Went up to Wintergreen on Saturday morning. On the slopes a little after 10. Most of the greens were open, though not the slope where the terrain park usually is, so Upper Dobie was seeing a lot of traffic with all the beginner traffic + all others funnelling there. Highlands had one top to botttom open, and Eagles Swoop, Upper/Lower Sunshine, and top of Tyro/Tequila were open. 6 pack lines were about as long as any normal weekend. After a couple hours on the greens, we went to and stayed mostly on the Eagles Swoop side and the lines there were short. I got a couple runs in on the Highlands, and lift line there was non-existant.
Conditions were surprisingly good, esp on Sunday. Saturday there were a few spots that were getting a bit thin, esp in high traffic areas (right in front of rental shop, on upper dobie, etc.). Snow was nice. Soft, but not slushy. Underneath, the base had frozen, so there was hardpack/ice, but not too bad. Temps stayed around 40-45 during the day on Sat. Temps dipped on Saturday night, so they made snow. Was probably in the 20s Sunday morning and the Snow was in good shape. Had the guns on, but not too bad. They were on until at least 2, when we got off the slopes. Think it was just about warm enough that they were going to turn them off.
Looking up Eagles Swoop on 1/28 (dirt patch was largely covered by 1/29)
Looking down Eagles Swoop on 1/28. Really nice, especially on Sun
Over on the Highlands.
Little bit of wear showing on Saturday. Covered up nicely on Sunday.
And a shot of Big Acorn. Bare spots all over the place.
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The messageboard is now in read-only mode and no new posts or topics can be created. We will leave the messageboard up for historical purposes, but you will not be able to make new posts or comment on existing ones.
We have started a Discord server and hope that you all will join us on there. Technology has changed over the years and maintaining the messageboard has become somewhat of a pain in the butt and Discord offers many features for users, the main one being a very polished mobile app.
We really hope you all will join us on Discord and think you will like the platform. Use the invite link below to join.
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TR: Wintergreen 1/28-29
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marzski
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Only one way down in the Highlands. Don't see that changing this season. One reason that staying at Mnut has actually made even more sense for me and Marz Jr. than usual. No point to deal with lift lines for weekend skiing at Wgreen.
2023-24: Wolf Creek in Dec, Massanutten in Jan, Feb; GT, Big Sky; Crested Butte; Alta/Snowbird in April.
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Bryan in NC
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Agree that Big Acorn was pretty depressing. Really sucked for my 7 y.o. when she dropped her pole. She didn't expect to be hiking that day. But I'm thinking she'll be more careful with her gear from now on.
Agree with marzski - don't see much more of Highlands or Big Acorn opening up. Think they'll be in defensive mode for most of the rest of the season. Love to be proven wrong though.
Agree with marzski - don't see much more of Highlands or Big Acorn opening up. Think they'll be in defensive mode for most of the rest of the season. Love to be proven wrong though.
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marzski
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This is the type of winter when the smaller places actually have an advantage. Cat, App, Mnut have a reasonable amount of their slopes open with decent coverage. The larger places have more to cover and the end result is that paying for just a few trails doesn't seem worth the effort. Once Mnut got ParaDice and DJ open, it's been plenty of fun.
2023-24: Wolf Creek in Dec, Massanutten in Jan, Feb; GT, Big Sky; Crested Butte; Alta/Snowbird in April.
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jamsandwich
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i loved going to wintergreen when i lived in CH. pretty solid resort
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Skichase
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This is actually a depressing TR. Wintergreen is a great ski area and it is sad to see them open with limited terrain. I agree with Marz, et al but to me this is about snowmaking capacity and commitment not the size of the resort, and may indicate that Wintergreen needs to look at some upgrades. As an example, the Nut, Wisp, Liberty, Whitetail, etc. are all basically 100% open, T-Line, Wintergreen and Canaan Valley are not. Whitetail and Wisp have the same or more skiable acreage as compared to Wintergreen and they have managed to get a decent enough base down on all the trails.
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Bryan in NC
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@marzski 270082 wrote:This is the type of winter when the smaller places actually have an advantage.
Sure, if you're going on a percentage basis, or using the throughly bs stat of trail count.
@marzski 270082 wrote:The larger places have more to cover and the end result is that paying for just a few trails doesn't seem worth the effort.
@Skichase 270142 wrote:This is actually a depressing TR. Wintergreen is a great ski area and it is sad to see them open with limited terrain. I agree with Marz, et al but to me this is about snowmaking capacity and commitment not the size of the resort, and may indicate that Wintergreen needs to look at some upgrades. As an example, the Nut, Wisp, Liberty, Whitetail, etc. are all basically 100% open, T-Line, Wintergreen and Canaan Valley are not. Whitetail and Wisp have the same or more skiable acreage as compared to Wintergreen and they have managed to get a decent enough base down on all the trails.
To clarify, I'm disappointed in a season with temps that don't allow enough snowmaking to get the resort fully open, not disappointed in the resort itself. I think WG has done a great job with what they have. Conditions are very good all things considered, and I think they've made good decisions in deciding what trails to focus on.
I think the arguments above are deceiving. While WG may as a percentage have less terrain open, what they do have open is essentially equivalent to what Mnut does.
Furthermore, temps vary from resort to resort, and that's the key to them being able to get terrrain open. So the more "northern" resorts mentioned have likely had more time where the temps have been condusive to snowmaking. WG has a great snowmaking system, and is more modern than most, but still can't make snow in 40 degree + temps.
Sure, if you're going on a percentage basis, or using the throughly bs stat of trail count.
@marzski 270082 wrote:The larger places have more to cover and the end result is that paying for just a few trails doesn't seem worth the effort.
@Skichase 270142 wrote:This is actually a depressing TR. Wintergreen is a great ski area and it is sad to see them open with limited terrain. I agree with Marz, et al but to me this is about snowmaking capacity and commitment not the size of the resort, and may indicate that Wintergreen needs to look at some upgrades. As an example, the Nut, Wisp, Liberty, Whitetail, etc. are all basically 100% open, T-Line, Wintergreen and Canaan Valley are not. Whitetail and Wisp have the same or more skiable acreage as compared to Wintergreen and they have managed to get a decent enough base down on all the trails.
To clarify, I'm disappointed in a season with temps that don't allow enough snowmaking to get the resort fully open, not disappointed in the resort itself. I think WG has done a great job with what they have. Conditions are very good all things considered, and I think they've made good decisions in deciding what trails to focus on.
I think the arguments above are deceiving. While WG may as a percentage have less terrain open, what they do have open is essentially equivalent to what Mnut does.
Furthermore, temps vary from resort to resort, and that's the key to them being able to get terrrain open. So the more "northern" resorts mentioned have likely had more time where the temps have been condusive to snowmaking. WG has a great snowmaking system, and is more modern than most, but still can't make snow in 40 degree + temps.