I think for a lot of resorts it would be a question of whether they want to start over in Mid March and I think the answer will overwhelmingly be no. You may see some higher elevation resorts hang on and then opt to start making snow again but that would be more the exception than norm.
For Laurel Mountain (have it in my weather app for mountain biking purposes) here are the 10 day highs, sequentially: 44 (today), 50, 59, 65, 62, 54, 53, 44, 42, 39. With the last night of the 10 day being the first possible chance of snowmaking. There won't be anything left at that point. Which is March 10th.
So the decision will be, do they want to start over. Not sure the ROI on that makes any sense, but hopefully I'm wrong.
Snowshoe and Timberline will be able stay open through March and take advantage of any late-season upslope snow events.
Most of the downslope ski areas won't make it past March 10th, or maybe even this weekend. That said, I heard today that Massanutten is planning stay open much deeper into March (if they can).
snowsmith wrote:
Well folks I threw in the towel for the east this year. I was supposed to leave tomorrow for a NH trip skiing Loon, Attitash and Wildcat. Looking at the weather forecast, I decided to cancel. I now have a trip booked for April 7 - 13 to ski Breckenridge, Arapaho and maybe Copper. This year we had basically one good 5 day period- Jan 17 to 22. I was lucky to be at my place in the Laurels during that period. I am hoping for a different weather pattern next year. Skier interest is dropping off quickly thus it does not make financial sense to keep the lifts spinning.
Breck (resortsy) and A-Basin (hard-coresy) are a great ying and yang combo and should still be outstanding skiing in early April! Elevations are high, so take it easy the first day or two and hydrate.
Jim - Great advice!! I have an Epic Pass and a 2-day Ikon pass so Breck seemed like an ideal base location to use both. I will need to take it a little easy on the first day or two. I hope you're enjoying your yearly sojourn to Snowbird. You inspire us old geezers.
JimK wrote:
snowsmith wrote:
Well folks I threw in the towel for the east this year. I was supposed to leave tomorrow for a NH trip skiing Loon, Attitash and Wildcat. Looking at the weather forecast, I decided to cancel. I now have a trip booked for April 7 - 13 to ski Breckenridge, Arapaho and maybe Copper. This year we had basically one good 5 day period- Jan 17 to 22. I was lucky to be at my place in the Laurels during that period. I am hoping for a different weather pattern next year. Skier interest is dropping off quickly thus it does not make financial sense to keep the lifts spinning.Breck (resortsy) and A-Basin (hard-coresy) are a great ying and yang combo and should still be outstanding skiing in early April! Elevations are high, so take it easy the first day or two and hydrate.
Yep
needawax wrote:
Regardless of favorable weather on the way - in the mid-atlantic, you can't hold on to your staff long enough once the season goes sour. They either take up new employment locally or go west or what not. Skied HV today, and actually enjoyed it, let's call it spring skiing and leave it at that - but there isn't enough there to hold for the forthcoming days.
Here is my approach to this weather
Low ceiling today at Stowe. It's in the upper forties and won't go below freezing the next few nights.
Grumpy dad wrote:
7S will barely be able to remain open this weekend. It's going to be ugly. Sunday it gets cold, and if they have a brain they will pull together many porta guns to fill in the areas that are cutting off entire slopes or sections of the mountain. But of course their volume and capacity is so much lower than the previous ownership (before nutting started to go cheap too).
Next week it warms up. There's no way Vail operates next week, but who knows. Then the week after we get a week of cold temps and crossing fingers, cold enough to make snow. The question is, will they?
I personally think they do. There isnt a single person that I know who isnt considering how to cut back on passes next year, or all together and just planning trips elsehwere. If Vail were smart they would jump at the possible snow making op coming up in a couple of weeks to extend through the end of March and maybe even the first weekend in April. That gives them a better look when pitching to people the idea of buying into season passes again.
I’ve been told Sunday will be final day of season for 7S, base is eroded and ground is too warm to build the base back up
Let’s see what happens
I'm too lazy to post screenshots of the current trail cams for 7S and HV and the 10 day forecast, but I think it's amazing that they are still selling tickets for THIS weekend. I know they really want to sell lots of beer at the pond skim. But it is not skiing at this point. I'm not sure the ground ever really actually froze this winter, but they are losing snow rapidly from the top of the base AND the bottom. And the areas around the main lifts are a disaster, only marginally navigable thanks to them moving snow from somewhere, I'm not sure where they scrounged it up.
There is no way on earth they operate beyond this weekend....
Leo wrote:
I'm too lazy to post screenshots of the current trail cams for 7S and HV and the 10 day forecast, but I think it's amazing that they are still selling tickets for THIS weekend. I know they really want to sell lots of beer at the pond skim. But it is not skiing at this point. I'm not sure the ground ever really actually froze this winter, but they are losing snow rapidly from the top of the base AND the bottom. And the areas around the main lifts are a disaster, only marginally navigable thanks to them moving snow from somewhere, I'm not sure where they scrounged it up.
There is no way on earth they operate beyond this weekend....
skied with my dad at LM last Friday Great day, crew did a good job with the snowmaking window they got the few days prior. Seemed to have a fairly substantial base Not sure what this weeks weather did to it
Family day last Sunday at HV so my wife and twins could use up the 1 remaining day on their 7 day pass Conditions were springish but not terrible, there was little to no base left on most of the slopes there Not sure how they are going to open tomorrow
Not looking too promising for EPIC resorts.
Whitetail:
