How did the EC mountains hold up after this last rain?

We didn't get much from the storm last week...Ottawa and the Lower Laurentians were like a dry coridor last week compared to what feel north, south, west and further east. Montreal, areas around Toronto, Townships and Northern Vermont got anywhere from a dump to a huge dump.

Snow a bit on Sunday before the freezing rain and rain...snow started early evening and it's snowing now. Enough to have some kids and parents using their cross-country skis to get to school. I love living in a city under the snow. I was running last this morning, but I decided to walk into work instead of taking the bus. Walking in the snow sure remove the every day stress. I guess it's a pure Canadiana thing, the 2 mile walk in the snow was great.

So Canadiana that of a past Prime Minister...moment of reflexion and making his decision to resign.
walked alone in the snowstorm until midnight.
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Some people meditate, some walk in the snow. To make things even more cliché, Bruce Cockburn was playing on the Ipod. Last day in School is Friday. Ottawa in a Winterwonderland.
 
GFS is now showing a decent storm for sunday night/monday morning.
gfs_slp_138s.gif
 
It is already below 32 degrees but no real accumulating snow on the backside of the storm (and I think that applies to the Catskills and southern VT too).

I stand corrected. Turned much colder last night and we picked up 2 to 3 inches of new snow at my house in Western Mass. My local ski hill reported 5 to 6 inches of new snow (and I usually discount their snow reports by 25%). Will be cold enough all week so that most Northeast ski areas should be able to make snow round-the-clock. I'm guessing skiing will be good on any trails that will be open this weekend throughout most of the Northeast.
 
The only thing Hunter has on Platt right now is the amount of trails open...Hunter has a lot more but platt..if it gets hit would be the place to go..
 
rob, don't go jinxing that event...
if it comes true, it's not decent , it's a all out blockbuster...it cuts off at 500 and meanders for ever..
 
kingslug":12eo2mqu said:
The only thing Hunter has on Platt right now is the amount of trails open...Hunter has a lot more but platt..if it gets hit would be the place to go..
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Especially since platte is closed all week long. I was looking at the rental rate for a weekday. If I can get 100 people in on it, it's only 25 bones a head...of course it would only be worth it on a bluebird weekday right after a massive storm.
jasoncapecod":12eo2mqu said:
rob, don't go jinxing that event...
if it comes true, it's not decent , it's a all out blockbuster...it cuts off at 500 and meanders for ever..
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It would be nice for sure. The only thing that scares me is that the city will get hit too, and that means an hour of digging my car out, then when I come back from the mountain finding a parking spot. (Nobody moves their cars after a storm. I would love to have rain line about 10 miles north of the city.) Gosh, I am in a whining mood!
 
rfarren":3aj257k5 said:
GFS is now showing a decent storm for sunday night/monday morning.
gfs_slp_138s.gif
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Accuweather has now backed off the idea of a big east coast storm this weekend. Latest runs of the GFS and other models shows storm going out to sea south and east of New England. Odds now favor ZERO snow anywhere in ski country in the Northeast but looks cold right through Christmas for good snowmaking weather.
 
jasoncapecod":2gnd9r54 said:
berk, check the gfs 12z....don't put away the snow shovel just yet
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We'll see. It doesn't look like it will slam NYC or the catskills, but central and southern VT could get a nice little storm. We'll just have to cross our fingers.
12z, 12/15/10:
gfs_slp_108s.gif
 
I'm doing one of my progress reports today and open terrain is still very limited at the more interesting places: Jay 16%, Smuggs 35%, Bolton 26%, Sugarbush 22%, MRG closed, Killington 26%, Whiteface 34%, Cannon 40%, Sugarloaf 22%, Sunday River 32%, Le Massif 17%, Ste. Anne 31%.

Only 2 seasons of the past decade worse on Dec. 15 (2001 and 2006), a couple more are similar or slightly better.
 
I'm doing one of my progress reports today and open terrain is still very limited at the more interesting places: Jay 16%, Smuggs 35%, Bolton 26%, Sugarbush 22%, MRG closed, Killington 26%, Whiteface 34%, Cannon 40%, Sugarloaf 22%, Sunday River 32%, Le Massif 17%, Ste. Anne 31%.
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interesting

last sunday's rain had little impact , because most of the terrain that is opened are snowmaking trails..
The natural snow numbers are at or above average . The problem is the snow was basically pixie dust. 40" of dry light powder over stumps and rocks is useless.

i just booked a week in Quebec starting the 27th , I hope those numbers go up...
 
