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  1. #256

    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    West Chester, PA
    Posts
    12
    Good thing I hung with my dogs til 10 and went to North then. But comparing forerunner down on one day of maintenance to Northridge is crazy. By the way, forerunner was running at 10am. I am pleased to be riding Northridge today though.
    Last edited by The Poacher; 12-30-2014 at 11:49 AM.

  2. #257
    The snowmaking is nothing in comparison to the lift issues. I never thought I would say this but have chosen to go elsewhere on my day trips and weekends because of the unreliable lifts. I'm honestly concerned about being stuck on a lift for quite a while or getting up at 6am to drive hours to find lifts down. On two occasions driving up I have checked my phone and ended up elsewhere. I have yet to even use my season pass. I planned on being there biweekly for a few days at a time but this season it is just not worth the gamble. Just very sad.

  3. #258
    This evening they are going to finally move the the snowguns to the valley house trails. I why don't they make snow on birdland and downspout which are in worse shape than spring fling and snowball. Also why was the snowmaking on sleeper and sunrise needed today. They would have been the best trails on the mountain without snowmaking. Should have made that move today.

  4. #259
    gostan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    West Of Boston
    Posts
    503
    It seems to me that there is a more than subtle change in snowmaking philosophy this season. Has anybody else noticed that the snow guns stay on a few trails until they are pounded? At least I hope these are planned snowmaking changes and not due to a shortage of snowmakers availability to constantly change the guns and the snow blowing up on different trails on a more consistent basis.
    Stan

    "There's No Cure For Life"

  5. #260
    I gotta agree. Maybe we are all missing something, but it seems obvious to move the snowmaking off sunrise to resurface elsewhere. That being said sunrise was awesome. Ton of great snow there.
    They definitely have a lot of work to do to restore confidence in the lifts. And from what I saw today north Lynx will be the next one to have issues. There wasn't anyhting mechanical wrong but the liftie was stopping the lift for every kid. I'm not talking about little kids, I'm talking about any kid. I rode it probably ten times and it stopped en route at least twice each time. And that's advanced terrain. No problem with slowing a lift for real little ones, but these kids weren't little and there going to ski birch. They keep it up and they'll be replacing a motor on that one too.
    Yesterday conditions were challenging but that was not limited to sb. I had reports from friends north and south of here and they said the same, superior snowmaking capacity not withstanding. I think sometimes, we know the snowmaking firepower is not as good as other mountains so we attribute shitty conditions to that when in reality, it's like that all over. Sometimes. 17 hours before opening tomorrow. Throw down some frsh dry powder on multiple trails and I'll be a happy camper tomorrow.

  6. #261
    Glad everyone enjoyed Sunrise today! I made that trail my "bread and butter" last night. What we like to do with snowmaking is pound a trail and then be done with it. Trails like Sunrise and Birch require quite a bit of time to make snow on. Just setting those trails up can take an entire shift. Gear has to be found and then brought up there. Since we were on Birch "before the thaw", it made sense to go right to Sunrise since gear was already up in that "pod". Same with Sleeper, which was already set up and had a little bit of run time before the warmup came. Hopefully, we can now get off those trails and go elsewhere. Though I do hear that Hot Shot may require some recoating before moving completely off of Gate House.

    We are now going to Lower Snowball, Racer's Edge, and Stein's, to finish out the trails we make snow on that we haven't made snow on yet. Then we will most likely go back to other trails as we see fit.

    I don't know if anyone noticed, but right before Christmas we received yet another delivery of new tower guns. These are up on Easy Rider, Jester corners, and other strategic spots around the mtn. The Easy Rider guns were lit up last night. It makes setting up/lighting up/maintaining a trail a lot easier with towers, providing the wind is right. Last night, the wind on Easy Rider was perfect - blowing straight across the trail.

    Downspout I have heard (haven't seen yet) survived the thaw really well and has a deep base. The more it gets groomed, the better it will be. We had some really good nights on it back in December which buried the trail pretty good.

    As for the North Lynx lift, it is one of the toughest lifts to work. It is the "natural progression" for beginners. Once they "master" Gate House (read: Pushover), they think they can do Birch Run and head right for the lift, thinking its just like Gate House. They are surprised with the steepness of the ramp and the chair coming in "hot" (as opposed to nice and slow like a detach). That's most likely one of the main reasons why a liftie may slow it/stop it quite often, especially during a holiday week.



    That's all for now... need to get ready for tonight's shift. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and is enjoying Holiday Week. If you're out skiing/riding, be safe and have fun. And when you're toasting the New Year, we'll be up there making good snow for y'all to ski on. Happy New Year!!!

