Hello DCSki! Does anyone have a guess on when the 3 (former) Snowtime resorts are projected to open?
OrangePeels wrote:
Hello DCSki! Does anyone have a guess on when the 3 (former) Snowtime resorts are projected to open?
So far, I believe Roundtop is the only resort of the three that has made a bit of snow beyond a quick test of the snowguns. Looking at the extended forecast, we won't see reasonable snowmaking temperatures until the middle of next week (around Wednesday night, December 5). Then, we should see nighttime temps dipping into the 20s with daytime highs around the freezing mark. If that forecast holds, that's when I think the three resorts will ramp up their snowmaking. Depending on how much of Roundtop's early work holds up (and there's rain in the forecast this weekend, which won't help), they might open slightly before the others. I'm not sure Liberty and Whitetail will have made enough snow by Friday, December 7 to open -- they can make a lot of snow quickly but a couple days might not be enough. They could probably open some terrain by Monday, December 10, but might hold off until the first "openable" Thursday or Friday, which would be December 13 or 14. So it might be another couple weeks, but if the current forecast holds, they'll have a nice stretch of snowmaking temperatures around December 5-12.
Thanks for the detailed prognosis, Scott!
I would say a safe bet for a Whitetail opening is December 13/14.. Looking at the forecast after this warm up looks good from Dec 5 - 13 for at least nightly snowmaking.
Snowmaking started at Liberty this evening.
Looks like Whitetail is blowing tonight too!
SteveinDC wrote:
Looks like Whitetail is blowing tonight too!
Yup! Looks like they're making snow on nearly the whole mountain. The next eight nights should be good for snowmaking, and maybe even around the clock at times.
Whitetail posted a really cool, almost cinematic video showing the start of their snowmaking on YouTube -- it's at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibHJTh5Iyo
They say they're going to start grooming snow early next week, so I'm thinking they'll open around December 14. Maybe earlier, although mid-week openings are less common.
Liberty opening day is tentatively set for the 14th of December. YMMV.
Roundtop Sam said he'll be making a big announcement when opening day is decided. Until then - he said he's not saying a word about it.
They seem to be doing well with snowmaking despite the warmer weather. Last few nights they were making it in the mid 30s, but the low humidity put the wet bulb temp below 28 F.
How much of the mountain can each open up after a good week or so of snowmaking? Do they do it run by run, or have they been able to open most/all of the mountain at once?
Hmm... based on the Whitetail cams, it's looking decent. They don't have cams on Far Side or Bold Decision, but Expert's Choice looks like it has decent coverage.
Liberty's backside has a ways to go, though.
neat to see the Peak PR machine is already up and running... will also be interesting to see how/what they prioritize among the three... with Snotime, Roundtop was usually first to open and last to close, which seemed to make sense by my unscientific observation of the hardcore skiing crowd they have up there...
RodneyBD wrote:
neat to see the Peak PR machine is already up and running... will also be interesting to see how/what they prioritize among the three... with Snotime, Roundtop was usually first to open and last to close, which seemed to make sense by my unscientific observation of the hardcore skiing crowd they have up there...
I'm expecting that, given that RT turned on the guns earlier and were able to stockpile a bunch of snow. RT said they had a lot stockpiled that couldn't be seen in the webcam. What that turns into once it's pushed around the hill is another story. The webcams look good there though.
I jusy wandered over to Roundtop's Facebook page and, uh oh... the locals are NOT happy the mountain hasn't opened yet...
RodneyBD wrote:
I jusy wandered over to Roundtop's Facebook page and, uh oh... the locals are NOT happy the mountain hasn't opened yet...
Although the self-selection that happens for people who post on FB means that the vocal minority are usually people who have a complaint. I bet some of the complainers that RT is not open would also be likely to complain if they had to ski trails with snow guns blasting.
marzNC wrote:
RodneyBD wrote:
I jusy wandered over to Roundtop's Facebook page and, uh oh... the locals are NOT happy the mountain hasn't opened yet...
Although the self-selection that happens for people who post on FB means that the vocal minority are usually people who have a complaint. I bet some of the complainers that RT is not open would also be likely to complain if they had to ski trails with snow guns blasting.
