joshua_segal
The lines are definitely a factor that will knock it down at least one, but since the last week of February, things haven't been great, so that would knock it down another place.
That would move it to 6th place - i.e. the middle of the pack. If we don't get a few March dumps, I see it dropping more.
NewEnglandSkier13
joshua_segal;c-47421 wroteThe lines are definitely a factor that will knock it down at least one, but since the last week of February, things haven't been great, so that would knock it down another place.
That would move it to 6th place - i.e. the middle of the pack. If we don't get a few March dumps, I see it dropping more.
I agree with this assessment.
Lines haven't been much of an issue where I've been skiing, but I know they have been elsewhere.
joshua_segal
Mar. 13, 2021: Some of the smaller areas have closed or will close this weekend. At CM, the last night skiing of this season is tonight. And for the areas that are nominally open from Dec. 15 to Apr. 1, the season is at about the 90% point:
Since the last summary of 3-weeks ago, there has been almost no natural snow. Due to that and several comments above, I dropped this season down 2-places.
Fourth summary: 2020-1 Season
2010-1: Good snow Xmas, MLK and pres. week. No January thaw to speak of.
2012-3: While there was little snow in December and January, February and March were epic. The snow that did happen in December was right before Christmas week which was timely from an economic point-of-view. Same was true of the January snow with respect to MLK weekend. Although there was minimal early snowfall, there was a lot of good snowmaking weather in December. There were two nasty January thaws, but great mid-winter skiing right into April. Ski areas closing with 100% full-width open trails.
2018-9: Killington and Sunday River both opened on Oct. 19. Nov. snow and skiing was epic. Christmas week was above average, economically speaking. Jan. had a couple of thaws, but no major meltdown. There was a decent February, and 8 of the 9 days of Presidents Week featured great snow and great weather providing the industry a near record week. Most of VT, ME and northern NH had above average snowfall, but even the more southerly areas had great snowmaking weather to make up for any deficits. Early April featured some superb spring skiing, but mid-April included a severe meltdown where Killington dropped from 80 to 15 runs in a 2-day period. Despite that, the glacier on Killington's Superstar held up until June 2.
2013-4: The fact is, the season had a promising start, but two major meltdowns really put a damper on the season. Mad River Glen was all but shut down for a couple of weeks in January. January was unusually cold. We had a great Feb. vacation week, ending in a thaw that pretty much "firmed up" the surfaces followed by a major cold snap. The skiing in March was epic from Killington north and pretty good elsewhere. Superb skiing continued in April. Those in the Mid-Atlantic states might rate this season as #1.
2016-7: Early season: Excellent, but only at Killington; Snowfall: Average to average plus; Economics: Excellent Christmas week both weather-wise and snow; MLK Weekend was excellent despite a generally poor January; February: Thru the 15th: epic; Presidents day thru Mar. 10 - gruesome, remainder of the season: Awesome; Killington makes it until June 1.
2020-1 Early season curtailed due to COVID-19. Mid-December was off the charts. After a Christmas disastrous warm rain, there has been consistent cold weather allowing for lots of good snow-making weather, but January has been very light on natural snow. Economically, the ski areas seem to be doing well with people desperate to get outdoors and the absence of a super-spreader event associated with skiing have all been plusses. Despite the lack of January snow, with no January thaw, conditions remained very good. Early Feb. has seen lots of snow events opening glades and non-snowmaking terrain. Except for the ice-storm of Feb. 16, the month included many days of superb skiing. The 2nd half of Feb. and all of March included no natural snow. Long COVID-related lift lines continue to be a problem at most areas.
2017-8: No October skiing - Nov. 8 opening; credible Thanksgiving for bigger areas; fantastic snow at Xmas break but record low temps made the week an economic flop with most ski areas. Killington, Wildcat and other venerable giants of the industry, all closed for one or more days due to extreme cold. Jan. 10 started a 36-hour epic meltdown which turned MLK weekend into an economic disaster. Just as surfaces were beginning to recover, another meltdown pretty much neutralized Presidents Week. Most major storm following MLK day were followed by either rain or an extend meltdown. March and April have been epic. Killington just missed Memorial Day, but more areas were open in May than in any recent year.
2014-5: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December; Christmas: Rain - pretty well killed the business for the week; January including MLK Weekend: Bad - not much snow, not much business; February: Unbelievably great snow, but record cold weather kept the crowds away; Late season was great with Killington going until Memorial Day.
