So you think you got snow eh?

[Mr. Sandman]

Beach...you guys have had a hell of a time with the ferrys recently... I have had some pretty bumpy rides and a lot of our tips have been canceled... but the Nantucket boat has been shut down a quite a bit...and technically speaking winter does not start until Monday!

[beachwalker]

No shiite Sand ! Friggin thing has been down a ton in the last two weeks. It's been blowing for sure. After 35 sustained they pretty much shut it down. The fast boat got it's bow hatch stove in over Thanksgiving. Almost went down.

One gets very good at figuring out when it is going to blow hard enough to cancel the boat. At that moment, if I have a res during the projected bad weather, I will cancel and reschedule for when I think it is over (so I get ahead of all the standbys) or send it off a day early. Winter weather strategies on Nantucket.....

Have a great time up at Jay and Merry Christmas. My weather crystal ball says BIG X-mas eve storm with snow ONLY up above Stowe. Jay will get another healthy dose.

I wish I was rich enough to own a helicopter

[Mr. Sandman]

you can land that chopper on my 180' mega-yacht that I keep off your island in august. You can't miss it!

I heard about the HS boat that had a problem...they got it back to the island ok...what happened? there was only like 9 people on it. Mech failure?

On MV I have noticed when it hits 40 out of the west they start canceling trips. They also seemed conceren with visability and leave it up to the capt. Some are more gun-ho then others. frankly the boat can take a hell of a lot more then put it thru, it is just the passengers.

(I keep an explorer on the other side year round so I don't have to deal with reservation hassles in the summer or if some trips get canceled and the standby line is insane, then I will just walk on.(or if I just want to run to west marine for the morning) But it is a lot worse out by you. Standing Wasque just looking in your direction when the wind is howling...it looks VERY bumpy out there.

Thanks for the snow forcast...
I have never sseen so many seasick people as this year...

[GaryK2]

Just made reservations at Stowe for Friday and Saturday night after Christmas.

Front four here we come!!!

[beachwalker]

Excellent Gary. Rip it up.

DOn't forget to go see Baba at the Matterhorn. He is the Japenese Sushi master. Not to be missed..... Nor is the Shed for popcorn and beers or Gigi's for breakfast & Lunch stuff.

Sandman,

The Fast Ferry hit some big swells 3 miles out of the Harbor over Turkey weekend. Stove in a bow hatch, took on water, engine stalled. Lifejackets on, passengers on cell phones freaking out. Fortunately only 9 on board. Captain felt he almost lost the whole thing

The North Shore of Nantucket is a sight to behold in 30 + kts. BIG rollers coming over the bars that increase exponentially when the wind goes 30, 35, 40, 45, etc.
With an outgoing and a strong North wind (30+) the swells at the end of the Jetties are 8-12'. Makes for awesome windsurfing. Long groomed wind swell

(also packs a little bait on that side but you didn't hear that here.

Have an awesome time any who are heading up. Gary, don't forget the absolutely best time to hit Stowe is first chairs during the holidays. Can get a bit ugly once the gapers arrive.

Happy Holidays all !

[likwid]

wacky ass weather
snow showers currently up at the River!

also some new cute chicks working patrol and lifts this year...
im gonna get in trouble

[beachwalker]

Bummer,

It looks like the Christmas present for the Ski areas is the dreaded "N" word.

I had high hopes last week that you folks would see a dumping.

There is always prayer.............

[Mr. Sandman]

yeah it looks wet for xmas...but I am not leaving till Monday so we'll see

[devils fiddle]

warm day today. got a foot or so on thursday and a couple inches over the weekend last week. rain tomorrow with snow on xmas. just about everything is open except O.L., Devils fiddle, and Ovation. hope everybody headed north has a good trip next week. it looks like things could be a little fast when it cools down.