  7. #262
    The change in philosophy changed a couple years ago to pound a trail with huge whales and never return and shadyjay confirmed that. My issue is that with all the new towers and other snowguns they should not be schlepping stuff all over the hill to run a trail. There is a huge pile of hoses behind CB-1, why are they not on the hill? If they are no good cut them up and make tower hoses with them and leave them at the towers. My hunch and observation during daytime hours is that there is a severe lack of snowmakers and this is preventing efficient switchovers and quality control. Now the whole system gets shut down, everything moved then fired up again. Should be one off, one on. There was a time when people looked at the snow report to see where snowmaking was to go ski some fresh powder, but that was also when gun powder was required and not production heavy stick to everything snow they now make. Keep up the good work Jay, we know you don't make the decisions.

  8. #263
    There are also hoses on lower grinder and upper ripcord. Just use those.

  9. #264
    Skiing on Sunrise was awesome yesterday. Given the temps and lack on direct sun on the rest of the mountain,... I skied there all day yesterday. Thumbs up to the snow making crew - that was some really nice product blowing on the trail. I noticed the new tower guns going on Push Over and Easy Rider. I liked the snow coming out of them. They are much quieter too. How easy are they to set up? Why can't you just leave them connected to the air and water pipes all year long?

  10. #265
    That pile of hoses behind CB1 are all broken. Hoses wear out... just last night alone we blew 4 hoses. In the beginning of the season, we had a large delivery of tower hoses. We don't like to leave gear on the hill on a trail we're done making snow on. Reason being: they can get buried, covered in ice, etc. Look at a trail like Downspout. The way the snow gets pushed by skiers and groomers, it all goes to skier's left, right where the hydrants and towers are. When we go back to that trail, it will require probably a solid night of digging just to be able to hook the towers up to the hydrants and spin the towers out onto the trail.

    It's never a good idea to keep the hoses connected to the hydrants if they're not running. Before we run a gun, we test the hydrants to make sure they're not frozen. One crucial tool we always carry on a light-up run is a torch, to take care of any frozen valves/hydrants/tower cranks/etc.

    As for staff, yes, some of our crews this year are half of what they should be. Given that, I think we've done pretty well, all things considering. It definitely makes more work for all of us, but it makes that 12-hour shift go by a lot faster. A benefit of the towers is that they are (usually) very quick and easy to light up. One snowmaker can light up a tower in just a couple of minutes. The hoses are shorter (about 10' long +/-) and the towers are designed to run at a high water pressure. With a land gun, you have 2 75' of hoses to deal with, drag out, position, light up, then check and adjust snow quality. Towers can bury themselves and their hoses if the wind is not good.

  11. #266
    Hawk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Just ahead of you in the woods....
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    1,823
    The snow making plan is exactly what they have done the last couple of year. They hit all the trails at least once and then they will go back to resurface as needed. They stay a bit longer un at North Linx because they do not plan to go back. They have not blown the lower section of snow ball, Racers, and Steins and that is all they have left to do for snowmaking trails. I would bet they want Racers so that they have the ability to put up a race course if needed.

    What is interesting to me is that they have to move hoses and guns to set up. You would think by now they would have enough equipment to have all the setups at every guy ready to go before the snow falls. This is typical at most of the larger outfits.

    Shady, Sunrise = Excellent Guns were pretty consistent. Nice Job.

    I have to agree and it is my opinion that resurfacing a couple of key trails would have greatly enhanced the experience of the general public. Trails like Birdland, Lower OG and Spring Fling. Resurfacing was a tenant at my previous mtn and according to they management, it accounted for a huge amount of positive surveys. But changing gears = manpower+Time = Money. Either way they have their plan and it will not change. I don't think they realize the impact on new and/or infrequent people. They remember the scratchy conditions and will take that into account when deciding where to go next time. Us pass holders will just grin and bear it.

    Pray for Snow!
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  12. #267
    Happy New Years to all the guys on the hill gettin it done. I'll hoist one to you tonight and enjoy your work in the morning!

  13. #268
    Hawk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Just ahead of you in the woods....
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    1,823
    Snow report says resurfacing efforts tomorrow. Nice! Thank you.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  14. #269
    Around 2:00 they started to turn on every other gun on downspout and have turned off easy rider and some guns on sleeper. Groomers did have been doing a great job this week.

    The website was wrong and they were not blowing on spring fling. Also they only used 2 guns on the bottom of stiens which were useless, unless you want to annoy people on super bravo.

  15. #270

    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Groton, MA and Warren, VT
    Posts
    124
    SUGARBUSH'S DAILY SNOW REPORT

    Castlerock and Welcome Mat are on maintenance delay.
    Today's Snow Report

    Thursday, January 1st, 2015
    9:10 AM

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