Crotched Mountain - 2024-5 Season

NELSBEER

The last of Crotched's snow disappeared last week, less than 2 weeks after their May Day (+2) rail jam. Despite mud & water the crews have already removed chairs from all the lifts for summer grip testing.

After several years of aggressive brush/back and trail work summer efforts will be focused on other areas this year. Delivering good skiing, reliably, remains the focus.

Projects include:
All NEW LED lighting on all trails. Most of the lights on aluminum poles have been swapped out already. LEDs were in place for the last week of night skiing on Galaxy & Big Dipper. Notably they turn on in a few seconds, no warm up, lights won't need to stay on all night - neighbors look forward to this. One note, don't look at the new LEDs, the light is very intense & will leave an image on your eyeballs for several minutes. Re-aiming the lights will be critical. No more dark trails due to burned out bulbs! :)

Replacing snowmaking pipe on LOOP C, serving the West side (Double Chair) area. They have been having problems with pipes on that side; the crew can update water distribution at the same time. The original pipe may have been used gas distribution pipe. NEW pipe is staged in parking lots already.

Upgrading The ROCKET's entire control system to better than new. The big boxes in the base & summit stations that control lift movement while monitoring chairs & towers are marvels of late analog era operations as perfected by Rube Goldberg. They will be replaced with modern NEW digital equipment. Hopefully the comm link line to the summit will be replaced as well. We can look forward to more consistent running (fewer stops) & better skier thruput. The mechanical parts of the system (Cable, grips, chairs, alignment and the like) have been upgraded over the last few years.

Crotched has not lost its humble (used) roots;

Last year saw 2 "new to us" groomers added to the Crotched fleet, they really helped improve grooming's reliability, This year an even newer 2018 PB will join the team, it reportedly has more features for better grooming.

Finally, the most visible planned effort this season will grant the penultimate desire of many kids (and adults) with typical Crotched panache. Rumor has it a used Waffle Cabin & is coming from Stowe. At last gourmet dining!

newpylong

FYI nearly all snowmaking pipe is used gas line pipe. It's very affordable and even used pipe has nearly no corrosion or anything. It's good stuff.

ski_it

Nice upgrades.
But I like analog.... and I hate those Waffle Cabins...it smells too delicious. So far I've resisted. I think they pump out the same aroma vapor that Famous Amos uses in malls. I think its called butter. It does take a bunch of kids and parents off the trail though.

tedede

There's analog and then there's Apple ][ vintage analog, which is what we're dealing with here :)

joshua_segal

ski_it;c-68764 wroteNice upgrades.
But I like analog.... and I hate those Waffle Cabins...it smells too delicious. So far I've resisted. I think they pump out the same aroma vapor that Famous Amos uses in malls. I think its called butter. It does take a bunch of kids and parents off the trail though.

When they were pitching it to our management, they had free waffles for an hour or so for employees. I thought they were good, but I've never bought one nor do I think I ever will.

NELSBEER

At least folks don't seem to dislike the concept of grooming with newer groomers. :D
It will be interesting to see reactions to the new lights, they really are painful to look at straight on.

In the meantime I'm working on an 'analogue' Waffle Recipe, my grandkids like anything that sweet, sugary & costly. Got the Belgian Waffle Iron, pearl sugar, maple syrup...

Ted, can we make them in the top Shack & vent towards the lift? Could be a great motivator for joining Ski Patrol.

hazlntskier

Question: If the waffle cabin is coming from Stowe, what is replacing it at Stowe? Sushi?

ski_it

Digital Waffle Cabin 4.0. You phone order and they bring it to you while you’re in the lift line or wherever you are on the mountain as it tracks your location. I bet then JS would order with an employee discount?
Doesn’t matter as is CM getting the hand me down analog version

lotsoskiing

ski_it;c-68780 wroteDigital Waffle Cabin 4.0. You phone order and they bring it to you while you’re in the lift line or wherever you are on the mountain as it tracks your location.
CM gets the analog version

And you need to purchase the app and reserve a spot in the queue.

Epic

NELSBEER

hazlntskier;c-68773 wroteQuestion: If the waffle cabin is coming from Stowe, what is replacing it at Stowe? Sushi?