2019-2020: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December. Xmas week was so-so. Except for MLK weekend, January featured a lot of wild temperature swings and not much natural snow. Snow tended to be better north of the MA border. Feb. was mediocre, with little new snow, but Feb. vacation week was good. Mar. was disturbed by COVID-19 and unusually warm temps. The last New England ski area open were shut down at COB on Mar. 18.
2011-2: After October blockbuster storm, almost no natural snow all season. While the skiing was adequate on snowmaking trails, natural snow glade skiing and other aspects of the sport that involved natural snow, never materialized
2015-6: After a flurry of mid-October skiing at Killington and Sunday River, things went dead for 3 weeks or so. December was one of the warmest in history with almost no snowmaking opportunities. Much of ski country did not even open until after Christmas. The absence of natural snow has minimized glade skiing. Mad River was open a grand total of 45 days and 1/3 of those were Practice Slope only. Killington ran until May 29 despite receiving only 1/3 of its normal snow total. Most areas closed 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. A few old timers remember seasons this bad but not in the last 10 years.
Your inputs?
riverc0il
Burke season total is only 86", less than half of their annual average. Cannon season total is only 117", a third less than their seasonal average. The Mansfield Stake is more than two feet below its average for this day, when it should be approaching its deepest depth of the season. It has only been over the daily average for a given day one time this entire season. I think we have only had a single storm that produced more than a foot since January (February 2nd, I think it was)? Maybe since December? Sothern and Central New England did better, I recall... I have a northern bias in my recollections.
The lack of a thaw during 2021 (before these past few days, at least) is an extraordinary stretch. But I would rather have thaws and temperature swings accompanied by more frequent storms than consistently cold temperatures.
This has been an ideal season for pandemic impacts. I really don't feel like I have been missing much. I've skied a few days each month and my only epic day of the season was hiking for turns before the lifts opened. Short of an epic spring skiing turnaround, I would rate this season as worse than last year.
NewEnglandSkier13
I agree that snow conditions were definitely worse than last year, at least up north. I would have rated last year higher than it is.
joshua_segal
NewEnglandSkier13;c-47551 wroteI agree that snow conditions were definitely worse than last year, at least up north. I would have rated last year higher than it is.
Good comment.
There are differences between the various New England ski areas depending on such things as storm tracks and rain/snow lines.
I think last year (2019-20) would have been one or two places higher had it not been for the COVID-driven early shutdown.
I think this year (2020-1) would have been a place higher had it not been for COVID.
One unusual aspect of this season was that the northern places, notably Stowe, Burke - even Jay; were lighter than average natural snow, while some of the more southerly areas were above average.
slatham
Low snow totals and lack of snow since Presidents week (except well north and even there not much) lowers the rating for sure. I’m mean no snow for 4 weeks in late Feb into mid March sucks.
riverc0il
slatham;c-47556 wroteLow snow totals and lack of snow since Presidents week (except well north and even there not much) lowers the rating for sure.
President's week featured a storm with mixed precipitation and high winds that shut many lifts down and resulted in closed natural snow trails once cold air came in behind the wet stuff and locked up the snow. So, half of President's week was a total bust for weather (not that that matters this year, since most areas are at max capacity most weekends, so having a huge President's week this year was not important).
slatham
riverc0il;c-47573 wroteslatham;c-47556 wroteLow snow totals and lack of snow since Presidents week (except well north and even there not much) lowers the rating for sure.
President's week featured a storm with mixed precipitation and high winds that shut many lifts down and resulted in closed natural snow trails once cold air came in behind the wet stuff and locked up the snow. So, half of President's week was a total bust for weather (not that that matters this year, since most areas are at max capacity most weekends, so having a huge President's week this year was not important).
Yes the sleet storm sucked. But my point was that since the Friday of Presidents week, Feb 19th, when Bromley got 6", there have been no storms of that magnitude much less bigger. 2-3" followed by rain. 1" here, 1/2" there. Basically nothing over 4 weeks. Longer if the Friday storm this week doesn't deliver, and models have it missing to the south right now.
In SoVT at least: Terrible start, epic dump, Christmas rains, fantastic (and rare) mid season stretch, poor spring. Or do we pull off a late season rally?
