marzNC
Angel Diva
Interesting. Snowpak has Heather Burke as the source for info about Bretton Woods. She has a website for family skiing. She also does articles for the Boston Globe and other media outlets in the northeast.
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Places to watch for U.S. Thanksgiving opening?
- Thread starter marzNC
- Start date
nopoleskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Breckenridge is opening Nov 7th after getting 5FT of snow this week!! https://www.breckenridge.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/terrain-and-lift-status.aspx
Keystone is opening 11/7 too https://www.keystoneresort.com/
Keystone is opening 11/7 too https://www.keystoneresort.com/
marzNC
Angel Diva
Of course, flying into Denver Thanksgiving week is expensive. But anyone who could get away for a few days starting Thu, 11/29 can get a good deal on plane fare. RDU-DEN round trip on SW is around $200.
The projected opening date for Breck and Keystone was Friday, Nov. 9.
theyardsaleexpert
Certified Ski Diva
Taos opens on Thanksgiving weekend! I went last year and I wouldn’t say it had an amazing opening weekend (they had a rough snow season) but this year I’m hopeful! Plus it’s a really eclectic area to visit
SuperSkiMom
Certified Ski Diva
Funny I was just talking with a friend this morning, as I was dropping my daughter off to school, about Gore's opening day, (her family was one of the founders) , and she says they typically open the day after Thanksgiving and sure enough this came up in my thread:
Whiteface, Gore, Belleayre to open Nov. 23
Whiteface, Gore, Belleayre to open Nov. 23
MaineSkiLady
Angel Diva
Sugarloaf has received 15" of snow (from the sky) in the last week. More is on the way. Opening day is Friday, November 16. 180 snow guns are firing.
MaineSkiLady
Angel Diva
Actually, it's $15 to do the demos at Sunday River.
https://www.sundayriver.com/events/demo-day
"Registration takes place in the South Ridge Welcome Center from 8AM to Noon. To register, you will need a valid lift ticket or season pass, driver's license, credit card, and your own boots and equipment. Please note that there will be no junior demos available.
The $15 cost to participate can be applied as a $50 credit towards any new ski or snowboard purchase at Sunday River Sports over the weekend."
Meanwhile, Sugarloaf is reporting best Thanksgiving conditions since 1968.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Ah, forgot. I think it was $10 when I went a couple years ago. Certainly going to be a lot more terrain available this weekend.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Looking at the places mentioned in this thread so far, I think all of them are not only going to be open this weekend, they will all have some of the best conditions in November for a while between early snowstorms and cold weather that allowed snowmaking to start a week or two or three ago. Skiing Nov. 23-25, 2018 will be possible pretty much in any region of N. America.
marzNC
Angel Diva
The most unusual openings for this early Thanksgiving weekend are in Vermont. Magic and Mad River Glen will have people making tracks in natural snow.
Magic is doing a 1-day Experts Only for Sat, 11/24/18 on all natural snow because of recent storms and cold temps that will preserve the snow cover for the next couple days. Regular opening expected Dec. 1.
"A Thanksgiving Special: "White Saturday"
So, as you know, it's been snowing a lot recently with another 5-9" here yesterday (which has been making up for the lack of productive snowmaking temps & time here--more on that later). So, our team has been huddling here and doing a little product testing today. Here's what we've decided to do:
Besides Black Friday shopping and tubing here, we're going to carve out an opportunity for some to do a "White Saturday" ski adventure here at Magic. This will be a one day "soft opening"--FOR EXPERTS ONLY-- to get after the goods mother-nature has kindly bestowed on Magic this Thanksgiving. It's a one-day-only historic early-open event, a sort of prequel to our official opening day for the ski and ride season which is still slated for December 1st weekend.
For skiing and riding on November 24th, Red Chair-only will spin from 9am-3:30pm (no Sunday lift service). This is an all-natural snow ski day, with a good portion of the mountain's trails/glades open. But there are many natural hazards that do exist--especially some natural streams and water bars across trails/lower run outs that have yet to freeze over this early in the season. We will be working with patrol all day friday to create navigable pathways on the run-outs as the temperatures drop Thursday into Friday.
In terms of conditions, we had Andy Belcher, head of Ski Patrol, Craig Bailes, Assistant Director Snowsports, and yours truly, ski different ways down the mountain and the conditions are straight-up soft powder, with a good base. A few scraps of rocks on some of the steeper terrain like Goniff and the work road (Carpet/Wand); nothing hit on Wizard into Talisman or Up Your Sleeve into Vertigo. Just a few water bars and cross streams to carefully navigate. Plan on nothing being groomed but the run outs, about 33 trails/glades open--it is truly skiing like it used to be--when skis where not that expensive (hint). But, the snow and base have really set up nicely, so why not let our better skilled skiers and riders enjoy a bonus day of mother nature's bounty?!
