Crotched Mountain - 2024-5 Season

joshua_segal

Time to close out the "Crotched Mountain - 2023-4 Season" thread. To reference it, click on: https://snowjournal.com/discussion/3988/crotched-mountain-2023-4-season#latest

CM closed on Mar. 24, 2024. Weather permitting according to my sources, CM is planning to open somewhere between late November and early December. That means, that at least for CM, we were closer to next season than last starting in late July! (BTW: If we consider Killington's season as Nov. 1 to June 1, August 16 is the date at which Killington skiers are closer to next season than last.)

Time for a new thread. NelsBeer has been doing a great job keeping everyone up-to date on the summer work ongoing on the mountain. Sadly, we lost Blaze to Mars Hill, ME, which will negatively impact the condition of several of the glades that Blaze maintained.

NELSBEER

This summer the focus at Crotched is the same with Vail as it was with Peak. Delivering the skiing product.

The grips were off the lift lines shortly after closing, 3 of 4 are ready for the new season
so while the HSQ (Rocket) grips are still out other maintenance is proceeding.

2 PB 400 groomers purchased early on by Peak have moved on and are being replaced with 'new to us' units with less than half the hours on them. One a PARK Bully from Park City, the other from Stowe. Hope they leave the markings on to give the place a more cosmopolitan feel! They also located a mower attachment for our older Prinoth Groomer (usually has a light boom on it) which will return trail grooming to CM staff control once it gets running. {Vail is a little frugal but has many good boneyards; }

The snowmaking system has been a focus for the last few years. This year they will be ready to run 5 pumps from day one. They have six but the power company limits electric usage to 5. The forest growth around many of the pole mounted guns has been cut back to allow better distribution of snow. This is a system that once opened T to B in 2 days (early Peak days) and is now getting closer to that original capacity. The snowmaking crew sounds like they are charged to deliver; so get ready to light your snow candles when it gets cold!

Trail maintenance has become a priority. This year the 'fast open' T to B route, Moonwalk - Galaxie - lower Meteor was a priority. On Moonwalk they brought in a large excavator from Okemo, rented a hydraulic rock breaker attachment and went to work on the narrower steeper bottleneck area. It is wider and flatter now. It should cover with snow much more quickly and ski better for all levels. They moved on to the Galaxy trail to fill & fix years of erosion damage which had made the trail harder to open quickly and keep covered, it looks ready for quicker snow coverage now.

The second high visibility T to B route; Moonwalk - Milkyway - Super Nova saw a super brush back effort. 10' to 20' in places, there will be more places to 'play' along the edges, opportunities to slip in and out of woods and the like. Snow guns will have improved distribution fields and lights will provide better coverage too. Next year they hope to widen & flatten Milkyway if they can get the equipment back.

It looks like Crotched will be ready to provide good skiing as soon as mother nature provides a good cold front. Still looking for Wooly Bears for a report on that front.

hazlntskier

If they are going to widen and flatten Milkyway what are the planning for the fairly steep section entering from Moonwalk? I like that little steep section, but I understand wanting to make it easier for intermediate skiers.

joshua_segal

hazlntskier;c-65741 wroteIf they are going to widen and flatten Milkyway what are the planning for the fairly steep section entering from Moonwalk? I like that little steep section, but I understand wanting to make it easier for intermediate skiers.

Good question: Most of the Snow Sport Instructors/coaches know that if you ski Moonwalk to tower 9 on the Rocket and make a U-turn, it is a very manageable traverse to enter Milky Way from Moonwalk.

To date, there has been a reluctance to add signage to that effect.

ski_it

Thanks for the detailed report Nels. Improvements are always welcomed by the faithful.
I have not seen any wooly bears yet.

Quietman

An issue with encouraging people to traverse from tower 9 back to Milky Way is that lots of aggressive skiers/riders like to catch air off of the top lip of Pluto's without checking who might be below the lip. Last year I had a skier fly down Blast off, hit the lip, and fly by me with his skis at my head level inches away. He fell, apologized profusely, and said that he was stupid, but the Blastoff, Moonwalk, Pluto's intersection is an issue when people are reckless.

Blaze

It’s a great show when going up the lift…we call it the bowling alley!

NELSBEER

The Moonwalk Milkyway corner is a fascinating construct that serves all different level skiers well when it is fully done right. It takes 20'+ of snow in places, a winch cat (preferably) and a really good operator to shape it.

The inside corner is steep, fast & fun; the out and back route is fully Green skier friendly. Ideally the return part has a wide roller shelf that defines the beginner path, if it is wide enough there is limited blind lip to jump off of.

This year they did cut back the undergrowth on the inside corner giving better visibility for the 'fast track' skiers without affecting the skiable area.

They also cut back the left (uphill side) of Milkyway about 20' most of its length, this will provide space for stupid tricks this year, but the hope is to break up the granite ledge above to widen the trail and improve water control - the trail gets too much ground water from the hill above yielding ice that is hard to deal with. Rock from the ledge will be used to build up areas that need mountains of snow currently.

The net effect won't look much different from a current good day but will be quicker opening with less days/weeks of snow making accumulation needed and more really good days with well shaped trail surface and good snow cover.

The summer hill crew is composed of snowmakers. groomer operators & other skiers/boarders. Being users they are really gung-ho on giving more space, better skiing and better snow cover through this area.

