Mt Snow Trip Reports 2020-2021

slatham

Ripcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?

DrJeff

slatham;c-48085 wroteRipcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?

Ripcord was closed because it was frozen solid, and they chose to wait until mother nature provided the temps to soften it to make it safe to ski/ride rather than flatten it and start the re-bumping process

slatham

DrJeff;c-48087 wrote
slatham;c-48085 wroteRipcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?
Ripcord was closed because it was frozen solid, and they chose to wait until mother nature provided the temps to soften it to make it safe to ski/ride rather than flatten it and start the re-bumping process

Agreed, just would have thought the thaw process would have resulted in skiable snow earlier than yesterday.

yardsale

slatham;c-48090 wrote
DrJeff;c-48087 wrote
slatham;c-48085 wroteRipcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?
Ripcord was closed because it was frozen solid, and they chose to wait until mother nature provided the temps to soften it to make it safe to ski/ride rather than flatten it and start the re-bumping process
Agreed, just would have thought the thaw process would have resulted in skiable snow earlier than yesterday.

It would have. There was plenty of terrain they just let melt out (mine shaft, timbers to name a couple - Gulch was closed for a long spell too while Nitro was opened but mowed down - Freefall mowed down). I'm not sure, but I think they are woefully low on patrollers. They only day I saw patrollers on the Mt during the last 2 midweeks was yesterday. You'd need a patroller who was pretty capable with a sled to get down Ripcord and I bet a patroller that capable wasn't on the clock until yesterday. And zero moguls and big jumps open for many midweek days also probably because not enough patrollers.

yardsale

Just announced - they are contracting to Carinthia only on Sunday...

MOUNT SNOW WEATHER FORECAST
This warm weather has changed operations plans:

For Friday and Saturday, we plan to spin Canyon Express, Challenger, Nitro Express, and Discovery Shuttle. Planned trails for North Face are Chute, Free Fall, River Run, with a chance for Ripcord. To get back to the Main Base Area, we'll have Skyline to Committed to High Traverse, with Canyon, N.E. Time to Snowdance, and hopefully Roller Coaster. Beginner terrain will be available only on Launchpad via the Discovery Shuttle. At Carinthia, The Gulch will be open with 11 features, Nitro with 14 features, Junkyard has 2 features, and Upper Fool's Gold will be open as a ski trail.

These 4 lifts are scheduled to spin from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Beginning Sunday, all operations will be out of the Carinthia Base Area. Nitro Express is scheduled to spin from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and provide access to both ski trails and a trail with park features, weather permitting. We plan to remain open daily at Carinthia through April 18.

DrJeff

yardsale;c-48092 wrote
slatham;c-48090 wrote
DrJeff;c-48087 wrote
slatham;c-48085 wroteRipcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?
Ripcord was closed because it was frozen solid, and they chose to wait until mother nature provided the temps to soften it to make it safe to ski/ride rather than flatten it and start the re-bumping process
Agreed, just would have thought the thaw process would have resulted in skiable snow earlier than yesterday.
It would have. There was plenty of terrain they just let melt out (mine shaft, timbers to name a couple - Gulch was closed for a long spell too while Nitro was opened but mowed down - Freefall mowed down). I'm not sure, but I think they are woefully low on patrollers. They only day I saw patrollers on the Mt during the last 2 midweeks was yesterday. You'd need a patroller who was pretty capable with a sled to get down Ripcord and I bet a patroller that capable wasn't on the clock until yesterday. And zero moguls and big jumps open for many midweek days also probably because not enough patrollers.

The rumors I heard about why they flattened so much of Carinthia out as soon as they did was more in line with GM Tracy very, very, very much wanting to make that announced April 18th closing date in her first season. And leveling out Nitro as much as they did, as early as they did was more to do with now not having to work the snow as much (which expedites the melting process) to try and stretch the season to next weekend. That apparently is also why they closed off Mineshaft, and Inferno while they were still ski/rideable and shut down Sunbrook, so that they'd have snow farming sources available in close proximity to the trails they felt they could make it to the 18th on, especially when they looked at the longer range temps forecasted starting a few weeks ago.

joshua_segal

DrJeff;c-48098 wrote
yardsale;c-48092 wrote
slatham;c-48090 wrote
DrJeff;c-48087 wrote
slatham;c-48085 wroteRipcord looks sweet. I thought it was done seeing how it wasn't open the various times I looked at report - why?

Front side looks done. I am not up there but from reports and CAMS it seems Stratton has way more snow on core "front side" trails than Mt Snow? True or an illusion?
Ripcord was closed because it was frozen solid, and they chose to wait until mother nature provided the temps to soften it to make it safe to ski/ride rather than flatten it and start the re-bumping process
Agreed, just would have thought the thaw process would have resulted in skiable snow earlier than yesterday.
It would have. There was plenty of terrain they just let melt out (mine shaft, timbers to name a couple - Gulch was closed for a long spell too while Nitro was opened but mowed down - Freefall mowed down). I'm not sure, but I think they are woefully low on patrollers. They only day I saw patrollers on the Mt during the last 2 midweeks was yesterday. You'd need a patroller who was pretty capable with a sled to get down Ripcord and I bet a patroller that capable wasn't on the clock until yesterday. And zero moguls and big jumps open for many midweek days also probably because not enough patrollers.
The rumors I heard about why they flattened so much of Carinthia out as soon as they did was more in line with GM Tracy very, very, very much wanting to make that announced April 18th closing date in her first season. And leveling out Nitro as much as they did, as early as they did was more to do with now not having to work the snow as much (which expedites the melting process) to try and stretch the season to next weekend. That apparently is also why they closed off Mineshaft, and Inferno while they were still ski/rideable and shut down Sunbrook, so that they'd have snow farming sources available in close proximity to the trails they felt they could make it to the 18th on, especially when they looked at the longer range temps forecasted starting a few weeks ago.

