Christmas Day 2013 at Mountain Creek

After all of the Christmas festivities I headed to Mountain Creek to enjoy their man made White Christmas.  Even after doing all of the gift unwrapping, I still was out there for first lift although I did not make first chair.  I started my day at the South Peak terrain park.  Bear Peak does not have any park features this year because they are doing racing on one of the trails.  They do not want the racers getting anywhere near the park features and the people who use them.  Bear Peak was open for a couple days earlier this year, but closed due to lack of snow during the Dec. 21-23 thaw and r*in event.  South was open with 7 trails which skied like one run that split into two 1/4th of way down.  All trails had park features and I could hit some of them.  

First ride up.



Lots of snowmaking on Bakersfield and The Gully.



Snowmakers do not get Christmas off.



They have a great base built up as you can see here.  They will likely have even more snow in the near future.



Some snow has been made on Jumpin Jack, but much of it melted during the thaw.  However, the guns are set up and more snow will be blown there very soon.



What snow looks like when it has been rained on and froze over.



Lots of snowmaking and fresh snow at the top.



Closer up shot of snow guns with the top of the South Peak Express in the background.  Mountain Creek was not the place to be today if you are afraid of loud ground guns.  Their ground guns are the loudest I have ever heard.  They make the Ratniks at Gore seem as quiet as a mouse.  I couldn't even hear the lift motor in the top terminal when I took this picture because the snow guns were so loud.



The many runs I took on South Peak were amazing.  The snow was fresh and dry.  Mountain Creek's snowmaking fleet is specifically designed to operate in marginal temperatures.  Located in New Jersey, marginal temperatures are all you get.  The high today was 28 degrees and most of the guns were still making fresh powdery and dry snow.  At any other mountain, they would be running very wet.  They even were making snow yesterday on 12/24 when it was above freezing.

Freshly made snow on Canyon.  The entire run was in similar shape.  I wish that they had more park features that were smaller so that I could hit them on the bottom portion of the run, but there were 5 that I could hit near the top.  Three box rails and two jumps.  All my runs were completely in awesome shape and there will soon be many more trails to choose from.



Cool shot of a tower gun.



More fresh snow.



Nice view from the South Peak Express.



Snow was in strips of man made as shown here.



This chair has become victim to some vandalism, but there are many that are in far worse shape.



Bear Peak getting the goods



Southern Sojourn  which is the connector trail from Granite Peak to South Peak was also being blown.  When it opens, I will no longer need to take the shuttle bus between peaks.



Sticker from Whiteface on one of the chairs.



Another look at the Whiteface sticker.



South was so good that I needed to pull myself away from it to go to Vernon and Granite Peaks.  Eventually I took the shuttle bus over to Vernon base.  Then I got on the Cabriolet which is commonly referred to as The Cab and went to the top.



Cold and deserted waterpark.



Horizon was getting the goods and was in amazing shape.  It looked very inviting.



View from the Cab.



Top of Vernon Peak with lots of snowmaking.



Great Northern was closed, but was being blown, so it should be open soon.



Close up of one of the insanely loud ground guns.



Top terminal of the Cab.  Sorry for the slight blurriness.



Twist was open earlier, but was closed due to the thaw and r*in.  It was being blown and will reopen soon.



Upper Horizon had about a 2 foot base, which is great for after such a nasty thaw.



Looking up Twist from Horizon.  It will be open very soon.



View down Horizon.  It was in amazing shape.  I could barely hear myself turn in all of the fresh snow.



Top of the Sugar Slope.  There were lots of people learning how to ski today.



Some beginners getting off the Sugar Quad.



Almost every single gun on the Sugar Slope was on.



Sayonara getting blown.



Lower Horizon and the Cab.



Horizon was awesome.  Next, I tried Fox Tail to Garden State.  It was just as good.

Look at all that snow.



The lower portion was no different.



The final plunge on Garden State.  I love to let em rip here.



Zero G which is a black diamond is also on the expansion list.



The Mountain Coaster.



Another Mountain Coaster shot.



Lots of people learning today on the bunny hill.



Lift lines sucked all day.  (LOL)



After Garden State.  I went back up the Cab and headed over to Granite.



Doe Run and the rest of Granite have not yet been resurfaced, but they will be before long.



