Total Solar Eclipse, Apr. 8, 2024

Patrick said:
Next skiing opportunity during a Total Eclipse is July 22, 2028. Remarkables is basically one the centre line. ;)
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We know about that and Liz will potentially want to ski later on that trip. But eclipse in Queenstown is near sunset, only 9 degrees above the horizon with Southern Alps to the west. I've been in NZ for skiing in 4 seasons and I can confidently say the the climatology for clear skies with those parameters midwinter is terrible. We will be somewhere in outback Australia with close to 5 minutes totality and slam dunk clear weather odds.
 
Patrick said:
As soon as Jay and Whiteface started that they wouldn't allow skiers on the mountain during the eclipse is when they fell down my list of destination. I also found out that Sugarbush Valley's upper lift was closed for replacement. Mt. Ellen was already closed for the season, but you could buy a catride to the summit.

As started many years ago, Sugarloaf remains in my favorite ski areas in the East. Terrain available and new snow was a huge plus to pushing me to go to Sugarloaf despite being the further drive.
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It's too bad some Eastern Resorts were closed for the Eclipse. I saw CNN footage from the Top of Stowe Gondola, but that is not a 360-degree view—maybe 180. Nice though - eclipse over the Stowe Valley.

The Sugarloaf Snowfields look like a fantastic spot!

Was there coverage on the Backside Snowfields? This is likely one of the few times of year White Nitro is worth skiing - spring, plus new snow. It's the only Snowfield run with snowmaking - when combined with typical Sugarloaf winds - it's an icy hell most of the year with many slides for life.
 
Eclipse satellite clips on Jay Anderson's site.
I screenshotted the Mexico and Northeast clips just after totality:
TSE2024cloudsNortheast.png

I've marked locations of Whiteface, Jay and Sugarloaf. The gray in New Hampshire and Maine is snow cover; there were no clouds. The streaky NW to SE gray bands through central Vermont are high cirrus. It looks like Ohio also had the high cirrus and enthusiastic online reports would indicate no worse than that. Western New York was skunked.
 
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ChrisC said:
It's too bad some Eastern Resorts were closed for the Eclipse. I saw CNN footage from the Top of Stowe Gondola, but that is not a 360-degree view—maybe 180. Nice though - eclipse over the Stowe Valley.

The Sugarloaf Snowfields look like a fantastic spot!

Was there coverage on the Backside Snowfields? This is likely one of the few times of year White Nitro is worth skiing - spring, plus new snow. It's the only Snowfield run with snowmaking - when combined with typical Sugarloaf winds - it's an icy hell most of the year with many slides for life.
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The backside snowfields were closed; apparently it was pretty bony. WhiteNitro definitely prime, the top part was somewhat firm, but very edgeable, definitely one of my favorites at Sugarloaf. The temperature started getting warm for the season on Saturday/Sunday. Open half of the mountain was dry marshed potatoes (new snow that hadn't really changed over to spring corn). The changeover in the snow on the lower mountain was apparent as it was more corn and sticky surface as all the artificial snow was buried underneath the new snow.

Many areas were open Inside the path of totality; Titus even reopened after closing for the season 2 weeks prior.

As mentioned in my blog post, there were 3 categories of ski areas on Eclipse day.

1) Open and shutting down prior to the start of the eclipse and not allowing skiers to start on the mountain (Whiteface, Jay). Both these areas were selling tickets to ride up the gondola/tram to the summit of Jay or Little Whiteface.
2) Open and shutting down prior to the start of the eclipse, but allowing skiers to stay on the summit/mountain (Orford, Smuggs)
3) Closed for skiing all day, but lift for non-skiers to reach summit (Owl's Head, Bromont, Adstock, Moose Mountain (aka Big Squaw).
4) Open: 9 Areas open for skiing. In most cases lifts will shutdown around totality, but normally operations will continue until end of day. (Sutton, Titus, Stowe, Bolton, Sugarloaf, Burke, Saddleback, Mad River, Sugarbush).
Unfortunately the best view at Sugarbush is North (aka Mt Ellen) was closed for the season, but access to non-skiers via cat-ride were sold. Sugarbush Valley Upper lift was closed due to replacement.
 
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