New England 2018/19 Northeast

[KevinF]

Just went out to start the car, porch thermometer says -20! Clear sky though, should be great skiing today. Hopefully everyone is gone early to watch the Pats.

Did the car start? Judging by the sounds mine made this morning, this is the coldest morning so far.

Not a breath of wind atop the quad, something that happens once a year or so.

 

[LKLA]

Did the car start? Judging by the sounds mine made this morning, this is the coldest morning so far.

Not a breath of wind atop the quad, something that happens once a year or so.

Come on, it's balmy! Last Jan we hit -24, without the windchill. And we (make that my two other family members) were out on the mountain.

 

[Ogg]

Pried myself away from Killington for day up at da Bush. Great snow with sweet wind loaded lines everywhere. Snowmaking cloud over Heaven’s Gate made visibility a challenge. Popped a boot and drove over to the Ellen side for more powder chasing. Great day but this place really needs a Gondola or two.

I was originally planning to go to sugarbush one day this weekend but decided to stay at killington and stick mostly to the K1. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea but after getting stuck on the skye peak quad I decided the line wasn’t that bad.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Magic looked good this morning as I walked to the car to drive to bromley. New mid mountain green chair is running also. Bromley skied well yesterday. Mostly soft packed edgeable snow. Took a few runs after I was done teaching and had a blast. Cold today but should warm up a bit by mid day.

 

[mdf]

Similar story today. Full parking, empty slopes. But I am in my first toe warmup and the lodge is pretty empty too! Where is everyone? Maybe the gondola line?

 

[KevinF]

Come on, it's balmy! Last Jan we hit -24, without the windchill. And we (make that my two other family members) were out on the mountain.

Yeah... I recall that morning where you demonstrated more sense then the rest of us did!

 

[KevinF]

Sunday Stowe report. Banged out a couple laps on velvet groomers before meeting @TheArchitect for a few.

We did the standard tour of bumps, groomers and some trees. Not a breath of wind, no clouds, cold but comfy without the wind, great snow — ie, standard Stowe conditions.

@TheArchitect had to leave around 2pm so I cruised some Spruce side laps. Groomers were a little crusty over there, so I headed back to Mansfield to ski Chin Clip in flat light at the end of the day. As @Bob Barnes taught me: “if you should have seen it, you’ll feel it when you hit it”. Only 1500 vertical feet of moguls to go! Snow was nice though.

 

[EricG]

Walked out at 10am and it was -19F at the base at Smuggs (-27F at the top of theckidts), went back inside made French toast for the family and decided I didn’t want to ski in the subzero temps.

 

[TheArchitect]

Sunday Stowe report. Banged out a couple laps on velvet groomers before meeting @TheArchitect for a few.

We did the standard tour of bumps, groomers and some trees. Not a breath of wind, no clouds, cold but comfy without the wind, great snow — ie, standard Stowe conditions.

@TheArchitect had to leave around 2pm so I cruised some Spruce side laps. Groomers were a little crusty over there, so I headed back to Mansfield to ski Chin Clip in flat light at the end of the day. As @Bob Barnes taught me: “if you should have seen it, you’ll feel it when you hit it”. Only 1500 vertical feet of moguls to go! Snow was nice though.

Good to meet and ski with you Kevin. It was a good day off the quad and trying to keep up with you wasn't always easy. Maybe next time we hit Starr my legs won't be quite so burnt out.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Did you guys hit Starr from the top? How was it?

 

[TheArchitect]

No, we traversed over from Liftline. From that point on the snow was great but I was pretty tired. Goat was nice as well (middle and lower). We skipped Upper Goat.

 

[KevinF]

Did you guys hit Starr from the top? How was it?

Starr was closed from the top... the rope came down early but went back up. It looked pretty good from S53 but maybe that ice bubble up top got worse?

Goat was open from the top, but — no thanks.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Starr was closed from the top... the rope came down early but went back up. It looked pretty good from S53 but maybe that ice bubble up top got worse?

Goat was open from the top, but — no thanks.

Yep, I was wondering how much worse that got, can't see why it would be better. Must have been a good call on Goat too, unless you were on somebody else's skis.

 

[KevinF]

Must have been a good call on Goat too, unless you were on somebody else's skis.

Stockli has yet to see fit to sponsor me with me new skis, so yeah.. I have to make do with my own.

 

[Josh Matta]

no idea why they made snow on top of Starr.... who ever made that choice wasnt thinking straight.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Do you want to try to connect? I have no idea where anything is, and don't really know when I will arrive Saturday.

Sorry, I did't check back in here. Turned out that my daughter puked in the car on the drive up there so she wasn't up for skiing. My wife and I had to take turns skiing while the other hung out with her at the lodge. Worked out ok as we lapped the singles lines during our ski shifts.

Getting to the south lot at 9 AM got us a prime parking spot. I made the mistake of going to the gondola base once and the place was jam packed with people who preferred to drink beer over ski in the cold. If they did in fact get a foot of snow on Wednesday it didn't show as even the woods were pretty firm, but a good day anyways.

 

[mdf]

Sorry, I did't check back in here. Turned out that my daughter puked in the car on the drive up there so she wasn't up for skiing. My wife and I had to take turns skiing while the other hung out with her at the lodge. Worked out ok as we lapped the singles lines during our ski shifts.

Getting to the south lot at 9 AM got us a prime parking spot. I made the mistake of going to the gondola base once and the place was jam packed with people who preferred to drink beer over ski in the cold. If they did in fact get a foot of snow on Wednesday it didn't show as even the woods were pretty firm, but a good day anyways.

Oh well, maybe another time.
A note for other readers -- at busy times, at least, Loon does a really good job with the parking shuttles. I parked Saturday in the Escape Lot and had a very quick and easy trip both directlons. Sunday I arrived at the main base about 8:30 and had to park in the Beach Lot, which is a pretty long walk. Should have done the South Lot. I was a bit leary of the horizontal transfer lift, because of the long, cold, time-eating one at Sugarbush. When I did finally use it, I found the transfer lift at Loon is quite short and easy. South is highly recommended!

 

[Wilhelmson]

Yup the transfer lift is a piece of cake and you can get to the north side without going to the gondola. There's not lots of stuff at South but the woods that start under the lift are good. It was funny watching people hitting the ice at the top of ripsaw and slide the whole way down. The small moguls to skier's right of the ice were a much better option. I was on the lift with a Chinese post grad who works in Boston and he was pumped that he did his first double black diamond.

People probably laugh at our Loon commentary but we left at 4:30 and were home at 7, not bad.

 

[mdf]

ice at the top of ripsaw

I'll have to tell my Ripsaw story when I have time to write it up properly...

 

[KevinF]

Good to meet and ski with you Kevin. It was a good day off the quad and trying to keep up with you wasn't always easy.

This might be the first time that somebody has indicated that I ski fast enough that I'm hard to keep up with. Usually with any sort of Pug gathering I'm the last one down and the search and rescue parties are being organized.