I don't know how many of you were fortunate enough to be skiing today's Great Lakes Champagne Powder but it was one of the best Powder days I have experienced locally in a long, long time. And it is still snowing. Unfortunately, the high temperature predicted for New Years Eve is 5. This has been an exceptionally good Holiday ski season in the Laurels. I hope yours was as good as mine.

It is going to be great while it lasts.  As always in the mid Atlantic you must pounce on it when it’s good.  No waiting.  

When the Whitegrass web cam shows the flags standing straight out to the left, it means strong wind from the west carrying lake effect snow.  It’s the best snow report in the valley if you know how to read it.

http://www.whitegrass.com/White%20Grass%20Webcams.html 

head up 3 mile or up the open slope and you’ll soon be out of the wind and warmed up from exercise.

Laurel Mountain opened a lot more terrain. The powder was almost knee deep in places due strong winds so if you knew where to look you could make fresh turns most of the morning and into the early afternoon. I quit at 2, only my third day out this year and my legs let me know it. By time I left, the soft piles of snow on Lower Wildcat were beginning to firm up. Unfortunately there was still not enough snow yet to ski the glades. If the snow were typical mid-A powder it would have packed down but it was cold smoke trailing skiers all day. It was still snowing when I headed out so if you are lucky enough to be out today I bet there are fresh tracks to be found again. Grooming must have been done very early the previous night because even Innsbruck had a half a foot of powder.

Sorry, no pictures. I'm not great at that to begin with and on a cold, blowing powder day even less so. It's going to be frigid this next week so all the goods should still be there albeit packed out.

With all the natural snow we've gotten in the past few days, it amazes me that Dream Highway and The Slot are still unable to open. How much snow will it take? 

Also, is there anything that can be done next summer, similar to a glad clearing, that could help get the trail open earlier and more often?

wrong kind of snow too light and fluffy, needs some wet base material. rocky corner is a shale rock shelf, used to cover it with hay 

but even then it took a heavy wet snow to stick. doing a good business on base repairs!

Looking at LM webcam this morning, it looks like the snow pack is very thin. It seems more snow should have been made where the webcam shows the image of bare ground. From an image standpoint, it would seem that you should show good coverage where the web cam is pointing. I guess I missed the golden opportunity last weekend (:-((

Thinking optimistically, if the rain turns to snow sooner rather than later, maybe LM will get 3 or 4 inches of snow by Saturday morning to cushion the refreezing surfaces underneath??

Jim - I have seen forcasts with up to 8" and I will be up there until Monday. Maybe the ski gods will bless us with snow storm that exceeds expectations.

Unfortunately, our rain saturated base froze solid. So you ski through some nice powder then hit rock solid ice that you cannot turn on. I curse that storm.

snowsmith wrote:

Unfortunately, our ran saturated base froze solid. So you ski through some nice powder then hit rock solid ice that you cannot turn on. I curse that storm.

Dust on crust. Unless the new snow bonds to old surface (which requires the right temp transition, right base density - which heavily skied/groomed runs don’t have, pause in skier traffic and grooming.)

The ice at my hockey game tonight will likely be softer than the trail surfaces today. But I’ll be out there tomorrow with my Vokls which eat the stuff up.

JohnL wrote:

The ice at my hockey game tonight will likely be softer than the trail surfaces today. But I’ll be out there tomorrow with my Vokls which eat the stuff up.

Where are you going?

Casa de Jiiiiimmmmmyyyy!

CVR tmw, likely T-Line Mon. Will stay down for a few more days if Tues/Wed snows produce.

Great day on Wednesday Jan.17. Cold as heck but little wind. Half the mountain in a cloud of snowmaking and the other half intermittent clouds down to Lower Broadway. Whales everywhere, soft and deep in the troughs but hard carvable up and over the whales, great time. Most natural snow areas required a wide board and light touch. A total disregard for your bases is also helpful.

Lower Broadway Jan 17

Renegade snowmobilers tore up Dream Highway exposing rock and stone on the run out so we didn't ski it. We need to get some work done there. Snowmobiles made some ruts on the Broadway whales too. Damn criminal. State Park has been notified. Violators will be prosecuted. Laurel Run and Snow Bowl were in the fog all day, Laurel had some powder on the edges when I skied it late morning but visibility was bad. I did not ski Snow Bowl. Lincoln had some untracked as did Doc's Forest. I made some really nice turns there. We skied ski Hagen's Cut a few times.  

Wildcat was under the guns all day with visibility a challenge on top of the variable snow. You found every thing from 6 inches of semi dry mix with blow away machine made...it was a high of 8 degrees that day. Upper Wildcat, skiers right, the old T-bar line had heavy velvet, like frosting on a cake.. Skiers left on Lower, in the clear 15 foot wide visibility corridor, was a strange brew of chopped up natural and machine beads, the whales down the middle were huge and very agreeable to edging. The machine made snow bounced off your jacket except for that one gun at the bottom that sprayed wet and crystalize upon goggle lens impact. 

The lodge was cozy, the staff friendly as always. Kudos to the chair attendants. Each was engaged and never did a chair whack my legs.  

I took a few runs with Laurel Mountain/Linn Run Park Manager Doug Finger and his daughter. We again learned the age old eastern skiing lesson; There is good snow then there is good for you snow. This was a day of challenging conditions, changing surfaces, very flat light but down the swells of rolling Broadway, heeding Ishmael's call. "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”  We stalked the great white whales.

On the chair ride up we talked about the Midway Cabin project. Midway is state park asset. The original 1940 ski lodge was stabilized. Fundraising efforts are being investigated with the aim of restoring this historic structure. At least for now, the structure is safe.

Tomorrow promises to be one of the best days. The natural, such as it is, might be gone early so get there if you can.

