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Tin Woodsman
10-26-2006, 07:34 AM
Multiple reports indicate that Manny got upwards of a foot yesterday in the upper elevations. BTV radar looks goof this morning with a
NNW flow delivering lake enhancement to the SB/MRG area. MadCam indicates that SOMETHING is going on in the upper reaches of Stark Mtn, which certainly bodes well for the top 800-1000' at SB. Any eyewitness accounts of what is or is not going on up there?

Any chance for an early opening on the Summit chair if this pattern continues? Weekend weather looks mighty interesting.

Bubba
10-26-2006, 07:42 AM
From the national weather service:

Statement as of 6:22 PM EDT on October 25, 2006


... Record daily precipitation set atop Mount Mansfield Vermont today...

A daily record amount of 2.13 inches of liquid precipitation fell
atop Mount Mansfield today. This breaks the previous daily record
of 1.73 inches set in 1960.

The record daily snowfall for this day still stands. Mount
Mansfield reported that 11.0 inches of snow fell today. This is
well below the daily record of 14.0 inches set in 1960.

...........

Very light snow this morning. Snow forcasted every day for the next week except Friday.

noski
10-26-2006, 07:49 AM
We have had SOOO much rain! The ground is totally saturated. I had maybe 1/2-3/4 of an inch of snow at my house last night (1800') but rain below 1200' as I came down this morning.

Lostone
10-26-2006, 08:57 AM
Here is the Vera snow report for 9:00 on 10-26:
http://forums.skimrv.com/albums/Assorted_Pix/Pict3106c3.jpg

This is @ ~ 1600'. ( They won't let me drive her up the mountain. :roll: )

Note that it is now close to 10:00. It has been snowing the whole time. There is now less snow on her.

No... I'm not going to do an hour by hour report. :roll:

:wink:

noski
10-26-2006, 09:43 AM
Interesting- at 7am the ground, porch and car were covered at my house. Maybe you needed to get up earlier... nice license plate, btw.

ski_resort_observer
10-26-2006, 10:11 AM
Will let you know as soon as the mountains come out of the clouds. I think the summits will have a bunch of snow but as you head downhill so does the snow count.

Lostone
10-26-2006, 10:16 AM
I have to get up earlier so that i can catch the snow before it goes away??? :?

If it is going away... there is no hurry. :roll:

My snow report was accurate as of the time I declared it to be taken!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! 8)

Regardless of whether the snow sticks to it! :P

And as to the plate, I'm playing with a new editing program.... which is why the time between py pic and its posting was about an hour. :roll: :wink:

Tin Woodsman
10-26-2006, 11:14 AM
Will let you know as soon as the mountains come out of the clouds. I think the summits will have a bunch of snow but as you head downhill so does the snow count.

No intrepid hikers out there? Reports of epic conditions (for October) on the upper half of the mountain at Stowe.

ski_resort_observer
10-26-2006, 11:40 AM
Since Mt Mansfield is where all the weather towers and the state snowstake is the snow it gets is pretty widely reported. The only decent day without rain this week is supposed to be tomorrow and I am planing a photo cruise to southern Vermont. If the rain will stop I am planning a hike today but away from the Bush.

win
10-26-2006, 01:46 PM
I haven't been up myself, but Hardy told me we probably had a foot up top before this mornings squalls. Love those squalls! Let's hope they continue!

10-26-2006, 01:54 PM
I haven't been up myself, but Hardy told me we probably had a foot up top before this mornings squalls. Love those squalls! Let's hope they continue!
Win - say you guys get whacked for the next week or so. How likely or unlikely is it that would that result in an earlier than projected opening?

ski_resort_observer
10-26-2006, 02:46 PM
Didn't hit 40F at my house today

Bubba
10-26-2006, 06:12 PM
The last I heard from folks at the Mt. There is 18" at the bottom of Heavens Gate. :D
Can't say with any degree of certainty tho.

Tin Woodsman
10-26-2006, 09:37 PM
I haven't been up myself, but Hardy told me we probably had a foot up top before this mornings squalls. Love those squalls! Let's hope they continue!
Win - say you guys get whacked for the next week or so. How likely or unlikely is it that would that result in an earlier than projected opening?

