Summer

Frank: <BR> <BR>Here are some pictures that may be of interest to you. These are pictures taken on May 1st 1994 after skiing in the May 1st fun slolom, of the dismantling of the old Killington Gondola. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2572.jpg" ALT="Removing the Killington Gondola"> <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2573.jpg" ALT="Demolishing the gondola base lodge"> <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2574.jpg" ALT="Gondola cars awaiting disposal">
 
1994.... it's been already 9 years since they have the skyeship ? Wow... it passes so fast ! The old gondolas looked less fragile than the ones of Wildcat (or even the old ones of St-Anne). <BR> <BR>Thanx for those pics and of course : <FONT SIZE="+2">Thanx a giga lot</FONT> for the ones of Superstar. I really like the view from bottom and I even collect them year after year. My aim would be to have some pics of late season for all years since the beginning of Superstar. Of course, the ones of Cascade and Downdraft are really appreciated too and I could build a database with them too !
 
Frank: <BR> <BR>Since you collect pics of Superstar, here is a picture from May 21st 1994. So you can see the melt rate in 10+ days from then to June 1st. With regards to the old gondola, in some ways I miss it more because despite being slow and small inside, at least the trip to you to the top of Killington Peak. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2575.jpg" ALT="Superstar May 21st 1994">
 
Thanks for this comparison pic. Effectively it didn't melted so much in 11 days. I wish my father was enough maniac to bring us ski in june, in the 90s... <BR> <BR>I Hope we'll have the chance to ski (lift-serviced) in june in the next years !
 
With regard to summer heat, try 113F (45C) in Las Vegas last weekend and at the bottom of the Grand Canyon before I got to Vegas. <BR> <BR>As far as ASC's difficulties are concerned, I would presume that Steamboat and Heavenly (~900,000 annual skier visits each) were their most valuable properties, and therefore the ones which had to be put on the block to raise cash. <BR> <BR>Heavenly has the prime location at Tahoe for convenience to lodging and apres-ski, plus tons of intermediate terrain and world-famous views. Steamboat, though more isolated, has an established reputation for terrain and resort ambience plus the highest snowfall in Colorado of the big destinations. <BR> <BR>ASC sold Heavenly to Vail Associates and had a deal to sell Steamboat to Okemo. When the Heavenly sale went through, they tried to get out of the Steamboat deal, and last I heard were in litigation with Okemo. Any of you easterners know how that is going? <BR> <BR>The Canyons is undoubtedly ASC's biggest sinkhole of money. As I mentioned before, the investment appeared to be massive when I was there in 1999. It is unclear to me that they will go much over the 300,000 they are doing now. There are 3 big areas there at Park City, and the Canyons is the least convenient to the majority of lodging and apres-ski and has the least reliable natural snow of the 3 (by small margins in each case). <BR> <BR>Then you have the more hard-core Utah vistors such as myself who concentrate on the superlative terrain and snow of the Cottonwood Canyons and only occasionally set foot in Park City. Note my distribution of Utah ski days at <A HREF="http://home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker818/vft_utah.htm" TARGET="_top">http://home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker818/vft_utah.htm</A>. <BR> <BR>I don't really see the Canyons stealing market share from other Utah areas, but just adding to Utah's natural growth in business, along with Snowbasin, which had an equally impressive expansion for the Olympics at about the same time. <BR> <BR>By absolute standards the Canyons is a large and interesting area, but relative to its Utah competition it probably ranks 4th or 5th.
 
45c ... I would die !! (I'm born in the north of QC and some temperatures like that are just not for me <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)">) <BR> <BR>For ASC and Steamboat and Okemo, I simply didn't know this deal but it would be interesting to know if someone here have info about that ? <BR> <BR>With your vertical skied distribution + ski days, I see that Snowbird is a fundamental place for you <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)"> (each years since 1980-81 !). There is just 1 ski area that I skied every season I skied (16), but it's because it's just 30 minutes from here (and it's where I began to love the sport) <BR> <BR>And for the Canyons... we'll see what will happen. Actually, it's huge, will they close some terrain to not lose too much money ? When ASC closed the Sunrise side, I thought they had understand that growing too much is not necessary a good thing... but it looks like they didn't really understand that, developping the Canyons like they did. (I'm not for the closure of Sunrise... but if Killington had just never built it, nobody would miss it now).
 
