# Mount Snow 12/9/16



## Zand (Dec 9, 2016)

Today was my maiden voyage as a Peaks passholder and my first time to Mt. Snow in probably 7 or 8 years. Felt like crap this morning so left late and only got a half day in from noon till a little after 3, but that was more than enough as the cold and early season legs were making me feel it after only a few hours.

Temp was in the upper 10s all day with a stiff northwest wind, making it a perfect day to lap the ski-on bubble lift. It's the first time I've ever ridden one and I have to say it definitely allowed me to take a couple more runs than I would've otherwise. North Face lift wasn't too bad but Carinthia was brutally cold both times I went over there. With about 7 or 8 distinct runs open now there was plenty of variety to go around. Groomed trails such as Ridge, Cascade/Canyon, Freefall, and Long John all had nice packed powder and the occasional slick windblown area, but nice carving for the most part. Snowdance and the Carinthia offerings were all open under the guns which skied nice but I just couldn't hit any of them more than once due to goggle freeze. Plummet was ungroomed whales which are kinda funky to ski, not to mention it's a bit boney at the bottom with waterbars and lots of dirt and rocks. Needs another day of snowmaking before it really gets good.

Crowds were pretty dead which was nice, lots of room on the trails and ski on lifts. Snowmaking was ongoing on Exhibition, Lodge, and some of the Carinthia trails. Nice to have some real December weather for a change after the last couple.


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## Cornhead (Dec 9, 2016)

Skied Mt Snow for the first time on a windy day last Spring, was digging the bubble. Like the seats too, nothing can fall out the back.  Not enough open to have an opinion of the place one way or the other.

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## joshua segal (Dec 9, 2016)

I was there today too.  I found it to quite cold and actually went in once or twice to warm up.  I suspect different times of the day, the winds were whipping in different directions and for me: I avoided Carinthia more because they were blowing snow T2B.  On the other hand, the wind coming into the base area of the north face was blowing so hard, I had to pole my way across a few times.

I thought Plummet was the most fun of anything on the hill.  There was a nasty ice spot at the top that was problematic - and it took two runs to figure out how to get through the bony area just below the jct. with Little Steep.  But every in between was lovely.

The Bluebird is just a fabulous lift giving such a comfortable wind-free ride up the hill.


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## JimG. (Dec 9, 2016)

Winds up there going to be brutal the next few days.


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## Zand (Dec 9, 2016)

joshua segal said:


> I was there today too.  I found it to quite cold and actually went in once or twice to warm up.  I suspect different times of the day, the winds were whipping in different directions and for me: I avoided Carinthia more because they were blowing snow T2B.  On the other hand, the wind coming into the base area of the north face was blowing so hard, I had to pole my way across a few times.
> 
> I thought Plummet was the most fun of anything on the hill.  There was a nasty ice spot at the top that was problematic - and it took two runs to figure out how to get through the bony area just below the jct. with Little Steep.  But every in between was lovely.
> 
> The Bluebird is just a fabulous lift giving such a comfortable wind-free ride up the hill.



I wish I had a little more patience to figure out Plummet as I usually love stuff like that. But with me feeling quite under the weather last night and this morning (considered not going for a while but eventually sucked it up) and it still being early I figured I'd be better off sticking to the groomers for today. Hopefully by this point next week there will be more fun ungroomed stuff available.

And yes the Bluebird is awesome but the one thing that was a problem was how often it stopped. Not sure if it was a wind thing or if that many people were having trouble with load/unload but seemed like it was stopping 10 times a ride.


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## joshua segal (Dec 10, 2016)

Zand said:


> ...
> 
> And yes the Bluebird is awesome but the one thing that was a problem was how often it stopped. Not sure if it was a wind thing or if that many people were having trouble with load/unload but seemed like it was stopping 10 times a ride.


I almost am wondering if we were in the same place.  I remember a few stops, most concurrent with high wind gusts,  but nothing approaching ten all day.  As I was getting off on one occasion, I noticed some non-skiers preparing to load for a trip down the mountain. Perhaps there was a concentration of these folks at one particular ride you were on?


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## podunk77 (Dec 10, 2016)

Can anyone explain why there's about 18 inch drop in the flooring of the bubble chair's base terminal, right after the point of impact where a chair picks up skiers?  First time I saw it, it struck me as an easy way to break an ankle if you fail to load the chair properly, but then I got to thinking that with the heavier than normal bubble chairs, maybe it's actually safer having a fallen skier lie well below the level at which the heavy chair is moving above them.


