N Vermont vs Tug Hill contest

Big Birch! Do you work at the mountain, buy a pass cause you're local, or just do the deal nights?

PowderAssassin wrote

Oh and to answer your question Glade, my home mountain is thunder ridge. Yeah yeah...hate on it all you want. LOL. Yes I know jay peak is 10 thousand times better(or any mountain in VT). No argument there

I'd never hate on someone for their home mountain.  It's great to have a home place to ride regularly.  But, I am completely unfamiliar with Thunder Ridge.  My home is Greek Peak.  I still ride there and know that mountain very well but, I just have a hard on for big mountains with serious steeps and vertical.  But, powder trumps everything.  That's why I ride so much off trail because the powder doesn't last long on trails.

PowderAssassin wrote

Glade Runner wrote

I also believe Jay Peak picked up a few inches here or there before this last event

Then why do they only have 2 trails open(out of 78)? LOL! Especially considering that picture they posted. I'm sorry, but no one esle finds their shot of the day completely and totally misleading? That amount of snow that it looks like in the picture would be enough to open the entire mountain. That's feet and feet of powder.

I don't know about Stowe.  I've never claimed to and have never even been there yet.  But, this early most mountains are making lots of snow and not running all of their lifts.  It was limited terrain at Holiday but, looked like they were getting other trails loaded with manmade.  No one just opens up in November 100% even if they have the snow.  Snow Ridge will only open 1 lift and one section and save the rest for another day.  

This is a cool idea for a thread. Keep it up. Be fair to all.

I really want get to Thunder Ridge. And Mohawk.

PowderAssassin wrote

Ok gentleman. The season has started. I'll try to keep this updated. I'm going to use nws measurements and forecasts to compare the two over the season.

Where on the tug and where in NVT. If you use the interior of the tug it's pointless

Harvey wrote

This is a cool idea for a thread. Keep it up. Be fair to all.

Yea - great idea, let's compare Illinois to the Rockies.

I think yes.  But I think you have to use mt numbers.

Or maybe ask skimore how he would compare. He's not grinding axes, just looking for the best snow. Skimore: which station for SR? Is there a good one for Mansfield?

If you do use a weather station you certainly can't use Jay, where the terrain you ski is a micro climate.

I say use the Snow Ridge marketing numbers, check them everyday, the way we do with Gore. And create a running total. If you've met Judy at SR and ask her about it, she is very conservative with her numbers.  She told me last year she uses a 5 year rolling average to back her marketing claims for annual averages. "bad" year (250") she lowers it. Nobody does that.

Then compare to Stowe.  Mansfield has a much larger area above 2500 feet and Stowe is likely to hype stuff less, based on who their market is.  They just don't have too.

My guess is that in a "average" whatever that is SR could be competitive early but when the lake effect starts to shut down NoVT will run away. Like I said that's a guess. I don't really know. I'd like to see it.

ml242 wrote

Stowe's seasonal snowfall stands at 32" right now, Jay is at 14 but i think they just started measuring it whereas Stowe started awhile ago.

Not that I want to feed the troll, but in interest of accuracy, Jay didn't get the earlier snow that Stowe got. I haven't been up there since they the most recent snow rolled in, but the last two weekends before this one, Jay didn't have enough to ski on natural snow unless you wanted to junkboard. I'll buy 14" YTD for Jay for sure.

That said, the methodology for this little "contest" is flawed. Anyone that has ever skis Jay can attest that the mountain proper gets more snow at elevation. Any NWS reporting is not going to report what fell at the mountain and will under report in a major way. And the wind plays such a major role... If you just went on the snow that settles at the base of Jay, you wouldn't think much of Jay because the base area gets blown completely clean.

But in the end, it doesn't matter. Tug hill could get twice as much snow as Jay and it don't matter, Jay still gets the most snow in New England and has great terrain. If I lived near Snow Ridge, I'm sure I'd be there all the time and love it. But I'm pretty sure that I'm better off living closer to Jay.

Carry on.

Snow ridge missed out on most of the snow in this one, but they still managed to get 35 inches. Truly an EPIC event!


