Rate This Season So Far

For an old nordic skier, it's been a mixed season.  Not as many days on snow as I'd like.  Conditions weren't great early, but February and 1 March were fantastic.  It was like, the deeper we went into February, the better conditions were.  I'm gonna end up with 6 or 7 races under my belt, the most in a season since we had our daughter.

Unfortunately I may get thrown off the gravy train.  10 day forecast not looking great.

Some serious life changes are in my future, I don't know how many days I'll get next year.  I appreciate every day I've been out, and the people I've shared them with.

Well, here we are on March 4, and it rained pretty heavily up in Vermont last night. Again. I was lucky enough to catch that small storm last Thursday at killington and had fun, but that was almost a rain event, too. No locals showed up because the forecast was so borderline, that they thought it would be wet, but was snow on the access road and up. From the looks of it, no snow for a week, and it's going to be real warm beginning of next week, so, eh , I'm going to Colorado in a week or two. Too bad. I have a Boomer pass to Sugarbush and used it one day. (Which, btw, they are still offering next year for a slightly increased price, even though they are now full Ikon. Excellent cheapskate deal.)

Better luck next year.

So..... like a 7? 7.5?

Benny Profane wrote

Well, here we are on March 4, and it rained pretty heavily up in Vermont last night. Again. I was lucky enough to catch that small storm last Thursday at killington and had fun, but that was almost a rain event, too. No locals showed up because the forecast was so borderline, that they thought it would be wet, but was snow on the access road and up. From the looks of it, no snow for a week, and it's going to be real warm beginning of next week, so, eh , I'm going to Colorado in a week or two. Too bad. I have a Boomer pass to Sugarbush and used it one day. (Which, btw, they are still offering next year for a slightly increased price, even though they are now full Ikon. Excellent cheapskate deal.)

Better luck next year.

4

10 for me

I've gotten in the most days on skis I've had in 2 years as well as I've gotten good miles on the sled.

I got to meet Harv and Broski this year as well.

Zero complaints here.

campgottagopee wrote

10 for me

I've gotten in the most days on skis I've had in 2 years as well as I've gotten good miles on the sled.

I got to meet Harv and Broski this year as well.

Zero complaints here.

Fuck yeah. 10 for me too. Dangerboy says a 6. Junior a 7

It's all about timing, I suppose.

You guys are really going to soil your pants in a good year without rain. Like 93.

Benny Profane wrote

It's all about timing, I suppose.

You guys are really going to soil your pants in a good year without rain. Like 93.

Come on Bro, skiing is fun. Can you give me a 6? You’ve had some fun days this year, right? Come up to a 6 for me.

If I had to rate this season against the previous 50+ that I've been skiing, I'd rate the weather as one of the 10 worst. This winter reminded me of the winters I'd ski in at Roundtop, Whitetail and Liberty in south-central PA. A few inches of wet snow, followed by cold and ice and then warming temps and rain, followed by cold and ice.

Greek started off fantastic with an early opening November 15, and we had great skiing in November and December. But by the week after New Year's winter snow turned into rain. I can sum up the next 4 weeks as a few inches of wet snow, followed by rain and ice and then a few inches of snow.  I think we had three real snowstorms the whole winter, one of which came in November and one I missed in mid February. Then much of what we'd get in lake effect was followed by rain.

In fact the place I ski at (Greek Peak) would have been closed for days in January, but for the fact that they  made as much snow as their old and new snow-making equipment could in November and December. There was never more than 15 inches of natural snow on the mountain at any time. We skied in the woods and glades only for a few days in December and not again until February. We never got a real cold snap that lasted for more than a week.

And as I sit here and write this on March 4, there is a strong NW wind pulling moisture off Lake Ontario. However lake effect doesn't work well at 37F. I can hear the sleet and rain pounding the windows. Again.

Greek Peak made it to 100 days this week only because they decided they'd do whatever they could to stay open. I congratulate them for that.

My typical season is somewhere between 15 and 20 days.  Through the end of February I’m at 14 days (11 at Whiteface and 3 in the Cascades).  In that 14 days I had an epic west coast trip to Crystal that saw 41 inches of snow over 36 hours, introducing my kids to western skiing for the first time.  Also in those 14 day was an epic ADK  storm that saw 28 inches of snow over 48 hours, and possibly the two best days I’ve ever had at WF, including knee deep untracked powder on a jaunt out to Slide 5.  Oh, and there was also another 12-16 inch storm at WF for a weekend in early February.  And come to think of it MLK weekend saw an 8-10 inch storm.  Heck, the only trip I’ve had so far this season that hasn’t included powder turns was Prez Day weekend at WF, where I still got 4 really good days in.

Yes, I’ve had good fortune and picked my spots....but how can those results be anything but a 10?

With a trip this weekend to WF, a trip booked to SLC in April, and a couple of spring weekends in NY/VT I’ll easily surpass 20 days, with only a handful of marginal to bad days in the lot.  That’s not bad at all.

For fyi ski season so far it's a 6.5.  Out of 10
Like of majority of my ski days this winter have been in Catskills
I sure it be higher number if I ski more north this ski season