Agreed. Heaven forbid they take advantage of snowmaking weather while it was around. ST doesn't have the altitude many others have, and the cold has largely been going around them. I can't blame them for taking advantage of every moment they can to make snow.
I can't believe how people have been acting over there. I understand wanting to get on the hill, but geez, no need to act like 2 year olds because they're not open yet.
I was really hoping to get out one night this week, so I'm a bit dissapointed but its not the end of the world.
I think the bigger concern is Jack Frost, Liberty, and Roundtop (whitetail was a bit more vague) have all posted very simularly worded posts on Facebook regarding this weekend, and this is not how ST has opened in the past. (Jack Frost had already been advertising a friday opening) Whitetail has opened Angel Drop, Sidewinder, and the learning area with 36 hours of snowmaking before and just worked on closed trails to get a base. Then they will close trails one or 2 at a time to snowmake when weather allows to build a base for 24 hours. Roundtop has opened a hike park with less than 12 hours snowmaking. People are already worried about the price of the Peak Pass, so this doesn't help concerns. I get that the forecast isn't great, but its still 5 days out, and sunday afternoon is supposed to be dry, seems like grooming out a few slopes at least one of the resorts this past sunday would have been feasable, and then closing Friday/Saturday if the forecast holds.
I don't like the change of opening direction, but I'll hold more judgement until I see how they handle the later part of the season, because that is really what I'm more concerned about.
rbrtlav wrote:
I was really hoping to get out one night this week, so I'm a bit dissapointed but its not the end of the world.
I think the bigger concern is Jack Frost, Liberty, and Roundtop (whitetail was a bit more vague) have all posted very simularly worded posts on Facebook regarding this weekend, and this is not how ST has opened in the past. (Jack Frost had already been advertising a friday opening) Whitetail has opened Angel Drop, Sidewinder, and the learning area with 36 hours of snowmaking before and just worked on closed trails to get a base. Then they will close trails one or 2 at a time to snowmake when weather allows to build a base for 24 hours. Roundtop has opened a hike park with less than 12 hours snowmaking. People are already worried about the price of the Peak Pass, so this doesn't help concerns. I get that the forecast isn't great, but its still 5 days out, and sunday afternoon is supposed to be dry, seems like grooming out a few slopes at least one of the resorts this past sunday would have been feasable, and then closing Friday/Saturday if the forecast holds.
I don't like the change of opening direction, but I'll hold more judgement until I see how they handle the later part of the season, because that is really what I'm more concerned about.
It may not be how it was done, but that doesn't mean what they're doing is a bad thing (not saying you're saying it is).
Stockpiling makes sense though, especially with the warm snap and rain coming. See this article here:
Keep the snow safer, push it around when the weather's passed.
I also found a quote in here that explains why it's good to let the snow sit in a pile for a bit after it's made:
https://skisawmill.com/snowmaking-basics-and-techniques/
In particular:
"You may wonder why we don’t push our piles of snow out right away. It is important to try to let the snow set up before grooming if possible. Man-made snow is dense enough, it doesn’t need to be compacted. The first day is the most important. Ice inside the snow mass is continually sublimating (evaporating directly from a solid) and recrystallizing into a bonded mass. Grooming too soon will compress the snow, squeezing out air pockets if the snow is not allowed to set up first. This is where layering the snow with a dry layer on top can help reduce the need for grooming."
Then lastly, with as much as it costs to make snow, they don't want it melting quickly.
https://snowbrains.com/the-hardships-of-making-snow-cost-reliance-environmental-impacts/
I get that everyone wants to get out there and ski. I do too. But I want something to ski on for more than a few days without them having to rebuild the whole mountain because they wasted all that snow.
The artile on the boston snowpile is interesting. I've noticed that Snowshoe will often let snow "rest" before pushing it out as well and heard simular information from them as to the reasoning.
In general Peak Resorts seem to be pretty agressive in snowmaking at the new england resorts... so I'm not horribly concerned over a few days, a lot of the comments on roundtop's page are referencing the past.
I truely will enjoy being on the snow no matter where it is and in pretty much any conditions... so if this helps them keep the resorts open until mid-late march I'm all for it. I made the 3.5 hour drive to Big Boulder their opening weekend and have 8 days at Snowshoe already and still was dissapointed to not be able to go after work this week. I suspect plenty of those comments came from people that havent been on snow since March and chomping at the bit to use advantage cards or passes.
