Mt. High Closed Today

Judz

Judz

New member
...while the east gets pounded

From their website:

MOUNTAIN HIGH IS CURRENTLY CLOSED BUT WILL RE-OPEN IF WE RECEIVE NEW SNOW!!

We are terribly sorry but due to the driest winter in 80 years and record temperatures in March we are closing as of Monday, March 19th. This early closure is unprecedented and we will definitely RE-OPEN if we receive new snow (and that includes the East Resort and the North Pole Tubing Park). Please keep in touch for the latest information.

They are claiming that they will be making snow if the temps get cool enough, but honestly, we all know thats pretty much BS. Unless we get some miracle storm, the San Gabriels are done for this year.

The driest winter in 80 years, that means next year is gonna be epic right? :wink:

...at least Summit and Bear are still in decent shape
 
You won't find me ripping Eastern skiing. I'd take some ice and more rain if it meant 200+ inches of snow a year, some of it plenty fluffy.

To be fair to High, if you go on the message board, admins say they won't make snow if it's going to warm to 50 the next day or two after. And why should they? Bear and Summit most likely wouldn't either. My bet: The only time High would turn on the guns is to maintain high-traffic sections, mostly base, after a storm allows for reopening. And that means getting post-storm cold dry air in late March and/or April.

We are due for an April 12"er, though. If memory serves, we haven't had much April weather to speak of since 2003.
 
Only in Vermont and a handful of microclimates in Quebec does the natural snowfall back East average over 200 inches. Big Bear's surface conditions and length of average season with most runs open compares quite favorably to most eastern areas. There are many well known eastern areas (not those favored by FTO regulars) with similar terrain: Okemo, Stratton, Stoneham come to mind.

In the past decade this may be first year that Mt. High West has not made it to April 1. Of course, I'm usually the first to point out that terrain is usually very limited for the last few weeks of their season. Mt. High's reliability is similar to southern New England or the mid-Atlantic. Its terrain (when fully open) is better from what I've read.

Baldy's terrain compares to the elite of the East: Stowe, MRG, etc. But snow-wise a good year at Baldy is like an average year at those places (250+ inches).

Very few areas anywhere run their snowmaking past President's weekend, other than to maintain limited high traffic areas. I suspect Big Bear does this as much as anyone.
 
SoCal Rider":pmjib5px said:
You won't find me ripping Eastern skiing.
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After seeing the trip reports coming from the east recently, i dont think any of us can. Yes these conditions are somewhat rare, but so are the good years we have down here in SoCal. I personally enjoy following the eastern TR's because their winters are fairly good analogies to what we experience here in Socal, as i believe Mr. Crocker pointed out a little while ago.
 
Judz":j92snln5 said:
SoCal Rider":j92snln5 said:
You won't find me ripping Eastern skiing.
Click to expand...

After seeing the trip reports coming from the east recently, i dont think any of us can. Yes these conditions are somewhat rare
Click to expand...

Actually, they're really not.
 
Admin":10rfaksk said:
Actually, they're really not.
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I'm believing more and more everyday. I think that western skiers (myself included) views of the east have become far too generalized due to the fact that most of us know very little about the east, and hence base our opinions solely off the generic "horror stories" we hear about the east. (extreme cold, freezing rain, ICE in general...etc)

If every western skier checked the TRs in the eastern section of this forum, this generality would be quite different.
 
No question, it can suck really badly here -- just like it can out west or in Europe or anywhere else -- but people don't hear about (or don't believe) when it's good/great, which it often is too.
 
Tony Crocker":npcgf70f said:
Only in Vermont and a handful of microclimates in Quebec does the natural snowfall back East average over 200 inches. Big Bear's surface conditions and length of average season with most runs open compares quite favorably to most eastern areas. There are many well known eastern areas (not those favored by FTO regulars) with similar terrain: Okemo, Stratton, Stoneham come to mind.

In the past decade this may be first year that Mt. High West has not made it to April 1. Of course, I'm usually the first to point out that terrain is usually very limited for the last few weeks of their season. Mt. High's reliability is similar to southern New England or the mid-Atlantic. Its terrain (when fully open) is better from what I've read.

Baldy's terrain compares to the elite of the East: Stowe, MRG, etc. But snow-wise a good year at Baldy is like an average year at those places (250+ inches).

Very few areas anywhere run their snowmaking past President's weekend, other than to maintain limited high traffic areas. I suspect Big Bear does this as much as anyone.
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I knew you'd be here soon to school me, Mr. Crocker. (I mean that in a good way.) But after hearing about storms - actual real storms - and checking a couple reports fairly regularly, it's hard not to think that maybe the East gets a bum rap. Stowe's reported: 284"; SoCal's is ssnowiest SA appeared to be Snow Valley, 47"-72" and closed. (well, tiny Trinity Mtn lists a season total of 92" but I don't think they've opened.) The only thing that could have made our season worse is a couple of pineapple bombers. Who would have thought, "Hardly any rain and SoCal's season still stunk"? I'm speaking from a "powder" and base depth POV. I had some fun groomer days and couple thin fresh ones at Summit and HIgh. It wasn't all bad. Hopefully it's not all on fire come September.
 
There are analogies in terms of reliability between the East and SoCal, but also a few key differences.

Powder days are mosly a function of snowfall, and the 250+ average of the Northern Vermont snowbelt is in fact comparable to numerous areas in Colorado. The problem with the East is the other end of the bell curve, where there are substantial number of marginal/unskiable days due to rain/ice/lack of coverage, etc, that you rarely see in Colorado. Therefore people like Riverc0il, powderfreak, etc. score a respectable quota of powder days, and can stay home when it's ugly.

The primary negative in the East is rain; in SoCal it's drought. Thus I think Big Bear is probably more reliable than a snowmaking dependent area in the East. Snow volatility is way higher in SoCal. Baldy averages about 175 inches and got about 350 in the big El Nino years of 1982-83 and 1997-98. But in 2001-02 and this
year Baldy gets maybe 30-40 inches and can't really open much. Killington averages 250 but its record low is 140, so even in the crummy years there will be a few weeks that are OK.
 
Baldy probably got around 300 in the last 2 good seasons of 2000-01 and 2004-05. These 2 seasons were very different in character. 2000-01 was quite cold, lots of good powder days, but the drier snow didn't hold up well in spring. 2004-05 was mostly coastal cement, further solidified by torrential rain on an already deep snowpack in January. The snow lasted to late May at Baldy and mid-July on San Gorgonio.
 
Tony Crocker":1hh4avjl said:
Baldy probably got around 300 in the last 2 good seasons of 2000-01 and 2004-04. These 2 seasons were very different in character. 2000-01 was quite cold, lots of good powder days, but the drier snow didn't hold up well in spring. 2004-05 was mostly coastal cement, further solidified by torrential rain on an already deep snowpack in January. The snow lasted to late May at Baldy and mid-July on San Gorgonio.
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7-9 more chilly inches at Bear/Snow Summit. Mountain High gets dusted. It just wasn't MH's season; I wouldn't be shocked if BB's snowfall was double. Up until the March heat blast, we had enjoyed a fairly cold season (right, Tony?), just not enough precip. Of course those cold ( say, 4000 ft) storms do no favors to my 115-mile drive to Big Bear.
 
Normal pattern would be MH 50% more natural snow than than Big Bear. Big Bear probably had more this year. But no one was even close to opening any ski terrain on natural snow only. Big bear's enduring advantage is the unlimited water supply of the lake.

November was very warm; snowmaking didn't get anything open until after Thanksgiving. December was about average. January was the very cold month. February was a bit warmer than average and of course March has been much warmer than normal, but not a record.
 
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