Snowbird is indeed my favorite mountain. I only list seasons in the tables where I have actually skied the region in order to keep the tables readable. I was in Utah 10 of the 15 seasons before I met someone with a timeshare at the Iron Blosam. I now stay there 3-4 days each season. If any of you are in the area during the second full week of March, drop me an e-mail in advance. The timesharers have been going there for over 20 years and know the mountain very well. <BR> <BR>With regard to ski area development, closing existing terrain makes little sense. The problem is the $150 million ASC spent to develop the Canyons. That is a sunk cost, but the marginal cost to operate is not that bad. If ASC were to go bankrupt, someone would buy The Canyons for a price consistent with the 300,000 annual skier visits. <BR> <BR>Remember all those luxury resorts the Japanese built in Hawaii in the late 1980's? They expected Japanese tourists to spend $600/night for the rooms. They have nearly all since been sold for 40 cents on the dollar, and are now full of both Japanese and American tourists paying $200-$400. <BR> <BR>In 1999 I had this discussion with the new Intrawest ownership of Mammoth with regard to June Mt. In 1986 Dave McCoy bought the area and upgraded its lifts, with the ultimate dream of stringing lifts across 6 miles of Sierra and joining it to Mammoth. The Sierra had several tough snow years between 1987 and 1992, so the interconnect idea never got off the ground. <BR> <BR>June Mt. is practically empty, and there is almost no local bed base. Nonetheless Intrawest has no intention to restrict or close the area because the marginal cost of operation is low. They did admit that they are not actively pursuing the interconnect, and they have not spent any money to rebuild the QMC tram (double cable similar to Squaw's Funitel). <BR> <BR>The QMC was built by Yan, and after the Whistler accident a few years ago, all Yan detachable lifts were either replaced or reengineered. Due to June's low visitor count, the QMC was just grounded, and now access from the parking lot to the main facilities 1,000 feet above is by the original 1950's vintage double chair. From those facilities the majority of June's terrain is accessible via 2 high-speed quads Dave McCoy installed in the late 1980's.
 
About the Canyons, effectively, they should't consider the cost of investments, but just the fact if they're making money actually with it... <BR> <BR>if the operating costs are not so bad and the area is profitable even though not enough to pay the investments, that's not so bad. But with all the super lifts they built, it's hard to believe they're able to making $$, just with the maintenance of the equipments... with so few skiers. <BR> <BR>About Mammoth, I've some difficuly to understand it can be one of the most popular ski area in US, even though it's sitten over a gigantic bomb that almost exploded in the late 70s (or is it early 80s ?) Dave McCoy probably had a deal for the resort, with the additional risk to have big $$ on an active volcano (especially as 1986 was not so far of the volcanic event). May be it was another reason to not invest a huge amount to join the mountain with Sierra. <BR> <BR> <BR>(from the University of North Dakota volcano website) <BR> <BR><I>Mammoth Mountain (11,050 feet), is a composite volcano made up of about 12 rhyodacite and quartz latite domes extruded along the southwest rim of Long Valley caldera from 200,000 to 50,000 years ago. Mammoth Mountain is one of the eruptive centers that developed late in the evolutionary cycle of the Long Valley caldera complex</I> <BR> <BR><I>A sequence of earthquakes which began in 1978 generated much interest in Long Valley caldera and the Mono-Inyo Craters volcanic field and the possibility of an eruption. Earthquake activity culminated in mid-May 1980 when four magnitude 6 events were recorded in a 2-day period. Volcanologists interpreted the earthquakes, accompanying ground deformation, and an increase in activity at fumaroles as an indication of magma movement beneath the caldera. The magma did not rise to the surface. The activity prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to publish a study on the potential hazards of future volcanic eruptions (Miller and others, 1982). Volcanic unrest continues at Long Valley. In 1994, geologists investigated an area of 75 acres (30 hectare) that contained dying forest. They studied the gas in the soil and found carbon dioxide concentrations of 30-96%. Additional details are provided on a USGS homepage. The Survey continues to monitor the caldera and provides current information on the Long Valley homepage.</I>
 