Quietman

Thanks for the great explanation! I walked up Milky Way last night and was AMAZED at the amount of trail widening that has been done this summer. If the wood dries out soon enough, they shouldn't need to buy any wood for the midnight fire pits. :smiley:
They also exposed a couple of nice examples of glacial erratics that are quite large and could make interesting jumps with creative snowmaking and ramp building. :p

joshua_segal

Quietman;c-65750 wroteAn issue with encouraging people to traverse from tower 9 back to Milky Way is that lots of aggressive skiers/riders like to catch air off of the top lip of Pluto's without checking who might be below the lip. Last year I had a skier fly down Blast off, hit the lip, and fly by me with his skis at my head level inches away. He fell, apologized profusely, and said that he was stupid, but the Blastoff, Moonwalk, Pluto's intersection is an issue when people are reckless.

There is a logical reason why Patrol refers to that intersection as "Hell's Corner"!

tedede

Thanks for the update @NELSBEER

@joshua_segal nobody reads signs. The are everywhere. Reminds me of a song...

joshua_segal

tedede;c-65761 wroteThanks for the update @NELSBEER

@joshua_segal nobody reads signs. The are everywhere. ...

I suspect that is why that intersection will live on as Hell's Corner1

ski_it

joshua_segal;c-65742 wrote
hazlntskier;c-65741 wroteIf they are going to widen and flatten Milkyway what are the planning for the fairly steep section entering from Moonwalk? I like that little steep section, but I understand wanting to make it easier for intermediate skiers.
Good question: Most of the Snow Sport Instructors/coaches know that if you ski Moonwalk to tower 9 on the Rocket and make a U-turn, it is a very manageable traverse to enter Milky Way from Moonwalk.

To date, there has been a reluctance to add signage to that effect.

I'm an intermediate I can make it down that little steep section. Not always in the best form...

I'm sure you are right as you live there and skied it a billion time and I haven't been there in years, but are you saying you lead novices around pylon #9 and then back across an expert trail Pluto, at I assume what must be a snail's pace if they are novices, directly below the lip made by Moonwalk? Then I can understand the reluctance.
Photo courtesy of remontees-mecaniques.net - Pylon 9

Looks like Conrad caught some more uphillers breaking the rules if they were in force back in 2019.

tedede

@ski_it @joshua_segal said "to tower 9", not around it. I know it sounds crazy but it's an easy turn and traverse back.

More formal uphill rules went into place a while after the Vail purchase of Peaks in Sept of 2019. Due to the late acquisition they left us largely alone for the 19/20 season. Then the pandemic hit and worrying about uphill skiers wasn't the highest priority.

joshua_segal

tedede;c-65769 wrote@ski_it @joshua_segal said "to tower 9", not around it. I know it sounds crazy but it's an easy turn and traverse back.

More formal uphill rules went into place a while after the Vail purchase of Peaks in Sept of 2019. Due to the late acquisition they left us largely alone for the 19/20 season. Then the pandemic hit and worrying about uphill skiers wasn't the highest priority.

Ted, I am confused by the first paragraph of your posting above:

I said, "if you ski Moonwalk to tower 9 on the Rocket and make a U-turn, it is a very manageable traverse to enter Milky Way from Moonwalk."

You said, "'to tower 9', not around it. I know it sounds crazy but it's an easy turn and traverse back."

The bolded part is what I said. Where did "not around it. I know it sounds crazy but it's an easy turn and traverse back" come from?

ski_it

I said around it. Not Ted. Or you. And Quietman said some fly off that lip without checking their path is clear. As he said that’s on them. As CM experts of course you are correct. My memory is a little fuzzy on the “terrain” going back that a way.
I don’t worry generally about uphillers except if they are carrying but this season one surprised me in some big bumps at Jay last April.

joshua_segal

ski_it;c-65775 wroteI said around it. Not Ted. Or you. And Quietman said some fly off that lip without checking their path is clear. As he said that’s on them. As CM experts of course you are correct. My memory is a little fuzzy on the “terrain” going back that a way.
I don’t worry generally about uphillers except if they are carrying but this season one surprised me in some big bumps at Jay last April.

Thanks for the clarification. If there was a serious effort to make the entrance to Milky Way "Blue Square", the mountain would (at minimum) have to set up a rope line above the area that quietman mentioned.

Tedede is right that people either don't read or ignore signs. I suspect Patrol puts the signs out every morning to provide a checkmark on an insurance form.

NELSBEER

Prices on EPIC passes go up on Labor Day (Sept. 2nd), there was a statement from Vail management that EPIC pass sales have exceeded 2 million passes already (they sold 2.4 million total last year). There are hints that pass sales may be limited this year on e-mail adverts coming out from Crotched. It is safe to assume that daily pass sale shutoffs would mostly apply to a few mid-winter & good snow weekends at Crotched. Weekdays and even holidays are not typically crowded. EPIC pass sales are scheduled to be available thru December 3rd, Their stated goal is 70-75% EPIC visitors across all VAIL properties.

The trail work described above is mostly aimed at optimizing trail safety and capacity, the snowmaking system is in the best shape it has seen in years and the lifts are in good shape (still waiting on tested chair hanger returns for Rocket) . The Rocket is fully able to run at its max. legal rated 1000' per minute but will probably run at 900' fpm on busy weekends due to mix of ages and skill levels of riders. It was running slower in prior years.

Crotched looks like it ready to open quickly this year when mother nature sends the cold. Watch the website for opening date.

obienick

Have they looked at the Rocket unload? That ramp — while not the worst of a Vail property in NH — was located in a very weird position with respect to chair swing on decelleration.

NoahEastCoastSkier

Hoping for at least a few laps on west ledges this season :)