Which Exposure/Aspect is Best?

Most ski areas built before snowmaking face north or east.  However, as ski areas have expanded and improved snowmaking technology, the way the slope faces matters less for snow conditions.  Many mountains have multiple exposures, like Mount Snow is primarily east facing, but has some north and south facing terrain as well.  Tremblant is a combination if southern, eastern, and western facing terrain.  I find that there are very few western exposures and I'm not really sure why.  Tremblant's South Side is actually a western exposure and so is Windham's East Peak, and Hunter's West Side.  Any idea why this is?  

I'll outline the benefits and some drawbacks of each kind below.

Northern Exposure:
Pros:  Holds snow the best, especially a factor for glades and natural terrain.  Can also help extend the season.
Cons:  Very flat light early in the season.  Doesn't soften up as easily in the spring.

Southern Exposure:
Pros:  Gets lots of sunshine every day of the season.  No flat light, better views.  Softens up easily in the spring.
Cons:  Doesn't hold snow as well, and makes natural terrain and glades seldom open.

Eastern Exposure:
Pros:  Lots of sun in the morning, so beautiful views.  
Cons:  Very little light in the afternoon, so it isn't easy to see certain hazards.

Western Exposure:
Pros:  Lots of sun in the afternoon.  Since this is when the day is warmer, it is great in the spring.
Cons:  Very dark in the morning and doesn't soften up in the spring.

What is your favorite?

Which exposure/aspect is your favorite?

North

South

East

West

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Every girl is different.

ml242 wrote

Every girl is different.

FTW

Full frontal is my favorite exposure.

It depends on the day Sno. One of the best skills for skiing back country is being able to read the current conditions on all of the aspects and knowing where the best skiing is on that day and during the different parts of the day.

If you are talking about whats best for a ski area than a variety is best but if I were to pick one I would go northern for retention

I choose multi-faceted mountains and people.

Certainly been vexed by north facing mountains on 35 degree spring days.

If I can only have one aspect North or maybe Northeast.

The one with the untracked powder.

I say that they all have their advantages, but I like southern exposure the most.  Love skiing in full sunshine all day.  Nowadays, snowmaking technology can easily overpower any advantage of a northern exposure.  Now if you want to do tree skiing, you'd definitely want a northern exposure.

One of the things I liked a lot about Tremblant is that you can start on the North Side and follow the sun through the Soleil and South sides all day and never ski in flat light.

I'm a Belleayre skier. North is best!

Vote in the poll!!  Only I have so far.

I'm stunned

snoloco wrote

Vote in the poll!!  Only I have so far.

Northish

Approximately 26 degrees east of North.

I voted for north, but thats probably in part because i like the north facing trails at gore.

I do think sno's pros and cons show that ideally a mountain wouls have multiple exposures.

Tom

snoloco wrote

 Nowadays, snowmaking

You couldn't resist..............It always comes back to this

Bernie Sanders!

ScottyJack wrote

Bernie Sanders!

Scotty... that's exactly what I was thinking..

snoloco wrote

 I like southern exposure the most.  Love skiing in full sunshine all day.  Nowadays, snowmaking technology can easily overpower any advantage of a northern exposure.

Snowmaking certainly helps, but if you really want to extend your season just stay away from South facing Hills. Plattekill still has tons of snow on the North side, and no snow on the South/West side. That is why the last week, they only had the North side open. They spent way more time making snow on the West side too, and it's not even directly south. It's just way harder to keep it.  So, unless you have a ton of people paying you huge quantities of cash to ski in the sun, then building a mountain south facing is foolish.

It's best to have multiple aspects, as mentioned earlier.  It also depends on the mountain and big snowmaking mountains don't need to worry about south facing terrain as much, and can actually embrace it since people like skiing in sunlight better.

Tremblant has terrain that faces west, south, and east.  They open the eastern and western facing terrain first (North and South sides).  Once they get top to bottom and have a good amount of terrain open, they move to the south facing Soleil side.  Once that is open, often times mother nature will have provided enough natural snow to open The Edge, but if mother nature didn't deliver, there is snowmaking on some trails so that they can still open it for the holidays.

Killington is set up pretty much perfectly for spring skiing as they have so many lifts accessing different parts of terrain, they can keep everything open that has snow and not close off entire sections because one area rotted out.  Last year, the 3rd weekend in April, they ran 7 lifts (K1 Canyon Quad, Snowdon Quad, Superstar Express, Needle's Eye Express, Skye Peak Express, Bear Quad) and were like 70% open.  When my dad and I arrived, we knew that the trails off the Skye Peak Express faced south and were going to be soft already, so we went over there immediately and worked our way back, ending on Superstar, which is north facing, and skied soft, but not slushy snow, while Bear and Needle's were like waterskiing without a boat.  One of my best spring days ever.

snoloco wrote

Tremblant has terrain that faces west, south, and east.  They open the eastern and western facing terrain first (North and South sides).  Once they get top to bottom and have a good amount of terrain open, they move to the south facing Soleil side.  Once that is open, often times mother nature will have provided enough natural snow to open The Edge, but if mother nature didn't deliver, there is snowmaking on some trails so that they can still open it for the holidays.

Have you been there often early season?