New England 2021-2022 Northeast Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[James]

My question was strictly how accurate are the snowfall estimates. Killington contradicts itself but maybe that's just one bad example. It does look like Jay Peak gets a shitload and easily > 300" on average.

Doesn’t mean Jay’s conditions are like Alta. Unless you catch the storm, Jay’s conditions aren’t materially better than Killington. Sometimes Killington has more.

It’s fairly common ro be driving up on the Killington access road and things change from wet to snow. Or on the mountain. Killington does seem to have a micro climate that gets more snow.

The fact is, most VT places don’t even need snow for decent skiing. They need cold. And maybe snow down south in NY and Boston. That beats the bushes and gets people out. One of the best years recently was 5-6 years ago when it stayed cold for like 9 weeks. I don’t think it snowed any more than usual. But the woods built up to easily waist deep in spots and trails had moguls like Colorado.

We still remember because it was unusual.

The other thing you miss, besides the obvious, RAIN, is March. March can have very significant snowfalls, esp March/April. Maybe one third of the total can occur then. Plus people start not coming.
Places often close for lack of people but plenty of snow, and they open with plenty of people and a lack of snow.

 

[Crank]

Yes. If I've said it once I've said in a zillions times - Jay is hit or miss. It can be awesome and magical. It can be a chunk of ice. The trees and glades are fantastic - when there is a decent amount of coverage and a decent amount of fresh on top. The Jay Cloud is real albeit inconsistent, unreliable, elusive.

To James' point above, I have had many great ski trips to Northern VT in mid-late March with midwinter conditions and spring like crowds. And then I've had trips in mid-late March that were very disappointing conditions wise.

 

[dbostedo]

Places often close for lack of people but plenty of snow, and they open with plenty of people and a lack of snow.

Well that part, at least, is also true at many places out west... there are a few places that operate until the snow fails (A-Basin, Mammoth, Snowbird), but most close with good snow still available, but not enough business.

 

[James]

Well that part, at least, is also true at many places out west... there are a few places that operate until the snow fails (A-Basin, Mammoth, Snowbird), but most close with good snow still available, but not enough business.

True, but people greatly underestimate the great coverage you can get late season. Though last year Stowe was a poor closing weekend, Killington that same weekend was not.


Skiing back to car April 16 at Kton. Before this it was bare.



Top of Stowe April 17. Looks nice, but Nosedive became horrible glue in the middle and the other side - never seen that much dirt in the middle of an open trail.

 

[dbostedo]

never seen that much dirt in the middle of an open trail.

Surely you've come across spring trails with a "snow bridge" or even some spot where you have to ski across grass?

 

[James]

Surely you've come across spring trails with a "snow bridge" or even some spot where you have to ski across grass?

That’s different, you see it a mile away.
This was “snow” or rather a thin coating over dirt and rocks. Snirt with chunks. Unmarked, took up almost the whole trail. It was pretty bad. So bad, I’m never skiing Stowe again until the next time!

Upshot- light years worse than Kton even with walking past mud at Kton week before.

 

[dbostedo]

That’s different, you see it a mile away.
This was “snow” or rather a thin coating over dirt and rocks. Snirt with chunks. Unmarked, took up almost the whole trail. It was pretty bad. So bad, I’m never skiing Stowe again until the next time!

Upshot- light years worse than Kton even with walking past mud at Kton week before.

Ah... I see.... never quite skied snirt... this might be the closest I've been on.... Whitetail on 03/19 last season... several areas like this, but you could mostly avoid the rocks...

 

[Wilhelmson]

The best way would be to measure the mid mountain snow depth in the woods in late February. Or just look at how many rocks and stumps are sticking out.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

This is what over 4 feet of natural snow and some world class snowmaking looks like after 6 rain/refeeeze events. This shot is the cross over trail from Upper Skyelark to Middle Superstar. Great surface for sealing over rocks. Took this photo back on Jan 5th.

