Ski question
- Thread starter trener1
- Start date
The next few days should prove to offer some level of precip for NY and VT.
They are talking about freezing rain on thursday as the blocking high pressure that is in place is slow to get pushed off. This should hold some warm air aloft as the new low dips down on thursday.
I am headed to Stratton on Friday as it looks like the mix will occur all the way to Canada. If it were to be all Snow I would be headed to Jay Peak for sure.
Hunter has good base depths and they seem to recover well. The exception seems to be on a hard freeze after a warm wet day.
The cycle of freeze thaw seems to be best dealt with at Stratton.
The cycle after a thaw freeze offers chunky granular snow on day after and usually by the 2nd day of grooming the snow chunks are broken down into smaller bits that feel smoother underfoot.
I rented a ski house at Stratton for a # of years and I was always impressed with their grooming as compared to the surrounding mts. I can't say for sure but they must either have way better grooming equip or at least better techniques. My though is that they do double pass grooming in one night. Perhaps grooming the same trail in the evening and again in the very early morning.
They also use or used at least a skier mounted radar system that would measure based depths across the entire hill. They could add more snow as need by accurately measuring base depths everywhere, rather than guessing
http://www.stratton.com/mountain/snowFacts/index.htm
In a lot of ways I hate the mt layout and the "Vail east" vibe, but if you hit it on a weekday and use an express card it is worth the $40 bucks. I have been snowboarding here since 1987 and I guess since I learned here it feels like home.
btw...
Look at the current Map!!!:
6-12" in the next 48 hrs!!
http://www.weather.com/maps/news/forecastsummary/floater6_large.html?from=hp_main_maps
Last edited:
don
Well-Known Member
Never knew that about Stratton's grooming, jdog. That's pretty cool stuff. And makes a lot of sense for a southern VT hill that gets some traffic.
On the flip side, someone was saying that Stowe's grooming has been cut down a bunch due to AIG trying to keep that line item as low as possible. I could tell as the trails were a little sloppy/scratchy last week before lunch on the cold days even with a low skier count.
I rode Stratton in high school as it was easy to be able to snowboard there - no hassles - plus it was just 1.5 hours from my house and Greyhound made trips there. I remember seeing the Burton skunk works team coming down a run one day just murdering it - they were riding so fast and popping airs off of everthing - blew me away. So I get a good feeling when hearing about that place. Like jdog, I'd certainly recommend especially during the week.
On the flip side, someone was saying that Stowe's grooming has been cut down a bunch due to AIG trying to keep that line item as low as possible. I could tell as the trails were a little sloppy/scratchy last week before lunch on the cold days even with a low skier count.
I rode Stratton in high school as it was easy to be able to snowboard there - no hassles - plus it was just 1.5 hours from my house and Greyhound made trips there. I remember seeing the Burton skunk works team coming down a run one day just murdering it - they were riding so fast and popping airs off of everthing - blew me away. So I get a good feeling when hearing about that place. Like jdog, I'd certainly recommend especially during the week.
Glancing Aft
Active Member
Bromley is a fun little mountain on the right day. It's got a Southern exposure so the weather is key. If it's going to be sunny and 40 and you like hitting slushy bumps it's a great place to go. If it was 40 the day before and wheb you're going it's going to be 20, stay away! It'll be a sheet of ice.
ellbiddy
Active Member
I'll be passing through near hunter next week on my tour de east of skiing. Belleayre mountain probably, then after some advising and research it'll probably be Mad River Glenn (A la glancing aft) and then I decided to hit saddlebrook instead of sugarloaf. If you time it right could probably meet up one day in NY or VT or ME depending on where you go 
I go to Hunter alot, they do recover real well. However, if you have the time to go further north go to Vermont.
I've been to Bromely a couple of times with the family. I wouldn't go there if I were going solo or with friends. I guess that also depends on what type of skier you are. I was there once after 2 days of rain & you couldn't even tell (on the groomed runs). Anything not groomed was a sheet of ice. One thing for sure, its never crowded.
If there is fresh snow, hit Magic Mountain right down the road. Real natural, old school type place. Steep tree runs everywhere. But only if it snows!
You could also go to Okemo. Known for great grooming, but you pay for it.