2010-11 Ski-Day Count

[jamesdeluxe]

Something around May 1 seems a reasonable compromise between those who ski to the bitter end or take to the backcountry vs. those who move on to spring pursuits as soon as the weather at home gets warm. I too would like this thread to move on beyond the inevitable too-early post followed by the inevitable potshots.

I realize that this has become a FTO standard rite of spring -- I post the Ski-Day Count thread and then a few people bellyache that it's "too early."

Why does the existence of this thread, which I post every season around the second week of April -- the time that most ski areas, east or west, have closed -- cause so much agita? I always request "POST YOUR DAY TOTAL WHEN YOUR SEASON IS FINISHED," not "POST YOUR DAY TOTAL NOW, EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED FOR THE SEASON."

There's always the option to ignore this thread if you're not ready to post.

 

[Tony Crocker]

that most ski areas, east or west, have closed

As Patrick and others point out, in ALL important ski regions including the East, a few areas stay open until at least May 1. Thus my suggestion.

 

[Marc_C]

Why does the existence of this thread, which I post every season around the second week of April -- the time that most ski areas, east or west, have closed -- cause so much agita?

Maybe because folks don't like being reminded of the inevitable and that so many areas, both east and west, close with anywhere from reasonable to very complete (and deep) coverage.

I always request "POST YOUR DAY TOTAL WHEN YOUR SEASON IS FINISHED," not "POST YOUR DAY TOTAL NOW, EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED FOR THE SEASON."

Which is why, with the predominant skier type that this board attracts, it seems so premature to start it in early April. A lot of folks won't even remember the thread exists by the time their season is finished. I don't even remember that it's you that starts the thread - just that it always seems to be someone in the Eastern forum.

There's always the option to ignore this thread if you're not ready to post.

There's always the option of not getting all worked up with people who disagree with your timing.

 

[Patrick]

Which is why, with the predominant skier type that this board attracts, it seems so premature to start it in early April. A lot of folks won't even remember the thread exists by the time their season is finished. I don't even remember that it's you that starts the thread - just that it always seems to be someone in the Eastern forum.

And some won't be reading FTO when May arrives. Admin probably can confirm the viewership probably goes down as we move closer to summer.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

the predominant skier type that this board attracts

Four guys from Salt Lake City?

 

[Patrick]

the predominant skier type that this board attracts

Four guys from Salt Lake City?

 

[q]

Well, my season has ended beyond reasonable doubt so I am delighted to post my totals even if it does annoy Marc_C.

I don't find it in any way objectional that this thread is here as most resorts are closed due to lack of skier interest. My own season's pass hill, Discovery, closed on April 3rd despite some of the best conditions and depths in many a year. The reason was that in the last 2 weekends in March, despite great conditions skier numbers dropped by 50% so they decided against extending to the 10th. The majority of skiers are done, simple.

Anyway, my totals are:-

Kongsberg, Norway - 1
Montana Snowbowl, MT - 1
Discovery, MT - 9(16 days on my March Madness $239 pass. New one on March 1st 2012 for the next 2 years)
Teton Pass, MT - 1
Big Mountain, MT - 1
Blacktail, MT - 1
Powder Mountain, UT - 3
Alta, UT - 2
Snowbird, UT - 1
TOTAL - 20

Not a bad total and spending time with friends is as important to me than simply skiing each day :-D

 

[Marc_C]

the predominant skier type that this board attracts

Four guys from Salt Lake City?

And a couple of guys from the northeast who are easily riled and seem to constantly have their panties in a bunch.

 

[Marc_C]

Well, my season has ended beyond reasonable doubt so I am delighted to post my totals even if it does annoy Marc_C.

Annoy? Hardly.
Just pointing out that soulful and authentic skiers are still skiing. 8)

 

[Patrick]

Well, my season has ended beyond reasonable doubt so I am delighted to post my totals even if it does annoy Marc_C.

Annoy? Hardly.
Just pointing out that soulful and authentic skiers are still skiing. 8)

Haven't seen you out much this year.

 

[Marc_C]

Haven't seen you out much this year.

How could you possibly know?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Just pointing out that soulful and authentic skiers are still skiing. 8)

Fair enough. But there's room in the tent for those of us who quit early and prefer high-speed quads with heated seats.

Blacktail, MT - 1

Any pix or a trip report?

 

[soulskier]

Well, my season has ended beyond reasonable doubt so I am delighted to post my totals even if it does annoy Marc_C.

I don't find it in any way objectional that this thread is here as most resorts are closed due to lack of skier interest. My own season's pass hill, Discovery, closed on April 3rd despite some of the best conditions and depths in many a year. The reason was that in the last 2 weekends in March, despite great conditions skier numbers dropped by 50% so they decided against extending to the 10th. The majority of skiers are done, simple.

Anyway, my totals are:-

Kongsberg, Norway - 1
Montana Snowbowl, MT - 1
Discovery, MT - 9(16 days on my March Madness $239 pass. New one on March 1st 2012 for the next 2 years)
Teton Pass, MT - 1
Big Mountain, MT - 1
Blacktail, MT - 1
Powder Mountain, UT - 3
Alta, UT - 2
Snowbird, UT - 1
TOTAL - 20

Not a bad total and spending time with friends is as important to me than simply skiing each day :-D

Q, wondering how your experience was at Teton Pass, MT under new ownership?

 

[OlderThanDirt]

New to the board, and jealous of all young people (i.e., under age 60). Living at ca. 7500' is my one "ace in the hole," although prudence and age dictate half-day skis only.