...ERIE COUNTY...
   1 N HAMBURG           79.5  1100 AM 11/21  NWS EMPLOYEE
   WEST SENECA           78.0  1100 AM 11/21  TRAINED SPOTTER
   LANCASTER             74.0  1100 AM 11/21  NWS EMPLOYEE
   2 NNE ORCHARD PARK    71.0  1100 AM 11/21  NWS EMPLOYEE
   WALES CENTER          69.3  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   2 SSW BLASDELL        61.0  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   4 NW ALDEN            57.5  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   COLDEN                55.1  1100 AM 11/21  COOP OBSERVER
   3 S WEST SENECA       52.5  1100 AM 11/21  NWS EMPLOYEE
   2 NE BOSTON           48.0  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   AKRON                 26.7  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   2 SE GLENWOOD         26.3  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   NY BUFFALO INTL ARPT  16.9  1100 AM 11/21  ASOS
   3 ESE TONAWANDA        7.9  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   KENMORE                6.8  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS
   1 N CLARENCE CENTER    5.5  1100 AM 11/21  COCORAHS

35 inches EPIC?  I ski in Erie county in the town of Colden.  That's epic!

riverc0il wrote

But in the end, it doesn't matter. Tug hill could get twice as much snow as Jay and it don't matter, Jay still gets the most snow in New England and has great terrain. If I lived near Snow Ridge, I'm sure I'd be there all the time and love it. But I'm pretty sure that I'm better off living closer to Jay.

Well said.

I am more familiar with Stowe than Jay. One thing that strikes me about the hill is not just the amount of snow but also the preservation. When I went up there last year in May, the snow in woods was still feet deep. Snow Ridge, like everyone says is surely a great place. But that 35" is going to disintegrate, whereas the cold air and aspect will shield Mansfield and the base will continue to grow despite the warmups.

I like Powder Assassin. He has wacky ideas that are often just plain wrong but I think he has a lot of stoke for skiing, and he wants to trumpet Snow Ridge, I'd sure rather hear about pow skiing than most things.

But there is a reason people who want to ski pow hit NVT often, no matter what the NWS weather station says.

Harvey...there's nothing to compare if you just take what the ski resorts report. I'm not doing that. My whole point is that in my opinion northern Vermont greatly exaggerates their numbers. There's no specific mirco climate near jay, the whole spine of the greens get the same amount of snowfall. I'm going to look at spotter reports and nws obs and compare. Again, if you simply take what jay/stowe reports at face value then you'll end up with huge averages that everyone knows about. I'm going by nws reports. Period.

So far it's

Northern Vermont: 8 inches

Snow ridge: 35 inches

This is flawed. There isn't a NWS report for Turin/Snowridge

ml242 wrote

But there is a reason people who want to ski pow hit NVT often, no matter what the NWS weather station says.

Terrain and of course, it's the snowiest place outside of the tug hill.
If I had a choice between skiing stowe or snow ridge for the same price on a non holiday weekday....which do you think I would choose? Of course northern Vermont.

It's a no brainer. Stowe/jay peak are mountains... Snow ridge is a tiny little hill. My only point is that I think snow ridge is king of snowfall on the ec, and I of course love their affordable prices(108 dollars at stowe vs 18 dollars!!!! at snow ridge) and no crowds. Because of price, great snow, and no crowds I prefer snow ridge.

skimore wrote

This is flawed. There isn't a NWS report for Turin/Snowridge

There's all kinds of reports from nearby towns on the tug. You just look and see where the bands set up. Bands cover a bunch of towns.

Still flawed. One mile can make a huge difference.

Oh and point  out to me the NWS reports besides Constableville that are near Turin

I want to know from Skimore: what is the best way to compare annual snowfall for Tug vs NoVT?

Is it possible?

BTW if you telling me NoVt has had 8 inches, you're trolling me bro.

Harvey wrote

I want to know from Skimore: what is the best way to compare annual snowfall for Tug vs NoVT?

Is it possible?

BTW if you telling me NoVt has had 8 inches, you're trolling me bro.

I don't see the point in it. This is a dumb thread

Ok I'll grant you that.

But... think of it this way... PowderAssassin is voluteering to do all the work. So if he does and if it could be legit... the result is he's insane and proved it or we're insane and he proved it.  Either result could be entertaining.

Ok I'll back off. Carry on.

That dude doesn't even know which way N/S/E/W are. How's he going to keep reliable numbers

skimore wrote

I don't see the point in it. This is a dumb thread

It is a dumb thread. A great ski experience involves both good snow and the right pitch. Sierra cement does not make great skiing, neither does a high moisture content lake effect dump on flat terrain. Apples & Oranges.