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

well its raining right now,with thick fog.should get interesting when it freezes.guess its back to trail skiing for a few days.reminds me of fishing, always should have been here yesterday.if anyone is in the Sugarbush / Mad River area let me know i'd love to hook up with ya.

[likwid]

rain rain all the way back here to MA today.

oi

my jeep hates the warmth!
was running a bit hot on 128

but hey!
im home for xmas!
hoorah!

[beachwalker]

There you go Sandy. 12" in Northern VT.
More weather coming..........

[Tagger]

Likwid going to Sunday River tomorrow ..should I be asking the ski patrol ...Hey ! Do you fish ?

[Van]

Looks like its Mt. Snow on Monday.

Conditions seem OK, even thought the temps are up.

Any thoughts???

[Jenn]

I dont ski but I snowmobile...we are leaving for our annual new years trip to the beatiful N.E. Kingdom on wed. word has it there is plenty of snow and I CANT WAIT.......

MOOOOSE Country

[likwid]

Man, missed tagger's message.

Anyone else coming up, send me a PM and i'll let you know where to give a shout/bring coffee

[beachwalker]

Likwid,

No word from rep. Oh well, but I have to talk with him anyway so I'll try again.
20" N Vt since yesterday. Helped cover the crust. Serious base I guess. Stowe, etc. had 10'+ in December so far...

I don't get a chance until late January. Gotta just keep praying for you guys to get snow

[likwid]

pm'd you just about that...


i be piste atm

[beachwalker]

Inversion or What ?

36 degrees Mt washington Observatory.

6 degrees Whitefield, NH

The old inversion.......

[likwid]

Hardcore...

I caught that on NOAA weather radio and could only think "uhhh?!"

[likwid]

Inversion is over with thankfully
Although snowmaking wasn't possible because of it

Back to normal now though!

[GaryK2]

Stowe was assume. We left Thurday morning after Christmas and got up there to be pleasently surprized that they got about a foot of snow Christmas night.

Same deal with the inversion up there on Sunday. You'd expect it to be colder up top, but not the case.

Everything was open except Hayride I think, which they were making snow on. My daughter and her freind were on a mission to ski all the black diamonds so I was more than happy to show them where Goat, Liftline, Star, Bypass and some nice woods were They can be a bit intimidating to a 13 year old. I witnessed an interesting dynamic with my daughter and her friend. My daughter is a better skier than her friend, but her friend has a "just do it" "go for it" "we'll never know if we don't try it" attitude. My daughter is a bit more cautious, but can handle most any terrain, where as her friend is a risk taker (funny her dad is an actuary) but not quite as skilled a skier. It was great to see them push each.

Skied Stratton on Wednesday and it was OK, but nothing compared to Stowe with a foot of new snow. Happy Holidays!!!

[Mr. Sandman]

Just got back...

Hit stowe for a day then went to Jay for 4...I am spent.
Stowe is always great...But it just always snows at jay...their base is insane. Almost the entire time I was theire it was snowing. Just drive into the front entry and there are 8'-10' embankments. 10' piles against the condo. My kids enjoyed just playing on the hills of snow after the lifst shut down as much as skiing. Just drove back today...it is a hike but worth it. Sat was the only day that was iffy, we got some freezing rain for about 2 hours from 8-10am then it cleared...I slept in reading my fishing books then hit the slopes and it was a little soft but still great. They need some better resturants though...Stowe has them beat on that front for sure. Friday was super.. snowed all day lost of dry power.

Next trip is to Okemo in 2 weeks with our annual load of family...it will be crowed but fun nonetheless. (Looking fwd to the river in feb)

[beachwalker]

Welcome back, it's hard to wrong up there.

My first visits to Jay were in the early 80's armed with my 75 Rabbit and about $100 in my pocket I would drive from S CT on Fridays searching for fresh snow. On one occasion I reached Stowe only to find it 36 deg and raining. Got back in and drove my first trip North of Stowe. It rained the whole way, even in Troy, and then, on the mountain road, it started to mix and then went completely white out. It had been snowing the entire storm and they had 2' of fresh. Slept in the back of the VW in a heap of blankets for the next three nights. Been going back ever since.