Tony Crocker":fte9fiwq said:
I'm doing one of my progress reports today and open terrain is still very limited at the more interesting places: Jay 16%, Smuggs 35%, Bolton 26%, Sugarbush 22%, MRG closed, Killington 26%, Whiteface 34%, Cannon 40%, Sugarloaf 22%, Sunday River 32%, Le Massif 17%, Ste. Anne 31%.
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Amazingly - my home hill - Gore is listing 37% open, close to the top of that list.

Tony are you using numbers from the websites?
 
jasoncapecod":26qbuh2b said:
euro killed it , so did the 18z ...time to move on..
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Yea, unlikely that this will be any sort of snow event for the mountains of Western New England or New York State. Always possible the models are wrong about the path of the storm and it goes further north and west of what they are currently showing. Possible Maine could pick up snow from this event. Time will tell, as always.
 
Tony Crocker":1pxl3ted said:
I'm doing one of my progress reports today and open terrain is still very limited at the more interesting places: Jay 16%, Smuggs 35%, Bolton 26%, Sugarbush 22%, MRG closed, Killington 26%, Whiteface 34%, Cannon 40%, Sugarloaf 22%, Sunday River 32%, Le Massif 17%, Ste. Anne 31%.

Only 2 seasons of the past decade worse on Dec. 15 (2001 and 2006), a couple more are similar or slightly better.
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I'm guessing those numbers on open trails will go up dramatically in the next 10 days, as the weather forecast calls for cold enough weather for most ski areas to make snow 24/7 to build up the open trail count before the Christmas holiday week.
 
Tony Crocker":ycnq9uzv said:
Trail counts I usually get from http://www.snocountry.com.

Hunter is at 71%, confirming some of the past comments people have made about the intensity of their snowmaking.
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The most phenomenal part of that is the 0-60 time. Basically Hunter went from 1 lift and 4 trails to 8 lifts and 38 trails in under a week.

Hunter is the Killington of NY State when it comes to snowmaking power.
 
Considering the size difference between K and Hunter...Hunter is the king per acre.....They're opening the west side this weekend...Clairs..my favorite run.
 
Tony Crocker":25gyretp said:
I'm doing one of my progress reports today and open terrain is still very limited at the more interesting places: Jay 16%, Smuggs 35%, Bolton 26%, Sugarbush 22%, MRG closed, Killington 26%, Whiteface 34%, Cannon 40%, Sugarloaf 22%, Sunday River 32%, Le Massif 17%, Ste. Anne 31%.

Only 2 seasons of the past decade worse on Dec. 15 (2001 and 2006), a couple more are similar or slightly better.
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That is odd. I have had two good powder days during the past week. And you should really check out famousinternetskiers.com.... they had a day for the record books. I mean, I think even most western skiers will be drooling about this:
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/tri ... -on-earth/

The problem is we had a rain event earlier this week that washed out much of the copious natural snow that fell earlier this month and put a dent in the snow making efforts. Without that set back, you'd be seeing open percentages in the +66% range easily. I think it also important to note that last weekend had more terrain open than this week following the NCP and also you'll see a big increase in terrain for the weekend if you check back in a day or two now that snow makers have had three exceptionally cold days of snow making. Cannon leading the way (in that crowd) at 40% is pretty wild.

I would put this December so far at probably just under average through the mid-point. The thing with December is it can be epic for 1 or 2 weeks and that completely erases memories of a lack luster start. Or it can start roaring and have a Christmas wash out which really hurts. We seem to be in a start and go mode here.

Also of note, is part of the reason for low trail counts is a really warm November. Snow making got started much later than normal as late November was extremely unseasonably warm. Hunter didn't even make any snow in November, I believe(???) and pushed their opening date back a week. One can not underestimate November's effects on trail counts this early in December.
 
I'll admit my typical once a week analysis is not up to the scrutiny of skilled cherry pickers like Riverc0il. December in particular seems to have these spells of a scattered good days during/after storms which quickly revert to marginal due to an as yet inadequate base. But for the vast majority tied to the weekends the way I report is consistent across regions and particularly now that there's decade of info paints an accurate picture of overall reliability. And all regions have their cherry pickers, as admin and company have shown us.

Riverc0il":39lcu3y1 said:
Christmas wash out
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New England is working on a 7-year streak of those.
 
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