Do certain places need more/less snow

SilkyJohnson

SilkyJohnson

Member
We all know that the more snow the better, but do certain areas need more or less snow to be good. For instance does the PNW need more snow in order to have a good season, where CO might not need to have as much for a good season?
 
This thread is weird i mean if the resort is rocky then they will need more snow if the runs have no logs, boulders or rocks, and small trees they will need less snow. As you said though more snow is better until you have to close because the lifts are buried like at Hood and Bachelor when they have to dig the lifts out.
 
Yes. Take Baker for example. You all saw our epic pow week that's been all over the ski movies this year, but little do you know, our terrain, with the exception of some trees being cut, is very... rugged. We have stumps everywhere, and brush everywhere too. We need at least a couple feet to cover stuff over, as opposed to the super groomed run in other places, where they only need a few inches to cover it up.

So there you go.
 
what i mean do certain areas need less snow to be good. Is getting 20 inches in the Rockies the same as getting 20 in the Cascades (i know that they differ in water content), but does the coverage matter
 
this is confusing, but i guess you could get to the point of having too much snow if it stops the resorts from working.. or i guess places can get more avalanches if theres too much snow?

but coming from a place that sees like 4 feet annually in a good year, i would rele love more snow
 
to clarify

Say that vail and baker both have a base of 50 inches. Is on of the resorts more skiable than the other even though they have the same amount of snow?
 
Yes. Vail is moreso, because it has its runs cleared in the summer, and has the stumps removed, etc etc.

Smaller, poorer resorts (Like Baker) don't have the money or staff to clear it out like that.
 
yes definitely. mountains in pa and nj are mellow and flat with lots of smooth groomed trails. mountains in the west need a lot of snow to cover up their rocky terrain, like brush, stumps, little trees and rocks.
 
Where I am in the mid atlantic where the most of the warmest resorts are the trails are about shaved clean except for grass because they might open a trail with only 10 inches of snow on it or less because that might be all we have.
 
obviously. if we're only gettin like 300" in the PNW in a season, we are boarderline pissing and moaning. However, if some places in the rockies or east coast got that much, all we would hear is how damn good it is.

And as mentioned, some places, like some here in washington, need several feet just to open, and even then that really doesnt suffice. Go to places with broad trails cleared during the summer and several feet means thousands of acres that can be skied.
 
aaah shit. we need more snow! (not to cover up terrain features, just in general.) Utah can get 500+ annually. I have no idea what vt's average is but it's a hell of a lot less than 500.
 
when it says you get 500" anually it doesnt mean theres that much snow at once...it just means it could snow 100" pre-season and then have it all melt and come back again...and that still counts as annual snowfall.
 
yeah, exactly true. it sounds like a ton (and it still is) but spread from October/November through May/April it's not as imposing. Depth at any one time is more of a factor.
 
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