Its Baaaack: EC roll call version 4.0(beta)

[Jonathan S.]

Four-ravine circumnavigation TR posted here:
http://timefortuckerman.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=14330




Unfortunately, kind of useless for beta since the best call now is just driving up Otto, except with rain forecast for something like the next several days, best call is probably just to do something else entirely!

[icelanticskier]

All right, all right rog. Enough gloating. I hate to tell you, but there's actually plenty for everyone.

nope.

rog

[buckethead]

^ jonathan : nice! you're a machine! you too rog!
(though hoped to see much more snow!)

Started laughing when i saw this and was just going to call you today on the way home from work.....so that sucks ass
f--ing rain.......

fukc the rain...i'm riding lifts...rain or showers!
i've skiied in the rain before when there were many ski days left - the last time was the sunday before the monday march 7 mega dump - when 5" forecast turned to 3'-plus.

coincidence? maybe. if it snows next week though y'all can thank me

with yellow lenses grey days look sunny anyway.

[steamboat1]

My 2 cents for those ragging on K-mart. Yes it would be nice if they tried to stay open a little longer like they once did. Latest I've ever skied is May16, it was alright but like someone mentioned earlier you had to load the chair with your ski''s off, hike down over the rocks a bit on the superstar headwall & then again a couple of times on the way down. It was interesting to say the least especially with the trees budding & the bugs swarming. Closing day May 1 this year they had a decent turnout of peeps & the usual 4-5 runs open with good cover top to bottom. Cascade, downdraft & even rime into east fall also had good cover if you took a short hike. They could have made at least another week I think but who knows.

On the other hand since Powdr has taken over the mountain in general has seen more snowmaking on more trails than ever before for the other 5 months of the season. I remember seasons where lower ovation , lower conclusion, devils fiddle just to mention a few wouldn't even open at anytime during the winter because they didn't blow snow on them. They even groom out some of the steeper terrain on a regular basis but still leave enough terrain natural to satisfy most anyone. I enjoy a few bump runs & even the glades but as I get older it's nice to still have some of the more challenging terrain groomed out to take it easy a little while not being limited to only blues & greens for groomed runs. Personally I think Powdr is doing an excellent job taking care of the mountain which after all is what counts the most.

[ex-powderbroker]

Hiked Slide Mountain today. It's easy to see the charm of it, and how easily it gets overlooked. GPS topped out at 4226 today, well above the 4180' in the books but that's of course a very disputed number. The weather set in as we summited, with the high winds pushing the weather sideways. It's very easy to see how the snowpack exceeds 8 feet in march up there, and there's limitless potential for skiing with the exceptions of the drive being a slight drag and the fact that it's "forever wild" land... i.e. cutting not appreciated by the state. Anyway, I'll be up there next year. Said it before a few times, and things haven't worked out yet, but I'm really feeling it now.

Anyway, no natural snow left up top now and didn't get to check out Belleayre, but I hope somebody got some. I'll post a pic or two if anyone wants to see some moss or whatever later. In the meantime, fire up your loppers!

[peterslovo]

A pleasant surprise!

With an iffy forecast calling for 80% chance of rain, made a last minute call in the morning to head up the road anyway.

Foggy with a low ceiling on the way up.


Foggy, with a low ceiling at the top of the snowfields. Few other folks around, but they left when we arrived.


Telefriend Jon making some nice turns. Great snow.


A few folks filtered in and out through the day, but weather forecasts kept many away methinks. No rain however.

Finally, the fog got so thick, we called it and headed back to celebrate an unexpectedly nice day.

mmmm...wings.

[MadPatSki]

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! Good job. A huge gamble. YOU WIN!!!

[Jonathan S.]

Closing day May 1 this year [...] They could have made at least another week I think but who knows.

Two weeks!

Still quite nice yesterday (Saturday, May 14) from the very top to the very bottom.
But probably already cut off by now for a very short stretch from where the long flats transition to the intermediate pitch (immediately before the final headwall).
Some other sections are about 1/3 to 1/2 width coverage, but could last awhile if the snowpack there is relatively deep (albeit narrow), although the upcoming weather is of course dismal.
Moguls are just kind of moderate, so can either ski them as moguls are maneuver around.
Snow conditions for my first run started off a bit firm and uneven, on account of temps in the 50s and no sun. But fortunately enough skier/boarder traffic (parking lot averaged about a dozen cars, with max count of 14) to scrape the snow smooth such that by my fifth run the skiing had markedly improved. (Would have stayed for more since the skiing kept getting better, but had to hightail it back home to play with our daughter in a local park's sandbox -- toddlers sure love that, but what a cleanup chore back at the house!)

Picture taken upon departure a bit before 3:00 --

[Jonathan S.]

A pleasant surprise!

With an iffy forecast calling for 80% chance of rain, made a last minute call in the morning to head up the road anyway.

Wow, nice!
Although now that you've used up that one-fifth chance, we're now doomed to four days straight of rain...

