View Poll Results: When Will The Snow Guns Start Blowing Snow?

Voters
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  • Saturday, November 5

    0 0%
  • Tuesday, November 8

    0 0%
  • Saturday, November 12

    5 41.67%
  • Tuesday, November 15

    6 50.00%
  • Tuesday, November 22

    1 8.33%
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  1. #1
    gostan's Avatar
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    Feb 2007
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    2011-2012 Annual Snowmaking Discussion Thread

    I am not yet really into guessing on what day the mountain will open or how many inches of snow we will have this season. A ski season for me starts slowly and builds to a crescendo. So, for now, I want to know when the snow guns will be turned on? The rest will flow from there. Unfortunately, the weather does not look like it is going to make this event an easy or early one for mountain ops.

    http://www.accuweather.com/us/vt/war...cast-month.asp

    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Tin Woodsman; 12-13-2011 at 02:39 PM.
    Stan

    "There's No Cure For Life"

  2. #2
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Oct 2007
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    With that long range and the antisipated opening date I would think they would need at least a week of blowing to open on the 19th so I say the 12th.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    In the woods, searchin for the perfect airplane turn
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    235
    Friday night (11th) starting on Ripcord, Jester and Deathspout!

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    warren
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    Brew Ski is close. Firiday during the day. Today that is. Temps, however, are good only until Sunday then it looks like a week of warm weather.

  5. #5
    Well at least the good news is that the accuweather 15 day forecast has turned cold again around the 17th and 18th. cold as in the possibility of temps below 20 degrees .
    Last night I took a look at the forecast and it was quite the opposite, but now it seems to be developing in a positive way again.

    Today in the valley there were some odd flurries with temps while the temperatures were in the low 40's Light mist like rain one minute, and snow the next. There was evidence of a bit of a dusting up on parts of the mountain.
    Last edited by NorthLynx; 11-04-2011 at 12:04 PM.

  6. #6

    Shiny new guns

    They have been blowing since the afternoon. You can just barley see the snowmaking taking place on upper jester due to the clouds.. What is more interesting oddly enough is that it
    looks like the new guns we have heard all about have arrived. I apologize for the low quality picture (camera phone in low light)
    shiny toy guns.jpg

  7. #7
    they definitely blew snow last night and they are blowing tonight as well... at least on jester and allyn's traverse though did hear organgrinder mentioned but they may just be checking hydrants or setting it up. it
    would be really nice to have two routes from the summit open on day 1, if we're not top2bot.

    some better shots of the new guns here:
    http://www.sugarbush.com/about-vermo.../photo-gallery

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    In the woods of Mad River Valley
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    599

    Snowmaking now on Jester

    Yah!

    Skiing soon

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by shadyjay View Post
    they definitely blew snow last night and they are blowing tonight as well... at least on jester and allyn's traverse though did hear organgrinder mentioned but they may just be checking hydrants or setting it up. it
    would be really nice to have two routes from the summit open on day 1, if we're not top2bot.

    some better shots of the new guns here:
    http://www.sugarbush.com/about-vermo.../photo-gallery
    Yeah they definitely look different, not like anything I have seen or been able to find in the HKT or Ratnik catalogs. I saw them taking a couple up this
    afternoon in a truck, they weren't blowing yet but it did sound like they had equipment running in the snowmaking plant.
    I am a bit surprised I didn't see any of these down at Kmart.
    Last edited by NorthLynx; 11-05-2011 at 09:06 PM.

  10. #10
    Correction:
    They only blew Friday night, until 1:30 or so Saturday afternoon. Saturday night they did not blow (inversion taking place) but are testing the air/water lines for leaks and such, so expect noise from the compressors and pumps next week even with no temps. Soon enough!! It's all in the hands of Mother Nature now - hopefully she will be good to us!

  11. #11
    Judging by the current forecast I would not be surprised if the opening date gets pushed closer to the end of the month.
    But then again forecasts in Vermont are really only reliable to within 3 days, if that. Sometimes they are never quite right even
    within the same day so that says something about the legitimacy of a 10-15 day forecast so its still too early to say.

  12. #12
    I was thinking the exact same thing. Forecasts can change at the drop of a hat. Let's hope the 10-day forecast turns colder.

    As a reference, here's opening days I've compiled in the past 5 years or so, give or take:
    2010 - Thanksgiving Day
    2009 - First Sunday in December
    2008 - weekend of 11/23
    2007 - weekend of 11/17 - first year of LP opening first?
    2006 - unsure though I have pics of first weekend of Dec with quite the crowd at Summit so that could've been opening. Also that season (06/07) I have pics of Ripcord almost bare in mid January.


    You just never know...........

  13. #13
    better to get the warm weather now and get it over with.

    Seems to be a 50/50 sort of thing this time of year. The sun is still strong so cold weather is really dependent on the presence of cold air. Inversions are also all too common.
    My guess is if there were not a commercial demand for skiing over the thanksgiving holiday resorts would be much more conservative about opening up prior to the first week or two in
    december.
    Last edited by NorthLynx; 11-06-2011 at 03:54 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by NorthLynx View Post
    Judging by the current forecast I would not be surprised if the opening date gets pushed closer to the end of the month.
    But then again forecasts in Vermont are really only reliable to within 3 days, if that. Sometimes they are never quite right even
    within the same day so that says something about the legitimacy of a 10-15 day forecast so its still too early to say.
    That may be so, but we look to be in a warm regime in the medium term so until the pattern changes, its going to be dicey. It'll happen eventually. Rather wait and get a good solid cold stretch, than have and have it go back and forth. Hate the thaw.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by shadyjay View Post
    I was thinking the exact same thing. Forecasts can change at the drop of a hat. Let's hope the 10-day forecast turns colder.

    As a reference, here's opening days I've compiled in the past 5 years or so, give or take:
    2010 - Thanksgiving Day
    2009 - First Sunday in December
    2008 - weekend of 11/23
    2007 - weekend of 11/17 - first year of LP opening first?
    2006 - unsure though I have pics of first weekend of Dec with quite the crowd at Summit so that could've been opening. Also that season (06/07) I have pics of Ripcord almost bare in mid January.


    You just never know...........
    Look who's back. it's not really winter until shady is shoveling a path through feet of snow for the chairs of the gate to heaven.

    Iirc '06-'07 was brutal warm early into January.

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