# Warren Miller on the 2011/12 winter



## billski (Jan 25, 2012)

"
Who would have thought the Colorado and California snow report in the middle of January would be, ‘No new snow on five- to seven-inch base.’ 

It has been a lot of years since I sat and looked at a ski hill with no snow on it and a restaurant at the base full of disgruntled people who had traveled a long way to carve turns on Averell Harriman’s pride and joy where the first chairlift in the world was built, Dollar Mountain at Sun Valley, Idaho. 
...
Two weeks before this dismal afternoon of staring at sage brush that was 18 inches high covered here and there with an inch or two of snow, I had seen and filmed for the first time, Walt Stopa's latest deal at Wilmot, Wisconsin, called artificial snow. Today they call it man-made snow and it is the savior of many skier days that occur across the country for anyone who has the money to install the machinery.
...
The other night a friend said, "These bad winters with no snow follow some sort of a seven-year cycle.” I asked him to explain what caused the cycle of seven years and he said, “That’s what my Grandpa told me.” Unfortunately the source of the information is buried with his Grandpa somewhere in Vermont where he had died.
...
A winter or two after Walt Stopa’s breakthroughs on his 186 vertical foothill, someone leased Soldier Field in Chicago and filled the bleachers up with his wonderful invention, as well as several rope tows and a genuine Austrian ski school. By the time they got the bleachers filled up with snow every water pipe in the stadium was frozen solid. 








..
By the time I showed the Soldier Field "ski resort" to my audiences the following year, the developer of the resort had filed for bankruptcy. The ski school operator was last seen at O’Hare field boarding a discount ski club charter flight for Bavaria, and the only survivor of this ski resort in the bleachers on man-made snow was the guy who ran the toboggan slide down between the goal posts and out into the end zone. 

...
Maybe Sigi was right when he said, “They only needed these snow machines back East,” and Chicago just wasn’t far enough back East to have one that worked in Soldier Field. "


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## Nick (Jan 26, 2012)

It's ridiculous. The ONLY benefit is that my heating bill and plowing bill is lower.


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## billski (Jan 26, 2012)

Nick said:


> It's ridiculous. The ONLY benefit is that my heating bill and plowing bill is lower.



I just watched a neighborhood kid bicycle to school.  :sad:


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## andrec10 (Jan 26, 2012)

billski said:


> I just watched a neighborhood kid bicycle to school.  :sad:



Wrong on sooo many levels in January!


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## Warp Daddy (Jan 26, 2012)

Crap Just what we need another FN ice storm tonite and tomorrow. This will be our  4th ICE storm in 2 weeks . Our walks drives and yards are like hockey rinks now and i 've put over 75 lbs of rocksalt / ice melt down so far 

Worst FN winter in my lifetime and i'll be 69 this yr . I'm usually positive as can b , but i'm weary of this crap


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## billski (Jan 26, 2012)

Warp Daddy said:


> Crap Just what we need another FN ice storm tonite and tomorrow. This will be our  4th ICE storm in 2 weeks . Our walks drives and yards are like hockey rinks now and i 've put over 75 lbs of rocksalt / ice melt down so far
> 
> Worst FN winter in my lifetime and i'll be 69 this yr . I'm usually positive as can b , but i'm weary of this crap



why bother?  It will just warm up and melt in a couple days.. :evil:


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## billski (Jan 26, 2012)

It takes a lot to get Warp wound up.  Next thing you know, Rivercoil will be onboard


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## Nick (Jan 26, 2012)

Warp Daddy said:


> I'm usually positive as can b , but i'm weary of this crap



!!!! I can't believe it warp, you are right, probably the first not "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" post from you I've seen since I've been here!


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## Warp Daddy (Jan 26, 2012)

Sorry guys had to GET THAT OUT  


screw it !  IF'n  i can't ski, i'm gonna go crank the axe  turn up the amps and trick boxes and get some serious guitar riffs  n' sounds going today-- mebbe it'll piss off the weather gods  .


