EASTERN skiing March 25-April 8, 2007 RELIABILITY????

[Gpaul]

Hola again! Although we have our hearts set on Banff/Jasper for Spring skiing, my pocket may force us to DRIVE instead of fly (from Columbus, OH, our new home-to-be), so in that case it would most likely be in the NE.

For March 25-April 8, can y'all help me put dates to the following mountains (you know, leaving the snowiest ones to the end), based on HISTORICAL conditions:

Tremblant
Jay
Mt. Ste. Anne
Sugarloaf
Sunday River
Wildcat
Killington
Stowe

Other Mountains?

I understand every year is somewhat different, but there are lower and higher bases, lake effect snow, where the slopes face, snowmaking, etc.

Much obliged!

 

[Admin]

Count on spring conditions then, although truly anything is possible -- I've skied two feet of new in mid-April for the closing weekend at Jay. Just remember that as the season gets late latitude is your friend in the northeast.

 

[riverc0il]

last week in march through the first week of april is generall good from my experiences. march can be a snowy month and many ski areas close with 100% of trails open the first week in april. i don't think sunday river would be worth the extra time on the road for you coming from ohio. might as well just keep on trucking up to the loaf if you want to go that far. jay of course gets the most snow for a yearly total and is a decent bet, but you aren't likely to get any pow and if the woods aren't open then jay is pretty blah. you might as well head to stowe, imo, if you can afford it. though wildcat is a great area for spring skiing and historically (as far as my last six years of skiing there late season) the cat retains snow until april very well and has some great spring corn bumpers and excellent views of tucks (possibility?). kmart is a good option if it is a bad snow year, they don't blow as much as they used to, but they still blow a lot of snow.

essentially, all of those areas are likely to retain good snow through that time period, i think it all comes down to how far you want to drive and what is important to you regarding the area.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Latitude is the driver of snow preservation in the East. Quebec City, Sugarloaf, Wildcat, Jay, Stowe. Maybe Killington or Sunday River on the basis of snowmaking stockpile.

But that late in the season the gap in snow conditions vs. the West usually widens to a yawning chasm. Given that it's a 12+ hour drive to the better places in the East, you should consider driving to Colorado. The closest places, Front Range and Summit County, often have their best conditions of the season in your time frame.

 

[From_the_NEK]

Driving times-
Columbus to Montpelier (roughly centrally located) = 12 hours.

Columbus to Vail = 20 hours

Depends on what you want but I have had excellent days of skiing at the end of April on the East Coast. As Riverc0il pointed out, you may not be skiing powder, but you should have good conditions. By this time it has also warmed up that Spring conditions prevail and Ice isn't really a problem.

 

[Birdman829]

Altitude and exposure are important too. I would recommend Sugarloaf. In my experience they have the best spring skiing in the East. Snowiest month is March + second snowiest month is April + Northern exposure + high elevation = very nice spring conditions.

 

[AlpineZone]

Altitude and exposure are important too. I would recommend Sugarloaf. In my experience they have the best spring skiing in the East. Snowiest month is March + second snowiest month is April + Northern exposure + high elevation = very nice spring conditions.

Yeah...the Loaf is okay...

That pic is from April 10, 2005.

 

[Patrick]

last week in march through the first week of april is generall good from my experiences. march can be a snowy month and many ski areas close with 100% of trails open the first week in april..

As mentioned by River and other, the East offers great skiing until the first week of April. Generally there isn't not too worry about the first week of April, however last year was partially bad in the Northeast and some natural snow trails were either close or had marginal conditions. Like Admin says, at that time of the year latitude matters more than altitude and total snowfall.

If I used ski areas you listed by best possible conditions, here is what the best bets would be (by order - top being the best conditions for eartly April). This is based by experience.

Great conditions - 100% is a strong posibility!!!
Mt. Ste. Anne
Sugarloaf

All the following can have amazing conditions at that time, however they might have lost of few trails by that time of the year if it's a warmer year than average.

Tremblant
Sunday River (based on snowmaking)
Killington (based on snowmaking)

Great conditions, but not 100% open, unless it's been a good year (not too warm spring).

Sugarbush (I added this one)
Jay
Stowe
Whiteface (also added this one)
Wildcat

 

[Gpaul]

THANKY friends, solid advise, as expected!

If we do end up driving to CO, I'd like to hang at Winter Park & Steamboat, haven't been there since 1996. What conditions (historically) do they offer during that time frame???

