mt. Snow Academy "did something" to the Southbowl surface for the GS race training they've had.. I got on it this afternoon after they were finished and had some distress - super slick and not at all like any of the other surfaces. I skied it Sat and it was fine. Interesting grooming here and there with single lanes down Upper Ex, Tramline, Free Fall. There has been a broken down groomer on seasons pass for the past 2 days. It started snowing lightly here around 2-2:30 and is still snowing now at 5pm after a brief lull. I'd say an inch on the ground currently. Even if they are on the lower end of the 3-5" forecast, tomorrow will be another banner day.

Summit Pan on 1/25

Broken Groomer

Tramline 1/2 groomed

DrJeff

yardsale;c-46530 wroteI took Sunday off from the wind and cold. Skied afternoon on Monday 01/25/2021 and Tuesday 01/26/2021 9am until 1pm. Some observations.

The groomed / manmade surfaces have held up very well even with the weekend traffic. The natural and ungroomed are showing wear and are thin in spots (including the top portion of upper ex below tower 20 to the Ego barn :smile: ) but are still skiing well. Seems like Mt. Snow Academy "did something" to the Southbowl surface for the GS race training they've had.. I got on it this afternoon after they were finished and had some distress - super slick and not at all like any of the other surfaces. I skied it Sat and it was fine. Interesting grooming here and there with single lanes down Upper Ex, Tramline, Free Fall. There has been a broken down groomer on seasons pass for the past 2 days. It started snowing lightly here around 2-2:30 and is still snowing now at 5pm after a brief lull. I'd say an inch on the ground currently. Even if they are on the lower end of the 3-5" forecast, tomorrow will be another banner day.

Summit Pan on 1/25

Broken Groomer

Tramline 1/2 groomed

Don't think it was MSA doing anything to the snow on South Bowl as it was the combo of the cold and that persistent wind late Saturday through early Monday. The surface from basically the top down past "coaches knoll" (the ridge maybe 100 yards downhill of where High Traverse cuts across to Ex, was basically polished porcelain starting Sunday morning.

That Northwest wind just stripped the soft stuff off of that exposed area and got it down to the set, formerly wet base stuff they laid down on it a few weeks ago.

My daughter thought it was great to train on on Sunday, whereas my wife and I wanted nothing to do with ducking the training rope and talking with the coaches while watching our daughter take some laps in the course as we often have in the past, after taking our 1st run of the day on it at about 8:10 on Sunday... great race snow, not so much fun to casually cruise on though!!

yardsale

I'm sure your right Dr. J - the wind ravages Southbowl. Thus, I guess, it makes a great race trail.

DrJeff

yardsale;c-46540 wroteI'm sure your right Dr. J - the wind ravages Southbowl. Thus, I guess, it makes a great race trail.

Great to race on for the athletes, one of the least favorite for parents to spectate on on race day, as it's a challenge to get to a good vantage point to watch your spandex clad offspring hurl themselves down the course, especially since the majority of racer parents on race day don't ski, but hike to the finish area, which for South Bowl races is just about where Link spills out on to South Bowl not too far from the top of the Ego lift.

Arguably the only more challenging finish area to get to as a parent that I've been too, is at Magic, where the older racers (U14 and above) race on the Talisman trail for slalom, and the finish isn't close to the base and/or any cross trail!

I will say that it wasn't until my kids got into ski racing going on 10yrs ago now, that I realized what a pain in the a$$ it was for my parents many, many, many years ago to spectate at my own races as I was growing up!!

Even my races at Mount Snow back in the day, had the GS on Ego Alley finish not too far above the top of Yardsale (the slalom finished by where Low Traverse cuts across Ego) and then the speed events finished on what used to be known as Sundance (now the lower section of South Bowl) near the top of the Tumbleweed lift...

