Expansion

[Downdraft]

I’m not sure if watching a bunch of boomers argue on the internet about stuff they don’t know about and have no control over is funny or just embarrassing.

[skiadikt]

They are making snow right down to K-1 on Snowdon currently. They'll get to middle GN later. It will all work out.

as expected. waa, waa, waa ...

it'll be down to the wire but think we'll be ttb before the guns shut down on wednesday. yes a small setback ...

and yes i remember the original claim of the WC not effecting snowmaking on the rest of the mtn. they have backed off that a bit. for the most part, the weather has been extremely challenging and maybe they have to defer some resources because of it. but so far this season they've made expansion snow & re-surfacing concurrently w superstar. maybe a little hiccup this morning but looks like they're full steam ahead. they know what they have to do and usually get it done.

and despite the decaying, broken down, out-of-date snowmaking system, the amount of snow made on supe & skyelark is probably about 4 trails worth of snow. add to that what's made in the NR and snowdon - no one makes that much early snow. and yeah maybe we won't get on it until a week or so after WC, but we will be skiing it.

[daytripper]

Skyelark is lit up.

They used to pretend that the World Cup would not affect other snowmaking operations, but that is clearly BS

The mountain never said this. If people haven't figured out that the World Cup is their priority after opening NR then it's time to find another ski area. There is no sugarcoating the fact that snowmaking resources are limited.

They absolutely DID say this during the first couple of WC seasons. I know they did, because I remember responding to Snoloco's attacks back then by pointing it out.

Early on, they explicitly claimed that expansion was NOT affected by the WC. They pointed out additional compressors, and additional separate crews dedicated to the WC build. In a good season it was probably partially true. Snoloco never seemed to understand that demand is low early season. In a good year they aren't going to overexpand, whether they have the ability to or not. When they open in October, you are going to be walking stairs for awhile. They aren't going to expand just because they can.

But in marginal years, which have become the norm, the WC build most certainly does affect their ability to expand. By the third WC season, they stopped talking as if it didn't.

Yeah, they certainly said that the WC would not affect regular snowmaking and expansion the first year or two. They definitely don't say that anymore.

[180]

For those talking about the infrastructure. Our favorite pipe blow up once again last night.

[newpylong1]

Now that's a patch.

[Stormchaser]

Skied to the bottom today. I wouldn’t recommend it.

[skiadikt]

Skied to the bottom today. I wouldn’t recommend it.

so having done it, what's the production. is it realistic to think tuesday or wednesday w continued snowmaking.

[SPORE]

But you can't ski down from Snowdon or North Ridge without Great Northern. I don't see any snowmaking on it from the webcams, at least not below Rime. Whatever happened on UEF seems to have brought things to a grinding halt. Also it looks like Great Northern opened from K1 to North Ridge after all.

gonna assume the plumbing will be fixed today. they had already made snow on GN down to killink. they can always finish that up when fixed. snow needs to be made on snowdon regardless.

read what newpy says. some folks are glass half full, others half empty. you're the glass is empty.

The last 2 years have shown there isn't much worth being glass half full over. Every time they had a good opportunity to make snow, a pipe blew would blow out. I thought they fixed the problem spots, but I guess they didn't. Needless to say I'm irate right now. Killington used to be among the best with snowmaking. Now they're mid tier at best.

You’re “irate” as you sit at home watching webcams being a Monday morning quarterback about snowmaking operations.

f*** hilarious.

[skiadikt]

wasn't on the hill but "heard" by late morning guns were running on chute and lower bunny. ran all day.

assuming the blowout is fixed as tomorrow UEF will reopen and be groomed. though it will be thin.

[snoloco]

I think it's clear the World Cup has some impact on other terrain expansion, but it's not the problem this year. The problems were getting curtailed by GMP (out of their control) and yet another untimely blowout on UEF (in their control). I think from this afternoon, and earlier this week, it's clear that they can still do a great job with snowmaking, but they need to put a stop to mishaps like this that cost them precious hours. Sometimes pipes blow out, but they've had so many in recent years that it is indicative that they need to move a lot faster than they are on replacing outdated infrastructure.

