Will they make it to Mothers Day? <BR> <BR>Saturday morning, on the way to Mount Washington, we swung through the parking lot at BW. The main lot was filling up fast at 8:15AM for "Bode Fest", (a short GS course was visible from the street). We asked the parking nazis if it was "closing day", and they said no, we had one more chance, Sunday, to ski BW. <BR> <BR>Having "earned my turns" yesterday, and not wanting to waste the one free pass I had left to BW, I headed over to BW late Sunday morning. <BR> <BR>The parking lot had less than a dozen cars, and I began to suspect they had closed. The lift was spinning, but no one was on it. I went in to guest services to get my comp ticket, and they assured me there were fifteen people skiing, not counting season pass holders. <BR> <BR>Sure enough, there were a couple dozen die-hards who were taking advantage of one last (?) chance to ride a lift. <BR> <BR>The snow was continuous top-to-bottom, and the lift was ski-on & ski-off; but they had pushed snow around to make a few very narrow connections, including the last 100+ feet in front of the base lodge, from the race timing shack to the lift. <BR> <BR>The worst section is near the half-pipe, which they have leveled trying to mine snow to fill the gaps. So far, they have been successful, but there doesn't look to be enough left to make it another week. <BR> <BR>Ski patrol said they're going to try and open next weekend (Mothers Day), even if some walking is required in that middle section. <BR> <BR>I don't think they're going to stay open mid-week, but check their website. <BR> <BR>Although I heard the first few hours were sunny, Sunday was mostly cloudy from 11:30AM on, with occasional sunny breaks, and a few sprinkles late PM. That kept the snow from turning to mush, so conditions were fairly good; a little icy in spots, but mostly an inch or two of corn on a firm base, and some spots of 3"-6" wet, loose granular. <BR> <BR>There were some lift problems, especially chair spacing getting bunched up at the bottom, that caused frequent stops and very slow speed for a while. I was happy to be riding a chair instead of hiking, even at slow speed. <BR> <BR>We had near-record high temperatures this weekend. Mount Washington was one degree off the record high for May 1 (56F, 1970). Hopefully, the temps will moderate, and slow the rate at which the snow pack is disappearing on Mount Washington and Bretton Woods in the the coming week. <BR> <BR>Thanks to Wayne Presby and partners for making the effort to open BW early in November, and keeping it open this late! I wish you luck in making it to Mothers Day - we'll think "snow", and hope for the best.
Bretton Woods, NH - 5/2/04 - NOT (?) closing day
- Thread starter Lftgly
- Start date
Frankontour
New member
Thanks for the report Lftgly ! <BR> <BR>Did you take some pics ? <BR> <BR>In their gallery, they have some very nice pics of skiers, but without showing what is globally remaining. <BR> <BR>Here, the Valinouet closed yesterday, Sainte-Anne closed today, at 4PM and St-Sauveur was closed today due to bad weather. I don't know actually if they're going to be able to head to mother's day even though they will certainly try their best... to be the last open in the province. <BR> <BR>Next weekend, we may head to the Valinouet, Mt Édouard, the Massif, Grand-Fonds or the Massif du Sud. There is some super great skiing remaining for sure in all of these places <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="
"> (but no lifts unfortunately <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="
">) <BR> <BR>Rich from Zoneski came back to the Valinouet yesterday. The glades were still in pretty good shape without bare spots. Can you believe it ? If only it wasn't so far from here... If they had snowmaking I guess they could be open almost all the calendar !
"> (but no lifts unfortunately <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="">) <BR> <BR>Rich from Zoneski came back to the Valinouet yesterday. The glades were still in pretty good shape without bare spots. Can you believe it ? If only it wasn't so far from here... If they had snowmaking I guess they could be open almost all the calendar !
joegm
New member
those old dudes and gals in the parking lot are a riot.. all business for sure.. we always use to give em the business. my man g use to blow right past the waving hands en route to dropping off our skis and saving us walking about 15 extra feet just to see the looks on thier faces.. kind of mean for sure. but it was just for laughs and always ended up feeling bad about it.. but they are funny for sure in how serious they take it