Granted that was back in the days where it didn't really matter of sanctioned race trails had lift towers in them, unlike now!! 😉

ski_it

The finish area at Ragged appeared to be a long way up for some parents too. I haven't walked either MS in season or Ragged, so you're the experts.

rickbolger

Interesting! never thought of South Bowl as a race slope but it makes sense. Super firm much more often than not, wide enough for variety and steep enough to showcase the varsity skiers. Put a poma on it straight up the side of looker's left, and they'd really have something. Much better for racing than Ego Alley, I would think, aside from ego having a dedicated chair.

lotsoskiing

rickbolger;c-46556 wroteInteresting! never thought of South Bowl as a race slope but it makes sense. Super firm much more often than not, wide enough for variety and steep enough to showcase the varsity skiers. Put a poma on it straight up the side of looker's left, and they'd really have something. Much better for racing than Ego Alley, I would think, aside from ego having a dedicated chair.

Fallen Timbers was a good racing trail but too narrow by today's regs

newpylong

I have trained GS on Timbers and even Plummet back in the day. That double fall line was rough. Had a Super G on South Bowl too. Flattest Super G ever, a far cry from Narrow Gauge at Sugarloaf, etc.

Re: Ragged, the finish for Flying Yankee isn't super close to the lodge but it's fairly flat.

yardsale

01/27/2021 Mt. reported 4" which may have been slightly under. The groomed varied with 2" to 3" of fluff over the groom. I skied an early line down an ungroomed Plummet and it seemed closer to 6. The groomed terrain in the morning was super good. There was some scrape off by late morning - but these trails will have the soft snow groomed back into the surface and should stand up great through this cold spell. The natural terrain got the booster shot from this - this has been a terrific stretch.

They were short staffed today. My wife stood just outside the bluebird coral and asked the coral attendant to scan her because she had not been scanned yet. It was noon. She got scanned and skated back to meet me at GSE. Then, they finally sent 1 scanner over to G Summit. Pretty good crowd today - nothing crazy - waited once for 5 mins at GSE around 11am. Never rode the bluebird. Also Bear Trap broke again today - sheave wheel.

Free Fall around 9:20 - Northface got tracked up fast today.

Portable Document Format

Ledge - around 10:30am - my best trip down Ledge in a long long time

ski_it

Awesome!!
“... my best trip down Ledge in a long long time” . I still see ledge. Because of the way you skied it or because of the conditions? :D

yardsale

ski_it;c-46572 wroteAwesome!!
“... my best trip down Ledge in a long long time” . I still see ledge. Because of the way you skied it or because of the conditions? :D

Both. There is no ice on the naturals. There is thin cover here and there but every turn is a 100% certainty. And, I was rocking this, had a good tempo that I wanted to keep up because there were 2 boarders behind me and I had pride!

yardsale

1/28/2021 - The soft snow Wednesday got groomed into the surface and gave it some staying power. But the woods was the place to be. We spent more than 1/2 the day exploring the birches and evergreens all over the place. I got to ski with my daughter for the first time this season - as a result - not many pictures could be taken as I had to keep up.

Today, 1/29/2021 was just too cold for me. I bailed. Tomorrow - think I'll bail too. Early morning cold always seems to be colder.

Riding the GSE on 1/28

DrJeff

Cold, great snow for the most part (could of done without the upper 1/3rd of South Bowl and its wind scower surface).

Bluebird was worth the 15 minute lines to get out of the cold for a bit.

Olympic, Hop, Lodge and Big Dipper were my wife's and my favorites today.

Cold definitely kept the crowds away!!

yardsale

Sun 1/31/2021 - afternoon shift 12:15 to 3:15pm. Woke up to minus 1. But as the morning went on, temps moderated, the sun was out, there was zero wind. Made our reservation at 11:30am. People do not leave on Sunday afternoon anymore. With remote learning, they stay. This afternoon was not insane at all, but the lift corals and slopes were dominated by families throughout the afternoon. Base lifts GSE and Canyon were around 5-7 min waits at each after noon. Didn't attempt BB, but that was probably only slightly longer. Sunbrook quad was 3-5 minutes, Beartrap ski on. Not sure on Carinthia, stayed away, not sure on Northface, but suspect ski-on.

Mainly lapped Canyon quad and that terrain lookers right that we have neglected lately. Coaxed Mrs. Yardsale into the Swamp Donkey or how you say The Boonies. Someone groomed OMT recently which was kind of an unpleasant surprise.

Cold temps have preserved most everything, like a grandma's jam... Not much skied off and we get yet another refresh Mon pm - Tues.