To answer the question: I managed 51 trips to various mtns, all in the southwestern Rockies. New Mexico snow was poor (Taos, Santa Fe: machine made snow allowed them to open, but "yuck"), and a big let down after last year in NM. Wolf Creek and Purgatory (still can't call it Durango Mtn) were below average snow-wise (Wolf Creek was about 80" under normal, but still around 370"), but far better than NM. I managed about ten great powder and powder bump days, always my favorite ski conditions. I only found true champagne powder (the explosive kind that just blows up) once. Ideally the jetstreams will shift back to the south 2011-2012, and bring some of Vail's 495" back to NM where it belongs. <g>

This ski season is definitely finished. Next year I plan on 75 days, assuming that decent snow returns to Taos and Santa Fe.

(BTW, being older than dirt has at least one advantage: I skied Santa Fe for $20 a day, and a senior pass brought Wolf Creek under $7 a day. What chaps me is that ski areas keep rolling the "ski free" age up, up, up. Just no justice in this world. <g>)

 

[EMSC]

*(Edited to add an unexpected day in May)

With my brothers late spring trip now officially not happening and having otherwise burned my allowance of days out of the house, combined with a Euro trip in planning for 2012 that I'll need special dispensation for.... means that I'm calling my season even though Breck just jumped over 500" for the year yesterday and a ridiculous amount of snow remains up in them thar hills. I figure one more brutal season in ski day counts before things will get better (albeit only slowly better for a couple more years after that is my expectation).

With 2 ski days wiped out by other peoples illness (aka grandma who was to watch baby, and baby himself once) I managed to rack up a whopping 19* days (3* more than last year though!).

However I did hit 12* different resorts, 5 of which were new to me (all of the Alberta ones). Shockingly I only hit Eldora a single time all season :shock:. I noted at least 6" of pow on the hill on 6 of my days and a couple inches on several others, even though most days were planned VERY far in advance - just goes to show how snowy it was this winter.

The list:
A-Basin, CO
Eldora, CO
2 Beaver Creek, CO
2 Breckenridge, CO
3 Copper, CO
Loveland, CO
2 Vail, CO
Castle, AB
Lake Louise, AB
2 Marmot, AB
Norquay, AB
2 Sunshine, AB

 

[icelanticskier]

46 mt washington days, so far, and 77 days total, so far..........did i break the rules of the thread.............so far? :mrgreen:

i'll tally up in a couple of months or so....................skiing has been amazing corn up high.

rog

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Ideally the jetstreams will shift back to the south 2011-2012, and bring some of Vail's 495" back to NM where it belongs.

Great to hear from Bernalillo County. Too bad that you got hosed with snow this season, but that's the way it rolls there some years. My last trip to northern New Mexico was in a below average snow year, but I got lucky.

a whopping 18 days

Oh well, if I remember correctly, many of those 18 days were good quality and that Alberta trip sounded like a winner.

did i break the rules of the thread?

Yes, posting in this thread without complaining about its timing is considered poor form.

 

[Tony Crocker]

(Wolf Creek was about 80" under normal, but still around 370")

Actually Wolf Creek is a touch above average at 397 inches as of April 10. Long term average from earlier of opening day and Nov. 1 to Apr. 30 is 390 inches. The oft-quoted number of 450+ is based upon a roadside site that was unreliable due to wind drift exposure. It was in use during a few very high seasons in the late 1970's. Knox Williams (Colorado Avalanche Center director for 30+ years) explained this to me in some detail several years ago.

One of the reasons this will overall be one of North America's greatest ski seasons is that I do not recall a season with fewer areas below average. In the West Telluride is the only one for which I have in-season data. The Taos base depths did make it obvious that New Mexico is below average, and in combination with Telluride it's likely Durango is also below average. But it's confined to this region in the West. Arizona Snowbowl and Brian Head are above average. As mentioned before, in the East New England is above average and Quebec is below average.

A quick review of the top 3 seasons in my data:
In 1981-82 14% of areas were below average, 3% had record highs
In 1996-97 12% of areas were below average, 5% had record highs
In 2007-08 24% of areas were below average but 18% had record highs

2010-11 will be more like the first two seasons, just a few new records (Breckenridge and Mammoth are the ones we know about already) but likely a new low in percent of areas below average.

FYI I should set a personal record for ski days at 54 on Friday 4/22, but we still have a long way to go out here.

 

[Staley]

School's ending and I'm going home, so my season is over. This year I had 47 total days:

42 at Mammoth
3 at June
2 in the BC (Sherwins and Powerhouse Chutes)

Total of 1,004,050 feet of vertical, and 371,800 feet of powder.

My definition of powder is broader than average, I believe, but I still managed a very high percentage due to Mammoth's amazing year. By my imprecise calculations, I skied on powder days totaling 303" of snow.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I assume home is somewhere without a late spring season. Staley was lucky this year. That powder percentage is probably on the order of what admin & company get in LCC.

Adam did not have good luck with his Mammoth trips this year. He hit a lot of severe weather days with 3, 5 , 22 and even Main Lodge lifts closed, as result has had 33 days, 470K vertical, 105K of powder. He will have a few more days coming but not many and of course powder not likely. By contrast last year was 48 days, 855K vertical and 198K powder. All of this year and 44 of the 48 last year were Mammoth. Adam's powder definition tends to be more stringent than mine. That 198K is more than I've had in any season.

As noted in my signature my day count and vertical count in 2010-11 are new records with additions still to come. Powder this year is my #2 season at 186K, not likely to get any more.