Love skiing? Enjoy it while it lasts

[RustyK]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/snow ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ski seasons are getting shorter
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is well aware of the problem. In a report examining the impact of climate change on future winter games, the committee warned that as temperatures increase, the snowline will rise, meaning fewer places around the world will be suitable for skiing and other winter sports.
The IOC report forecast that an increase of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) would push the snowline up by 150 meters. "The ski season may start up to a month later and finish up to three months earlier," the committee said.

Organizers had to bring in old snow for the ski jump competition in Oberstdorf last month.


According to NASA, global temperatures are now 0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951-1980 mean. The impact of this warming on snow depth is already noticeable.
When scientists from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute looked at snow depth data from 1,131 weather stations across Europe, they found that, on average, mean snow depth had decreased by more than 12% a decade over the past 66 years.
The IOC said warming temperatures were particularly bad news for ski resorts located below altitudes of 1,000 meters.

[DES]

I love skiing, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it until I'm dead. Doubt the ski season will shorten dramatically while I'm alive. (but even if it did, I'd enjoy whatever time the season lasted, never been one to complain about something I have little or no power over)

[Highway Star]

Don't worry about it, we'll all starve to death in a Communist Utopia before it becomes a problem.

[madhatter]

a tax...we need a freakin' tax...now, so we can see what it will do...

[yiddle on da fiddle]

TWO words: Umbrella Bah....for those.."shorter seasons"

[da Pimp]

Gotta feel sorry for anyone investing in southern VT skiing. Going to be hit harder with shorter season, less snowfall, more r*in, increased costs versus Killington and farther north. Not that they care so much about early/late, but any changes in this direction are forecast to make things more expensive, not less. and an overall warmer average hurts midseason snowfalls and quality wil go down, flatlanders won't see snow as often and feel that Vermont is not worth their effort.

I already have people (regular active skiers) commenting on "how bad it must be" at Killington. All they remember is the January thaw and think there is nothing on the hill. Seems like the K marketing department is not getting their message out simply by relying on free social media. IMHO the reality over the last few weeks is that the mountain is in great shape and getting better all the time. But that's not the general viewpoint on the street in Ct.

[madhatter]

Gotta feel sorry for anyone investing in southern VT skiing. Going to be hit harder with shorter season, less snowfall, more r*in, increased costs versus Killington and farther north. Not that they care so much about early/late, but any changes in this direction are forecast to make things more expensive, not less. and an overall warmer average hurts midseason snowfalls and quality wil go down, flatlanders won't see snow as often and feel that Vermont is not worth their effort.none of this is certain...

I already have people (regular active skiers) commenting on "how bad it must be" at Killington. All they remember is the January thaw and think there is nothing on the hill. Seems like the K marketing department is not getting their message out simply by relying on free social media. IMHO the reality over the last few weeks is that the mountain is in great shape and getting better all the time. But that's not the general viewpoint on the street in Ct.

how many more people do they need right now? the place is overwhelmed on weekends...it's not even remotely a close call between here and out west for a week long trip for those inclined...

it's in great shape for mid december/early january...unfortunately it's mid feb and it's been skiing like mid december virtually every day since mid december...most of the weekend crowd enjoys the consistent groomed conditions...most people who ski the east enjoy those conditions...

[Mister Moose]

Gotta feel sorry for anyone investing in southern VT skiing. Going to be hit harder with shorter season, less snowfall, more r*in, increased costs versus Killington and farther north. Not that they care so much about early/late, but any changes in this direction are forecast to make things more expensive, not less. and an overall warmer average hurts midseason snowfalls and quality wil go down, flatlanders won't see snow as often and feel that Vermont is not worth their effort.

<Yawn> It's 2020. The apocalypse forecast in 2008 has already arrived.

I drove by a good view of Mt Southington in central CT a few weeks ago, and they were wall to wall. They are closer to ocean warmth, 200 miles south of K and 2,000 feet lower than KBL, and they manage to do just fine. Not very worried.

[da Pimp]

I have been skiing woods and nats for two weeks (watching where I go), and the snowmaking trails have been good to very good before that. Far majority of K customers have been kept happy. This upcoming holiday period is shaping up to be their big cash flow event that will carry the season for them.

No, the base depths are low and spring sun and/or warm temps will do damage but I can ski anywhere right now

I race at Mt. Southington, and that base is just enough to carry them into late Feb or early March when the temps and sun eat it alive. No problem, their market is mostly done with skiing by then. Cold nights are all they need to cover low pitch small acreage. Its the Berkshires and southern VT that really can't afford higher temps.

[buckethead]

rusty: you're nuts! don't you realize it's fkng cold. today?

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/ ... ds-hottest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

cold i say! cold. cold! COLD!


^^ seriously hatter. i came to K two saturday's back (ski club discount) the place felt like a holiday w/e (and i parked at bear). porcelain-like ice (and nof on WC trails).
the nats were not much better.. found some good turns but only got to peak once as line for box was massive. was thankful for the slowdon triple.
i'll be back in the spring, but that was big disappointment.

[rogman]

Don't like click bait articles like that. The problem is real, but the "end" of skiing is hardly imminent, and that is the least of the problems we face. Of course deniers scoff, that's the subversive intent. The problem is that climate change is a massive flywheel: by the time it is obvious to even the "skeptics" that something needs to be done, it will be long past the time when action needed to be initiated. It's easy to be a climate skeptic when you don't have children.

[buckethead]

^^ it's not an issue of kids or not. i betmost deniers *have* kids. it's a matter of perspective. and willingness to face the fact that things are *already* dire. i have no kids...i first read mckibben's 'end of nature' in 94 and it was really depressing stuff. lots of my friends with kids didn't wanna hear it, feeling a responsibility to be 'positive' and hopeful.
we have the ability to follow things going on far and wide.
it is easier to find good news in our midst, but like the congressman who brought a local snowbsll into yhe chamber to prove the planet wasn't getting warmer, weather is not climate...a longer view paints a less comforting picture.
with 24hr news coverage so focused on partisan politics it's easy to not pay much attention to unprecedented things happening on the planet every day. bit we're now living on a planet with carbon levels that haven't been reached in (i believe) tens or hundreds of thousand years.
we're lucky to live in a temperate region. not california, southern australia,etc...

still, i can't wait to ski tomorrow, and am thankful for the recent infusions of the real stuff.

enjoy everyone and beat the crowds.

[brownman]

CNN
More accurate topic title might of been 'enjoy it while You last'.
That's part of our plan ..

FYI .. Sugarbush hosting POW next Saturday afternoon at 6pm for a climate oriented discussion.
https://www.sugarbush.com/event/protect ... rum-2020-/

[throbster]

Hoax! 30 years of a steady stream of climate change sh*t has brainwashed the lemmings. Climate change is so real that the Obamas bought a mansion on Martha's vineyard.

[Ragged#1]

Lets pay more taxes so our trustworthy government can save the world!