saturday 12/23 report

[skiadikt]

hope everyone enjoyed the extra 3 seconds of daylight today ...

3 in a row (that's saturdays). not the brilliant sunshine of the last couple days but a mix of sun & clouds. we'll take whatever she's giving. a surprisingly light turnout. about 21k in a little more than 3 1/2 hrs, testifies more about how uncrowded it felt rather than how good conditions were.

conditions overall were good enough varying on time & place. at the bell waited w about a dozen other folks for the debut of bear. while they did a tremendous job opening all that terrain, conditions on the main claw/burst route sucked. at the bell - concrete and at the end of our session, claw was a sea of chunky monkey. it'll improve w successive groomings. gonna give rotd to cruise which skied beautifully early (and no one was on it). supe what's it been. a mix of flat & fast w icy patches. lark better.

when we hit LEF mid-morning, it was already very skied off. highline suffered a similar fate. in general the NR skied well. same for the snowdon routes.

[cyberex1]

How do you determine the 21k? Never found out where the numbers of skiers there are at k.

[daytripper]

I believe 21k refers to his vert for the day. Powdr is not a public company so they don't release numbers.

[Low Rider]

I think he meant 21k In vertical

[skiadikt]

How do you determine the 21k? Never found out where the numbers of skiers there are at k.

as others have said, vertical feet for the session. only reason i mentioned it is because if it had been the usual crowded, zooey saturday, wouldn't have gotten that much (and probably been long gone). maybe folks were more spread around because of bear opening, but it felt less crowded than either of the last 2 days.

[RustyK]

Out at 9 to hit up the death cookies at Bear.

They did a nice job covering it anyways.

Bear lodge looked a little better inside too.

Needles BDFR ok. Good thing I had the race skis out.

Found Goodtimegary and George for some fast Sup laps.

Skiergirl said the Mousetrap was the ROTD.

North ridge meh as well as no repeat LEF.

Tuna tacos with Katie. Very light crowds when we departed at 2. Sharpen your skis.

[Big Bob]

How do you determine the 21k? Never found out where the numbers of skiers there are at k.

I use the Ski Tracks app on my phone to count runs and verticle.

[rogman]

A little late to the corral, and missed the open. No regrets. Nice to see Bear open. First run down Bearburst (sorry, but skye-claw is backwards) was, as others have said, a disappointment. To be fair there was a Winch Cat with a flat at the top of Bear Claw (actually, a wheel fell off), IDK. Anyway, Killington gets a pass on the grooming. Til tomorrow.

Decided to catch up with the rest of the crew that started on time; they were on the K1. So I followed behind and hooked up in the North Ridge. Noticed Blue Heaven still under the guns, but not open. And the lower top of Down Draft had guns, but from the Peak lodge up nothing. “Some walking required?” Maybe they were saving the tip top for the warmest weather. Whatever.

Skied with four for a bit, while nine and ten skied with nine’s buddy, a refugee from Sunday River on the same NR pod. All are very excellent skiers (excellent defined as better than me). If I were younger I’d show those whippersnappers what for. Although I’m not sure what for. Four was getting cranky, so he went off to KBL for hot chocolate and other bribes with his mom, while us older folk skied SS top to bottom. Which isn’t worth reviewing, Is it the early morning version with nice fluff, or the later in the day version with frozen cat tracks that date back a month, ice, and an occasional pile of sugar. We got the early version, so win. Then headed over the back to Needles, which is just Cruise, BDFR, whatever, and is either I95 south of Hartford, or something sane. We got sane. 2nd win. It remained good through much of the day. They are finally making snow on Upper BItter, so Yay for that. Hope they’ll run the Needles chair when they open it. Makes it a pod, easier to do a few laps.

We stayed out until after 2. Weather cooperated, the light crowd delayed the inevitable scape off, and there was enough variety to keep us entertained. Late in the day saw from afar guns lit on Upper Pipe Dream. Not sure how far down the trail they extended. Perhaps no further than the Launch Pad cutoff.

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: Better than yesterday for sure. Missed the morning sun but still a decent day. Lighter than I expected crowds though the Persuasion density had the meter pegged [and they stay out until the bitter end]. Started at Bear and never went NW of Supe so I can't report on Snowdon and the Canyon [doesn't appear that I missed much from prior posts].

Kudos to K for getting Bear open. I was disappointed in the trail conditions there, expecting perfect manmade snow with the recent cold weather, but alas was not to be. However, it got a little better as the day went on.

ROTD: Lower Cruise Control. Not sure why it was so much better than yesterday butt very skiable hard right and a bit of moguls starting to form in the off-piste area [similar to what we had on Upper Bunny for a while]. It also got better as the day went on and a worthy 5 peat.

High Road much improved also and a good run.

Supe Pod nothing special. Lower Skyelark could certainly use some loving. Lower Bitter was the best of the bunch over there.

Plenty of entertainment with the herbs all over the place on the "firm" conditions.

[newpylong1]

It is amazing that there is still a high water content when it's so cold but the fact of the matter is they were making base snow, not resurfacing. Even when cold it's laid on heavy and considering they pushed it while they were still making it with zero time to cure, well...that's gonna be "firm" for the whole year without a refresh to mix in.

[rogman]

In the past it seemed they’d start with high water content then dry it out towards the end, particularly when they opened under the guns. Seems they’re skipping that last step now. I am a bit gun shy this year, and either go directly under a tower or well away from them. Guns have become a bit perilous. Not finding fault, I think present circumstances dictate the mountain’s approach. Too much to cover, too little time. There have been only short duration cold snaps, including the last window, which was helped immensely by low humidity. Both temperatures and humidity are up now, unfortunately.