Whenever they open... I'll be out there 1-3 times a week until they close... so I'll let the pros do what they can to get the snow down in the less than optimal locations.
Years ago, Joe Stevens (then the Communications Director at Snowshoe) explained to me that every time they groom snow, they lose snow. So stockpiling makes sense for a lot of reasons; once resorts groom it out, you'll know there's a good chance opening day is one or two days away. Until then, it makes little sense to groom.
It looks like Whitetail has been making a lot of snow on virtually every trail except Far Side and Bold Decision. (I'm not sure about Sidewinder.) That is a different pattern than I remember in the past (as rbrtlav notes), so it seems their goal is to have a lot of trails ready on opening day, but we'll have to see how this weekend's rain factors into that.
Here's a Q&A about snowmaking with from the Dartmouth Skiway in VT, a small hill owned by Dartmouth College.
https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2018/01/science-snowmaking-lesson-slopes
" . . .
OK, so this stuff gets sprayed, making piles all over the mountain. When can you start grooming, moving the snow where it needs to be, and creating varied terrains?
Fifty percent of snowmaking actually takes place after the particle hits the ground. If possible, you want to let it sit there for 24 hours before you do any grooming, so it has time to “cure.” If you push it around right away, it clumps, and you end up with what skiers call “death cookies”””tough to ski on.
. . ."
rbrtlav wrote:
The artile on the boston snowpile is interesting. I've noticed that Snowshoe will often let snow "rest" before pushing it out as well and heard simular information from them as to the reasoning.
In general Peak Resorts seem to be pretty agressive in snowmaking at the new england resorts... so I'm not horribly concerned over a few days, a lot of the comments on roundtop's page are referencing the past.
I truely will enjoy being on the snow no matter where it is and in pretty much any conditions... so if this helps them keep the resorts open until mid-late march I'm all for it. I made the 3.5 hour drive to Big Boulder their opening weekend and have 8 days at Snowshoe already and still was dissapointed to not be able to go after work this week. I suspect plenty of those comments came from people that havent been on snow since March and chomping at the bit to use advantage cards or passes.
Whenever they open... I'll be out there 1-3 times a week until they close... so I'll let the pros do what they can to get the snow down in the less than optimal locations.
I think Peak has a pretty good handle on it with the experienced from New England and New York. I remember back in the 90s that my senior year history teacher's son was one of the snowmaking managers at Hunter at the time (no idea if he's still there). He was also the school's ski club advisor, so we could usually get out of the day's lesson if we could get him talking about skiing. :D We learned quite a bit about snowmaking and the new tech available. Hunter was cutting edge back then, using the York water coolers, more efficient guns, and getting into computer controlled snowmaking. I don't doubt that Hunter has only gotten better at it since then.
And drawing on experience like that, I think Peak has a good handle on snowmaking. As one guy I was talking to last night put it, he'd rather wait a few days and have good snow for a long time than be skiing on mud next week due to squandered snow. Makes sense to me!
Scott wrote:
Years ago, Joe Stevens (then the Communications Director at Snowshoe) explained to me that every time they groom snow, they lose snow. So stockpiling makes sense for a lot of reasons; once resorts groom it out, you’ll know there’s a good chance opening day is one or two days away. Until then, it makes little sense to groom.
It looks like Whitetail has been making a lot of snow on virtually every trail except Far Side and Bold Decision. (I’m not sure about Sidewinder.) That is a different pattern than I remember in the past (as rbrtlav notes), so it seems their goal is to have a lot of trails ready on opening day, but we’ll have to see how this weekend’s rain factors into that.
It's different than what they even posted last week on FB. They outlined a few runs they planned to start on - mostly the stuff to the left and maybe a run or two up the detachable. Then the webcams come on and they're going balls to the wall whevever they can.
I agree with your thinking that Peak has a different plan than the traditional strategy of adding runs piecemeal. People are already worried about Peak coming and wrecking the good value the SnowTime pass has been over the years, and a radical departure from the traditional snowmaking approach has people up in arms. That said, I don't think Peak's necessarily alone in the strategy change. As Marz's article mentioned, winters have been trending warmer so there are fewer snowmaking windows than there have been in the past. Where a piecemeal approach may have been fine then, and especially with the smaller hills that may not have the money run the system at full tilt, not doing so now can mean some terrain may never open for the season (like Blue Knob last season).
