Slopesquad 15-16: How many days so far this season?

[dean_spirito]

163 days at 12 different resorts in CO and UT. Definitely my fattest season to date. Hoping to pick up at least another two lift served days before hiking St. Mary's later in the month.

Anybody up for closing day at A Basin on June 12th? I'm planning on bringing the grill.

 

[nay]

47.

 

[SkiNurse]

Day 73 started the hike-for-turns season. Coverage was all the way to the lake & spring conditions from top to bottom.

 

[SBrown]

You passed me again.

 

[SkiNurse]

You passed me again.

Not for long...

 

[nay]

48. And final lift served.

 

[nay]

 

[Philpug]

Wow, A-Basin is looking sparce.

 

[nay]

Wow, A-Basin is looking sparce.

Mid 60's temps for over a week. But great closing turns (for me - the weekend is going to be huge WROD crowds).

And there's always breaks at Reveal...

 

[4ster]

I haven't skied in 2 weeks & I posted in the MTB thread yesterday, so maybe it's over .
157 days if my calculations are correct but I think I'll just call it 160ish when I look back. Either way one of my biggest, days & vertical wise! Skied at Kirkwood, Northstar, Heavenly, Rose,Squaw, Alpine, Snowbasin, Powder Mountain, & one day at Park/Canyons/Vail City along with about 20 backcountry days.

Here are some season highlights with photos;

It began on November 14th at Kirkwood & the 16th was a powder day...

I returned to Utah for the winter just before the holiday storms hit. (Photo: Chris Morgan)
12-13-15...

12-22-15...

Christmas looking FAT on Allen Peak...

Staying cold & light in early January. (Photo: Chris Morgan)
1-11-16

A lull in the storms allowed some time for the sister wives in early February.
2-7-16...

Fun times with my newly adopted family over the President's holiday.
2-16-16...

By the end of February the persistent slab instabilities locked up & it was time to get after it!
2-23-16

Dropping in to Mt. Ogden Chute. (Photo: Chris Morgan)
2-23-16...

This late winter snow-pack stability allowed us to get into the backcountry & after some big lines for a few days.
2-24-16

2-25-16

Storms began to return in early March.
3-7-16...

Back to Tahoe in mid April for a mix of human powered & lift served days.
4-23-16...

Round Top.
5-2-16...

Final run, final day on the banked slalom at Squaw.
5-30-2016...!

If La Nina pans out anything like 2010-11, I'll be going for 200!
CHEERS !
PS: snow in the forecast

 

[Tony]

I haven't skied in 2 weeks & I posted in the MTB thread yesterday, so maybe it's over .
157 days if my calculations are correct but I think I'll just call it 160ish when I look back. Either way one of my biggest, days & vertical wise! Skied at Kirkwood, Northstar, Heavenly, Rose,Squaw, Alpine, Snowbasin, Powder Mountain, & one day at Park/Canyons/Vail City along with about 20 backcountry days.

Here are some season highlights with photos;

It began on November 14th at Kirkwood & the 16th was a powder day...

I was also at Kirkwood on November 16. My notes show 14" new but it was only Solitude and The Reut. Cornice opened the next day and I got first chair, but snow had been hammered and stripped by 60 mph winds. I ended my season skiing Fri/Sat of Memorial Day weekend at Mammoth.

You really have me beat on quantity and most likely on quality although I skied some powder on almost all of my early season days and had 6 days in a row in Canada with powder (although first one was not the driest at Silver Star). I skied in more countries, states/provinces and at a greater variety of lift-served than you.

I had 52 days which beat long-time goal of 50 and previous high of 44 in 2011-12. Total vertical 1.2M which beats previous high of 949K last season.

Days on Tahoe Value Pass 28 (11@Kirkwood, 8@Heavenly, 6@Northstar, plus A-Basin, Breckenridge and Vail on way to/from Gathering).
Last year I had 20 (10@Kirkwood, 7@Heavenly, 5@Northstar. One day was all three)

Days on Mountain Collective 10, includes 3@Aspen (all free), 3@Whistler (one was half-price), 2@Squaw and 2@Mammoth.

Days in CA=30 (includes many CA/NV days at Heavenly). Days in other states=11 (6 CO, 2 NV, 1 OR and 1 WA-first time ever in WA and now have skied all contiguous Western States. First time since 2013-14 with no skiing in UT or WY). Days in Canada=11 (All BC include 6 new to me ski areas - or 7 if you count W/B as 2)

Season highlight was road trip to Canada that included skiing 13 days in a rows starting with three new to me ski areas in the Okanagan, cat skiing with great conditions (3 days), 2 more days at new to me resorts in BC, then 3 days at Whistler and finally on way home my first time skiing in WA state and at Mt Ashland, OR.

My best powder days of year are harder to pick other than Mustang. Some OK days with new snow at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar, but all had some challenges due to (usually my) late start, lifts not running or not as deep as expected/reported. Also had good powder days at Apex and Sierra and got to ski Vail in powder.

 

[4ster]

^ Now that you mention it, I remember that wind scoured day at Kirkwood. Doubt if I was on first chair with you but I'm sure I wasn't far behind. Great anticipation led to a bit of a let down but hey, we were skiing!

Can't travel much & get 150+ days in !
I was also working some of those days but not as many as years past.