NewEnglandSkier13
This is the latest that I've ever seen BMOM make snow. The early season rain event meant that we never had the man-made base that we normally do and the lack of good natural snow has made that fact even more obvious. It's been a good year business-wise, but not snow-wise.
NELSAP
Definitely been an interesting one! Where I live outside of Saratoga Springs, we have had natural snow on the ground for 90 days now, which is rare, usually we would go to bare ground at some point in there. That said, most of that was from the largest snowstorm in 100 years in Dec, that then melted down into 5" of solid base, and then all these small refresher events. We had no other events over 5", but eventually those storms added up.
I have to say that I have been very happy with conditions this year at Gore - they made a lot of snow, keep it well maintained/groomed, and rarely have I experienced boilerplate or ice there. Aside from some early Dec days, I haven't had to cancel any of my planned days to go there because of rain, and I've used that Ski-3 pass now 20 times . I'd rank it in the top 1/3 of seasons.
joshua_segal
After what could only be described as a disasterous March, this season needs to be dropped at least two places from the last summary. The question is: Is this season better (one-above) or worse than (one below) last season.
NewEnglandSkier13
joshua_segal;c-47848 wroteAfter what could only be described as a disasterous March, this season needs to be dropped at least two places from the last summary. The question is: Is this season better (one-above) or worse than (one below) last season.
Last year we definitely had more snow around here than this year, but this year didn't get cut short due to the pandemic. So it depends which way you're looking at it.
slatham
After reading my summary from last year I'd put this year ahead by a notch in SoVT. 30" dump and the MLK to Presidents stretch being key rationale.
I will note that had ski areas remained opened last year might have surpassed this year due to what was a cold, snowy and extended spring snow pack. But we'll never know.....
rickbolger
joshua_segal;c-47848 wroteAfter what could only be described as a disasterous March, this season needs to be dropped at least two places from the last summary. The question is: Is this season better (one-above) or worse than (one below) last season.
Seems this season was better but for a shorter period of time. I skied on less ice, and in less rain, but a late start and rocky ride due to covid. How all of this translates on a ranking scale, I couldn't say.
I will say that I'd rather have the usual northeast season with the typical weather related shortcomings, versus the restrictions, protocols and long lines I enjoyed this season. So give me ten more of last year rather than ten more of this year -- if that helps
slatham
Further analysis of my seasonal notes indicates that this season here in SoVt was basically only 96 days - Thursday December 17th when the 30" storm set things in motion, through this past Wednesday before warm rains put an end to good skiing, and possibly skiing full stop beyond tomorrow.
Cannonball
This season is one notch above last season. We never had any spectacular powder days this season. But we did just have an amazing 8-day stretch of gorgeous, late March spring skiing. Spring skiing was a major loss from the shutdown in March 2020.
slatham
Cannonball;c-47897 wroteThis season is one notch above last season. We never had any spectacular powder days this season. But we did just have an amazing 8-day stretch of gorgeous, late March spring skiing. Spring skiing was a major loss from the shutdown in March 2020.
No spectacular powder days this season? Where are you referencing?
joshua_segal
slatham;c-47898 wroteCannonball;c-47897 wroteThis season is one notch above last season. We never had any spectacular powder days this season. But we did just have an amazing 8-day stretch of gorgeous, late March spring skiing. Spring skiing was a major loss from the shutdown in March 2020.
No spectacular powder days this season? Where are you referencing?
Like slatham, I don't understand cannonball's response above.
Unless there is some spectacular spring skiing in April and May, I see the only argument on this season to be: Is it one above or one below the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season? I.e. is it 8th or 9th among the last 10 seasons?
NewEnglandSkier13
joshua_segal;c-47899 wroteslatham;c-47898 wroteCannonball;c-47897 wroteThis season is one notch above last season. We never had any spectacular powder days this season. But we did just have an amazing 8-day stretch of gorgeous, late March spring skiing. Spring skiing was a major loss from the shutdown in March 2020.
No spectacular powder days this season? Where are you referencing?
Like slatham, I don't understand cannonball's response above.
Unless there is some spectacular spring skiing in April and May, I see the only argument on this season to be: Is it one above or one below the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season? I.e. is it 8th or 9th among the last 10 seasons?
Are we doing this rating based purely on snow conditions or are we also taking into consideration how well the ski areas did financially?