So the approach now seems to be to make as possible whenever possible. The ST resorts are small enough (100-125 skiable acres, give or take) that it's easier to cover that quickly, where the larger resorts open in sections. The piecemeal approach is becoming too risky.
At least IMO, I'd rather wait an extra week and have more open then having 2 runs and 1 chair open. Even looking at 7S's opening day, the benefits to the former approach were apparent. 7 runs, a 24-36" base, and good quality snow. It felt like January. I didn't even need my rock skis. Terrain was limited obviously, but there was enough open that people could spread out and it didn't feel crowded. And there was enough variety to keep it interesting and make a day of it if you wanted to. It was a far cry from the old days of opening with a 2-12" base on Wagner and Fawn Lane. I left there even more excited for the season.
RT's snow piles held up pretty well over the warm spell between their first round of snowmaking to the latest, as was seen on the webcams. Yes, some of it melted, but they claimed they had a lot more stockpiled on the west side of the hill that couldn't be seen. And that it still made economic sense to get the headstart even with some melt. We'll see how it pans out, but at least for now, it looks like it was the right call.
marzNC wrote:
Here's a Q&A about snowmaking with from the Dartmouth Skiway in VT, a small hill owned by Dartmouth College.
https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2018/01/science-snowmaking-lesson-slopes
" . . .
OK, so this stuff gets sprayed, making piles all over the mountain. When can you start grooming, moving the snow where it needs to be, and creating varied terrains?
Fifty percent of snowmaking actually takes place after the particle hits the ground. If possible, you want to let it sit there for 24 hours before you do any grooming, so it has time to “cure.” If you push it around right away, it clumps, and you end up with what skiers call “death cookies”””tough to ski on.
. . ."
Great article!
I think that other 50% is what people are having a hard time with - seeing a bunch of snow sitting and not understanding why it can't (or shouldn't) be skied on right away. There's a lot more at play than many people realize.
I wish I lived in a climate with a 6-7 month ski season. I'm happy to shoot for a 4-month season, and maximize a 3-month season. Seasons might be getting shorter, I've opted for quantity over quality. Seasons can end abrubtly in March, and many March Mondays, we don't know who will be open come the next Monday. Not ready for 80 day or 70 day seasons. I wish all local areas would've capitalized on this cold dry week and garnered immediate goodwill and provided a good shake-out orientation week for staff.
Just curious - are there any places in the US that have that? Outside of a couple outliers like Killington keeping Superstar open until May or June, even the Rockies don't seem to stay open much past mid-April even if they have the snow.
My wife probably wouldn't like a season that long, but I'd be down with it. :)
superguy wrote:
Just curious - are there any places in the US that have that? Outside of a couple outliers like Killington keeping Superstar open until May or June, even the Rockies don't seem to stay open much past mid-April even if they have the snow.
My wife probably wouldn't like a season that long, but I'd be down with it. :)
Mt Hood in Oregon comes to mind. I think it's often open through August if not year round.
A Basin in CO opens in October and closes in June pretty much every year.
Winter park will keep Mary Jane open in to May if there is snow and mammoth as well as squaw have had some really long seasons.
if you are just counting being open. I was scrolling through Peak Resorts Instagram page and Big Boulder looks like they have stayed open weekends into May by pushing snow around. Which is really impressive given the location. I suspect Mt Snow might do something similar.
rbrtlav wrote:
...if you are just counting being open. I was scrolling through Peak Resorts Instagram page and Big Boulder looks like they have stayed open weekends into May by pushing snow around. Which is really impressive given the location. I suspect Mt Snow might do something similar.
I had a roommate that grew up a few minutes from Big Boulder and he loved that it snowed on Mother's Day one year. My spring finals at Penn State Hazleton sophomore year included snow flurries -- May 2.
Big Boulder was a good mountain to learn to ski on, all that ice made everywhere else seem easier. I'm not sure if the rep is the same since they made it into one big snowboard park.