Over the years I have managed to head out West and do a few seasons (WY, OR, WA). Utah was cool to visit but the Pacific NW was, and is IMO, the best. It just plain snows all winter. In 98/99, Mt Hood Meadows had 800+", Mt Baker, WA had 1150 !. After that winter I would always hear..... "We'll ya those places get snow but it is not Utah, Colo, WY snow, etc" and I couldn't help but .

It is snow dummies. Wet, dry, white, black. It is snow. Not rain, not dirt. SNOW.

That is why it rips in friggin RI when it snows. I moved back east and recalled not go to the hip spots and to go to the "cool" spots. They snow

Stowe is a great place and many times it snows there as much as Jay but the parking doesn't lie now does it Sandman.

Feb. is my plan. But it still all depends on the snow

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

good to hear you guys got to get in some of the good stuff. more than half of the snow is gone. everything is frozen solid. skied yesterday with the kids after two hour they had enough.the sound of people scrapping the ice sounded like snow guns. my son races on wed, should be intersting, a fast icy slalom. time to brake out the tuning equipment. you get spoiled skiing powder.back to the real thing.

[Van]

We went last Monday and conditions were only fair at Mt. snow.
Plus with many runs closed the open ones were very crowded.
My brother-in-law went the other day and found man made ICE !!

I'm not going again till they get a mojor dumping.

[GaryK2]

Sleeping in the VW beachwalker? Sounds like the good ol days to me too! I remember a good freind of mine getting one of those timeshare promo packages where they'd give you a weekend of free skiing and accomodations if you would just agree to spend some time with a sales rep. They were expecting my freind to bring his fiancee or sig other up, but instead they got two ski junkies who had no interest (at the time) in buying into a time share (at Stowe). They put us up in a nice Inn and paid for two days skiing. We had just enough money for gas and ate peanut butter and jelly for lunch, breakfast and dinner. The sales rep spent about two minutes with us and quickly realized they need to target their marketing efforts better.

Good luck to your son I.Fish.VT. My daughetr has her first tri-state race this Sunday. GS at Berkshire East.

Cold weather coming this week, but no storms in sight .

[likwid]

UGH!@#!!!

Holidays are finally over.

No more waking up at 4:30am except weekends and feb vacation.

Been doing it EVERY DAY for the past 2 weeks and working my a$$ off!

Even though the conditions suck, I know you guys appreciate the commitment some of us make to keep y'all happy at the lifts and riding around.

At the River we've been working incredibly hard to defeat the conditions that mother nature has been handing us, and most mornings the conditions have been OK, but by noon you better have sharp edges.

I'll make another conditions update in a few days after this cold spell we have and we make some snow!

[likwid]

Originally posted by Van
We went last Monday and conditions were only fair at Mt. snow.
Plus with many runs closed the open ones were very crowded.
My brother-in-law went the other day and found man made ICE !!

I'm not going again till they get a mojor dumping.

Not to be elitist about it, but regardless of the price, Stratton is a way better deal than Mt Snow.
They've been going downhill over the years and I'd honestly say ASC is looking to get rid of the mountain.
Its not worth it having to directly compete with Stratton/Intrawest which is right down the road and has superior service.

And of course the River still has the most reliable conditions.

Anyone who's interested in resorts and how things are done and whatnot (Gary), pick up Downhill Slide by Hal Clifford.
Its an interesting look at how the big corporations are destroying mountains and towns for the bottom line.

[beachwalker]

Yes we do Likwid and I don't mean to be too much of a pow-snob.

I live on the other island and it is a huge commitment to travel so I might as well go to snow. Since I am not a pass holder anywhere this year I am hoping to do a River/NH/Loaf run some midweek jaunt in Feb.

Are you ready to feel your brain freeze ?