# Remember March two years ago?



## billski (Mar 18, 2014)

From NWS BTV FB:

Remember just 2 years ago???  We were just starting an epic week of  warmth, with highs in the 70s and 80s across the North Country. This  year, well, what can we say? Winter hangs on and we will struggle to  reach just "normal" highs while being a good 40+ degrees colder than  this time 2 years ago.  Mid-March weather can be maddening.  Anyone have  any March 2012 memories to share?


----------



## wa-loaf (Mar 18, 2014)

Yeah, Sugarloaf struggled to pull off the AZ Summit by making snow in March. I think that's the main reason we are now having the Summit in February these days.


----------



## from_the_NEK (Mar 18, 2014)

Burke's pond skimming was cancelled due to lack of snow to build a pond out of. Went waterskiing instead :blink:


----------



## St. Bear (Mar 18, 2014)

Spent 2 days at Whiteface. It snowed 6" the day before I showed up, was in the 20s when I arrived, first day was in the 50s, second day was pushing 70. Huge ponds were forming near the base lodge from the melt.  Drove home in shorts and a t-shirt.


----------



## Puck it (Mar 18, 2014)

And caught a powder day on 4/10 at Killington!!!!


----------



## from_the_NEK (Mar 18, 2014)

Puck it said:


> And caught a powder day on 4/10 at Killington!!!!


Keep on topic!  That is an April memory, not a March memory  . The fact that the rest of the spring and early summer was cold and damp is not important. March 2012 was probably the nicest month of the summer that year


----------



## BenedictGomez (Mar 18, 2014)

Recall walking back to the parking lot at Jay to remove layers, later having to take off my gloves, and fantasticly soft glade bumps.


----------



## dlague (Mar 18, 2014)

I recall being at work and watching resort after resort falling to the wayside!  Stark contrast to this year - loving March of this year!


----------



## Cannonball (Mar 19, 2014)

I usually track my days in an informal journal. I just went to look back at March 2012 and found that I had quit maintaining the journal sometime in Mid-January 2012. Then I have an entry at the end of April that says: _"Ski season was the worst in memory.  Warm temps and terrible snowfall amounts.  Did get some good days but not many.  No XC days." _ I might be bumping up my 2014 grade even higher after reading that.


----------



## Quietman (Mar 19, 2014)

Kayaking on North Pond looking at where we were supposed to be skiing, Mt Abram. 3/22/12



Open run at Wildcat 3/23/12



Lower Lazy River chocolate snow at SR 3/24/12



Skiing Rogue Angel at SR 3/24/12


----------



## billski (Mar 19, 2014)

Those are sad, sad photos Quietman.  Looks like an ordinary April.  We've got nothing to complain about this year!


----------



## legalskier (Mar 19, 2014)

billski said:


> From NWS BTV FB:
> 
> Remember just 2 years ago???  We were just starting an epic week of  warmth, with highs in the 70s and 80s across the North Country....Anyone have  any March 2012 memories to share?



1) Unfortunately yes. 
2) Many places were closed around the third week of March. I recall that NE areas contacted the British kids who had scheduled their ski trips & told them not to bother. A friend of mine was at Snow that week & said it was like water skiing, only on the snow.
www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/skiing/articles/2012/03/23/new_england_ski_areas_closing_early_due_to_warm_weather/

Do I remember it?  Yep....but I'd rather not.
:sad:


----------



## Nick (Mar 19, 2014)

OMG. That's an eyesore.


----------



## Abubob (Mar 19, 2014)

... as the weather pendulum swings ...

March 18, 2012 Showboat at Ragged




P3183229 by Bob Misu, on Flickr


----------



## hammer (Mar 19, 2014)

Abubob said:


> ... as the weather pendulum swings ...
> 
> March 18, 2012 Showboat at Ragged
> 
> ...



Wow they make a crapload of snow on that trail...


----------



## Cannonball (Mar 19, 2014)

Zoomer Chair at Cannon, March 24th 2012...


----------



## Puck it (Mar 19, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Zoomer Chair at Cannon, March 24th 2012...
> 
> 
> View attachment 11857
> ...



The horror. The horror!


----------



## steamboat1 (Mar 19, 2014)

legalskier said:


> 2) Many places were closed around the third week of March. I recall that NE areas contacted the British kids who had scheduled their ski trips & told them not to bother.


My recollection is that Killington only had 3 trails open with no beginner terrain & all the Brits were sent to Sunday River. Thank God Nyberg is not in charge anymore.


----------



## Wavewheeler (Mar 19, 2014)

March 2012 started with a trip up to Gore. It was Leap Day, Feb 29 and I drove up in a raging snowstorm. The first day of March, 2012 came in like a lion. 12" of powder to ski in for the next 2 days. Then, then on the 3rd day I woke up to rain and then the sun came up and temps soared into the 60s. Snow as all gone I never saw it again. 

By the mid to end of March I was hiking up the trail in the Catskills to the Hunter Mountain fire tower and sweating bullets. It was 80 degrees, the sun was out. The top was down and the doors off my Jeep but there was still snow on the top of the mountain and on the trails but the chairs were empty and all was silent. It was eerie.