Reisen wrote:
superguy wrote:
Just curious - are there any places in the US that have that? Outside of a couple outliers like Killington keeping Superstar open until May or June, even the Rockies don't seem to stay open much past mid-April even if they have the snow.
My wife probably wouldn't like a season that long, but I'd be down with it. :)
Mt Hood in Oregon comes to mind. I think it's often open through August if not year round.
A Basin in CO opens in October and closes in June pretty much every year.
Mt Hood always closes after labor Day weekend. It's covered with summer campers all summer, but Labor Day wekend is blissfully empty.
A Basin's stated goal is to be open thru July 4, although it only attains that every 8-10 years. Mid June is the norm. It once made it thru August. A Basin stays open til it runs out of top to bottom snow.
Loveland is open thru the first weekend in May.
Vail resorts just announced $190 million in capital projects. One is to dramatically increase Keystone's snowmaking ability that would allow it to compete in the "first area to open" contest, and go back to stayng open thru early May.
Looks like it's official that WT is not going to be open this weekend: https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/pennsylvania/skiing-will-have-to-wait-out-the-rain-at-whitetail/article_a8dabc05-a4ba-5268-8806-f14c7416b603.html
I was really hoping to get out there Saturday...
Yeah, not surprising. As much as it sucks, I think it's the right call for now. If they get thru the rain and the wet bulb cooperates, they could fire up the guns and get a soft coating over the wet snow.
Christmas week looks like it's shaping up nicely though ... all 3 will get some natural snow and have nights cold enough to make snow again.
Better to wait out the Fri-Sunday rain/ Leave the piles, not groom and next week open up Thurs / Fri. real cold comes in January.
Well, Lib told their instructors a week or so ago that new-instructor/ITC was pushed to this weekend, and return-instructor training next weekend (22Dec). They've got oodles of snow, saved up in piles to conserve thru the warm ra*n this weekend, then push it out. The 10-day forecast doesn't look so great for next weekend though- need to wait & see how big that next ra*n event is next thu-fri?
Certainly doesn't look promising to open next weekend either unless some of the nights get cold enough to make some more snow. Last year we had such a good solid cold stretch in early to mid December it allowed Liberty and Whitetail to open fairly early, but this year they'll struggle to open by Christmas it seems. You have to give kudos to Bryce who is 87.5% open with just the one cutover trail not open (not sure how much snow they got last weekend, but know they've made a ton of snow for them). Let's just hope LB and WT can stay open as late as they both did last year to give them a long enough season.
The humidity looks like it'll be relatively low at least with the slightly warmer temp. It can give a wet bulb temp that'll allow for snowmaking. That's how they were able to make it even in the 30s last week. Hopefully, they'll get a night or two in between the rain.
At least they're calling for snow in between Christmas and New Year's. Even a little will help.
mdr227 wrote:
Certainly doesn't look promising to open next weekend either
I'm trying to make hay when I can. No guarantees of January cold, as we've had plenty of rain in recent Januarys too. Blue was great today in the fog. 1000' of soft white snow and gray sky. Other than today, this was a cold dry perfect ski week that many local areas may regret missing.
According to a Capital Weather Gang article from yesterday, Liberty
is opening next week and will post the date Monday
or Tuesday.
My insider says Liberty and Whitetail will open Sunday at the earliest due to the rain. Unsure about Roundtop. Probably the same. Also, Roundtop deleted all the complains from their Facebook page!
squeakywheels wrote:
My insider says Liberty and Whitetail will open Sunday at the earliest due to the rain. Unsure about Roundtop. Probably the same. Also, Roundtop deleted all the complains from their Facebook page!
The thread's still there - it's hidden. I can still get to it as I was an active ... contributor. :D People were way out of hand though - no need for the pitchforks and torches that showed up.
Now that the warm spell has past and looking at the webcams, I think they made the right call. They lost a lot of snow, and what's still there is due to the stockpiling. Even looking at the webcams from 7S, the place got wrecked with the weather. If they hadn't started building their base in November thanks to cooperative weather temps, they wouldn't be in the shape that they're in. Right now, it's mostly the central parts of the runs that are still covered well, with bare spots on the sides.
I'm not sure how cooperative the weather's going to be over the next week or so - seems they can't catch a break.
