The Snowmaking/Operations Outlook Thread

I don't know what forecast you're looking at, but the NWS forecast for the top of LWF shows high 33 at 3,800, not 4,800 feet, and snow on Sunday.  Low 26 at night, and high 29 on Tuesday.  That's as far out as that forecast goes.

As I've said before, my concern is that one major r*in event in January, and Lookout will be left to rot for another year.

As long as they get Lookout open for MLK Weekend, I'm happy.  With the summit likely opening this weekend, I think that's a pretty likely scenario.

Hey Snow -- if you were a snowmaker what would you have for lunch?

Idk.  If I was going to be near a lodge,  I'd just use employee discount and buy whatever was there.

If not, I'm not sure.

I'd like to be a snowmaker at least once in my lifetime.  I don't mind the cold, and I'd love being on the mountain all day every day, when skiing, and when making snow.

Camp, I am a snowmaker. My all time favorite lunch is a pastrami But those are hard to come by around here. I would settle for a good burger, or a pulled pork sandwich for lunch. Most days I don't have it that good.

why do you care what I have for lunch?



Unfortunately, I blew up a pipe, on Monday, and I lost a great day of snowmaking that could have produced a ton of snow. All because of a false move on my part. Yesterday (pictured above) was sub-par. I'll fire up tonight or tomorrow night if the wet bulb temps are favorable. I should be able to make a lot in January as well.

snoloco wrote

As I've said before, my concern is that one major r*in event in January, and Lookout will be left to rot for another year.

What major rain event? January is a ways off, no good way to predict rain at this point. Either way we are off to a hell of a lot better start than last year. You got to keep in mind that the news media including the weather has a tendency to dislike cold, and they are going to look for every excuse possible to try to tell people that there is warm weather ahead! This is because this is what the majority of people watching TV want to hear.  I've seen it happen many times before. It changes as the days get closer.

Never said there was any January thaw coming.  I was expressing my concern that if one did happen, that Lookout would be left to rot again.

Last year, they almost opened it, then decided that it wasn't opening, but not before they already blew snow on WT for 2-3 days.  They likely saw it as a mistake to even make snow there in the first place, and I'm guessing will now be overly cautious about blowing snow over there in future years, and will not even attempt it if there's a chance of a thaw coming before they finish.

You guys can tell me to relax and chill out and probably rightfully so, but I see not opening an entire section of the mountain in a given year to be a slippery slope.  Don't open it one year, and if people still come and few people complain, it'll be pretty easy to say in following years "Hey, we just had a thaw.  Let's save some $$$ and not open it this year.  We didn't open it last year and no one complained".

That being said, Whiteface had a pretty good start this year, and is set to open the Summit, with Paron's and Skyward in time for Christmas.  Last year, there was still only a WROD on Excelsior at this time.

Sno. Your screenname is quite apropos!  You ARE f'in crazy with your manmade trumps natural stance.

Ethan, of course manmade is necessary for a resort's survival and success but natural snow is what myself and I believe most true skiers crave.  Based on just last Saturday at Plattekill alone, this season is already far superior to last!

Ethan Snow wrote

Camp, I am a snowmaker. My all time favorite lunch is a pastrami But those are hard to come by around here. I would settle for a good burger, or a pulled pork sandwich for lunch. Most days I don't have it that good.

why do you care what I have for lunch?

 

I don't really care --- it was a joke  as sno is all concerned about what he will eat for lunch while skiing WF

snoloco wrote

 

I'd like to be a snowmaker at least once in my lifetime.  I don't mind the cold, and I'd love being on the mountain all day every day, when skiing, and when making snow.

You won't know what cold is until you've made snow. Now that I say that I wonder if they still make snow the old fashion way. When I made snow we rode the lift to the top then walked down checking the guns on our Carhartt's.

Seems now_A_days it's all permanent tower guns and big ass fan guns. Most likely dudes ride around on a sled and just check on them.

Marcski wrote

You ARE f'in crazy with your manmade trumps natural stance.