Grapevine suggests that Stowe will be taking WAFFLE {& Sushi?} function in house, thus freeing up the cabin. The Waffle Cabin company website doesn't currently show Stowe as a location tending to bear out the rumor mill.

Using an 'app' suggests good cell phone service, that would be novel... delivery would require extra staff...
Yankee Ingenuity would make a quick service window in the lift line more likely at the Crotch. Can I get a beer with my waffle?

Do we really want kids with waffles loading? The Rocket already runs at a reduced 900' per minute to reduce mis-loads on weekends. It is a sweet lift when run at legal max. 1000' per minute - allows incredible numbers of runs per day on Crotched's vertical.

NELSBEER

A little more background on the snowmaking pipes garnered from years of rumors...

The snowmaking system was among the last things completed when Crotched was being rebuilt. They had an overall project budget & brought it in below budget with pocket change left over. The snowmaking system was done with used gas pipe, some of it may have been "very used". Remember Crotched's version of Ice Mountain? {Years ago a large pipe broke under the parking lot & sent a gusher of water up thru a parked car, quite a spectacular pile of ice formed before they got the pipes drained!}. The pipes under the parking lots have all since been replaced and after review they are replacing most of the "C" loop (with nice looking used pipe) to eliminate ongoing problems that it has been experiencing. It is not the welding, we have a great welder who is borrowed by all the NE resorts when placing pipe.

joshua_segal

May 15, 2025: The last patch of snow of the 24-5 season. The lift on the left is the Valley Chair and the trail is, of course, CM Park.

lotsoskiing

Get the last turn!!!

obienick

What is the C Loop?

joshua_segal

obienick;c-68924 wroteWhat is the C Loop?

The snowmaking system has three loops, A, B, and C. C loop covers most of the west side of the mountain.

NELSBEER

More information on snowmaking upgrades.

They will be starting digging in the parking lots next week (first week of June). Judging by the paint & flag markings much of main parking area will be dug up. You may have noticed chairs pulled from lifts for summer testing were not left in this lot this year.

The plan now is to re-do much of the original B & C loops which have been failing increasingly over the last several years due to poor initial pipe quality and a rushed install without sand packed around the pipes. Crews have been quietly patching problems as they occurred but it has gotten bad enough that snowmaking is getting impacted. Fixing the root problem makes sense.

The 'B' Loop is the main one running from the base to the summit to the right of Pluto's Plunge, up Moonwalk to the Rocket's top. It splits at the top and sends water down various trails.

The 'C' Loop's main line runs up the right of Super Nova to the top of the West Lift,

There are various valve houses that support diversions to side trails. All pipes are in loops starting and ending at the pond/pumphouse to facilitate draining when snowmaking is complete. The end of the pumphouse is in the photo above, it houses 6 400 hp pumps

Needless to say, stay clear of equipment when visiting the mountain this summer.
Also most parking lots have been gated (or chained), drive in slowly.

obienick

Will they then regrade the lots after the work? I have to say Crotched's main lot is one of the worst by far among ski areas, which is a pretty low bar.

NELSBEER

Likely it will be flattened and raked out with the tractor.

Pavement would be nice but snow & lifts get the focus & $.

tedede

Looks like Rt 47 between the original and reborn Crotched washed out on June 1.

This just popped up in my feed:
https://www.facebook.com/wxcyrena/videos/23952961270964245

@joshua_segal or @NELSBEER have you hiked the hill since then?

NELSBEER

Route 47 washed out early afternoon on Saturday downhill from the Golf Club turnoff. It was fixed by end of day the following Wednesday. Additional road damage by the club & on mountain road. Washout was shown on WMUR.

They closed NH-47 from Francestown to Bennington to all but local traffic and posted a paved highway detour thru Greenfield to Bennington. Those that know the area were able to use a good dirt alternative; 47 to 2nd NH Turnpike as far as the club & up the hill to rejoin 47.

Walked lower CM slopes, there were washouts on the dirt service roads as usual.

The ticks are everywhere in the grass, but beaten down trails are OK for walking with some bug spray.

The snowmaking pipe replacement project was moving ahead with 1 12" & 2 4" pipes in trenches across the parking lots already. Judging by the number of cars and people there are significant resources being brought to bear on the project as well as extra rented equipment. They should be able to patch up the maintenance road in passing.

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