42 replies to this topic

[random_ski_guy]

Sugarbush is reporting 36 inches at the summit and 31 at the base from this epic storm. This might be the biggest storm in 10 years. Over 50 inches has fallen in the past week.

Season total now at 140" and climbing.

[KMS]

Sugarbush ended up w/ 48" at the summit and 38" at the base. Conditions are great heading into the holiday week.

[aug]

NW rain has ended , snowing like crazy , with no end in sight , 8 inches a day for the last week , feast or famine .

[Lift Kid]

We are currently expecting 13 inches of powder snow. It is coming down hard with blizzard warnings in effect.

[skier691]

Snow, snow, snow,.....Rain... Cold..... Base.... Soild Base....Solid....

[Lift Kid]

We got it! 13 inches with another 2 or 3 coming tonight! Nice and fluffy snow.

[iceberg210]

Snowing right now and finally after a lackluster to pathetic ski season the storms are starting to roll in and get us some pretty good skiing. Last weekend I skied waist deep in areas at Brighton so it is finally shaping up around here in terms of skiing.

[mcjones55]

Quote

What I don't understand is how a ski area can have a 75" base with only 93" of snow.

One word, Marketing
Marketing snow is different from our snow here in the real world, mainly marketing snow doesn't not settle if you get 12 inches your base is now 12 inches more than what it was the day before, no snow for a week, your base stays exactly where it was from the last storm.
Just my observations

[Peter]

Crystal Mountain:
Last 24 hours: 12"
Last week: 60"
Base Depth: 103-136"
Season Total Snowfall: 360"

Mount Baker:
Last 24 hours: 4"
Last week: a lot"
Base Depth: 193-202"
Season Total Snowfall: 560"

[skier14]

skierdude9450, on Feb 12 2007, 09:59 AM, said:

What I don't understand is how a ski area can have a 75" base with only 93" of snow. Are you snowmaking all year long? Vail stopped snowmaking before New Years and has been losing base ever since.

The base is the measurement of packed groomed snow. Snow will compact a lot when you run a heavy cat over it. The base would be a lot smaller if it weren't for snowmaking which isn't included in the snow fall number.

[Lift Dinosaur]

SVmech17, on Feb 26 2007, 10:10 AM, said:

The base is the measurement of packed groomed snow. Snow will compact a lot when you run a heavy cat over it. The base would be a lot smaller if it weren't for snowmaking which isn't included in the snow fall number.

For reporting purposes, "Base", out West, is generally considered uncompacted natural snow in a relative location to the reporting area (Base lodge, mid-mountain, top of mountain). The area is roped off to traffic and there is a "daily" snow stake and a "total" stake. The total is subject to settling, so a few days after a storm, you would expect the base number to go down.
Packed groomed snow is what I call "coverage". It can vary from 2 inches to 60 inches, depending if you're on a trail or in the trees.
Dino

[aug]

The snow has finally stopped and it is raining again. The truck was bare at the start of this recent cycle  snowtruck.jpg (11.78K)
Number of downloads: 14

[Allan]

We've gotten 146 centimetres over the past 7 days.

[skierdude9450]

Things are starting to shape up, but can't the wind stop for a couple days?!?!! I wonder if Steamboat has any snow left at all due to their west facing slopes? There have been a few days with 12+ inches of snow, but there's never the true powder, but just hard windpacked drifts.

[Peter]

Crystal has so much snow they have extended the season to April 29th! This is the latest they have stayed open for many years, usually they close the first week in April.

[Allan]

So.. Much.. Rain.. We now have a moat around our shop and various impromptu slush cup pools popping up around the resort. Not too many brown spots though - any that do pop up we still have enough snow to hide them again. Supposed to get kinda nice over the next few days though... Sun would be great after this grey March. 8 days left!!!

[skier691]

Its 60 today, only 4 hrs left!!!

[Lift Kid]

Well, it is currently 69 degrees. We are expecting thunderstorms and it just started to rain. Hail is possible too. Buck Hill closed yesterday and I can't believe how horrible it looked. To get to the triple chair line, which was open, you actually had to take off your skis. (unless they were rentals )

Hyland closed last weekend so Buck was the longest open ski area around here.

[afski722]

And then there were 3 left, over in the Lower Penisula.....

We're doing a fair bit better across Lake Michigan from you guys......it was in the mid-50's this weekend though in Northern Michigan.

Nub's is hanging in there, we had an excellent spring Mardi Gras weekend. 100% of the snowmaking runs are still well covered. Fortunetely we didn't get too much rain in the past few weeks. It did rain for about an hour, but still have 5+ feet on the front slopes, with 2-3 pretty much everywhere else. We set to stay open to April 8th, but its going to be a challenge that last week. We're gonna lose a lot this week since its not going to go below freezing at all, with highs in the 50's everyday plus some rain. Oh well, we've had a pretty decent March though.

Boyne Highlands closed today. Boyne Mountain is going to try to make it Easter too, but they're going to be in pretty sad shape after this next week too.

Crystal Mt. too is going to try to make in until the 8th as well.

[jeffe]

Amount of snow on top of the rocks? Or between the rocks? I hit fresh pow on Tuesday. The rocks in the PNW are hundreds of feet tall so it takes a #$@load to cover them. It's to warm to make snow and it rains alot. The snow is always wet. The lifts are real scary old school style. He He.