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The picture nathanvg posted looks like some of Baldy's chairs, which have a similar footrest setup. Baldy's Thunder chair is center pole at the back of the chair like Riblets and does not have a bar. I don't remember Silver King. However Stuart's focus is on the U.S. so it's not surprising...

I would expect the Rockies region to be down some in this year’s NSAA Kottke Report. There are no state by state breakdowns though. And the decline will be more modest than in bad years in the Pacific States due to higher proportion of destination skiers who are inflexible. United is not...

This week's bonanza of snow has been mostly in the Sierra and Utah's Cottonwoods, but there are a few big winners in other regions: Arizona Snowbowl 46, Wolf Creek 50, Fernie 42. Schweitzer got 32 inches, moving from 55% to 99% open. Most of Colorado had an average week of 1-1.5 feet, which is...

I would agree that 2 feet new at Park City is preferable to 4+ feet and the traffic junkshow in LCC. However, some of Park City must be low tide at now 78% open. Still, that's an improvement over 61% last week.

Lucky for me the current cold snap coincides with me cat skiing rather than riding chairs. Forecasts say yesterday was coldest day, gradually warming over next few days.

The 1,200 miles of driving plus 4 hours of skiing over 3 days was wearing me down some. Accordingly I only skied Kicking Horse for 2.5 hours and 10,100 vertical. But this was my 13th ski day there in 12 different seasons, so I could survey the area and assess current conditions. As I...

I assume the storm content was driven by altitude and latitude. Sandpoint is about 50 miles below the Canada border and I would guess the rain turned to snow in eastern Washington at similar latitude.

James’ option would not have worked this season. As of yesterday the Utah areas outside the Cottonwoods had less that half the snow from this storm, and more importantly were still only 60% open on low tide bases because of how bad the season has been. I’m occasionally annoyed with OpenSnow...

There are exactly two retrofitted Riblets in the entire West as Stuart told me, J1 at June Mt. and the one at Great Divide. I agree the western US attitude is parochial, but it is reinforced by there still being so many chairlifts out here with no bars.

Surely Copper's defense is that the bar is there and the rider chose not to use it. I'd guess that was Alterra's rationale in retrofitting those old chairs at Mammoth.

Excellent point. it may not have occurred to anyone at Leitner-Poma that the bar might not be used. I don't recall anything about that lift even though Liz and I skied two days at Copper last season. But with my daypack and EMSC's description, I'm sure I would have insisted upon lowering that...

No snow driving in eastern Washington like I had starting at Sandpoint?

The people who ski the areas ChrisC cites would :drool: over what snowave is getting at Brundage.

Gstaad and Megeve according to Fraser have the least reliable snow conditions among major areas in the NW Alps. That doesn’t mean don’t go there. It means don’t book far in advance. That makes them attractive short notice decisions if you are in the region at the right time as ChrisC was...

I agree with ChrisC not James on this issue. If you live in a region where 1/4 of lifts have no bar and it was more like 3/4 when you grew up, there will be no culture even suggesting mandatory use unless aggressively implemented by the resorts or the state. And it’s the mom and pop joints in...

Adam and I climbed Mt. Whitney Labor Day 1999 in two days using Trail Camp at 12,000. The people using the camp at 10,300 generally take 3 days. Hauling full camping gear from 10K-12K was more strenuous than summiting with a light day pack. Both were a walk in the park vs. climbing Shasta to...

California and the Cottonwoods get a total reset this week. It will be interesting to see if it's enough to get the rest of Utah to full operation.

Kicking Horse was busy today too. I've skied KH the Tuesday after President's/Family weekend maybe 5x (timing of Mustang tours) and never seen it like this before.

Worldskitraveller is wimpy compared to Tseeb. Worldskitraveller is riding maybe 10 chairs per day and doing more driving than skiing. Tseeb averages well over 20K per day with an objective of missing no ski days no matter how far apart the ski areas are. Tseeb is the only retiree I know who...