The 6-magnitude earthquakes occurred on Sunday of Memorial weekend in 1980 between 9:33AM and noon. I was not there, though I had been there the previous weekend, which was the weekend Mt. St. Helens erupted. <BR> <BR>My understanding of those Memorial weekend events was as follows: Power was knocked out for 3+ hours and one beginner lift at the base had to be evacuated by ski patrol. The other lifts were cleared by power from emergency generators. Since the earthquake formed cracks in the Cornice and other upper mountain bowls, skiers at the top were instructed to ski the cat road around the backside past chairs 14 and 12 to the Main Lodge. Patrol checked everything out that afternoon and the mountain reopened the next day. <BR> <BR>The "volcano scare", especially so coincidentally timed with Mt. St. Helens, did slow down Mammoth's real estate market. This was nonetheless Mammoth's glory era as the most popular ski area in North America, with record skier visits of 1.4 million in 1981-82 and 1985-86. <BR> <BR>The "Mammoth Scenic Loop" road was built in the early 1980's, running northeast from the Main Lodge road to US395. Its real purpose was/is as a potential evacuation route if the 3-mile Route 203 running southeast from town to US395 close to Long Valley should be closed by earthquake or volcanic activity. <BR> <BR>My understanding is that the potential volcanic activity in the area is not of the Mt. St. Helens explosive variety, but of a Kilauea-type flow surfacing in the Long Valley Caldera. Long Valley is 6 miles SE and 1,000 feet lower than the town of Mammoth Lakes. Short-term economic impact would be quite dramatic if the road connection to L.A. and ~90% of Mammoth's tourists were severed. <BR> <BR>The "volcano scare" is by now mostly forgotten. Mammoth's real estate market and skier visit count were severely depressed by the Southern California recession of the early 1990's. Mammoth recorded only 900,000 skier visits during the incredible October 8 - August 13 ski season of 1994-95. Since Intrawest bought in 5 years ago Mammoth's outlook has brightened. Existing real estate prices have tripled and at NASJA 2003 marketing director Joani Lynch estimated 1.1 million skier visits for 2002-03.
 
Before Marc write it : <A HREF="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/news/stories/105662942679244.shtm" TARGET="_top">http://www.firsttracksonline.com/news/stories/105662942679244.shtm</A> <BR> <BR>they got nearly 1.3 million skiers this year. <BR> <BR>Thanks a lot for the volcanic scary day description ! You American are not fearful... Here, it's sure we don't have volcanoes and are not used to that, but if we had this kind of mountain near us, I'm not sure it would be really popular !! <BR> <BR>I was wondering if it was exactly in same time than Mt St-Helens, which was may 18 if I don't mistake. One week later... it's strange how the volcanic activity have been big in just few days and after... almost nothing for 20 years (except the july 80 2nd eruption of Mt St-Helens and few other more little ones I think. Did one big volcanic activity happened in USA since those 2 weeks ?)
 
Joani gave me the 1.1 million skier estimate in mid-March, during the 3rd month of less than half normal snow after the big December. With a record 115 inches after April 1, that estimate proved to be too low. <BR> <BR>With regard to taking volcanic activity in stride, I think New Zealand wins the award. I skied Whakapapa on Mt. Ruapehu on Sept. 3, 1982 (still my only ski day in that month). From Ruapehu you could see a small continuous smoke plume on nearby Ngaruhoe. Ruapehu itself had significant eruptions in Sept. 1995 and June 1996. Check out the history at <A HREF="http://url.co.nz/ruapehu.html" TARGET="_top">http://url.co.nz/ruapehu.html</A> and you'll see that the Kiwis were eager to open the Whakapapa (north side) or Turoa (southwest side) ski areas as long as ash was not being blown directly onto the skifields.
 
Thanks for the link. I was knowing that many volcanoes were active in NZ actually, but I didn't know they were so much in activity than that !! I imagine that skiing on ash is less interesting than on snow <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)"> lol <BR> <BR>You talked of 115 inches of snow after april 1 at Mammoth. Is somebody here have the amount of snowfall after may 1, in 1997, at Mt Washington. I read somewhere 100" and that's really possible, but I just don't remember where I've seen that. I remember the writer was talking of skiing the Gulf of Slides in big powder in june.
 