That's what I'm wondering. If there is 18" of settled snow depth at the base of Heaven's Gate, or even if that's an exaggeration by 50%, one would think there's quite a bit more higher up. When you consider that the base of HG is at 2400' and that the base of the Summit quad is at 3000', I've got to think that from a snow surface perspective, they could be up and operating soon. Then add in what's expected this weekend and I can't see why you don't give it a shot, providing that you can get the employees in place.

From what I can tell, it's not supposed to dramatically warm up any time soon. Add a little man made to the mix while you have the cold temps and maybe you make it all the way through to December.

Mike_451
10-27-2006, 02:11 AM
18" at the bottom of heavens gate sounds too good to be true, but even if is 12" that aint to bad. Even 6-10 isn't bad, especially for this time of year, after all it is the higher elevations that are more likely to stick around and contribute to the base.

I am assuming at the top of MT Ellen their is some decent accumulation, and with strong chances for more to come, it seems like it is time for the resort to take aggressive action. Get out the cats, ands start packing it down, and fire the guns when it gets into the 20's.

It would even make sense to start boot packing up on the rock, and on trails like black dimond, where even if a few inches survive as hardpack into december it would make a difference as far as the base for the rest of the season.

One of these days they will fire up the guns, but it seems like if this weather turns out to be on the colder and snowier side, it would be worth starting to blow up top, so that ops could be shifted down the hill to get things top to bottom by thanksgiving.

ski_resort_observer
10-27-2006, 09:51 AM
Here are a couple of morning pics before heading south for the day. Went up to MRG but still too cloudy.

http://forums.alpinezone.com/gallery/uploads/1038/MtEllen12.jpg

http://forums.alpinezone.com/gallery/uploads/1038/MtEllen2.jpg

random_ski_guy
10-27-2006, 11:36 AM
And SRO, thanks for the timly photos. They are beautiful. You are a godsend to us distant peoples.

Plowboy
10-27-2006, 01:03 PM
I just took this one from my front deck. Pretty darn white up there!!! Crank up the guns and lets get this show on the road.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i273/MX51/ME27.jpg

Mike_451
10-27-2006, 10:26 PM
Heh, almost no need for really substantial ops up top. Cat pack everything, Use the guns to fill in the waterbars, polish everything off, and move the ops down to Cruiser and Strait shot for a top to bottom opening. It would make sense to use the coldest windows base temps are good, to make snow down there, and then make it up top when the temps are good up there, but not at the lower elevations.

Anyway, those picks look snowier than the mountain did in April.

Tin Woodsman
10-28-2006, 11:06 AM
Heh, almost no need for really substantial ops up top. Cat pack everything, Use the guns to fill in the waterbars, polish everything off, and move the ops down to Cruiser and Strait shot for a top to bottom opening. It would make sense to use the coldest windows base temps are good, to make snow down there, and then make it up top when the temps are good up there, but not at the lower elevations.

Anyway, those picks look snowier than the mountain did in April.
I think that's a bit of a simplification. You need personnel in operations (snowmaking, groomers, lift ops), ski patrol, food & beverage (if the Glen House and/or base lodge are open, which they should be), ticket sellers, customer service, yada yada yada....

"Going for it" requires a lot of time, money and effort, even on just a bit of terrain, though the long term forecast looks good if they do decide to try and move opening day forward.

And yeah, it's safe to say that those pics look just about as good as the mtn did all year in 2005-2006.

Mike_451
10-29-2006, 12:55 AM
Yeah, the staff part is a huge limitation, espicaly if they were to open early. In addition I don't know how close they push lift maintmence and inspections to opening day. I certainly hope the snowmaking system is locked and loaded, and ready to be fired up whenever they feel like it.

As for snowmaking, if the weather events this week turn out to be positive, it would be increasingly worthwhile to start snowmaking, and if they can get good coverege up top, they could move it to the bottom quicker.

And yes, they do like to approach the snowmaking in a logical way, making a thick initial base and then surfacing it with some decent snow.

fortunately last season they managed to blow cruiser prior to opening instead of FIS (As much as I like FIS I can wait another week for it), and as a result after they opened all it took was fill in the water bars, and blow straitshot to take it down to the bottom, and all was epic untill the first meltdown of the season :cry:

Though I am sure they will start ops, and open the resort when they see that it is economical to do so, at least I hope they would, but I guese we just have to trust that they are professionals and give them the benefit of the doubt.