Very sorry to hear about the trail damage.

Any way to truck in top soil and try to get something green to grow on rocky corner?

Has the ? trail under the top part of the lift to the top of Dream Highway been skiable the last two years? Had a fun drop back in ~06.

JohnL wrote:

Very sorry to hear about the trail damage.

Any way to truck in top soil and try to get something green to grow on rocky corner?

Has the ? trail under the top part of the lift to the top of Dream Highway been skiable the last two years? Had a fun drop back in ~06.

We really need to get grass on Dream from the bottom all he way up through The Slot. I skied Dream a few time this season, much to the detriment of my bases. We are open and looking for solutions and volunteers to help execute.

The old Snow Bowl, under the upper lift line, has had a few skiable lines with natural coverage. This new upper liftline is a bit wider and steeper near the new towers. There hasn't been enough coverage to ski it edge to edge but drift in the low areas were deep enough to serve some sweet skiing. This season I skied under the lift from the top of the chair and angled all the way Lower Wildcat. We just don't seem to have a long lasting natural snow pack anymore.

Yes, we need a good natural snowpack, not sure what can be done.

I like the unnamed run under the lift.  I skied it once on about 6in of natural snow.  A great 'surprise' on the mountain, especially because it isn't named.

oddballstocks wrote:

Yes, we need a good natural snowpack, not sure what can be done.

I like the unnamed run under the lift.  I skied it once on about 6in of natural snow.  A great 'surprise' on the mountain, especially because it isn't named.

I remember going out on the school ski hill (North Country School near Lake Placid, NY) to pack the early season snow with our skis by side stepping.  Does Laurel get enough natural snow to make it worth the effort?  Meaning a day or two after a powder day.  Obviously would need to be a volunteer effort along the lines of the clearing work done in the fall.

the crew made a packer to pull behind a snowmobile, but it still takes 8-10 to allow that to work. 

oddballstocks wrote:

Yes, we need a good natural snowpack, not sure what can be done.

I like the unnamed run under the lift.  I skied it once on about 6in of natural snow.  A great 'surprise' on the mountain, especially because it isn't named.

That slope was called Snow Bowl. At one time it was open down to The Slot. It might be open again with enough natural snow.

* Advice / Opinion *

Laurel should either add a snow gun right in front of the webcam by the connecting spot on the top of Ski Top / Tame Cat or move the webcam to a different location. Having a massive bare spot right in front of the webcam can not be good for business.

Good grief - that looks like hell on earth.  What a difference a few days makes.  This was Sat.   I live about 2 hrs away and it was 50 on Sun, poured rain on Mon and near 60 and still above freezing right now.

snowsmith wrote:

Looking at LM webcam this morning, it looks like the snow pack is very thin. It seems more snow should have been made where the webcam shows the image of bare ground. From an image standpoint, it would seem that you should show good coverage where the web cam is pointing. I guess I missed the golden opportunity last weekend (:-((

Yes, I mentioned this the last time it looked ugly. And of course I missed last weekend. Should have went on Saturday.

I see the snow guns are a blazing this morning so I guess they saw the same thing we did.

Laurel will be in great shape soon...until it melts again.

I would say if your going to ski Laurel Mountain this is the weekend to do it. Snow is predicted for Saturday night so Sunday, given the 18" of snow received already this week, should be one of the best days of 2018, locally.

Yep

My wife and I will be there on Sunday.

Son and I just now decided on Laurel this morning.

I'll be wearing a blue down coat, black ski pants and a white helmet with visor skiing on Kastles.

Sorry I missed you.

Laurel Mtn is definitely unique. I love the blues music they play. Thank god ....no rap or what I call the "new disco music"....mind numbing.  The conditions yesterday were great with all that piled up wet snow., my wife and I had a blast. They had a pretty good crowd and they said Saturday was busy. Nice to see success. The area under the lift would make a dynamite trail all the way to the top.

With all the recent snow, and snow expected over the next few days, what are the chances that Dream Highway will be open this Friday or Saturday?

Report from the top of the mountain at 10 am this morning was pouring rain so no, unless we get a foot or more tonight and through Friday. I might be there tomorrow so I can give a better report Thursday evening.

snowsmith wrote:

Laurel Mtn is definitely unique. I love the blues music they play. Thank god ....no rap or what I call the "new disco music"....mind numbing.  The conditions yesterday were great with all that piled up wet snow., my wife and I had a blast. They had a pretty good crowd and they said Saturday was busy. Nice to see success. The area under the lift would make a dynamite trail all the way to the top.

Complete thread hijack...

Lift-line music is I guess the beauty in the eye of the beholder. FWIW, I am not a fan of most current rap - though old school and hybrids do work for me.

Mad River Glen is very Dead and Dead Lite influenced - fits their vibe.

Thunder lift at Jackson Hole this past weekend had a real mix - some blues and blues influenced, but some Hair Band metal. With some Ozzie. Gotta luv old school metal power chords. Made each trip up unique. LOL.

I was part of the Disco Sucks generation in the 70's, but man, after the fact the music is real fun to dance to and you get laid more often.

Disco sucks? You probably remember this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night

Back to your regularly scheduled thread...

JohnL, just a note about Laurel. There is no lift line music. The Blues that snowsmith refered too was playung in the lodge.

msprings wrote:

With all the recent snow, and snow expected over the next few days, what are the chances that Dream Highway will be open this Friday or Saturday?

Sorry I forgot to report back but if you checked Laurel's ski report you will see that 100% of the mountain is open and yes that means Dream. I did ski Dream on Thursday and much to my surprise the lower section which was torn up during lift construction and trail grading had good coverage due to rain packing and overnight freeze, no rocks exposed.I doubt that Dream can be groomed at this point, coverage is solid but thin.