Adult tickets at the window will be just $49. Discounted tickets are also available online here"
Mad River Glen plans to be open Sat and Sun. I bet a few people headed to Sugarbush because of the Ikon pass may be tempted to check out MRG for a day.
"Our plan is to spin the Single Chair from 9 am to 3:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday with the vast majority of our main mountain terrain open. Be sure to check the snow report for details as we get a bit closer. All season passes will be honored and we are offering $69 day online tickets too."
Magic is doing a 1-day Experts Only for Sat, 11/24/18 on all natural snow because of recent storms and cold temps that will preserve the snow cover for the next couple days. Regular opening expected Dec. 1.
"A Thanksgiving Special: "White Saturday"
So, as you know, it's been snowing a lot recently with another 5-9" here yesterday (which has been making up for the lack of productive snowmaking temps & time here--more on that later). So, our team has been huddling here and doing a little product testing today. Here's what we've decided to do:
Besides Black Friday shopping and tubing here, we're going to carve out an opportunity for some to do a "White Saturday" ski adventure here at Magic. This will be a one day "soft opening"--FOR EXPERTS ONLY-- to get after the goods mother-nature has kindly bestowed on Magic this Thanksgiving. It's a one-day-only historic early-open event, a sort of prequel to our official opening day for the ski and ride season which is still slated for December 1st weekend.
For skiing and riding on November 24th, Red Chair-only will spin from 9am-3:30pm (no Sunday lift service). This is an all-natural snow ski day, with a good portion of the mountain's trails/glades open. But there are many natural hazards that do exist--especially some natural streams and water bars across trails/lower run outs that have yet to freeze over this early in the season. We will be working with patrol all day friday to create navigable pathways on the run-outs as the temperatures drop Thursday into Friday.
In terms of conditions, we had Andy Belcher, head of Ski Patrol, Craig Bailes, Assistant Director Snowsports, and yours truly, ski different ways down the mountain and the conditions are straight-up soft powder, with a good base. A few scraps of rocks on some of the steeper terrain like Goniff and the work road (Carpet/Wand); nothing hit on Wizard into Talisman or Up Your Sleeve into Vertigo. Just a few water bars and cross streams to carefully navigate. Plan on nothing being groomed but the run outs, about 33 trails/glades open--it is truly skiing like it used to be--when skis where not that expensive (hint). But, the snow and base have really set up nicely, so why not let our better skilled skiers and riders enjoy a bonus day of mother nature's bounty?!
Adult tickets at the window will be just $49. Discounted tickets are also available online here"
Mad River Glen plans to be open Sat and Sun. I bet a few people headed to Sugarbush because of the Ikon pass may be tempted to check out MRG for a day.
"Our plan is to spin the Single Chair from 9 am to 3:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday with the vast majority of our main mountain terrain open. Be sure to check the snow report for details as we get a bit closer. All season passes will be honored and we are offering $69 day online tickets too."
Christy
Angel Diva
Very rough start for Whistler. Only 4 trails open on Whistler and 1 on Blackcomb. The website lists conditions as "marginal." We used to go on Thanksgiving and had some great years but after a couple bad ones, we now go to to Orcas Island and get poured on instead. Chains were required on Snoqualmie Pass this morning, so hopefully things are getting going in the PNW.
SuperSkiMom
Certified Ski Diva
We were in Vermont this weekend, for our first weekend skiing. (Can't say exactly where, as it will be a surprise when we release the video we are working on).
@Jilly Friday was extremely cold, close to what it was at Tremblant about -17F.
@marzNC the conditions were phenomenal this weekend, for early season. But, skiing in the woods was a bit challenging if you don't know the mountain. And because there was a lot of fresh snow about 1 to 2 feet in areas, that have been preserved due to colder temperatures, there is no base underneath. On some runs that were not groomed, you could pole plant easily 2 feet down to frozen earth. We skied over many fresh pockets of snow not knowing there were gulleys underneath.
A glimpse of what we were working on.
@Jilly Friday was extremely cold, close to what it was at Tremblant about -17F.
@marzNC the conditions were phenomenal this weekend, for early season. But, skiing in the woods was a bit challenging if you don't know the mountain. And because there was a lot of fresh snow about 1 to 2 feet in areas, that have been preserved due to colder temperatures, there is no base underneath. On some runs that were not groomed, you could pole plant easily 2 feet down to frozen earth. We skied over many fresh pockets of snow not knowing there were gulleys underneath.
A glimpse of what we were working on.
Olesya Chornoguz
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Whiteface has opened last weekend for the weekend only and this Friday opened for the season. Conditions on Friday were excellent - lovely packed powder, mostly man-made, no ice at all.