To clarify my comments from past years, I did not believe that they had the ability to go top to bottom until Superstar is done, and I think that I was mostly right. This year seems to be an exception. Maybe increased utilization of low e guns solves the problem of being short on air.

Previously, I also didn't understand the snowmaking phases, and what weather is typically needed to advance to the next phase, as well as I do now.

Since they built the stairs, they've followed a very distinct pattern:

Phase 1: Rime and Reason open, both ways on walkway.

Phase 2: Rime, Reason, UEF, and Upper Great Northern open, one way on walkway.

Phase 3: Multiple trail options on North Ridge, top to bottom with Great Northern to Middle Chute to Lower Bunny.

Phase 4: Top to bottom on Snowdon.

As you may notice, top to bottom isn't until Phase 3. They need to get Phase 1 and Phase 2 out of the way first. This year, the weather has actually worked out in their favor. They got a cold snap on the 31st, which was enough to get them open on the 3rd. Then this past week, they got another cold snap which was sufficient to get them to Phase 2 today. Now, they have longer and more sustained snowmaking temps, so they are working on Phase 3. Phase 2 to Phase 3 is the biggest jump, as it requires colder and more sustained temps than Phase 1 or Phase 2.

Where they are at a big disadvantage is when the first cold snap they get is late, and very cold, so that other ski areas are able to open. Since top to bottom isn't until Phase 3, they spend time completing Phase 1 and Phase 2, as well as building up Superstar for the World cup. It looks really bad when Jiminy Peak is open, while you're still climbing the stairs at Killington, which has much better weather. This happened last year, and I remember it happening in 2017 too. There isn't enough snowmaking capacity to do 1, 2, and 3 at once, and run every gun on Superstar. Even if there was no World Cup, it would still be questionable whether they could do all 3 at once. That's why ever since they built the stairs, they've always opened with them, except the covid year of 2020.

I think Southside Bobby is referring to 2018 in his earlier post. I admit to being wrong that they should've gone top to bottom sooner that year. The other resorts that opened where initially top to bottom, and then lost it and had to start over. However, now that it's the second weekend of November, top to bottom is fair game, as it's generally cold enough that if they get it, it will stick. If you've looked at the lift line which you can see from the Peak 360 cam, you'll also see that it was rather long today, meaning there's enough skier demand to go top to bottom as well.

[newpylong1]

TL;DR

As of around 5 the pipe is fixed on UEF. Hole backfilled and covered with snow. I'm guessing it will reopen tomorrow.

The line has been successfully charged and they are running on it again.

[rogman]

TL;DR

LOL. Me neither, just enough to make me think someone’s gunning for Skiology Matt’s gig. Or whatever it is he call’s himself.

Meanwhile, is anyone else open yet in New England? Genuinely asking, not paying attention.

[snoloco]

The line has been successfully charged and they are running on it again.

Does this mean they are making snow on the trail, or is it a feed line to somewhere else? The report claims that it will reopen tomorrow.

[twilkas]

It looks really bad when Jiminy Peak is open, while you're still climbing the stairs at Killington

No. No it doesn't look bad. not an apt comparison at all.

[skiadikt]

TL;DR

LOL. Me neither, just enough to make me think someone’s gunning for Skiology Matt’s gig. Or whatever it is he call’s himself.

Meanwhile, is anyone else open yet in New England? Genuinely asking, not paying attention.

no one. only saint-sauveur in canada and i believe that's weekends only.

still sticking w wednesday for ttb. and if that happens, more likely we'll be offering ttb before anyone else is even open. sunday river finally updated their report today after 10 days of silence. just saying the snow is piling up. for the record jiminy's opening date is 11/24.

think where K runs into capacity issues is when they have to make snow on both supe & skye lark at the same time as they're doing now. if they can finish supe first and then move onto SL, the capacity issues are lessened.