Going directly over the parking lot in the condo area.



A snowless Pipeline runout.  Hopefully they blow it this year.



The Granite lift has got some pitch to it.



Snowmaking on Bear Peak as seen from Granite.



Nice view.



At the top.



Looking down Osprey.



Close up of a Ratnik snow gun.  It will be blowing snow before long.



Silver Fox.



Charlie's Run.



Doe Run.  The entire run on Granite was a little icy because it had not been resurfaced yet, but it will be soon.



After this I headed back to Vernon.  I noticed this line at the Sugar Quad while the Cab had no line at all.



Looking up from the base at Vernon Peak.



Lights were soon turned on.



Sunset.



I closed the place down at 5pm.



This was a great way to spend Christmas day.  It was a true White Christmas on the mountain.  I thank Mountain Creek for being open despite the nasty thaw and while all the other mountains in the area were closed.  I will make it a tradition to go to Mountain Creek on Christmas day every year.

It would be nice if you could take a few more pics.

Kidding, obviously. Great report! Looks better than my day!

Wow kid wow.

snoloco wrote

They do not want the racers getting anywhere near the park features and the people who use them.

LOL

snoloco wrote

Their ground guns are the loudest I have ever heard.  They make the Ratniks at Gore seem as quiet as a mouse.  I couldn't even hear the lift motor in the top terminal when I took this picture because the snow guns were so loud.

OIder Ratnik ground guns are loud. I always carry ear ear protection in case I want to or have to ski near them.

The WARMER it is, the more air they have to mix in and the louder they get. I doubt the ones at Gore are much quieter. Old style ratniks at marginal temps are expensive as hell to run, loud, and not very efficient.

Incredible report.

Harvey wrote

OIder Ratnik ground guns are loud. I always carry ear ear protection in case I want to or have to ski near them.

The WARMER it is, the more air they have to mix in and the louder they get. I doubt the ones at Gore are much quieter. Old style ratniks at marginal temps are expensive as hell to run, loud, and not very efficient.

Mountain Creek has Ratniks and they are much quieter than most of the other ground guns at Creek.  The guns that they use a lot of are made by a company called snow storms inc.  I will need to start wearing ear protection when I ski near them because they always make my ears ring.  I can try and post a video of one running close up.

Thanks for the comprehensive report.  
I was thinking the same thing as Harv - that the noise from the guns was a function of the compressed air.  Mountain Creek must have one hell of a snowmaking budget.  What's a full-price weekend lift ticket cost there?

This thread is worthless without pics.

You have really captured the essence of MC. The report revived lots of good and bad memories. Love the shots of the trails and the views.

  Hey, WNY, don't let a little sarcasm prevent you from posting these TR's. I like seeing what these places I will probably never ski look like. This was the home of the infamous Traction Park, right? Quite a contrast from Whiteface, huh. I skied Taos on a Friday, Shawnee PA, the next Tuesday. The two places couldn't be more different from one another, had fun at both. I felt like a gaper at Taos, I was King of Shawnee!

Cornhead wrote

Hey, WNY, don't let a little sarcasm prevent you from posting these TR's. I like seeing what these places I will probably never ski look like. This was the home of the infamous Traction Park, right? Quite a contrast from Whiteface, huh. I skied Taos on a Friday, Shawnee PA, the next Tuesday. The two places couldn't be more different from one another, had fun at both. I felt like a gaper at Taos, I was King of Shawnee!

I won't. But I didn't post this trip report.

snoloco wrote

  I will make it a tradition to go to Mountain Creek on Christmas day every year.

said no one ever
very thorough tr ,whew

Adk Jeff wrote

What's a full-price weekend lift ticket cost there?

66 dollars for an adult opening to closing ticket.

great report, nice pics!

WNY-ADK Skier wrote

Cornhead wrote

Hey, WNY, don't let a little sarcasm prevent you from posting these TR's. I like seeing what these places I will probably never ski look like. This was the home of the infamous Traction Park, right? Quite a contrast from Whiteface, huh. I skied Taos on a Friday, Shawnee PA, the next Tuesday. The two places couldn't be more different from one another, had fun at both. I felt like a gaper at Taos, I was King of Shawnee!

I won't. But I didn't post this trip report.

Oops, Snoloco, dito.