Their $55 Learn to Ski Opening Day Through December 23 deal didn't work out too well. :-)
Sure does look like it's going to be tough for Whitetail to open much before midweek next week. They may be able to open by Christmas, but won't have any good snowmaking weather at least until early next week and will have to deal with heavy rain and warm temps through tomorrow night.
Guns and lights dormant during the snowmaking window overnight and this morning. Definitely an abnormal season when Blue Knob and Laurel open up before Lib/White/Round
Whitetail will open for the season on Sunday. Employees have been told to report for their shifts.
camp wrote:
Guns and lights dormant during the snowmaking window overnight and this morning. Definitely an abnormal season when Blue Knob and Laurel open up before Lib/White/Round
Or could be the "new normal."
marzNC wrote:
Or could be the "new normal."
I know, that is what I fear and was trying to avoid controversy here :)
Whitetail website now officially promoting opening day as Sunday. Finally looking like ski season is here.
Whitetail may open tomorrow, but don't see how they'll have more than the two small true beginner trails open. Maybe can open Angel Drop/Jib Juntion, but going to be very narrow. Hopefully can start making snow again during the night starting tonight.
Website says fanciful and angel drop and some greens. I’ll be there, definitely bringing my rock skis though. I think they may be able to make some snow tonight, give the rain of the last 48 hours they must have had more snows stockpiled than I thought. Although it didn’t rain all day (I live an hour from whitetail) it was 70 with sun for a while yesterday followed by downpours in the evening.
Also, Tuesday night if I believe the forecasted low was 32 with high humidity, my guess is that is why no snow was made even though it ended up getting colder than that.
if my plans don’t change I’ll report back on conditions tomorrow
If anyone is on the fence on coming out to whitetail today It is skiing much nicer than the webcams look.fanciful has less of a base than angel drop, but all considering its skiing pretty well. There are some choppy sections, but I haven’t seen many “death cookies” or any dirt and they still have some piles of snow at the top and on limelight they can use to fill in between now and Tuesday if needed.
Thoughts on conditions on Thursday? Anything added?
I was at Whitetail yesterday and the what was open was pretty well covered. Fanciful wasn't edge to edge, but was pretty solid. I didn't hit any rocks. Angel Drop is in much better shape (edge to edge coverage), and had some terrain park features open.
Spent a fair bit of time in the beginner area with my son who's learning to board and that was all well covered, as was Sidewinder. They fired up the guns around 630p last night and had them going pretty hard on Snow Dancer, Snowpark, Limelight, and Home Run. Drop In, Exhibition and even Far Side were getting blasted. We parked by the bottom of Fallmount right next to a gun and my car had a good coating of snow on it when we left.
You felt the guns riding up EZ Rider and WT Express. The sound of the guns sounded like a roaring river. It was great! :D
Snow Dancer looked like it was in better shape than the webcams show. I could see Limelight and Home Run opening soon. They had a bunch of portable guns out on Limelight in addition to the towers blowing snow.
We had a great time. Hardly anyone there and no lift lines (though granted, it was Christmas). You still might want to bring your rock skis out for the next week or so - especially if you prefer wider turns on Fanciful. I didn't hit any rocks, but I prefer closer to a 2' base before I bring out my good skis.
The snowmaking the night before put down a nice surface. It was much better than I expected - and agree that it was better than the webcams showed.
I think once we get over this rain hump later this week, the rest of the mountain will open up soon.
My sister went up to Liberty on Christmas Eve. This is the first year that she and her family have really decided to take up the sport of skiing. While up there, she got to talking with an employee regarding the new management. She wanted to find out if they plan to continue the Advantage card in the future. She didn't get an answer to that, but did hear that Liberty is not able to make snow as often under the new management. From what she was told, there are electricity periods where the new management has determined it is too expensive to make snow. Supposedly Whitetail and Roundtop do not have the same issue.
Have questions for Peak about Liberty, Whitetail or Roundtop? Here is who to ask-
https://www.saminfo.com/headline-news/9233-peak-resorts-undergoes-resort-leadership-restructuring
It's nice to see that Peak Resorts is utilizing the talents of former Snow Time leadership. Eric was GM of Liberty for many years and is very well respected. When Peak Resorts purchased the three resorts, they didn't just get the properties, but a full slate of dedicated and talented employees.
