Season 2014-2015 Plans

[Tony Crocker]

lono, I see that Big Mountain is extending its season by a week from the usual 1st Sunday of April closing. If I had not been planning on mt Bachelor I'd have been up in Whitefish for sure.

Whitefish is over half south-facing and not all that high. You would be crazy to choose it over Bachelor for the first week of April. Also, Hellroaring Basin will likely close at its usual time as it's grizzly bear habitat in spring.

[q]

q, Thanks for news, I had no clue we're open till April 12. Good news all around. April weather swings hard both ways here,
so we got that going for us.

Yeah, I was surprised when I read it on their site. I thought there was an opportunity somewhere in the state to open a week longer than usual now that Big Sky have etended up til the 3rd Sunday these last 2 seasons. Pity it wasnt Discovery for me but they have to close on the first Sunday and despite annual rumours I'm told this is set in stone.

Tony, I'd never rule out Big Mountain in early April, I've had some great days in years gone by. You takes your chances.

[Tony Crocker]

Tony, I'd never rule out Big Mountain in early April, I've had some great days in years gone by. You takes your chances.

My comment was at least as much based upon the positive for Mt. Bachelor in April, as reflected by my initial enthusiastic comments when you mentioned you were going there.

Pity it wasnt Discovery for me but they have to close on the first Sunday and despite annual rumours I'm told this is set in stone.

I'm sure that Discovery doesn't have a prayer of attracting enough business in April to pay the bills of staying open. On another Forum I suggested Discovery should be on the list of Top Ten least crowded resorts in North America with interesting terrain. I have not been there but have read enough TR's from q and others to believe this is true.

[q]

I'm sure that Discovery doesn't have a prayer off attracting enough business in April to pay the bills of staying open. On another Forum I suggested Discovery should be on the list of Top Ten least crowded resorts in North America with interesting terrain. I have not been there but have read enough TR's from q and others to believe this is true.

I'd say that they must struggle to pay the bills on almost any given midweek day that I have ever been there from mid March til mid April. I can only go with anecdotal evidence from staff there that say the weekends from mid March onwards tail off quite a bit.

For me the beauty of Discovery is that it is a mom and pop hill that has somehow managed to tag unbelievably good terrain onto the backside that 90% of the mom and pops don't want to ski. That for me means that in the busiest weekends with good snow conditions the parking lot and lodge might be busy but once I am in my playground I have the place to myself and another 20 people. Midweek, i've got to the bottom of the lift almost an hour into the day and been the first customer, one day last year I was the only person skiing it for 2 hours in the morning. It is that kind of place.

I have often thought about posting this as a question on a thread of its own.

If you had to ski 1 chair for the rest of your days and the terrain from it, which resort and which chair would it be. For me it would be Limelight at Discovery without any question.

[jasoncapecod]

I just jumped into the frying pan with both feet..Booked a week in the Alps over Xmas week, then following week will be in Spain. Looking at hitting up some skiing in Spain too..

My daughter and I , who is spending her junior year in Spain,will be spending Xmas week in Morzine. Jamesdeluxe's TR helped me make my decision. The choices were Portes du Soleil or Lech. Cost wise it's a no brainier.

I know the Alps can be a crap shoot and a sh!t show this early in the season. Due to our schedule this is the only opportunity for us to ski together this winter..

[jamesdeluxe]

My daughter and I , who is spending her junior year in Spain,will be spending Xmas week in Morzine.

Any measurable precip in the Portes du Soleil so far?

[jasoncapecod]

looks like a foot or so fell on the mountain...Another early season nail bitter..

[Tony Crocker]

Morzine IS part of Portes de Soleil. My opinion about skiing Christmas Week is well known, and the Alps have at least as many crowd/price issues as North America in that regard.

Nonetheless Avoriaz (in the middle of Portes-de-Soleil's altitude range) has the highest measured snowfall in France, and is thus an intelligent choice for the early season.

[jasoncapecod]

Morzine IS part of Portes de Soleil. My opinion about skiing Christmas Week is well known, and the Alps have at least as many crowd/price issues as North America in that regard.

From which part of my post did you get the impression that I don't know where Morzine is located?

[jamesdeluxe]

If Xmas is your only window to ski the Alps (most sane people wouldn't do it) -- as Tony points out, Jason had narrowed it down to two of the best choices for early-season turns. I've mentioned before that while the lower half of the Portes du Soleil is quite low comparatively, the upside is that it's pretty much all grassy meadows with very few rocks, so you don't need a huge base.

No surprise that he was priced out of Lech during the biggest week of the season. It's possible that Morzine et al are cheaper because they're situated near several decent-sized ski regions: Le Grand Massif (Flaine), Aravis (La Clusaz), Megeve, etc.

Thanks to Mr. Crocker for clearing up that confusing "Morzine is in the Portes du Soleil" issue.

[Tony Crocker]

Mea culpa in misreading jason's first post.

Maybe if you want to ski Lech during the holidays you stay in less-known Warth and use the new gondola. Morzine is a fairly central location for Portes-de-Soleil, though.

[jamesdeluxe]

BTW, Where to Ski and Snowboard Worldwide is reporting that several Swiss resorts are getting ready to open:
http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/n ... pen-early/

[Tony Crocker]

It's still early, but those Euro reports are a sharp contrast to what's not happening here. Mammoth got 22 inches last weekend but this Friday set a record for the latest day in the year for the temperature in town to hit 70F. The cam on Snowbird's Hidden Peak shows a thin layer of snow on the ground, while it was completely bare a week ago.

[Admin]

Bobby reports about 10 inches of settled natural snow on the ground at mid Collins at Alta (plus snowmaking). He skied yesterday, and amyz is skiing today. Me, I'm cleaning more leaves from the Black Forest of Doom.

[Geoff]

Bobby reports about 10 inches of settled natural snow on the ground at mid Collins at Alta (plus snowmaking). He skied yesterday, and amyz is skiing today. Me, I'm cleaning more leaves from the Black Forest of Doom.

I hear you on the leaves. I filled 9 bags yesterday and cleaned up a very neglected piece of side yard. I still need to get up on a ladder and apply the leaf blower to my gutters, hack down the two huge clumps of tall ornamental grass, and fill another half dozen bags with leaves. My neighbor has oak trees that take forever to drop all the leaves and I have a Japanese red maple that shows no signs of dropping leaves yet. I'm outta here as soon as Killington gets top-to-bottom going. I guess I will spend another few hours raking & bagging in December when I'm back in town for a day or two. Better then than during prime spring skiing in April.