Jackson Hole - Shut down for 7 days??

berkshireskier":39wbppz3 said:
Hell, the best place to ski this weekend may be New England. Forget Jackson Hole, Snowbird/Alta, Sun Valley, etc. We got 10 to 12 inches of light, fluffy powder (cold storm) yesterday and another 1 to 3 inches is predicted tonight. More snow Sunday into Monday.
:stir:
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Several years ago when the the west was in a drought I met ski patrollers from Jackson and many people from various western resorts...including Alta...at...Stowe. We had 3 feet. Interesting day...
 
There are many times when skiing is better in New England than in the West. The problem is that we know about those instances about 3 days in advance and of course a week later you could get a rain/freeze. So I'm wondering how these western ski area employees had the time and $$$ flexibility to score that 3 foot storm at Stowe.

I'm also curious if Okemo has any terrain with enough pitch to ski deep powder.
 
Don't know about the guys I met at Stowe..guess they hopped on a plane and...went.
Okemo has nothing really steep but it has some drop offs that accumulated. Their double d's would be a black run anywhere else. They groom the shit out of 70% of the runs anyway. Heard a guy on the line saying it was his worst day ever...didn't like the ungroomed stuff...
 
Tony Crocker":2i8lux87 said:
So I'm wondering how these western ski area employees had the time and $$$ flexibility to score that 3 foot storm at Stowe.
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What makes you think they jumped at the chance on short notice and that they merely didn't just get lucky? Sluggy said it was during the western drought - they could have arranged it in well in advance and the 3' storm just happened to coincide with their trip.
 
Well..they were happy as hell. The gondi had been down for 2 days..so when it started up...3 feet was just sitting there. Chin Clip was buried. Met an old timer with an Alta pin on his hat..said he was there when Alta opened....interesting day...
 
MarcC":1o3szkc0 said:
Sluggy said it was during the western drought
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Yes, perhaps it could have been laid-off employees for areas closed or in restricted operation. I don't think that ever happened at Alta or Jackson though.

Any recollection which "western drought" season? The recent ones 2012 and 2015 were only severe in a few regions at a time with some others doing OK. 1977 was the only one that hit all of the western regions hard, and it was also a huge snow season in the Northeast.
 
2007 was below average but not severe enough for any mid-season closures and only the Sierra had delayed opening of terrain into February.

2005 had two months of mid-season closures in the Northwest after huge rain followed by 6 weeks of drought. We don't remember that one so much because Utah and California were having banner seasons.

Neither 2005 nor 2007 was as bad as 2012 or 2015.
 
Tony Crocker":21bzmuly said:
2007 was below average but not severe enough for any mid-season closures and only the Sierra had delayed opening of terrain into February.
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Just maybe a couple of patrollers took a trip to visit the northeast - maybe even for non-skiing stuff like family - with some skiing thrown in during a so-so year in the west and happened to score with a big VT storm.
Not everyone plans their trips based on spreadsheet averages or is responding to severe events like mid-season closures.
Occam's Razor.
 
Marc_C":dxt1b9kw said:
Just maybe a couple of patrollers took a trip to visit the northeast - maybe even for non-skiing stuff like family - with some skiing thrown in during a so-so year in the west and happened to score with a big VT storm.
Not everyone plans their trips based on spreadsheet averages or is responding to severe events like mid-season closures.
Occam's Razor.
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I'm inclined to agree it was probably a just a lucky trip that hit a good storm. The state of skiing in the West was likely not a factor, as they came from Jackson and Alta, which never were never bad enough to restrict operations or layoff temporary employees during that time frame.
 
I remember asking the older guy why they where all here..his reply was something like...cause you guys got all the snow....this was the first and only time I have ever met anyone from those areas skiing..in my backyard..
 
I run into westerners skiing back east occasionally and it's always "I'm here visiting friends/family" or "I'm here on business." Of course, their experience is colored by the then-current conditions:

Bad: "This is exactly what I'd heard about the east. Never doing this again!"
Good: "This ain't half bad, especially the trees -- why are you guys always complaining?"


kingslug":3p5bckxe said:
I remember asking the older guy why they where all here..his reply was something like...cause you guys got all the snow
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One time in the late 00s (maybe it was 2007?) I ran into a few native Coloradans who said the same thing ^^ and were riding out their drought in snowy Vermont.
 
Did you bother to consider that maybe they were just in town for a patroller's wedding or something similar?
 
kingslug":1ma2v4gl said:
I remember asking the older guy why they where all here..his reply was something like...cause you guys got all the snow....this was the first and only time I have ever met anyone from those areas skiing..in my backyard..
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Not sure why you were taking that statement at face value. If I happened to hit a big pow storm while visiting family I might well say something along those lines too... but in total facetiousness.
 
About the only thing I considered was ...the 3 feet of white stuff staring ar me...why anyone else was there...was immaterial....
And Stowe is a legit place to spend a day at..for anyone of any ability..I'm sure they weren't ...bored...
 
kingslug":10nn6r6r said:
About the only thing I considered was ...the 3 feet of white stuff staring ar me...why anyone else was there...was immaterial....
And Stowe is a legit place to spend a day at..for anyone of any ability..I'm sure they weren't ...bored...
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Is there something wrong with your keyboard? There seems to be an excessive amount of periods in all your posts.
 
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