It looks like the weather continues to take its toll, though. Liberty is currently closed, awaiting the return of snowmaking temperatures, and Roundtop just announced that they'll be closed this Saturday (January 5, 2019) due to projected heavy rain, although they plan to re-open on Sunday (January 6). Whitetail plans to remain open. Hopefully we'll see cold temperatures return next week because remaining snow bases are getting pretty fragile and rain overnight and into tomorrow is not going to help things.
Roundtop Sam announced his resignation on his FB page, effective Jan 16th. Seems like this could be a reason.
Wonder if anyone else will split?
Scott wrote:
It's nice to see that Peak Resorts is utilizing the talents of former Snow Time leadership. Eric was GM of Liberty for many years and is very well respected. When Peak Resorts purchased the three resorts, they didn't just get the properties, but a full slate of dedicated and talented employees.
It looks like the weather continues to take its toll, though. Liberty is currently closed, awaiting the return of snowmaking temperatures, and Roundtop just announced that they'll be closed this Saturday (January 5, 2019) due to projected heavy rain, although they plan to re-open on Sunday (January 6). Whitetail plans to remain open. Hopefully we'll see cold temperatures return next week because remaining snow bases are getting pretty fragile and rain overnight and into tomorrow is not going to help things.
While the slop can be a good foundation for a holding a better base on top, the good thing is we'd at least have better quality snow if they have to start all over again.
superguy wrote:
Roundtop Sam announced his resignation on his FB page, effective Jan 16th. Seems like this could be a reason.
Wonder if anyone else will split?
What has Roundtop Sam's role been?
marzNC wrote:
superguy wrote:
Roundtop Sam announced his resignation on his FB page, effective Jan 16th. Seems like this could be a reason.
Wonder if anyone else will split?
What has Roundtop Sam's role been?
Sam has been the Marketing and Events Coordinator at Roundtop for the past four years. He's moving on to work for Cumulus Media as a Digital Director, and Roundtop is looking to hire someone into Sam's role when he leaves. I suspect he's just ready for a new opportunity after four years, and Cumulus Media should provide a good one.
Whoever takes his place has big shoes to fill. He's done a great job.
Snowtime resorts seem to be in great shape right now. Did liberty on thursday and whitetail early Saturday. The moguls on expedition Saturday were some of the best I’ve seen there in a few years and with the man made powder on top were decently playful. I was there from 8:30-12, lines for the high speed quad seemed to be 10-15 minutes at that point, and you could tell from the peak that they were running out of parking. I had someone wait for me to take off boots and load the truck to get my spot because they couldn’t find anything in any of the lots...and I know employees were parking at the golf course.
Looks like there are snowmaking windows late next week and through the weekend, they should have no problem handling the warm up this week and it should create some nice hero snow.
I was up at Roundtop with my son yesterday, got there about 2:30 pm. It was on the warm side, but the snow was nice and soft and a lot of fun. I probably had my best few hours of the season thus far. Temp really dropped as it got dark and it got really icy and hardpacked. Lift lines really thinned out about the time Super Bowl was starting, so it was ski on to nearly every lift. Lifties were posting score updates at the bottom. We ended up leaving early as the ice got to be too much, and my son's rental board got jacked.
Coverage was really good. They're now boasting a 50"-60" base. It was evident how much snow they had ... you could easily see it on the Ramrod and Exhibition lifts.
I really enjoyed RT. Season pass parking perk is really nice.
We should all thank our lucky stars Peak has come in full blast as the new owners (pun intended). I hope next year they come up with some sort of VT/NH discounts/benefits to local advantage card and passholders (assuming they have the advantage card next year!)
I really hope they keep some soft of local option. I can see how a Peak pass would be great for people who have the ability to wander between here and New England. However, I'm not one of them and would find the extra spent for access to the northern resorts a waste for me. I'd like to see them keep the local option with the current ST pass, and then have an Advantage Card type add-on for discounts up north. With reasonable pass prices, club cards and advantage cards, ST really has made it possible for many to enjoy skiing and riding without breaking the bank. I hope Peak sees the value in keeping that as an option at least.
I guess we'll find out sometime next month, when they start pushing next year's early bird passes.