It seems that the "Vail way" is that if you say you will be open, you will be! CM made it to its scheduled closing date despite pouring rain and it looks like Sunapee will crawl to its finish line this Sunday with very little open terrain.

NELSBEER

I skied Wildcat yesterday. Signage said they were trying for 10 more days but the limited remaining terrain didn't look like it. They did not groom Thursday night because the cover was too thin, didn't make much difference, there were few skiers with descent spring conditions. There were 2 top to bottom routes with a few crossovers.

Wildcat did have its upstairs kitchen open, with a limited menu of real food, all beer was bottled and the deck was open with social distancing.

jaytrem

Ripcord is great today! Taking a lunch break then back at it.

jaytrem

Snow was melting fast today. Stopped by Carinthia on the way out. Not sure how much longer they'll maks it. Should get a closer look tomorrow.

For me today was about as good as it gets. Ripcord was perfect from around 9. Also got to ski with some old friends and their kids (had my kids with me too). Special day.

DrJeff

jaytrem;c-48117 wroteSnow was melting fast today. Stopped by Carinthia on the way out. Not sure how much longer they'll maks it. Should get a closer look tomorrow.

For me today was about as good as it gets. Ripcord was perfect from around 9. Also got to ski with some old friends and their kids (had my kids with me too). Special day.

Agree!! Such a fun day, even with the rapid snow melt, some definite thin cover, mandatory dirt/grass skiing in places!

Surprised the patched together bottom pitch on Canyon made it until 4PM (My crew was watching from a table on "main street" while rehydration courtesy of Canned after about 2PM) and for a while I thought that patrol may have to hand out life jackets for small kids and/or week swimners to safely get through the puddles at the entrance to the Challenger triple lift line lanes, and potentially mtn ops putting some navigational buoys in those puddles!

Ripcord went out like a champ today, even if the first 2 or 3 turns became more brown than white after noon!

jaytrem

Today started out nice and sunny. By 8:15 the fog rolled in, pretty much all the way to the base. Crazy fast. Snow stayed nice and soft over night. Tore a tele binding off around 10:30. Always fun skiing on.one tele ski, was 2/3 down, so not terrible. It's cleared up some, but I'm just sitting on the deck while the kids take a few more runs. Usually have backup equipment since I tend to break stuff, not today though, doh! Might run back to the house abd do a few after lunch, probably won't bother though.

jaytrem

Forgot to mention the coverage. Quite good actually. Much better than the main mountain. I think they should be able to make next weekend, especially if they're willing to just spin Heavy Metal. Could probably go a couple weeks if they pushed those jumps around.

jgreco

4/16 - Probably an average of 6" at opening. Only Fool's Gold and Gulch to start. Not sure if they were delaying Nitro or maybe saving it for the weekend. Kinda fluffy for the first 200 ft of vert, then good snowball packing snow below that (there were a couple snowball rollers that formed on the landings of the Gulch jumps). By second run, the narrow strips of base that remained under the fresh snow were packed/scraped. And any fresh snow spots (except for Gulch where the base is widest) were just sirens luring shredders to their rocky/muddy deaths.

If it had just rained yesterday and stopped, there's no way they would've made it through the weekend without lots of walking. I don't even know if they would've made if this week had just continued to be sunny.

Only pic.

slatham

Such a shame that there's not more base and open terrain/areas. For most of us this is a wasted storm.

DrJeff

jgreco;c-48206 wrote4/16 - Probably an average of 6" at opening. Only Fool's Gold and Gulch to start. Not sure if they were delaying Nitro or maybe saving it for the weekend. Kinda fluffy for the first 200 ft of vert, then good snowball packing snow below that (there were a couple snowball rollers that formed on the landings of the Gulch jumps). By second run, the narrow strips of base that remained under the fresh snow were packed/scraped. And any fresh snow spots (except for Gulch where the base is widest) were just sirens luring shredders to their rocky/muddy deaths.

If it had just rained yesterday and stopped, there's no way they would've made it through the weekend without lots of walking. I don't even know if they would've made if this week had just continued to be sunny.

Only pic.

That flat area on Nitro, not too far above where you took this pic from, basically in the area where they have the 1 fan gun mounted on the short tower as opposed to the 10 footers or so that the rest of them are mounted on, was getting thin last Sunday, so what may be lurking under that snow, is way more dirt and grass than an actual skiable surface.

And I agree with your assessment that if it wasn't for this storm, that this weekend with lifts spinning would be questionable (and even Sunday may still be in question if one is honest...)

jgreco

was getting thin last Sunday, so what may be lurking under that snow, is way more dirt and grass than an actual skiable surface.

Yeah, Wednesday was rough. Skier-width fast-mud entrance to Nitro and the spot you mention had a single skier-width S-turn of rocky snow. Lower Fool's Gold was in rough shape this morning, even with the new snow.

Are they able to run Heavy Metal? If they push out Gulch tables, they could make Sunday, no problem.

yardsale

Mt. Snow is "sold out" currently for Sat & Sun.

slatham

Ending season asdvgasvd show? I hope they adjusted capacity to 2 lifts.

lotsoskiing

Looks like 2 lifts and Carinthia. 20" of heavy new snow

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