Crotched Mountain 2016-2017

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“lysikjake”><blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“joshua_segal”><blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“tedede”><blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“joshua_segal”>Opening day has still not been announced but snowguns have been running.</blockquote>

I think next weekend will be a challenge given the pond filling event forecast for midweek.

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I noticed that Wachusett opened and they have similar weather and less fire-power than we have!</blockquote>

They can now move 11,000 gpm up the hill, we can push 6,000 gpm</blockquote>

Someone else pointed out that Wachusett upped its fire-power this year.  At this point in time, it probably wouldn’t help CM to increase gallons per minute without first increasing its water supply.

NELSBEER

Sorry to ruin everyone’s fun. Today at 2:50 the call came in. I pulled the CLOSED sign from Pluto’s and took the first (legal) tracks. No more secret stashes there!

They have been blowing snow on Pluto’s for 2 weeks whenever weather allowed, including last night. The mixed ages of snow made for a rough ride in places today, the surface hardened up due to dropping temps.  With a nights wear and a good grooming it should be great for tomorrow. They have blown snow in many places over the last week preparing for the weekend, surfaces and coverage have been improving steadily. It looks like there is still enough water left to finish the last few snowing making  trails.

Rain and freeze have pretty much eliminated good glade skiing for the moment. There is a good base in the woods so they should be back quickly with a descent snow fall.

NELSBEER

Today the rope came down on COMET DROP, the last regular trail to open. The rain had soaked the snow but wind & cool temps had pulled out enough surface moisture to yield a firm surface in the morning. The sun came out at 9 am and softened things up where it hit, temps hit 51 F early afternoon & kids were skiing in shirt sleeves . Through the day you had a choice of anything firm chattering corduroy that required riding your edges to near spring soft stuff.

Earlier in the week most of the trails got freshened up & stocked with whales ready to be spread out for the weekend. Major park builds are underway for the Saturday night park event as well. Should be fun with the PAT’s game on, park events, Bon Fire & midnight madness happening together on MLK weekend.    

xwhaler

Ran the gates last night on Meteor as part of ARL. Quite firm but you could sink an edge in with the right skis. 

Similar conditions to last week and based on temp trends looks like next Wed night as well.

The rest of the mtn during warm up runs was less than desirable.

joshua_segal

Jan. 12, 2017 - Thursday

Better conditions today than  those of yesterday, but with the fog overnight, there has been tremendous loss of snow depth.

No real loss of open terrain.

The snowmaking pond is refilling, but those of us looking forward to glades and bumps will have to wait a bit longer.

joshua_segal

Jan.  14, 2017 - Sat.

Amazing what a little snowmaking and grooming will do.  Skiing is really pretty good today.  That’s a bit of a surprise considering how bad it was yesterday!

ski_it

Sh-hh-hhh. Don’t tell anyone ;)

Guns are blazing. They were draining the pond. Firm underneath but the trails where the fans were going were nice. Satellite to Meteor, UFO & Velocity. Jupiter…forgetaboutit…Pluto, not too bad. I found Moonwalk to be the usually stuff but late in the day some novices seemed to have trouble with it. Saw 4 at one time with skis off. Nelsbeer surprised me in the lift line and we shared a chair. I didn’t recognize him at first because he was in camo (in his civvys). It was not crowded for a holiday weekend and we banged out 20+ runs in no time and we were out of there.

yardsale

Skied CM today 8:30 to 12:15. Rocket was loading early for college GS race on Satellite Summit/Meteor so I hopped on. Soft cord just about everywhere for the early morning runs. Jupiter Storm skied off quick probably due to the race as it was the only route down skiers left of rocket. Robust crowd due to Pat’s promotion - lots taking advantage of the $29 ticket. Rocket was still ski on via the singles lane. Skied the short bump line on UFO - icy troughs but good sized soft/crusty bumps. Skied Satellite Summit / Meteor in between morning and afternoon races. Perfect morning to get in a ton of runs and be home and ready for SB LI.  Comfy temps in high 20’s.

Cord on Pluto’s

Jupiter’s Storm headwall before it got skied off

Morning GS woman’s run

Meteor

joshua_segal

Feb. 5, 2017 - Sunday

I was surprised more people weren’t here today given the $29 Super Bowl special.  I noticed I haven’t commented since Jan. 14.  Basically, the skiing has been OK, but there isn’t much change to report.  The major storms keep missing us.

It’s been pretty much frozen granular with minimal glades.  There are moguls on UFO, but because of the poor snowmaking job over there, they are barely skiable by mortals.  The snowmaking missed the top ⅙, the next ⅓ is lovely, the next ⅓ they missed with the snowgun and the last ⅙ is nice.

I wasn’t feeling the magic today so I decided to get the adrenaline pumping by trying some glades. The glades report:

A summary: 

- Enchanted Forest: A lot of thin cover but I hit no rocks.  I did not take it to the serpentine path.

