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That is way too pessimistic. There's no way Portillo or Valle Nevado snowpack melts out by then. Worst case scenario is the storm/road closure situation, but odds of that decrease every day in September. Second worst would be cloudy/windy with snow remaining hardpack. That was my final ski...

Valmorel and Les Contamines are significant additions. I now know that Baqueira-Beret is significant too. In all of these cases it's a worthwhile perk if you're in the region as with us at Portes du Soleil this past season, but as a mechanism to build an exclusive Euro trip around, that's a...

It's a problem that these Costco deals come out way after the early bird direct pricing has ended, especially since renewing Ikon passholders get an additional early discount. The spring renewal price was $1,349. The above Amex deal is $1,299; do you want to count on an offer like that being...

That was my impression though in 2007 we had a tour company with a driver shuttling us from Los Andes to Portillo and Arpa. He also took on a day tour of Valparaiso, deposited and picked us up for the 3 days/2nights at Valle Nevado, and ended the trip with a wine tour in the Colchagua Valley...

The Day Free Trade Died: There are several "American Pie" parodies about #47 out there, but I like this one the best. It should make Patrick's day!

Not true at Mammoth. Mammoth is probably better than LCC at preserving winter snow and equal to most of Colorado aside from the 11,000+ foot places like A-Basin. I've skied chalky windbuff at the early February Mammoth industry demo after multiple weeks of no new snow. And the upper steeps...

I would assume routinely for those areas. I would be very surprised if Portillo and/or Three Valleys have road problems when we arrive mid-September. September climatology in central Chile is like April in the Sierra. Yes you can get a big storm, but the odds are way down vs. mid-winter...

Lonnie's snowboarder assailant did not leave the scene. I'm sure he'd like to know if there was a civil case for damages against the NJ snowboarder in Aspen.

My ski bag often has Sorel boots and a pack with avy gear; still doesn't get over 50 lb. It's a bit lighter weight than some bags and does not have side compartments. Liz likes a ski bag with side compartments.

Liz and I like Armadas. Her Blizzard Sambas are getting old and the Armada Antimatter 92 was her favorite at the Mammoth demo in February as a replacement candidate. Hopefully not if the corn materializes as it did for me at Portillo in 2007 and Las Lenas in 2015. You've seen CaseyE's pics...

True, but few people would classify 92mm as narrow. I expect my 98mm to be just fine. For prime off piste corn you want a ski that carves well, as on groomers. As you get much over 100mm, there are a few skis that carve well, but most of them not so much. Sbooker should be asking: 1) How...

Please see post #24 above.

Two pairs of skis will not overrun the 50lbs. Liz puts some clothing in hers, but that generally won't do it either. Awhile back I had a ski bag that would take 3 pair. I may have flown with 3 once or twice but it was along time ago when the airlines were less anal about such matters.

Based upon 4 or 5 Northeast locations each season: 68-69 169% 69-70 107% 70-71 141% 71-72 126% 72-73 116% 73-74 92% FYI California was 165% and the Pacific Northwest 143% in 1968-69. I do not have data for western Canada or the US Rockies. I have some data for all regions by...

The past week has been the most uncomfortable SoCal heat wave since Liz moved here in 2013, and it started when we were in Spain. The humidity was up, so low temps were in the mid-70's for a week. That meant running the A/C 10-12 hours per day and not opening windows. Last night was the...

Liz still likes to have her powder skis on destination trips just in case, though we will each take one pair in a combined ski bag this month. I have rarely used Southwest for skiing. They do fly more from Burbank to Salt Lake and Denver than other airlines, which is convenient for me, but...

That could be. The 1940's-1970's were a sustained overall pause in global warming. However my college years 1971-1974 fit the negative stereotype perfectly: tons of rain (125% of normal in Central Park) and never more than 4 inches of snow at one time. But that was New Jersey. Maybe upper NY...

That picture is an excellent graphic representation of ski areas on Chilean volcanoes. Villarica at latitude 39 is only 9,200 feet tall (same parameters as Palisades Tahoe) but has a glacier on its south side. Why is that? Summers are cooler than the comparable latitudes in North America...

This week PeakRankings published an interesting history of South America's ski industry. Most of their content is in video format, but the link above is text.

Every ski area within a resort cluster is likely to have bad season at the same time. There is no Southern Hemisphere region safe to target far ahead. Nonetheless I followed that advice personally only for the two Las Lenas trips in 2005 and 2015 and the one upcoming. The others? late August...