date of first opening...

[Frankontour]

We have the poll "who is going to open first"

Now... when ?



Personnaly, I suppose I'm optimistic... I will guess for between october 27 and 31.

 

[woodi7259]

I really hope it's mss sometime in october. That'd really be sweet, I'm planning on being there for opening day this year. It's finally only a 2.5 hour drive rather then 10.

 

[Frankontour]

Me too I hope to be at MSS for the opening day !

I just hope the conditions will be better than last year... as the Upper West 70 only opened in the afternoon while the Nordique was pretty much icy and narrow.

At least, we skied a few times the upper part before the groomers completed to spread the snow into it ! The lower part was very sweet for early season with "kind" of powder

It was a nice day, with Marc Guido, Max and me.

 

[Patrick]

Me too I hope to be at MSS for the opening day !

I just hope the conditions will be better than last year... as the Upper West 70 only opened in the afternoon while the Nordique was pretty much icy and narrow.

You should've join me for night skiing at St-Bruno. :lol:

Ah yes, I am the one who said a November opening.

 

[Jonny D]

i'm throwing in my vote for MSS as well.
They seem to have their game together for this kind of thing.

Has anybody been out there recently and can they tell if stuff looks like it's gearing up? (ie. Maintenance is winding up...)

 

[Frankontour]

The snowguns are always in place I think... so it's tough to see if they're about to start them...

I guess they will do it in the middle of next week, as the temperature should pass below the freezing point in the area...

I don't expect them to make enough snow to make it skiable just like I did last year at mid-october !

 

[NHpowderhound]

I think recent history has shown us that ski resorts are no longer willing to open until they are all but guaranteed to be able to stay open.That pushes back reallistic openings until early november.I think the only way we will see an early-mid October opening is with a natural snowfall of two feet or more.
Killington will open t2b or not at all.Sunday River doesnt need to "compete" anymore since becoming a state in the ASC nation with big K.I agree that MSS will most likely be first in the "east".Okemo may be the wild card.
((*
*))NHPH

 

[Patrick]

I would be very surprised if Killington IS the first the first to open. Killington philosophy is now that they will open only when it is top to bottom and the quality of the snow (bla bla bla) is up to the standard and expectation of our clientele. :?

It is going to be smaller areas like Woodbury, St-Sauveur or others that will take the prize and honour again this year. I said November 1-3 for an opening, but I wouldn't be surprise if it is has late as last year.

 

[AlpineZone]

I would be very surprised if Killington IS the first the first to open. Killington philosophy is now that they will open only when it is top to bottom and the quality of the snow (bla bla bla) is up to the standard and expectation of our clientele. :?

It is going to be smaller areas like Woodbury, St-Sauveur or others that will take the prize and honour again this year. I said November 1-3 for an opening, but I wouldn't be surprise if it is has late as last year.

I personally commend Killington for adopting the top-to-bottom policy. Regardless of the amount of terrain they first open with, they are certainly going to charge $30+ for a lift ticket so offering upwards to 2000' of vertical is commendable IMHO. I don't think you can compare that to a coupla hundred feet at Woodbury.

Secondly, as I said in the other thread, I think K-Mart is going to make every effort to open first, perhaps along with SR. This will in a sense "validate" the All For One for those that already purchased it, as well as provide some hype to further promote the pass.

Obviously, it will depend on the weather the next few weeks, but if it's cold enough to put a base down Snowden, look for big K to open first.

 

[Frankontour]

Personnaly, I see Bromont as a very potential first opener for this year.

Ok, the 1st trail to open is not very high in elevation... but as soon as it's below freezing point, they're going to make snow on it.

They're completely crazy with their almost 1 000 000 (or so) ski-visits last year. They have so many $$ that I wouldn't be surprised to see them open before everyone else.

 

[Patrick]

I beleive Edelweiss near Ottawa opened once in October in something like 1995. Okay, it was the ski school slope (i bit like Bromont). This is prior to going bankrupt and being bought by MSSI (St-Sauveur).

 

[LobsterTeleGrrrl]

With the slow season most eastern resorts had last year, I'd be shocked to see anyof them open too soon. It's just not financially justifiable to spend lots of cash on making snow, then have the weather wipe it all out a week later.

 

[Geoff]

I have the afternoon of October 14th free when I'm in Denver. I have a 6:20 flight back to Boston. I'm watching the front range openings closely.

 

[Patrick]

I guess this can be related to last week weather forecast by Scott.

It's looks like at least 70% of us were wrong on a day of opening for the East. I am still in the running (Nov1-3), but I am not too confident on that date.

Like I mentioned earlier, I said I wouldn't be too surprised if the opening was as late as last year (nov 9). I guess that could also be off... :x

 

[mccracken]

It seems within the past couple of years that the title of who opens first and closes last doesn't seem to matter to the corporations who run the big ski areas, while the smaller ones won't commit until the ground starts to freeze over. On that note, here's a pix from Sunday River that I found off their main page.

I wish that it would go back to the old days of 'first open'. Simple titles, not 'first open with top to mid skiing, with a small trail leading to bottom, serving overpriced hot chocolate with a minimum of employees that scowl at you'.