Little White Lies: Are Snow Reports Accurate?

Snow reporting isn't always an exact science and not all reporters are as objective as this snow stake at Attitash. (Attitash photo)

My friend Rich covers City Hall for a major newspaper. His motto is: “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out from other sources.”

I bring this up only because some of the snow reports I’ve been seeing from ski resorts lately have been, well, to put it charitably, not completely accurate in all details. Perhaps it’s because of the tough start we’ve had this season, but I’ve seen more “spin” put on some reports this year than in recent years. I know this because EasternSlopes.com  has a network of people we know and trust reporting back to us—when their reports disagree with the resort’s, we trust our spies. They have absolutely no reason to report anything other than exactly what they observe.

For a long time, resort snow reports were, if not pure fiction, at least creative in their use of the facts. You had to interpret. Whenever you saw  the word “packed” as in “packed powder” for example, you automatically interpreted it to mean “ice.”

These days, when some skier or rider on the hill can instantly Tweet a thousand of his or her “friends” with an opinion on the conditions, it’s harder for those  little white lies to slip by unnoticed. But that doesn’t mean some overly enthusiastic, underpaid and under-supervised cub snow reporter at a mountain won’t try.

If reported conditions sound perhaps just a little too good to be true, check it out from other sources before you decide where to buy a lift ticket. If you find conditions which don’t even slightly resemble what the snow report said, tell us about it.

But be fair about it. A popular trail that’s soft packed powder in the morning might be skied off by late afternoon. That’s beyond the resort’s control. And no area can fully recover instantly from a meltdown and re-freeze!

But if someone flat-out deceives you, take your business somewhere else next time  . . .that’s the best way to insure we get all accurate snow reports.

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2. Western Snow Vs. Eastern Snowmaking–Which Can Guarantee You A Quality Experience?
3. Fan Guns: The New Face of New England Snow
4. The New Face of New Hampshire Skiing, Moe Snow!
5. The Season Begins–Killington’s Making Snow!!!