# ULLR Hates Me...



## Zand (Feb 27, 2010)

I'm sitting here reading all of these NY and VT reports and I've yet to see more than 8" of snow this year even though I now live in the NEK for 7 months of the year. Here's the gist of my year so far:

Thought I was getting off to a great start when I put in my earliest day ever at Sunday River and saw Columbus Day snow for the first time in about 10 years. After that week, I waited and waited. Finally, Sugarbush opened the first week of December and I was able to get my first real day in. And then bam, a day of freshies at Castlerock as trail openings exploded and things were going great. Then the first semester was over and back to MA I came.

My hopes for break were that some nice SNE storms would hit so I could snowmobile a little bit and not be jealous of the feet of snow I would probably miss in VT. We got a few small storms, but unfortunately never got enough to get the sled out. Had some decent days at Wachusett, but never got that standout day in.

Back in VT for second semester, I arrived to tons of snow on the ground. Skied a lot that week as the base conditions were awesome everywhere. Just about all those days were bluebird and 30 degrees. Then that damn rainstorm hit. It didn't hurt the depths too bad, but froze everything solid as the deep freeze set in. But the snow never came. I waited, and waited, and waited... nothing. Everytime I turned the news on I heard about how many feet DC and Philly were getting that weekend while we were getting jack. then the next weekend, FLORIDA is getting snow and MYRTLE BEACH got 6". Still nothing. The mild and partly sunny days had removed almost all the snow from ground level in Lyndonville. Burke was doing decent till the holiday crowds came. Finally, last Friday, 3" fell at LSC. I've never been so happy to see that little snow in my life. But, it was also the last day of classes before winter break (a northern VT thing...) so just as it was about to get good again, back to snowless MA I go.

Now back at home, forecasts are showing feet of snow from twin storm through the week. I wake up Wednesday morning to over a foot of snow, but rain is falling and the snow melts as fast as it fell, so still no snowmobiling. Meanwhile, 15" falls at Burke and they're at 100% for the first time in over a month. Today, as a light snow falls, I read about 60"+ in NY and a couple feet down in PA and NJ and some freshies in southern VT as well. Couldn't get further than Wachusett which was still a mess from the rain. But hey, I'll be back in VT in 3 days and can ski the freshies at Burke. But no, it's been raining there all day. And a sneak peak at next week in the NEK says what the first 5 weeks of the semester all said: "Sunny, 30s."

The moral of the story is... don't ski or even live anywhere near me as the snow will find a way to deceive you. Now that that's off my chest... expect a whopper in the NEK next weekend as I'll be in Saratoga for a conference.


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## psyflyer (Feb 27, 2010)

Zand said:


> I'm sitting here reading all of these NY and VT reports and I've yet to see more than 8" of snow this year even though I now live in the NEK for 7 months of the year. Here's the gist of my year so far:
> 
> Thought I was getting off to a great start when I put in my earliest day ever at Sunday River and saw Columbus Day snow for the first time in about 10 years. After that week, I waited and waited. Finally, Sugarbush opened the first week of December and I was able to get my first real day in. And then bam, a day of freshies at Castlerock as trail openings exploded and things were going great. Then the first semester was over and back to MA I came.
> 
> ...



Good post Zand.  Your wrong in that it hasnt rained AT ALL today at Burke Mt.  Infact we got 3-6 inches overnight and another 3-4 during the day.  The glades are sick and the base depth is very deep.  You will enjoy it once you get back up here.  Plus consider yourself extra lucky, after-all you live in the NEK, not many can say that....


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## deadheadskier (Feb 27, 2010)

pro-tip:

get a Stowe pass next season


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## Zand (Feb 27, 2010)

psyflyer said:


> Good post Zand.  Your wrong in that it hasnt rained AT ALL today at Burke Mt.  Infact we got 3-6 inches overnight and another 3-4 during the day.  The glades are sick and the base depth is very deep.  You will enjoy it once you get back up here.  Plus consider yourself extra lucky, after-all you live in the NEK, not many can say that....



Sounds good... can't wait to get back up there. Forecast says a few inches of snow Monday as well. Maybe my luck is finally changing.


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## Zand (Feb 27, 2010)

deadheadskier said:


> pro-tip:
> 
> get a Stowe pass next season



Nah... Jay pass for like $200 less... plus MRG and Bolton on it. If I have a shortage of snow after that one I'm transfering to Colorado St lol.


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## riverc0il (Feb 28, 2010)

deadheadskier said:


> pro-tip:
> 
> get a Stowe pass next season


FTW. 