----------



## billski (Mar 19, 2014)

ewwww.  ca-ca!   You guys are scaring me.   Heading out to get while the gettin's good.  see ya...


----------



## billski (Mar 19, 2014)

On the snow has a really good interactive tool to view historical snowfalls.  It can be depressing depending on the year you choose to suffer though.
Here is Bush in 2012:
http://www.onthesnow.com/vermont/sugarbush/historical-snowfall.html?&y=2012


----------



## Quietman (Mar 20, 2014)

steamboat1 said:


> My recollection is that Killington only had 3 trails open with no beginner terrain & all the Brits were sent to Sunday River. Thank God Nyberg is not in charge anymore.



Sunday River turned the guns back on the 1st week in April to attract the brits and get the business. They also had a lot of snow invested in the huge Dumont Cup Jump line that was then used to cover Sunday Punch, and other trails in the area. Some of jumps were at chair level.




 The most snow was blown on Estacy/Cascade, Lazy River, and the Mixing Bowl areas. Gave the Brits a place to ski/party.


No way to bother blowing in Jordans with 4-5' rocks sticking out of the snow.



Looking mighty different this year!!


----------



## Glenn (Mar 20, 2014)

Skiing when the temps were that warm was really odd. I remember skiing a half day, then raking the lawn to clean up for spring. That heat just killed the snow though. The season came to an abrupt end after that. Ironically, the last day that year was cool and cloudy.


----------



## steamboat1 (Mar 20, 2014)

Glenn said:


> Skiing when the temps were that warm was really odd. I remember skiing a half day, then raking the lawn to clean up for spring. That heat just killed the snow though. The season came to an abrupt end after that. Ironically, the last day that year was cool and cloudy.



Yes it was but the several days before were gorgeous (bluebird with temps about 70). I skipped the last day at K because it cooled down & rained. The top of Supe headwall washed out but the rest of the trail had excellent coverage. Even Skyelark & lower Bitter were still open but you had to walk to get to them (not a big deal really). Still ski on ski off the lift, no carrying ski's on the lift required. Truthfully I think they could have gone at least another week but Nyberg was still making the calls. I've skied Supe with a lot less coverage. Even last years closing weekend (free skiing) had much less coverage. Just have to watch out for those black flies on warm sunny days.


----------



## from_the_NEK (Mar 20, 2014)

This is my favorite snow depth tool:  http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interact...ight=450&nw=800&nh=450&h_o=0&font=0&js=1&uc=0


----------



## Rowsdower (Mar 22, 2014)

from_the_NEK said:


> This is my favorite snow depth tool:  http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interact...ight=450&nw=800&nh=450&h_o=0&font=0&js=1&uc=0



Feel as though they're being a bit generous there.


----------



## Euler (Mar 22, 2014)

Two years ago I skipped the entire season.  Looks like I made a good choice as to what year to take off!


----------



## Cannonball (Mar 25, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Zoomer Chair at Cannon, March 24th 2012...
> 
> 
> View attachment 11857
> ...



I retook these perspectives on Sunday. Almost exactly 2 years to the day....


----------



## dlague (Mar 25, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> I retook these perspectives on Sunday. Almost exactly 2 years to the day....
> 
> View attachment 12041
> 
> View attachment 12042



Pretty amazing!  

Additionally the snow quality right now is awesome!


----------



## fbrissette (Mar 25, 2014)

Rowsdower said:


> Feel as though they're being a bit generous there.



Looks reasonably accurate to me.  There is 4 feet on the ground at my Jay condo (a full 125cm ski pole) and nearly twice that at higher elevation.  What I see in Montreal also matches quite well.  In my work we also validated SNODAS with some local snow models and data and they tracked reasonably well.


----------



## dlague (Mar 25, 2014)

fbrissette said:


> Looks reasonably accurate to me.  There is 4 feet on the ground at my Jay condo (a full 125cm ski pole) and nearly twice that at higher elevation.  What I see in Montreal also matches quite well.  In my work we also validated SNODAS with some local snow models and data and they tracked reasonably well.



Well in Concord, NH there should be 12-20 inches which is the case where I live which is higher up but at lower elevations there is hardly any thing left.  Manchester, NH it's all gone with the exception of shaded areas.


----------



## pcampbell (Mar 26, 2014)

I always love looking back at prior years....  I throw up pics     from time to time throughout the season, usually including first and last snows   which makes it easy to quickly look back and gauge conditions

*So yeah we should all stop complaining already and go ski....*

March 17th, 2012:







March 23rd, downloading at Mt Ellen 





Interesting skiing at Mt Ellen....






Lots of Snow above like 1750 ft (ish?), April 11:






Last snow I could find here, May 12, I did not ski it:


----------



## KevinF (Mar 26, 2014)

Yeah, I remember that spell...  I was going to do the Boston Ski & Sports Club trip to Whiteface at the end of March, and I watched their "open trail count" go from nearly 100% open to two trails or something ridiculous like that.  Thankfully the BSSC was able to back out and we got our money back.

Some friends and I were skiing Stowe and MRG in some of the most ridiculous conditions I've ever skied.  We were starting the day in t-shirts.

Somewhere at MRG:


Mansfield Chin (it usually looks actually ski-able in March):


Stowe's weather board:


----------

