Crotched Mountain 2016-2017

NELSBEER

Saturday and Sunday will be the make up days for the Spring Skiing we haven’t seen yet this year. There is still a fair amount of snow on the hill as of today, more than there was 1 ½ weeks ago… it is virtually all white natural stuff so far, hopefully tomorrows rain will roll off. Saturday will be overcast in the am & clearing, Sunday looks like a perfect warm sunny spring day to slop around in soft stuff, get a sun burn & tailgate a little.

Amazing that we are sharing our closing date with Mount Snow & Mount Attitash.  Guess the next stop is Wildcat.

xwhaler

Mt Snow plans daily ops thru 4/16 but your point remains a good one. Nice effort by CM and Peaks all around in offering a nice season length.

NELSBEER

Ops, got my dates crossed, guess I was pushing for a Crotched $10.99 tax day special lift ticket and an Easter Parade.(not going to happen).

I think it still about our latest closing.

Remski

Live from Crotched. Super spring skiing conditions. Coverage is great and the groomers are stellar. Believe it or not the glades are still in play and the cover on them is remarkable for April 8/9. Kieper belt and and West Ledges are the only 2 I don’t recommend but the rest have at them!!!! I recommend Dark star, Popcorn,Uranus, Hellions Gate and the top half of Kieper Belt but exit at the start shack on Meteor. Hey! And the bar is open+++++ Joshua I skied several twice just for you.

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Remski”>Live from Crotched. Super spring …

… Joshua I skied several twice just for you.</blockquote> I’m sure I enjoyed them. Still in FL but my ski season is not over!

NELSBEER

Tomorrow (Sunday 9th) should be the best skiing of any closing day of the season (they keep getting pushed back). Today the temps never broke 35 degrees on the upper slopes and the wind sucked moisture out of the snow on most of the hill, only the bottom got wet.  With temps dropping again tonight we should be back to winter conditions for the morning softening after noon as the sun gets overhead. Winter skiing and tailgating weather together, only in New England.

They did restock the cafeteria and bar for this final weekend… On draft  Switchback, Henniker’s Working Man;s Porter & Rocket Fuel IPA. We drained the taps 2 weeks ago, so come help us do it again!

Quietman

I was a great closing day.  Great coverage, even poached Jupiters a few times.  I felt bad for the mountain that the crowd was so light, makes it hard to get them to do it next year.   

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Quietman”>I was a great closing day.  Great coverage, even poached Jupiters a few times.  I felt bad for the mountain that the crowd was so light, makes it hard to get them to do it next year.   </blockquote>

Being in FL, my only contact with the hill this weekend, was an occasional look at the Webcam.  Today things looked dead, but it looked like there was a decent crowd on Saturday.  Nelsbeer: what did you see?

Quietman

When I arrived at 1pm today, there were no cars in the lot next to the carpet, and that’s dead for an absolutely gorgeous sunny Sunday. There were almost nice icy/thin spots on the open trails.  I hope there were more people there yesterday.  Sad as it may be my last day this year, but the last 3 weekends have been amazing. 

NELSBEER

Things were darn good considering this was the fourth planned closing date, all the others were snowed out. Starting at 8:30 (that red coat is good for somethings) I got 20 nice runs in before noon. Initially everything was firm, as the groomed stuff in the sun softened so did the ungroomed. E.g. Pluto’s chute yielded more interesting terrain as it softened. The groomers did some extra work on Comet Drop and we were able to drop the rope on it, its more shaded than most trails and did well all day. Yes, some folks were still in the woods getting a few last licks.

The crowd was about equal to a good weekday, most Rocket chairs were carrying riders early in the day. Not nearly the crowd heavily discounted tickets had drawn the prior week. By 1 pm things had softened up to spring slush moguls on the steeper parts Satellite Summit, Moonwalk and the like were fun to cut through. The Zero G/Comet area got down to the wet draggy stuff.while the bottom slowly thinned to white streaks in the mud.

Probably as nice a closing day as I have ever seen at Crotched. No question of closing too soon, it just feels done.   

Quietman

Probably as nice a closing day as I have ever seen at Crotched. No question of closing too soon, it just feels done.   

</blockquote>

 Agreed! Much better than expected after skiing on 3/9 and Plutos and other trails were only ½ coverage.  The last 3 weekends were great!!

I will be earning my turns as long as possible. 

joshua_segal

Apr. 16, 2017 - Sun.

Pretty scary how much snow was lost since Friday.  Satellite Summit may still be continuous from the top.  Neither Moon Walk nor Lower Blastoff (aka, Upper Pluto’s) was.  I quit climbing when I ran out of snow on Lower Blastoff.  Pluto’s is still T2B.  Some minimal walking is required on Magnitude and Meteor.

The water hole to the west of the Rocket that gets filled in with snow during the season, was about half full as the drain/outflow could not quite keep up with the inflow.  Lots of water coming off the hill.

To Quietman: If you want to earn some turns, don’t wait too long!

I saw a hiker, but no other skiers/riders.

Remski

Somebody shutdown the cam so now we can’t see what’s left to earn turns on. Oh well.

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Remski”>Somebody shutdown the cam so now we can’t see what’s left to earn turns on. Oh well.</blockquote>

As of yesterday, you would be hard pressed to find more than 300 continuous vertical feet without “some walking required”. The quantity of snow that melted between Friday, the 14th and yesterday can only be categorized as epic.

Quietman

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“joshua_segal”>Apr. 16, 2017 - Sun.

To Quietman: If you want to earn some turns, don’t wait too long!

</blockquote>

I waited too long. Drove by this afternoon and didn’t bother getting out of the car. Oh well, it was a fun spring!!

joshua_segal

May 2, 2017 -  Tues.

Almost no snow is left on the mountain.  A few of the larger features on Lower Park (lower Magnitude) will last to pretty near the end of May.

My 2016-7 CM Season in review:

First hike: Nov. .26

First lift serviced: Dec. 10

Last lift serviced: Mar. 25

Last hike: Apr. 16

Total days: 99; Lift serviced: 90; Earned turns: 9

Total vertical: 1,750,000 feet

A season of extremes: Dec. - good; Jan. - poor; late Jan. to Presidents Day - Excellent; Presidents Day thru first week in March - downright ugly; 2nd week of March to end of season - One of the best ever.

I hope all of our CM readers on SJ enjoyed the season as much as I did - and we’ll do it again next winter!

joshua_segal

As of 5/13/2017, there were still a few small patches of snow on Lower Magnitude (aka, the Park) and at the top of the headwall toward the bottom of Velocity.

xwhaler

Any capital improvements happening at CM this off season by chance? Either in the lodge or out on the slopes?

CM will be our home mtn next yr

joshua_segal

Nelsbeer tends to follow this more closely than I do, but as far as I know, the only plans for the summer are in the category of “routine maintenance.”  

This in itself is neither trivial nor cheap.  A look at the industry shows a lot of areas in a serious states of “deferred maintenance” and doing only the minimum necessary over the summer to pass the necessary inspections so that they can open!

To xwhaler: Welcome to our group of SJers who are also CM regulars. 

thebigo

Will also be our home mountain next year. Not that I am advocating for it but surprised CM has not put more of the glades on the map. Lets them claim something new with almost no cost and in some cases the off map stuff is in better shape than on map.

« Previous Page Next Page »