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## St. Bear (Jan 26, 2012)

So far, this ski season has been about average for me.  I only get out a handful of times a year anyway, and I've been lucky to make it out not too long after snow has fallen, so I really haven't noticed any difference from last year.  The only real difference is that I don't have to deal as much with the jealously of everyone skiing powder days while I'm stuck at work.

Also I'd be lying if I said that I don't like a little schadenfreude watching most of the Western resorts suffer.  I'm a bastard like that.


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## billski (Jan 26, 2012)

St. Bear said:


> So far, this ski season has been about average for me.  I only get out a handful of times a year anyway, and I've been lucky to make it out not too long after snow has fallen, so I really haven't noticed any difference from last year.  The only real difference is that I don't have to deal as much with the jealously of everyone skiing powder days while I'm stuck at work.
> 
> Also I'd be lying if I said that I don't like a little schadenfreude watching most of the Western resorts suffer.  I'm a bastard like that.



Sorry, CO and CA have recovered.  :???:  A colleague is going out to Tahoe on Monday.
Nobodys doing a sacrifice to Ullr this year


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## St. Bear (Jan 26, 2012)

billski said:


> Sorry, CO and CA have recovered.  :???:  A colleague is going out to Tahoe on Monday.
> Nobodys doing a sacrifice to Ullr this year



Tahoe got dumped on, but I just read last night that they're not getting anymore until mid-Feb.  They're still at 25% of seasonal snowfall.


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## ScottySkis (Jan 26, 2012)

St. Bear said:


> Tahoe got dumped on, but I just read last night that they're not getting anymore until mid-Feb.  They're still at 25% of seasonal snowfall.


I think that long term forecast is not always correct,  this winter our 2 nd la nina was suppose to bring cold and snow all winter so that wasn't exactly correct


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## St. Bear (Jan 26, 2012)

Scotty said:


> I think that long term forecast is not always correct,  this winter our 2 nd la nina was suppose to bring cold and snow all winter so that wasn't exactly correct



Che sera, sera.


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## BenedictGomez (Jan 26, 2012)

Scotty said:


> I think that long term forecast is not always correct,  this winter our 2 nd la nina was suppose to bring cold and snow all winter so that wasn't exactly correct



Or how last year was supposed to be relatively normal, but we got pounded with snow all winter.


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## marcski (Jan 26, 2012)

Bill do you have a link to the article with the WM interview?


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## kingslug (Jan 26, 2012)

I'm bailing and heading out west..I've had some pretty good "training " days here at Hunter..I just pick and choose when its right to go..and they do blow the best stuff around.its this non stop rain that wears me out. When we got hit with that massive rainfall last year I kept saying that if we get this much precipitation in winter we'll be buried..hasn't worked out that way..nope..not one bit...


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## farlep99 (Jan 26, 2012)

if we don't get some snow this year, we'll be one year older when we do!


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## ScottySkis (Jan 26, 2012)

kingslug said:


> I'm bailing and heading out west..I've had some pretty good "training " days here at Hunter..I just pick and choose when its right to go..and they do blow the best stuff around.its this non stop rain that wears me out. When we got hit with that massive rainfall last year I kept saying that if we get this much precipitation in winter we'll be buried..hasn't worked out that way..nope..not one bit...


Yes utah is calling,  to bad our north east hills are not the same elevation they were thousands of years ago but i imagine Vermont had to be negative 40 with that elevation


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## dartmouth01 (Jan 27, 2012)

We cancelled our Tahoe trip this week on recommendation from our friends out west.  A few of them got to ski right after the storms, and while it was nice, there still isn't alot of terrain open, and the weather wasn't going to be kind to it this week either.  They said to hold off till later in the season in hopes things get better....


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## Nick (Jan 27, 2012)

It's literally pouring rain outside my window right now.


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## ScottySkis (Jan 27, 2012)

In Nyc raining hard and 60 degrees this is crazy


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## billski (Jan 27, 2012)

marcski said:


> Bill do you have a link to the article with the WM interview?



sorry for the lack of a link.  I was crying too much.


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