Snow at Last

At some point, if you look out your office window on Monday maybe, just maybe, you will see SNOW. I saw predictions for as much as 5” to 10” in the Hub (cough). So of course, I have been telling everyone that, right or wrong. Especially the people I have seen who are still walking around in shorts.

Sporadically throughout the course of this ski season I will be posting overall New England ski condition updates. The purpose is to help you and plan out trips to the mountains. Skiing is a weather driven activity—preparing accordingly is a must.

Keystone, CO from RSN.com

Tangent: The ski industry is finally coming around and acknowledging how influential the weather is to their business. They have begun to do their part in curbing Climate Change (which Al Gore invented, along with the internet).
If you have been reading your ski media, one could not help but notice the clamor about resorts gobbling up pricier electrical blocks of Wind Powered Energy. There have also been huge advances in snowmaking technology and all the big players have bought into the more efficient systems, slowly swapping out their old equipment. We all have to do our part and I give the ski industry kudos for this, now if they could do away with all the two stroke engines they use on the mountains…
Conditions Report: D+
It is very early in the season and certainly not panic time yet. Most people have probably not even taken out their gear.
Even though the system on Monday will be aesthetically pleasing for the city dwellers there are two sides to every fence. The mountains (less those in RI, CT & MA) will be lucky to see anything at all for snow accumulations (I hope I choke on this by Tues). The storm that blew through Friday night certainly did not help out the cause and was a huge factor in the D+ grade.
The only two open areas to report new snow this weekend were Sugarloaf (1” on Sat) and Jay Peak (2” on Sun).
To borrow the immortal words of Coach Belichick, “That is not what we were looking for…”
This terribly slow start—combined with the several past seasons lacking luster overall—has snow enthusiasts all over the region bumming. The areas that are dedicated to their snowmaking operations have already gotten burned twice by Mother Nature leading up to this week. We were all teased by stretches of good snowmaking conditions only to have major rain events hamper any forward progress.
The Good News: This week will be cold. There is a very strong possibility that the places which typically receive lake effect snows could pick up 18” through Friday. If I were a betting man I would reckon Jay Peak has totaled 2 fresh feet by this coming Saturday morning. Anything natural will just be added bonus as snowmaking systems for every area with any hope of a season should be maximized.
The Skiers Take: The weekend ahead should provide the first decent skiing of the season for slopes of New England. Open terrain should be expanding. IF we get a weekend storm Look Out.
Stay tuned for Deals and Updates later this week.
Think Snow,
S.G.
Snowbird, UT from RSN.com