 

[sparty]

FWIW,
a) snow reporting is legitimately hard
b) I'd buy those Vermont totals

Elaborating on that, I lived at Bolton Valley for a couple of years. During that time, our snow accumulation numbers were provided to marketing by patrol. The patrol director made getting them one of the first things he did each morning, which meant (a) it was a base-area measurement; (b) it was in an area that was more likely to be wind-scoured than wind-drifted. We lost track of how many days the report was for 3-5" and we were skiing knee-deep drifts all day; it was great for locals, not so much for revenue.

The BV claimed average is, IIRC, 300"; that lined up pretty well with the years I lived and worked there ,especially if you counted the post-season snowfall that marketing never did (pre-season usually got counted, post-season usually wasn't).

 

[TheArchitect]

Open snow is predicting a pretty good storm for Monday if the GFS track prevails. I'm worried about the winds, though. It's gonna suck if there's a foot of powder and we're stuck in the lodge with wind holds.

New England Daily Snow Forecast | OpenSnow

The New England Daily Snow provides the best snow forecast, written by a local New England forecaster. Find snow conditions at ski resorts in New England.

opensnow.com

 

[James]

It’s Monday of MLK, odds are 50-50 it’s a disaster. But a relatively uncrowded one. If there's one weekend to skip, this is it.

It’s very unfortunate the Patriots-Buffalo game doesn’t start till after 8pm Sat.

 

[KevinF]

I know Stowe's snow stakes are in some relatively sheltered areas (in the woods). Still, you can easily find some crazy drifts in the woods.

There have been countless powder days where one side of the trail has been wind blasted down to ice and rocks and the other side is bottomless. Left side of National is where you want to be; right side... not so much.

"How much snow" a mountain receives over the course of a "typical" winter strikes me as an impossible to answer question when you account for the microclimates any mountainous region contains.

Stowe for instance claims 330" / year, which is probably higher than reality, but I think it accurately reflects trends (i.e., they probably get more than Sugarbush which I think claims 250" or areas farther south). Jay / Stowe / Smuggs certainly don't get the most snowfall out of every storm, but over the course of the season -- they probably come out ahead.

 

[TheArchitect]

It’s Monday of MLK, odds are 50-50 it’s a disaster. But a relatively uncrowded one. If there's one weekend to skip, this is it.

It’s very unfortunate the Patriots-Buffalo game doesn’t start till after 8pm Sat.

Yeah. I usually avoid the holiday weekends but I really need to get some slope time in so even if it's half the normal amount of runs I'll take it. What will make me regret it is if the lifts aren't running at all.

 

[Truberski]

Cold should control crowds on Saturday and Monday’s forecast (which I won’t utter verbally) looks promising. Stratton is growing old and this is the latest ever for my first Magic Mt. day. Daddy needs some natural snow, bumps and trees!

 

[Tony S]

Open snow is predicting a pretty good storm for Monday if the GFS track prevails. I'm worried about the winds, though. It's gonna suck if there's a foot of powder and we're stuck in the lodge with wind holds.

New England Daily Snow Forecast | OpenSnow

The New England Daily Snow provides the best snow forecast, written by a local New England forecaster. Find snow conditions at ski resorts in New England.

opensnow.com

Let's go, GFS!

 

[Wilhelmson]

We are blacked out and our place is rented anyways for fri and sat so we will drive up earlyish on Sunday, relax and watch the game, and ski on Monday. Might be a slow ride home on Monday night.

Last year at this time there was already good snow in the woods.

 

[R2-Ski2]

Been keeping up on weather for Mount Snow, unfortunately I gotta be there on this holiday weekend. I think the practically subzero temp all day tomorrow will keeps the crowds at bay, but will probably make for some seriously icy skiing. Good news is I dont think they've had/or are getting any rain so that should help keep the ice down a tad. hopefully its not as bad as Im making it out to be

 

[TheArchitect]

The Single Chair blog thinks the storm will track westerly but is still predicting 8-16" Monday into Tuesday. Keep in mind he's predicting for the MRV so I have no idea how this translates to NH and ME but I suspect lower totals there if he's right on the track.

It's my fault. I booked a room for Sunday night based on the Open Snow forecast.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Hopefully it goes somewhere. The purple blob was over Mt Washington on TV. We have a place to stay in VT so all options are on the table.