The East, well, we'll just have to wait until a few days prior to ste the days/venues.

Gracias!

 

[Tony Crocker]

I decided to look up the past history in my season progress reports. For the past 3 seasons I have percent of terrain open at the end of March at most of Patrick's recommended areas shown below (area, 2006, 2005, 2004)
Mt. Ste. Anne 100, 100, 95
Sugarloaf 50, 100, 83
Tremblant 83, 82, 73
Sunday River (based on snowmaking) 64, 98, 79
Killington (based on snowmaking) 43, 64, 57
Sugarbush (I added this one) 50, 99, 60
Jay 70, 97, 89
Stowe 85, 90, 79

For prior years I have subjective comments:
2003: I was in the East March 16-22 and a 2-week heat wave started at the beginning of my trip. Mt. St. Anne's frontside mogul runs already had sketchy cover on March 20.
2002: "Most areas melted down to 50-60% open on March 9-10. Skiing was maintained by 1-3 feet of snow in late March."
2001 was the epic year in New England. Deep bases with fresh powder through the end of March. April was warm but spring skiing was good with the deep cover.
2000: "Most areas were 50-60% open at the end of March."
1999: "March was the best month, but base depths were below normal [the earlier months were poor]."
1998: "New England was devastated by the heat wave of late March. The southern areas were wiped out and the northern areas lost 4 feet of base."
1997: The spring had more new snow than normal and skiing was fairly good at northern areas that retained a base.

I agree with Patrick that Mt. Ste. Anne and Sugarloaf are likely to have the best eastern conditions. But now that 12 hour drive to Vermont becomes 16. And they are still marginal by western standards. Western destination areas are 100% open at the end of March in 90% of seasons. Most Eastern areas are 100% at the end of March less than half the time. From my perspective anything less than 100% cover in late March is a red flag. You will need to be very lucky (2001) to get decent surface conditions that late in the East due to thin/isothermic snowpack and infrequent overnight freeze combined with sunny days for optimal spring skiing.

Steamboat has sunny exposure and the lowest base elevation of the Colorado destination resorts and should be avoided in spring IMHO. By contrast it's probably the best early season resort in Colorado through January due to its abundant snowfall. Go to Winter Park and Summit County. You'll have full operation 90+% and winter packed powder conditions 50+% of the time. March/April has the maximum snowpack and is (mildly) the peak snowfall period at those areas.

 

[Patrick]

I decided to look up the past history in my season progress reports. For the past 3 seasons I have percent of terrain open at the end of March at most of Patrick's recommended areas shown below (area, 2006, 2005, 2004)
Mt. Ste. Anne 100, 100, 95
Sugarloaf 50, 100, 83
Tremblant 83, 82, 73
(...)
I agree with Patrick that Mt. Ste. Anne and Sugarloaf are likely to have the best eastern conditions. But now that 12 hour drive to Vermont becomes 16. And they are still marginal by western standards.
(...)
You will need to be very lucky (2001) to get decent surface conditions that late in the East due to thin/isothermic snowpack and infrequent overnight freeze combined with sunny days for optimal spring skiing.

1) Something that isn't reflected by the percentage, is the closure at that time of year (late March) at the areas I mentioned is more due to lift closure than lack of snow on trails. By experience, to save money some areas start closing lifts. I believe that the period mentioned by Gpaul covers Easter? So lifts shouldn't close.

2) 16 hours would be about right from Columbus, Ohio. East and West are two different beast and experience, IMO the skiing isn't better, but different (I know Tony doesn't agree with that statement). Even at that time of the year. One question for Gpaul, why choose to move to Ohio??? Definately not the best location.

3) Luck to get a becent surface coverage? Although some runs might be close (due in part to possible lift closure), the open runs at the places I mentioned should have more than enough at that time of the year.

Keep us posted once the snow start failling. Odds is that you'll be seeing more snow in Ohio than in the Domican Republic.

 

[Gpaul]

Even at that time of the year. One question for Gpaul, why choose to move to Ohio??? Definately not the best location.

Reason: family. Makes the transition much easier, and my bro-i-law wants to open a business with me (and my $$$), sounds like a good idea. Not the skiing mecca, but have heard only positives about Columbus, OH. Of course, once my son graduates HS (10 more years) we move to UT or CO, hopefully!

Señor Crocker, what would Forums be sans vous? Many thanks Patrick, Tony, et al. Will definitely keep y'all posted, maybe we can meet at some mountain, sometime.