Swamp/Boonies

DrJeff

yardsale;c-46647 wrote Sun 1/31/2021 - afternoon shift 12:15 to 3:15pm. Woke up to minus 1. But as the morning went on, temps moderated, the sun was out, there was zero wind. Made our reservation at 11:30am. People do not leave on Sunday afternoon anymore. With remote learning, they stay. This afternoon was not insane at all, but the lift corals and slopes were dominated by families throughout the afternoon. Base lifts GSE and Canyon were around 5-7 min waits at each after noon. Didn't attempt BB, but that was probably only slightly longer. Sunbrook quad was 3-5 minutes, Beartrap ski on. Not sure on Carinthia, stayed away, not sure on Northface, but suspect ski-on.

Mainly lapped Canyon quad and that terrain lookers right that we have neglected lately. Coaxed Mrs. Yardsale into the Swamp Donkey or how you say The Boonies. Someone groomed OMT recently which was kind of an unpleasant surprise.

Cold temps have preserved most everything, like a grandma's jam... Not much skied off and we get yet another refresh Mon pm - Tues.

Swamp/Boonies

Heck, even at the opening bell when I parked my car about 7:45 and my car was telling me it was -3 in the preferred parking lot behind the Mount Snow Ski Club, with the bright sun and no wind, it felt downright balmy compared to the cold and wind of Saturday!!

No real lines until about 10, even then, nothing major compared to what most weekends have been....

Overbrook, Hop, Plummet, Inferno and Choke were our mid day runs of the day. Putting somewhere inside of the 1st 10 tracks of the day down Ridge into perfect corduroy about 8:10 was great!

It's REALLY GOOD on the hill right now, and should get even better in the next 36-48hrs!

The fact that you can still see some tree branches on the top roughly 1/3rd of the mountain where the winds of Saturday blew the recent snowfalls off, still encased in ice from the last liquid event from over 3 weeks ago now, is a distinct sign of what a good, favorable, snow quality preservation and building month

yardsale

I got out for a few hours today, Feb 1st 2021. The east wind had some moisture in it ahead of the snow. While it was 19(f), it was a colder feeling day than yesterday. The dry snow sucked in the moisture it seemed - things seemed firmer, but not a real issue. For lifts, I, in general, like the Bluebird/GSE combo better than the Bluebird/Canyon combo. Today was an exception, as the top 1/3 of the Mt. was a frozen thick fog. Lapping Canyon kept me out of the fog altogether. Overbrook is still in fine shape Dr. Jeff. Vail has announced the alternating of lifts midweek starting this AM: Canyon/GSE and BearTrap/Sunbrook Q on a Mon/Wed/Fri - Tu/Th schedule.

They are also rebuilding Nitro Park. No problem there, but in doing so they also close that glade between mineshaft & nitro. Steady snow started around 3pm. About 2 1/2" as of 9pm.

Groomers / Builders on Nitro

DrJeff

I am thinking now that those of us non park users will get to cruise down the Mineshaft/Inferno combo feature free all season, since it doesn't seem like they're going to make the multi-day snowmaking run to put enough snow on Inferno to build it to its large size if they haven't done so yet.

No issues in my book there. Although if they wanted to do a little something with the half pipe area rather than just keeping it with a half dozen or so random mid sized couple of week old whales, I would be OK with that as well

yardsale

02/02/2021 - The ground hog would have trouble seeing his shadow today at Mt. Snow because his goggles would be continually coated with a frozen mist.

Vail reported 12" of new. That very well may be but I would challenge anyone to find 12". You'd find 0 in spots. You'd also find 24" in other spots all with a thin coat of crust. The snow ended up somewhere - I suspect the woods may be the award winner. On the slopes, you'd go from wind scoured to ridge drifts with the crust. I thought the Sunbrook trails had the most consistent snow. I wish Milky Way was 3x as long as it is.

The lift status communication skills were lacking today as well. They were quick to announce the "wind" holds this morning but not so quick to provide updates. There were no updates after 11:30am when they got Nitro open but Bluebird and Grand Summit remained on hold all day.

Base

Ego being a work horse

crawl space

Milky Way

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