[buckethead]

A pleasant surprise!

With an iffy forecast calling for 80% chance of rain, made a last minute call in the morning to head up the road anyway.


Telefriend Jon making some nice turns. Great snow.

^^nice! very encouraging towards my getting up there soon.

JAY was a blast this weekend. saturday was dry til about 2pm, then a soaker, the stated possiiblity of the mountain pulling plug on sunday...a provisional sunday opening: first call was lifts til 10am - leaving me a guarantee of 23 minutes of lifts at first ride up.
rain slowed and a great crew of folks came out and tore it up on the hill and in the lot.
last chair loaded at 3pm - with lots of folks on the hill to the end. lifties joined us in the lot as we properly toasted out a fine, fine season - til memorial day at least.
props to non-mags jamie and dawn for providing the tent, the tunes, the fire and the reason so many people stayed out on an otherwise crap day to be outside....YOW!!

crappy cell pics to follow...

[drewvw]

This past saturday morning, my gut said there was a small window to ski up north before the rain rolled in and pushed this fun season a step closer to being complete. That turned out to be the right call.

Had a great solo day wandering around the ridge like a zen monk as the fog rolled in and out.

Finally hit this baby man did I love it


One of my favorites of the season for sure. Wrote up a full blog post on it as well.

[mtl_ripper]

page 400 is full of WIN
Good stuff after a rainy urban weekend... merci.

[buckethead]

^^ wow! way to wait it out and get your line


and now for the crappy cell pics:
helluva time though. props to jay peak for their fine job of patching the trail back together after saturday evening's rains threatened to end things a day early...and all the folks who kept arriving and kept skiing and left management with little choice to keep 'em spinning. for all the soakage, the snow was damn good.

and good to finally see radio ron this spring (that's him at the right of the group shot; providers of tent, tunes, fire and foodstuffs jamie and dawn at center; a couple of jay's finest at the rear).

[JerseyDave]

Must......keep.....paddlingwhitewater. Amazing spring with the deep snowpack followed by the wettest April on record and this soaker we just got blessed with! Overhead pow? Yes Please.

[therudeness]

wow, everyone having a blast on a rainy weekend. stoke all around!

we hiked up to hermit lake friday night, found an empty lean-to around 3am, slept for a few hours and had an amazing saturday. rain held off until about 5:30pm. legs so sore, in a good way. probably my last day of 2010/2011. thanks for all the beta and stoke this season guys, it was a great one.

Edit: Best moment of the day, this dude appears out of the mist at the top of Hillman's.. "is this left gully??" - you rule man!

[lynchdogger]

Must......keep.....paddlingwhitewater. Amazing spring with the deep snowpack followed by the wettest April on record and this soaker we just got blessed with! Overhead pow? Yes Please.

more pics.

[BushwackerinPA]

some of the better stuff I got from stowe this year.

[mtnbiker/boarder]

way to get after it on a shitty rainy weekend......BUCKET kept me in play with the pics through out the day while i mtnbiked the warmer rainer climate of PA. Glad to seee you all getting it like maxwell house coffee...GOOD TO THE LAST DROP...of snow that is......
HEy DAVEVT..postem up cuase i know you gottem....enjoyed the last few pics awhile back of the whitewaterpow........BUCKET your a mad man.................................
BUSHWACKERinPA...scweeeet vid and thanks for sharing the stoke.........

[buckethead]

holy shiit is it coming down here!
it's like april again

glad for all the folks that took their chances and got the goods saturday on MTW
and props mtnbiker/boarder and all the to all who have moved on to summer activities...will transition saturday while hoping for another day or two on MTW.

k-mart looked nice though imagining what this downpour is doing as i type...

[From_the_NEK]

In the news... Burke already finished cutting a liftline for a "new" HSQ that parallels the left side Poma and goes to the summit of the toll road.

Edit: Who is going to be post 10,000 in this thread?

[jmars]

10,000.......you say!

[BigDaddy]

Just cuing up for the 10,000th post


(in the event jmars wants revenge!)

[gpcharles]

this could get ugly...

[lynchdogger]

some of the better stuff I got from stowe this year.

Stowe was good this year . . . ?

FKNA that was sweet and brought back a few good memories from my limited but quality days up in th nek this past year! Thanks for that!

This rain sucks ass! Where is my 100" May on George?

[gpcharles]

Where is my 100" May on George?

statistically speaking, that will probably never be repeated in our lifetimes.

when the average is 12.5" of snow/month-of-May, the standard deviation probably isn't much more than 5" (although I honestly don't know). That would put 100" 17+ SDs away from average....assuming a normal distribution for "snow/month-of-May" (which is a fine assumption) the probability of 100" falling in May is unfathomably low.

EDIT: just editing to write that i noticed the MWO lists two different average monthly snowfalls for May. On their "normals means and extremes page ( http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/normals.php )" they list 11.3". On the almanac for today's weather ( http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/forecast.php ) they list 12.5"