Up at Massanutten for our annual week before Christmas. Obviously, way better than last year when there was no snow at all. All lifts were running, even had Paradice open as of Dec. 14. The big terrain park with the separate J-bar is open but pretty basic. No features on the little park on the side of Geronimo yet.
Mnut added a few snow guns, in particular in the ski school training area. Probably automated a few more too. Coverage was side to side, plus a few inches of natural snow as a bonus.
On the icy side on Sunday because the temps on the mountain never got above 34 and the wind was blowing pretty hard all day. Mnut groomed everything soon after closing on Sat night, then everything froze overnight. Met up with friends from eastern VA so Marz Jr. had a friend to ski with all day. I did my first Silver Clinic (over 50) of the season. Great deal at $35 for 2 hours with a very experienced instructor (Thu or Sun afternoons). Showtime has good terrain for a variety of drills for fundamentals related to advanced skiing, including pivot slips. Pretty much all ice by late afternoon on Showtime and elsewhere once the frozen granular was skied off. Pretty much deserted after dinner time, too cold and too icy even on the beginner slopes for me to pratice anything.
Monday was much nicer. About 38 by 10:00am, and things stayed soft enough all day, plus no cold wind. Enough snow added overnight to cover almost all the ice patches from Sun evening. Since there was almost no one around because school is still going on for most kids, pretty much had Showtime to myself most of the time. Snowmaking started right after closing on DJ and Paradice Sun night so they were great in the morning. DJ and ParaDice got a little icy in the afternoon but still much better than Sunday since not enough people to ski snow off down to the ice. Showtime stayed nice all day. Marz Jr. got a private doing a 90-min clinic at 1:30pm. A deal at $35 given the quality of the instructors at Mnut. Few intermediates take advantage of it. Marz Jr. is an advanced skier at this point (Level 8 in Alta ski school) but the instructors available for clinic during this slow week always know more than enough to get her to work on fundamentals. Per usual, she liked her instructor.
Not having much luck embedding photos. Can see them here:
http://s453.photobucket.com/user/marzlook/library/Snow%202013-14
Thanks for pics. Looked like a good day!
wgo wrote:
Thanks for the report. Sorry we were not able to meet up on Sunday. How was Marz Jr able to get a private lession for $35? I thought the cost was $75 for an hour.
Hope to meet up one of the other weekends I'll be at Mnut.
What I learned to do a while back was to take advantage of the Adv. Beg/Intermediate group lesson that is given three times a day. 90-min for $35 (used to be $30 a few years ago). We typically spend at least part of the week before Christmas at Mnut. During early season, few people think to sign up their children so she was almost always the only kid. Even in Jan-Feb, if go at 5:30pm or 10:00am on Sunday then likely to only have one or two others in the group. They usually separate adults from kids. Min age is 7 for these group lessons, which can be taken separately or as part of a ticket/rental/lesson package deal.
The instructor training at Mnut is very strong, with several PSIA Level III instructors and trainers involved. There are more Level II/III instructors than one might expect for a small ski area. I was always happy with Marz Jr.'s instructors for Slopesliders (age 4-12) or for the group lessons that she or her older cousin took.
Note that Marz Jr. is way past being an intermediate. She started at Mnut's ski school at age 4, plus got a few days of Alta ski school in starting at age 7 during our annual spring break trip. She is 13 and was in Level 8 at Alta last April. I knew that even with the Mnut group lesson she would get someone who could give her a good tune up as a way to get her off to a good start for the season. I explained what I wanted to the lesson coordinator. Marz Jr. and I were both happy with the instructor she was assigned. I watched them from Lift 5 as they worked on Showtime and Pacesetter. Her skiing was clearly better afterwards compared to the morning.
Bumps wrote:
Thanks for pics. Looked like a good day!
Most welcome. Today was even better. I skied 9-12 before heading home to NC in the afternoon. Pretty much had DJ and Paradice to myself, except for instructors who were around for potential lessons. It was a bit warmer so nice soft courduroy all morning. I think there was a little new snow added overnight.
For those who track vertical, I got in about 5000 ft before going in for a break after about 90 min lapping Lift 6. The fun part about Mnut is that is possible off Lift 6 even on weekends mid-season because there isn't a lift line.
Added descriptions to the photo album.
http://s453.photobucket.com/user/marzlook/library/Snow%202013-14
Mnut snow guns are on all over the mountain this morning. Pointed high per usual when the slopes and snow tubing are open. Should have plenty of base built up to get through the warm spell this weekend.
Thanks for the pics. We will try to get out there again either this Friday or next Monday, depending on the weather. As you said they should be fine getting through the warm spell. It does look like we'll have to wait until after the warm spell for MakAttack - they should be able to blow snow tonight, but I am sure they will focus on the existing open slopes. Still, very cool that they have as much open as they do for this time of year.
Been watching the Mnut webcams. Snow blowing on DJ, Paradice, and Showtime all morning. Still adding snow at the top as of 2pm. Clearly staying cold enough even though 35 degrees at the base.
The little bit of natural snow from the weekend was still on Upper and Lower MakAttack yesterday morning, even though it was in the low 40's.