May 1997 snowfall at Mt. Washington was 95 inches. What is truly bizarre about that stat is that there is only ONE other month in excess of 90 inches since January 1978, and that was 110 inches in April 1988. <BR> <BR>The biggest May on the Continental Divide areas of Colorado (which have the highest average May snowfall) was in 1995: 80 inches at A-Basin and I read somewhere 104 at Loveland.
 
Hmm... in march 2001, they didn't get over 90 inches ??? Jay Peak passed well over that, I think. Even here, I think Orford, Sutton, Bromont and Owl's Head passed over 90" <BR> <BR>Anyway... 95 inches in may... do you imagine that... I can't believe there was just 9 turns possibles on july 17, 1997. <BR> <BR>It's sad that he Pinatubo exploded in mid-june, in 1991, cause if it occured in april or may, the ski would have continued all summer long at Tucks ! hehehe. (we got 2 days without rain here, in july, with temps of 10 degrees celsius below the normal)
 
Mt. Washington has an amazingly independent microclimate. 2000-01 was actually slightly below average, with only 51 inches in March, vs. 124 at Killington. In May 1997 Killington had a big 3 inches new snow! <BR> <BR>Volcanic eruptions need to be very large to affect worldwide climate. Timbura 1815 and Krakatoa 1883 (both in Indonesia) are the famous examples. Mt. St. Helens was not even close to being big enough. We heard some about El Chichon in Colombia in 1982 when we had 2 consecutive epic seasons in the Sierra, but El Nino was the most important factor in those seasons. <BR> <BR>Pinatubo was probably about like El Chichon. I have read that the very long July 1991 solar eclipse was not as dark as people expected because sunlight was scattered in the upper atmosphere by particles from Pinatubo.
 
About Pinatubo, it's the 2nd biggest eruption of the last century. The 1st one is the Nova Rupta in Alaska in 1912, (±1912). Nothing compared to the Tambora and Krakatau (french names for them) in the last century. You know that in 1815, that was a year without summer. I heard that in july, they got snowfalls in London (England). <BR> <BR>Pinatubo was quite less big than those 2 ones (The Krakatau eruption did an enough big sound to be heard like a noise of cannon... at 3000+ miles from the volcano). The Tambora did 92000 deads (most of them because the lost of culture and foods) and the Krakatau about 30K if I don't mistake. (tidal wave) <BR> <BR>Pinatubo did just 500 deads, but it would have been in thousands if they didn't evacuated the population and the military base near the volcano. <BR> <BR>St-Helens was a peanut compared to Pinatubo and the other big ones... <BR> <BR>But of course, the El Nino is really the natural phenomenon that bring the most weird climate... and as I live in southern Quebec, I particularly remember its effect of january 1998 !!!!! (lucky, only 3 days without power here, but our big tree have been severely affected)
 
This is a little bit off the topic here, but has anyone heard about the discovery of the body of missing Canadian hockey player Duncan Mac Pherson? <BR>Apparently he was snowbording on the Stubai glacier in Austria on August 9th 1989 and went missing for 14 years. His body was discovered by a employee on the mountain while operating a snow grooming machine last friday July 18th. I skied Stubai on July 5th 1989 and there was alot of snow on the glacier that year, in fact I could not ski on July 4th as there was a heavy snow storm going on with poor visibility and 20+cm of new snow. I wonder how he fell into a crevasse as all of the hazards were very well marked and the glacier is fairly gentle.
 
Ish, after 14 years... <BR>I didn't know the story and the fact he was discovered this week. <BR> <BR>I hope it won't arrive to me when I go to the "glacier" of Tenney ! lololol
 
How about the guy they found in a European glacier 5,000 years later (can't rely remember when and how long he was in the glacier at least 2,000 yrs. It was maybe 5-6 years ago in, I think, either in Switzerland or Austria).
 
Yes, I remember a little bit of this, Patrick ! <BR>that's really amazing when they find that. <BR>Tough to think the ice can preserve so much the bodies... anyway, I wouldn't like to see that from my own eyes !
 
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