2011-2012 Annual Snowmaking Discussion Thread

[ducky]

Currently 28 at my house-on-the-hill and the guns are blazing up high.

[boze]

Getting up there Tues evening w/ the extended family in tow. Hoping the event stays all snow, will do snow dance and sacrifice old pair of skis to Ullr.

[pcampbell]

nice ducky
i didn't see you up there, but i made it up there also on Saturday.

[win]

I am an optimist by nature, but looking at the forescast I would say it is 50/50 at best that we will be able to open Thanksgiving day. The issue is whether we will have enough cold hours between Allyn's Lodge and the bottom of Heaven's Gate to get the snow we will need to open safely. The temperatures today at the Summit allowed for some good snowmaking from the Summit of LP to Allyn's Lodge but not lower. It is getting colder as the sun set's and hopefully it will last well into tomorrow. Our forecast, however, it is to warm up and we are looking at a mix coming in later tomorrow into Wednesday. Hopefully, we will be surprised with cold temperatures and snow.

[NorthLynx]

The temperatures definitely came down quickly this afternoon from a high in the mid 30's. When I first drove up into the
parking lot the temperatures were about 29 degrees and they had just turned on one of the new snow logic guns in-front of
the Valley House Lodge. When I left to go home at about 6:00 PM the temps were just down to about 26. I took these
pictures with only minutes to spare before it got dark.

first gun at the base.jpgsnowmaking 2.jpgsnowmaking 3.jpg

[Hawk]

Man if Loon, Stowe, Sunday River and Killington are all open top to bottom and we can not even open just the top 1/2 to start the season then that is going to be very disapointing.
I will ski Fiday even if I have to travel.

I just hope this is Win being coy and not wanting to let the cat out of the bad to early.

[gostan]

I agree...Win is trying to be conservative here. At lease we hope so.

And, right now, Stowe is scheduled to open tomorrow, Wednesday the 23rd top to bottom with its' brand new Forerunner Quad chair on Mansfield. If things break perfectly today, am thinking of driving up tonight and hitting Stowe tomorrow.

[HowieT2]

The gun is blasting at the base of the super bravo. That's a good sign.

[Hawk]

We need some more recon! Ducky where are you? Shady????

[NorthLynx]

temperature wise at 11:00 AM the windows on my truck are still frosted over and the temps are holding out at about 28 degrees. The grass is still frosted in the shade.
this is at about 1500 feet.

[MntMan4Bush]

"The gun is blasting at the base of Super Bravo".

Is any one else concerned this is in the singular sense. "The gun"? Do we only have one? Sometimes it feels that way.

Killington has been open a while now and is already top to bottom and lies further south than us. Stowe opens tomorrow top to bottom. Can't make snow? Really? Or is it "won't" make snow? Which is fine I guess as a business decision, but let's not say "can't" and make it seem otherwise.

Apologies ahead of time. Long day at work and I just want to ski. Guess I'll be heading to Killington this weekend. I'm sure once it dumps snow and everyone's happy everyone will conveniently forget that enough snow was not made to guarantee an opening in time for Thanksgiving like other mountains did.

(Here comes the rants of my use of the word "guarantee" and chastising the machine)

[gostan]

Two things are in definitely in play here at MRV now. First, we are all chomping at the bit to ski and ride. Second, MRV is no longer DOA. And, of course, Howie can only see the one gun on the snow cam.

[HowieT2]

"The gun is blasting at the base of Super Bravo".

Is any one else concerned this is in the singular sense. "The gun"? Do we only have one? Sometimes it feels that way.

Killington has been open a while now and is already top to bottom and lies further south than us. Stowe opens tomorrow top to bottom. Can't make snow? Really? Or is it "won't" make snow? Which is fine I guess as a business decision, but let's not say "can't" and make it seem otherwise.

Apologies ahead of time. Long day at work and I just want to ski. Guess I'll be heading to Killington this weekend. I'm sure once it dumps snow and everyone's happy everyone will conveniently forget that enough snow was not made to guarantee an opening in time for Thanksgiving like other mountains did.

(Here comes the rants of my use of the word "guarantee" and chastising the machine)

+1
although I think they will be open for thanksgiving which would be on par with Stowe.

[HowieT2]

Two things are in definitely in play here at MRV now. First, we are all chomping at the bit to ski and ride. Second, MRV is no longer DOA. And, of course, Howie can only see the one gun on the snow cam.

true dat.

[NorthLynx]

That one gun was cranking out snow so you can load with skis on. Go look at the current forcast. They need all the snow they can make on jester, and downspout. Maybe after they build and sell these condo units they have in the works there will be capitol for expanding snowmaking infrastructure?