How cold is too cold?

I was booked for an all day private but thankfully they cancelled.  I don't want to spend that long outside

-60 below wind chills and a -25 below temp make me wish I didn't even have to go to WF tomorrow.  

I decided to not have my son train.  He could use a day off even though he has a race Sunday.  

As long as a lift is running, I'll go out in almost any temperature.  I'm at a hotel near Killington and will be skiing tomorrow through Monday no matter how cold it is.  Hopefully the cold keeps the gapers off the hill.  Wind should not be an issue for the lifts, unlike at Whiteface.

Oh hell no! I would be in the bar!

Coach
I think you made a solid decision there. I was contemplating bringing my son to Killington on Sunday but the temps are scaring me off.
Sno
More power to you kid. Take lots of breaks inside, stay hydrated and wear a balaclava.
RA
Right there with you man.
As to the original question, I put too cold right at +5 F and as I get older the number goes up.

I plan on taking advantage of the K1 and Skyeship Gondola quite a bit.  They were both heated at one point, but I'm not sure if they still are.  I have plenty of extra layers, plus boot and glove warmers to help even more.

Well, the proper answer should be that there is no such thing as too cold.......but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow.  Probably wait till 8:30 to consider heading over to WF, make sure there are no wind holds.  If they get some snow tonight as the front pushes through (because it's still +teens in Placid right now, so the real cold ain't here yet) and the gondola and summit quad are running I'll be tempted to head over.  However, we are up with friends this weekend so hanging in town and starting the drinking early is a VERY viable option!  The day is going to start frigid tomorrow.....and get even colder throughout the day.  That's not a pleasant thought.

 
Who you calling a Gaper?  Why just a year ago this week, we be skiing in shorts and T-shirts, it was so balmy, comparatively speaking.  In 2014-15 we had ten weeks of January, (two months of -20 at night, 0 for a high) to keep the Vamps happy, this season, ten weeks of November, plus 64F on Christmas Eve too, PTL.

Harvey is hosting the "President's Day Solar Challenge" Suntan bakeoff on the front deck @ Gore, HIGH-NOON, for Valentine's Day.  Heck, we'll even spritz you with Olive Oil to make your abs even more pronounced!  Grand Prize is a Nightmare in Rio, hosted by The Disappeared for a skinny-dip in the Harbor; Tax, Title, Transfers extra.

Can we count you in?

Ski You On The Hill.

 

Two more logs in wood stove.

Got the skiing done earlier in the week.

New couch really comfortable. Just woke up on it...tv blasting.

Most extreme day my family ever skied WF:
Wind chill temps, -52 mid, -86 top of little WF, -108 up top (chair 6 closed). Been there, done that, count me out for skiing this weekend.

Don't envy anyone who's making turns the next two days.

Back to being couch potato for a few days! Did I mention I'm hot?, lmao.

I think society as a whole is losing it....Saw this little pic for the first time when I checked the weather....


It's the frickin' winter for Pete's sake. Do we really need a pic to associate 5 degrees with the fact it's cold out. I'm more concerned about the sky conditions and potential for precip.

Pic reminds me of that joke, "Why don't some women wear skirts in the winter time?"  Cause they don't want to get chapped lips!  I have to say so myself, that's a good one, lmfao.

Another stupidness is the message on my dashboard in my POS GMC Envoy when the temps hit 32 or below. Dash reads "ICE POSSIBLE" ..really? NO SH_T!!

If you can't handle winter conditions, then you're not core enough.  Core skiers go out in any weather they've got.

snoloco wrote

If you can't handle winter conditions, then you're not core enough.  Core skiers go out in any weather they've got.

What time you want to head up to WF today? Will be fun to watch your tears freeze while riding the summit chair. I work on my cars outside in weather such as this weekends..no gloves. Take a ride to Eatontown tonight and we'll see who can sit outside in a t-shirt longer. Should take you about an hour to get here I'm guessing. You can also change the oil in my Suby in my driveway if ur capable.

As I recall, there was a Valvoline commercial with a chimp performing an oil change on tv, years ago if you need a tutorial. Can't find that one, but this vid is fun to watch...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa6wbZvM2Ag

Son, when you get to be my age..hopefully you've been there, done that, No need to freeze one's ass off when one can "cherry pick" their days to ski/ride/whatever. I'm not core enough?No..more like I'm HARDCORE. What time you getting here?

Z...guess you're "soft core" like me, NOT!

Like everything else in skiing the answer is "it depends."

Are conditions good? I'll go out in much colder temps to ski powder than to ski groomers.

Likewise if I'm on a ski vacation I'll ski in colder temps than if I'm home skiing my local hill.

Also depends on where I'm skiing. Lapping a 700 foot CNY hill it's hard to get warm.

A few years ago I arrived at Whiteface with the temps at the base registering 26 below zero and the wind-chill between -60 and -80.  No problem, I thought, I will just ride the Gondi.  Due to a temperature inversion, it was 30 degrees warmer at the top of little Whiteface and they couldn't run the Gondola due to the extreme temperature differential between the top and bottom which was causing problems with the cable.  The Face lift was also down for the same reason.  After waiting 20 minutes to ride one of the lower chairs, I only took one run and had to go in to warm up.  As I get older, my tolerance for extreme cold is decreasing.  Call me a wimp but when it gets this cold, I don't have fun anymore.  Hoping to go to Gore on Monday when the temps bounce back.    

For me it's more a matter of wind than cold keeping me off the ski mountain.  Skiing tele naturally keeps a skier a bit warmer IMO, and skiing the trees at a slower pace eliminates that windfreeze you get from bombing the groomers.  So negative temps, no problem unless it's windy.

Here's the current conditions (8am) from the WF observatory:

WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN SUMMIT CONDITIONS
February 13, 2016 at 8:03 am
Temperature -29° C / -20° F
Relative Humidity 86.9%
Barometric Pressure 829 mb
Wind Speed 54 mph / 24 m/s
Wind Direction W
Wind Intensity Hi

That temp/wind speed combo^^ comes in at about negative 60 on the windchill chart

I'll poke around a bit more, but -29 and wind speed of 54 has me thinking nice breakfast, family time, and hang with friends.  How can I go on in life knowing that I've lost the respect of the venerable Snoloco?

Strictly bar time this weekend. I'll ski when it goes above zero on Tuesday

Hey, the WF conditions report isn't as severe at the Observatory temps/wind.....and no wind holds (currently)!

However, no new snow to tempt me brave the worsening conditions (temps will be falling through the day).  Could ski.  Have skied in these conditions.  Don't need to, enjoyment factor not high enough.  One thing Sno will also learn is that life becomes about compromises and teade-offs.  A day like today is a good day to give up skiing for family time....especially after just dropping a skiing adventure to the PNW on the wifey!

Killington is great right now.  Low crowds and they got 2 inches last night to refresh the trails.  You just have to go in to warm up more.  Maybe Glade was right

There is a significant difference between being "core " and being wise

Having skied both WF and Tremblant many times at Greater than70 below windchill , it was a function of my being there for an extended trip not a daytrip .

Given the option of a day trip , intelligence always trumps the effete notion of one's  delusional self evaluation evaluation as being so called "core "

sure you can ski in this, but are you really going to enjoy it..
i'm 53 those days of being young and dumb are over..

JasonWx wrote

sure you can ski in this, but are you really going to enjoy it..
i'm 53 those days of being young and dumb are over..

+1...I'm 57, over 3x Sno's age. Couldn't agree more with your response.