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Heard a rumor that the reason Pico was so light on snowmaking during the Christmas & New Year's cold snap was the pond dredging project from the summer had an unintended effect. Apparently the ponds don't hold water now because the bed rock underneath is cracked. Any truth to this one? There must be some water in them now!

Was told it was just so cold that there was no flow back into the ponds.

They hold water. Pico opened just before Xmas with drained ponds due to snowmaking on 49r and Lower Pike and Fools Gold. I forget when but they also put some snow on expressway. It r*ined December 23rd and by 1/3/18 the Pond was pretty full and they were making a huge pile of snow on B slope. Damn near put the whole pond on that thing. Takes a lot of snow to cover that believe it or not. By 1/5 or 1/6 the Pond was pretty empty again. It filled up with the melt. We did wonder why they made no snow last Saturday and Sunday given the ponds being back full again. I left town but heard they made snow Monday and for all I know are making it now. The rule of thumb was always that Pico could only make snow for two days straight in one area at a time ie only Lower mountain or only upper mountain. Maybe they can do a little better now if they start with a full Pond. Basically Pico is a natural snow mountain like MRG. Once you accept that it’s easier to see why it can be really awesome or really awful weather depending. It’s much more dependent on Mother Nature than the big K.

This may shed some light on the lack of Pico snowmaking this past weekend... There was a post on a snowmakers FB group page yesterday from a Pico snowmaker of them with the propane torches out working on thawing out a frozen water supply line.... Didn't specify if it was a main supply line or not, but you could see from the pictures that there were condos very near the frozen line.....

Stop letting Pico off the hook. It is not just a natural snow mountain. We pay for and expect basic snow making with our season passes. First it was was GMP cost were too high during the cold snap then it was ponds were empty. Then they were magically able to make snow on B-slope during the same cold snap. They shut snow making down after opening B-slope. Ridiculously limited terrain for MLK. We expect a lot more for our money.

BobbyVT wrote:Stop letting Pico off the hook. It is not just a natural snow mountain. We pay for and expect basic snow making with our season passes. First it was was GMP cost were too high during the cold snap then it was ponds were empty. Then they were magically able to make snow on B-slope during the same cold snap. They shut snow making down after opening B-slope. Ridiculously limited terrain for MLK. We expect a lot more for our money.

really? 400 dollars for a season pass and you expect more? perhaps you didn't do your homework before buying a pass there...snowmaking is limited both by budget and infrastructure, they rely largely on natural snow, and many trails do not even have snowmaking infrastructure on them...

That we had 2 inches of r*in and 60 degree temps immediately preceding the MLK weekend doesn't seem to enter into your assessment of the weekend's offerings...

could they do better? possibly...but historically, things are about the same as they have been for as long as I can remember in regards to pico...

there were like 2-3 trails MAX at K that were worth skiing this past weekend despite whatever the trail report said and if ya can;t ski OL there was basically a couple short sections here and there that had anything resembling snow on them...

Pico ponds were operating just fine today! Very impressive snowmaking effort going on (in pico terms) upper mountain on 49er as well as a couple trails on the lower mountain like swinger and expressway. Didn’t count guns but most I’ve seen running at once there I’m pretty sure.

Last night we groomed 12 trails, including Knomes Knoll favorites Ace of Clubs and Triple Slope.

This is the kind of thing that drives Pico season passers nuts. The Knomes triple is closed today.

BobbyVT wrote:Last night we groomed 12 trails, including Knomes Knoll favorites Ace of Clubs and Triple Slope.

This is the kind of thing that drives Pico season passers nuts. The Knomes triple is closed today.

I'm sure it will be open tomorrow...

I actually like how they sometimes don't open the Outpost or Knomes lift when the trails are open. Both require a very short "hike" to access the slopes.

Spent the late morning and early afternoon making several hikes to both outpost and Knomes area, both were absolutely fantastic. Deep snow in spots and not many tracks.