Burke has had a really bad season. They posted on their web site recently that they just broke 100" for the season during this storm.  That is really late in the season for that to be happening. Stowe is the most reliable mountain in terms of snow fall in New England and the FIS guys have certainly documented how incredible the place can be when the rest of New England is sucking (Jay does get a little more but, due to the wind at Jay, Stowe can be considered more "reliable"). It may be $200 more than a Burke pass, but it is still an absolute steal compared to non-college rates.


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## polski (Feb 28, 2010)

Yeah, N Green spine vs NEK have been like night and day this season. (I feel even more fortunate with benefit of hindsight to have hit Burke for the first time with 100% open the day before the January washout.)

Mt. Mansfield stake is currently at 101" (that's snowpack, not seasonal snow accumulation), about 50" above average for this date. I was just playing with UVM's web app with stake records and in only two seasons in the last 55 has the snow depth total been that high at this point in the season - 1968-69 (when by April 2 it hit the record of 149") and 1981-82. The current total surpasses the seasonal max for all but a handful of years. Moral of the story: We're set up real well for spring.

Anyway, having to decide between the student-rate Stowe pass and Jay/MRG/Bolton Triple Major is a good problem to have.


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## psyflyer (Feb 28, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> FTW.
> 
> Burke has had a really bad season. They posted on their web site recently that they just broke 100" for the season during this storm.  That is really late in the season for that to be happening. Stowe is the most reliable mountain in terms of snow fall in New England and the FIS guys have certainly documented how incredible the place can be when the rest of New England is sucking (Jay does get a little more but, due to the wind at Jay, Stowe can be considered more "reliable"). It may be $200 more than a Burke pass, but it is still an absolute steal compared to non-college rates.



I disagree, Burke has had an OK season and just about as good as the previous two.  Snow-wise Burke uses the base area for counting snow fall.  If they checked the glades on the left side of the mountain that total could be easily doubled.  How many days have you skied Burke this year to say Burke has had a bad season?


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## riverc0il (Feb 28, 2010)

psyflyer said:


> I disagree, Burke has had an OK season and just about as good as the previous two.  Snow-wise Burke uses the base area for counting snow fall.  If they checked the glades on the left side of the mountain that total could be easily doubled.  How many days have you skied Burke this year to say Burke has had a bad season?


100" hit at the last weekend in February when their seasonal average is 200"... I don't need to have skied there to know that they are having a bad year compared to normal. At least for natural snowfall, the numbers don't lie. Especially when other mountains in the area are already closing in on their yearly average and mountains that normally average less than Burke have 1/3 more YTD snow than Burke.


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## Zand (Feb 28, 2010)

psyflyer said:


> I disagree, Burke has had an OK season and just about as good as the previous two.  Snow-wise Burke uses the base area for counting snow fall.  If they checked the glades on the left side of the mountain that total could be easily doubled.  How many days have you skied Burke this year to say Burke has had a bad season?



I'm with Riv on this one... this past week was the first time Burke has been 100% since mid-January. Snowfall has been EXTREMELY sparse in the NEK, to the point where I'd say LSC has gotten less snow this year than I average here in MA. All the upper-classmen and professors have been talking about how little snow there's been for weeks now. Other than that one week with the rain, Burke hasn't exactly been bad, but it hasn't been more than okay since the week after MLK. Hopefully they'll get pounded all of March.


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## psyflyer (Mar 1, 2010)

Zand said:


> I'm with Riv on this one... this past week was the first time Burke has been 100% since mid-January. Snowfall has been EXTREMELY sparse in the NEK, to the point where I'd say LSC has gotten less snow this year than I average here in MA. All the upper-classmen and professors have been talking about how little snow there's been for weeks now. Other than that one week with the rain, Burke hasn't exactly been bad, but it hasn't been more than okay since the week after MLK. Hopefully they'll get pounded all of March.



I live on the mt (slopeside) and this year Fox's Folly has opened earlier (and stayed open) than the past three seasons.  I still think things could have been much worse, then again I am about to move to Colorado (slopeside) and not have to worry about minutiae.  Either way we got 3-6 inches overnight, today should be pretty nice out there.  Hope you can make it!


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## deadheadskier (Mar 1, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> FTW.
> 
> Burke has had a really bad season. They posted on their web site recently that they just broke 100" for the season during this storm.  That is really late in the season for that to be happening. Stowe is the most reliable mountain in terms of snow fall in New England and the FIS guys have certainly documented how incredible the place can be when the rest of New England is sucking (Jay does get a little more but, due to the wind at Jay, Stowe can be considered more "reliable"). It may be $200 more than a Burke pass, but it is still an absolute steal compared to non-college rates.



this.

Stowe = most reliable mountain for snow in the east.


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