- Dark Star: I didn’t even consider it.  It really wasn’t maintained last summer and it will need more snow.  The exception is the T-Bar line which is maintained by another SJer.  I didn’t take it, but the report I got from 2 who did: Nice at the top. Icy and scrapy at the bottom.

- Kuiper Belt: Didn’t try, but it wasn’t maintained last summer

- Solstice: Thin cover but quite skiable.

- Uranus: Didn’t try

- West Ledges: Only took one of the 4 options and it was REALLY bony.  I did more sidestepping than skiing

- Final Frontier and most of its chutes and cutoffs: Quite skiable and pleasant.

lysikjake

Everyone has to complain about the poor snowmaking. We’re just trying to do our job!

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“lysikjake”>Everyone has to complain about the poor snowmaking. We’re just trying to do our job!</blockquote>

Try moving the gun so that it covers the area of interest! When making snow on a mogul field, you can’t just park a gun and make whales.

ski_it

Edit: Great report Yardsale and good addendum JS. I thought conditions were good. Machined groom on hardpack. Rode the Rocket with Tedede and had a chat for the first time. Said hi to Nelsbeer. SJ homecoming? Besides the $29 Pats promo I heard that midweek pass holders could ski free. That was their PeakPass holders Appreciation Weekend perk. Mt Snow had wine & cheese and a raffle, not that I tried to get any. Attitash had an apres ski party. I think CM should have given out a free Rocket fuel.  <:-P I parked pretty far back in the lot so I expected a bigger crowd. There must have been a lot of race fan non skiers. It was more crowded after Christmas for sure. But I did see more than a couple people who should have stayed on the beginner rope..er I mean carpet, instead of venturing up ot the top.  Rode up with some nice Babson racers and got the lowdown from them.YS: I like that low angle shot of Pluto and was there a sun halo visible or is that just in the camera.

joshua_segal

Re the college race:  The last time they had one (2 or 3 years ago), they left our mountain as though they were in a pig sty.  I wrote a scathing report and one of the Clarkson coaches who was active on SJ1.0 (I don’t think he is on SJ2.0) said he would deliver my message to the appropriate race organizers.  While their clean-up was not perfect, they left minimal trash on the hill.

From this we learn:

1. Sometimes bitching pays off

and

2. Half the problem is to get the complaint to the right people!

A hearty thanks to those associated with the race.

yardsale

I rode up with some Castleton racers and had a great conversation.  Very polite and courteous.

joshua_segal

Feb. 6, 2017 - Mon.

With very light traffic, the mountain held its groomed granular surface pretty much all day.

With the opening of the connection from Super Nova to Comet Drop,  Shooting Star is fully open and as of today, all trails on the trail map are fully open.  A rope remains on Re-entry where it allows one to cross under the West Double, but that’s not named on the trail map. (Not sure why it’s closed.  Snow was made at its base and there is plenty of snow to push if management wanted to open it.)

tedede

.  A rope remains on Re-entry where it allows one to cross under the West Double, but that’s not named on the trail map. (Not sure why it’s closed.  Snow was made at its base and there is plenty of snow to push if management wanted to open it.)

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The groomer may not be able to make it under the low clearance under the double on the left side of that pitch.  

joshua_segal

Feb. 7, 2017 - Tues.

It snowed all day.  Everything was skiing beautifully - but for the adventurers, it was a day that really makes Crotched an area with true expert skiing.

Solstice and Final Frontier (and all its chutes and cuts) skied well.  You probably won’t even ding a good pair of skis.

Dark Star (including T-Bar lift line) and Upper Enchanted Forest skied well - but I advise against using a good pair of skis.

Uranus and the West Ledges were difficult (due to logs and rocks) and were marginally pleasant.

Kuyper Belt remains unskiable.

joshua_segal

</blockquote>

The groomer may not be able to make it under the low clearance under the double on the left side of that pitch.  </blockquote>

You know it is not a requirement that a trail be groomed to open it!

joshua_segal

Feb. 8, 2017 - Weds.

After a lackluster January, February is off to a great start.  One of the great beauties of living on a mountain and skiing every day is just how different every day can be.  

After Tuesday’s powder day, Weds. was a combination of groomed powder.  (The groomer broke the crust left by the freezing rain.)  As the day warmed up, the ungroomed started to ski well as a combination of spring snow plus soft chop.  The natural-mogul lovers will appreciate the run under the Rocket.

But today (Feb. 9), that’s just history as the new storm has already started dumping.  About an inch is down and the forecasts are calling for 3″ per hour snowfall rates meaning every run is a powder run!  Local forecasts are calling for more than a foot - although with our bad luck this year,  I suspect most of us will be pleased with a foot!  Stay tuned - and if you dare to drive - come on up!

ski_it

“After a lackluster January..” Compared to last season or on the average?

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