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## joshua segal (Dec 10, 2016)

podunk77 said:


> Can anyone explain why there's about 18 inch drop in the flooring of the bubble chair's base terminal, right after the point of impact where a chair picks up skiers?  First time I saw it, it struck me as an easy way to break an ankle if you fail to load the chair properly, but then I got to thinking that with the heavier than normal bubble chairs, maybe it's actually safer having a fallen skier lie well below the level at which the heavy chair is moving above them.


I suspect you answered your own question.  Did you ever notice the size of that haul rope?  It's gigantic compared with lifts with lighter chairs - and of course, the weight is what keeps the chair from swinging dangerously in wind conditions that shut down the earlier versions of the bubble-chair.


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## Zand (Dec 10, 2016)

One thing I did notice on multiple occasions is that a chair would come into the bottom of the station and the bubble wouldn't raise. The snowmaking on Lodge was sticking to the inside of the chair which maybe caused it to think there was a rider on it and therefore wouldn't work automatically but that caused a couple delays that I saw. And obviously 10 every ride is an exaggeration but there were a couple rides where it came close to 10.


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## drjeff (Dec 10, 2016)

The Bluebird always seem to act a bit "moody" when they're making snow on Lodge or Charlie's Chase - there were a few stop/starts I experienced this morning before they shut the air/water guns on the top half of Lodge. Worth the stoppages though for the GREAT snow those guns put down on Lodge though!! 

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## laxski (Dec 10, 2016)

Lodge was Fun but Nitro was a Man-Made Powder Day!!!


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## drjeff (Dec 10, 2016)

laxski said:


> Lodge was Fun but Nitro was a Man-Made Powder Day!!!


I can't wait for repeats on Nitro in the AM! Temps around 10, with low humidity and all the nozzle banks on the fanguns running wide open all night long is going to make a ton of soft, creamy snow on Nitro for sure!!

Also kind of surreal to see on Dec 10th South Bowl all lit up with snowmaking!! That's usually one of the last snowmaking trails they get too historically!!   

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## ss20 (Dec 10, 2016)

Hey Dr how's the natural cover doing and how close are we to skiing natural trails (close as in perhaps the 8-12inches we're getting Sunday night close :wink: )?


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## drjeff (Dec 10, 2016)

ss20 said:


> Hey Dr how's the natural cover doing and how close are we to skiing natural trails (close as in perhaps the 8-12inches we're getting Sunday night close :wink: )?


Depends on the wind exposure and proximity to trails with snow previously made on them to be honest with you. They opened up Drifter today because of all of the blowover from the last snowmaking assault on the top of Cascade and it was ok, but you had to be careful as it was sketchy in a few places where the trees on the side of the trail hindered the blowover.

Saw many people today venture out onto skiers right of both Snowdance and Ridge, in areas of those trails where the throw of the fanguns can't put any appreciable snow down, and the combo of deep water bars and some "free stone grinds" had most of them quickly returning to where the manmade was!

I've got about 3-4" of crusty snow on the ground at my condo right now - I'm at an elevation about 350ft above the base area for reference - 8 - 12" of medium density snow would put a bunch of stuff into play, especially if the wind doesn't redistribute it too much - it would also likely bring into play a bunch of the underbrush lurking in the woods. 

Personally if the storm pans out and produces as they're thinking now, I'd be doing some cautious exploring of natural snow terrain on Monday - 100% would use some caution though as there will without a doubt be some hidden "snow snakes" under whatever falls.

A dense 8-12" by Monday followed by what looks to be a few days of persistent flurries and then another potential storm late next week is what Mount Snow really needs right now with what's currently on the ground, to safely bring most things into play

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## snoseek (Dec 10, 2016)

I'm thinking about making the drive over Thursday or Friday


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## Zand (Dec 10, 2016)

Speaking of blow over and natural snow, I snuck in a couple turns in epiphany off the side of free fall. Actually didn't hit much where I went in because there was enough blow over but I liked my skis to much to go very far in


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## laxski (Dec 11, 2016)

drjeff said:


> I can't wait for repeats on Nitro in the AM! Temps around 10, with low humidity and all the nozzle banks on the fanguns running wide open all night long is going to make a ton of soft, creamy snow on Nitro for sure!!
> 
> Also kind of surreal to see on Dec 10th South Bowl all lit up with snowmaking!! That's usually one of the last snowmaking trails they get too historically!!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app


Agreed on South Bowl we have had a place up here for 17 years and have never seen snowmaking this early!!! Great start to season can't wait to get into the woods. Looks like they did a Nice job clearing the brush out of the woods next to Ridge


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