 

[nay]

In a total coincidence, I ended up at 48 days for the third straight year (the first by far my all time record as this was my 6th season), going every day I could get away each year, having some sure days get hosed and some gifts pop up. I fell victim to a RIF this year yet landed a better opportunity quickly, managed to keep my working flexibility, and was ahead of the game in April until May got life-in-the-way funky.

Not entirely sure what to think about this. 49 looms large?

 

[4ster]

Not entirely sure what to think about this. 49 looms large?

49 is not a number. FIFTY is a number!

 

[LouD-Truckee]

192.....

 

[dean_spirito]

I think I finished up my lift served season with 165 days. I'm proud to say that I put 49 days on my A Basin pass (definitely the most days I've ever managed to log there in a season). I also visited 2 new ski areas that I had never been to; Sunlight and Wolf Creek. The November/December pow days at Wolf Creek were absolutely insane! I've posted this video in another thread but I think it deserves a home here as well.


Sunlight was also a real treat. We hit it on our way back from Utah and I was super impressed. Certainly not a fancy, modern resort by any means, but what it lacked in glitz it made up for in quality terrain. Here is a view looking up the center pole double. Don't be alarmed by the crowd. That was our group. Every other chair on the lift was empty. Definitely felt like a private resort on that particular day.

Sunlight

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

I had one of the most epic pow days of my life at Alta this season. I hadn't skied Utah since 2010 but I managed to chase a few storms out there this winter. During the same trip that we hit Sunlight, we managed to drive through the night from CO to UT and woke up to 14" of fresh. I hooked up with a local buddy and skied from first chair to last call. We hit every stash on the mountain and crushed it at a particularly high level. That day is burned into my memory. Interestingly enough, after we killed it all day, we went into the Peruvian for quality après and bumped into Seth Morrison and various members of the K2 team who had also been out killing it. This photo sums up that day fairly well.

Daffy

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

The spring was all about sunny park laps at Breck and jumping off stuff at the Basin. I was hoping that May would deliver some more pow, but it just never seemed to happen. Regardless, we managed to have fun and finish out the season strong.

Roller Coaster Box

• dean_spirito
• Apr 23, 2016

Down Rail

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

Dean Backie

• dean_spirito
• May 12, 2016

Arapahoe Basin 6/1/16

• dean_spirito
• Jun 2, 2016

Chilling At The Basin

• dean_spirito
• Jun 11, 2016

And most importantly......this is the first season that I didn't sustain a fairly serious injury!!!!! Now on to summer skiing for the next 3 months!!

Dean Hiking

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

Searching For Summer Snow

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

Kevin, Susan, Christy, And Ollie

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

Dean Skiing

• dean_spirito
• Jun 20, 2016

 

[Bill Miles]

I finished up with 72 days, about average--

56 Sun Valley
4 Snowbird
1 Alta
1 Solitude
1 Squaw
1 Heavenly
1 Kirkwood
4 Mammoth
3 Bachelor

 

[dean_spirito]

Day 1 of the summer ski season!!

Dean Skiing

• dean_spirito
• Jun 22, 2016

 

[TonyC]

Area Sum of Days Sum of Vertical Sum of Powder
Mt. Baldy 1 4.5 0
Mammoth 21 459.7 15
Snow Summit 1.5 38.6 0
Bear Mt. 0.5 8.3 0
Heavenly Valley 2 42.3 1
Squaw Valley 2 38.8 0
Park City 0.5 7.8 2
Snowbird 4 88 20
Alta 2 40.6 6
Apex Alpine 1 27.1 14
Big White 1 15.8 6
Silver Star 1 26.4 2
The Canyons 0.5 18.7 3
Revelstoke 1 27.8 1
Mustang Powder Snowcat 3 48.4 43
Niseko, Japan 5 95 39
Rusutsu, Japan 1 16.3 8
*Furano, Japan 1 16.1 6
*Tomamu, Japan 1 14 5
*Moiwa, Japan 1 12.8 6
*Kiroro, Japan 1 12.3 5
*Sapporo Kokusai, Japan 1 8.4 4
*Sapporo Teine, Japan 1 4.7 1
Totals 54 1072.4 187

* = new area, total now 201 areas

To no surprise this was my lowest number of ski days since retirement due to not skiing from Feb. 24 - Mar. 23. However, last year I thought I might not break 50 days because of the Indonesia trip (Feb. 29 - Mar. 18, scuba diving plus the total solar eclipse March 9, my 10th, Liz' 8th). One lucky break was an early start to Mammoth's season (first time I've had 4 lift served days in November). I also had 5 trips and 13 days at Mammoth in spring, totals exceeded only in 2010-11. The November 11 opening day was my 6th earliest and the stretch from then to northern closing date of June 13 was also 6th longest. The break I didn't get in 2015-16 was El Nino producing for the SoCal locals. I only had 3 local days and I had bought Baldy passes, which were a complete waste though a reasonable El Nino speculation for only $169.

2015-16 was an above average season for powder, with more than two of the other post retirement seasons. 14.3% of lift served skiing was powder vs. 10.8% average since 1997 when I first got powder skis. Of course it helps when 12 days are in Japan in January. But there was also a bell-to-bell powder day at Apex in February and a weather timed last week of March in Utah. It was also nice to see Mustang Snowcat return to its usual excellence in 2015-16.

 

[SkiNurse]

Day #75, month 34. Mount Epworth. Awesome. That is all.