From a business perspective in the Northeast, you need both, but manmade OBVIOUSLY is more important than natural.  Try having traffic from a fully loaded high speed 6-pack go down a few narrow trails with thin natural coverage only.  Won't be open for very long and will be a lot of people complaining about damaged skis.  Natural snow is still very necessary (think backyard effect), and all factors equal, I prefer to ski natural powder over manmade powder.

For my home mountain, most upper mountain trails are very rocky, and would not consistently open without manmade snow.  How much is Upper Cloudspin open if they don't blow snow on it?  Not very much.  That's how often all of the summit terrain would be open if it weren't for snowmaking.  On Lookout, Hoyt's opened maybe 5 days in 5 years before they added snowmaking for 12-13.

When the choice becomes ski manmade snow, or get 2+ feet of natural and sit around bored to tears all day because the roads were impassable and you couldn't get a ski area, my stance will make a lot more sense.  I'll drive in all kinds of snowy road conditions if there's skiing on the other end, but eventually it gets to the point where you just can't safely drive anywhere no matter how much you want to.

campgottagopee wrote

snoloco wrote

 

I'd like to be a snowmaker at least once in my lifetime.  I don't mind the cold, and I'd love being on the mountain all day every day, when skiing, and when making snow.

You won't know what cold is until you've made snow. Now that I say that I wonder if they still make snow the old fashion way. When I made snow we rode the lift to the top then walked down checking the guns on our Carhartt's.

Seems now_A_days it's all permanent tower guns and big ass fan guns. Most likely dudes ride around on a sled and just check on them.

Whiteface issues black ORDA jackets for all their snowmakers.  They either ride a snowmobile to the guns, or they ride a lift up and walk down.  I've even seen them skiing down on a few occasions.

Whiteface doesn't have many permanent towers for whatever reason.  I think they need to invest in more, because it's a big waste of time to be moving dozens of sled guns every time they change where they're blowing snow.

snoloco wrote

I don't care all that much about natural snow...  Snowmaking temps are what I care about the most.

I know that it takes a village and all that crap... and banning does feel a bit extreme... but I feel that some form of torture or exorcism is in order for violating these clearly well established cultural norms.

To the lions?

snoloco wrote

manmade OBVIOUSLY is more important than natural.

Got to disagree with this.

Love for skiing is BORN from the experience of skiing natural snow. The industry was built on and is based on the feeling of freedom humans get from interaction with real snow.


Just Ask Mogul Junkie

At my home mountain, even in a good snow year, most terrain would not open if it weren't for snowmaking.  I have 10 days of skiing so far, and I'd have zero if it weren't for snowmaking.  Unless you already have backcountry days, all of you would have zero ski days also.

In a bad snow year, most terrain would still be open, but on entirely man-made snow.

Therefore I consider snowmaking temps more important than natural snow.

If all that was left in this world to ski on was man made snow making snow I would go mountain biking.

It's great to get some base down, I'm very thankful for it here in Arizona but for the most part other than that I would be bored to tears riding man made groomer snow all of the time. Talk about a snooze fest! Ha!

Harvey wrote

snoloco wrote

I don't care all that much about natural snow...  Snowmaking temps are what I care about the most.

I know that it takes a village and all that crap... and banning does feel a bit extreme... but I feel that some form of torture or exorcism is in order for violating these clearly well established cultural norms.

To the lions?

  

raisingarizona wrote

 

It's great to get some base down, I'm very thankful for it here in Arizona but for the most part other than that I would be bored to tears riding man made groomer snow all of the time. Talk about a snooze fest! Ha!

That's what happens to me here in CNY. I skied the one single trail that was open yesterday for two hours and had enough. Don't get me wrong cause I had a blast doing it but there's no way I could do it all day. All I'll say is thank god they still allow drinking beer at ski area's. As soon as that stops I'm out!!

Ski areas make lots of money getting people like you drunk.  I don't see that changing anytime soon.

You sound drunk talking all this nonsense!

You're a serious little dude Cochise