We make no secret of the fact that we’re unabashed fans of Eastern skiing and riding. Not that we’re against what the West offers; skiing is skiing, riding is riding, and it’s all good. But we definitely aren’t fans of the “Oh, you simply have go West to have good conditions” mentality. And now come reports that the 2010 Olympic skiing events are in danger…no, not from terrorism, but from a lack of snow. Wait a minute…aren’t they out West? It’s February! How could they not have snow?
Well, in a word…weather. It’s been warm and rainy there, and Cypress Mountain has been closed to the public, with muddy, bare slopes. The Olympic organizing committee is talking about bringing in hay bales and wood to build a substructure that they can then cover with trucked-in snow. And, of course, they’re hoping the weather will change just in time to add some of the natural stuff, right when and where they need it. It’s cold enough…but they don’t have the snowmaking capacity to make all the snow that they need.
Now, if the 2010 Winter Games were in an earlier Olympic venue, Whiteface, why, they’d just need to turn on some more snowmaking (although not at this moment, as they have already 68 trails open in a not-great natural snow year). In really horrible situations, they might need to move some snow from one trail to another, not from one mountain to another. The concern would be what was the easiest way to do it, not whether it was possible or not.
The fact is, Eastern ski areas have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to bring in the finest snowmaking that exists IN THE WORLD. Case in point: even a little family resort like Black Mountain was able to recover from a crushing winter rainstorm in only 4 days to provide great conditions for their 75th anniversary party…and they probably have less snowmaking capacity than 90% of their Eastern brethren. A few weeks ago, I saw mounds at SkiBromont that were probably 30 feet high, being stockpiled to create a mogul run for the weekend. This isn’t making snow for survival…this is making snow to create a varied, excellent experience for their customers.
You can argue that Western resorts offer more powder, and they certainly can . . . sometimes. . . . But would you rather have a vacation scheduled for right now at a Western mountain that’s muddy and bare, or for an Eastern mountain that’s got 30, 40, 70, 100 trails open with consistent manmade snow? As we found in “The Guns Of Attitash“, the quality as well as the quantity of manmade snow has increased dramatically in recent years…and we’ve enjoyed the benefits of snowmaking every time we’ve been out on Eastern Slopes. Greater base depths, more runs open…the areas are giving us good skiing in lousy times, and spectacular skiing when Mother Nature cooperates.
So, the next time someone brags about their multi-thousand-dollar 5-day trip to Aspen, or Whistler, or wherever…think about your 40 days of skiing on great surfaces in the East, plus enough money left over to buy new skis . . . If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, nothing will!
Just read your article after skiing at Breckenridge(Out west in Colorado). The conditions are bad by out west standards. Fifty inch base with some slick, hardpack patches in heavily traveled areas. About what midwest and east coast skiers would call excellent conditions. Few miles south of here in Durango they have had five feet of snow in the past two weeks. You could hardly get to the ski area each day. Yep, give me the east coast where its not ice unless you can see last years trail map frozen in the grass. An east coast friend came here last years for the first time. Good skier who said after the first run in eighteen inches of west powder, “I can’t ski this. First off I can’t see me skis and second, I can’t hear them.” Enough said!
Hey Eddie,
Thanks for writing and we appreciate your point. I lived in Utah for three years, have skied in Colorado, Alberta and BC as well. When it snows, conditions are good–out west or anywhere else! Sounds like you’re getting your money’s worth this year… We’re glad you’re having a good time out there!
But you’ve also exactly proved our main point. You’ve got great conditions, but there’s no way of guaranteeing it. If it had thawed the day before you arrived, then frozen hard (it happens, even out west), you’d have have a vertical skating rink and no way of fixing it. And what would you do if it hadn’t snowed at all? By the way, if you think eastern skiers are stymied by powder, watch a western skier on plain old hardpack . . .
Anyway, it doesn’t feel good to spend a few thousand on a trip and have yourself totally at the mercy of Mother Nature. I know, I’ve been there, done that, sat in the bar and drowned my sorrows. And there’s no escape out west. You refer to Durango being “a few miles south.” Last time I drove that route, it was almost 6 very l-o-n-g hours. Where I live, I’ve got more that 50 ski hills areas within 5 hours of me, including such storied slopes as LeMassif, Sugarloaf, Cannon, Stowe, Mad River Glen, Whiteface, just to name a few of many. (If you dismiss these ski hills as being small by western standards, you simply haven’t skied or ridden them.) If a coastal storm didn’t dump a foot of snow on one area, chances are an Alberta clipper dusted somewhere else. And even when it doesn’t snow, we’ve got snow thanks to the massive investments eastern resorts have made in snowmaking and grooming.
This weekend, for example, we enjoyed smooth, soft corduroy at Black Mountain in Jackson, NH, and Cranmore Mountain in North Conway, NH. Neither of those are “superstar” resorts. But less than a week after a horrific warm rainstorm caused a major meltdown with no natural snow since, they offered an enjoyable day on the slopes.
I’m really glad you enjoy your western skiing. When it’s great, it’s GREAT. But I’ll bet my money on conditions in the east and get in a lot more skiing time for a lot fewer $$$.
[…] results is journalistically irresponsible. We’ve commented on the conditions before…but they haven’t gotten much better, and it’s affecting […]
We’ve recently received two comments on this story from a disgruntled reader, neither of which we’ve chosen to publish. Here’s why: Rather than challenging our opinion that Eastern skiing and riding has something to offer that the West doesn’t, this person chose to attack us, our opinions, our backgrounds and the experience that produced those opinions, our abilities and our motives—everything, in short, but the marital status of our parents . . .
So, it’s time for an editorial statement on comments. We will NOT( now or ever) publish attacks on people, resorts, or equipment. We don’t believe that vitriol is necessary in a website devoted to having fun outdoors. Contrary to what you see in politics these days (from both sides) we believe that people can express opinions, even disagree strongly and still do it civilly.
We WILL publish dissenting comments that are constructive; Eddie West’s comments above are a good example. We don’t expect everyone to agree with us all the time. Even we don’t agree all the time. In fact, we regularly fight out, among ourselves, our editorial position on different products, different resorts and different issues that have to do with what goes into this website and what doesn’t. We learn a lot from defending our own positions and listening to other people defend theirs. We recognize that we can’t be everything to everyone and we try to make the best editorial decisions we can. Other people make different choices and that’s why there are so many different magazines/blogs/whatevers on the web. If you don’t like what we are saying, you have choices you can exercise with the click of a mouse.
We also need to make clear that we are NOT a “ski blog.” We focus on safely enjoying non-motorized outdoor activities in the Eastern United States and Canada. Within that focus, we try to provide balanced, useful commentary on a whole range of topics, skiing and riding among them.
We will happily publish in full all relevant and civil comments, whether they agree with us or not. We won’t publish anything we feel is offensive. So feel free to tell us what you’d like to see, or, especially, to constructively agree or disagree with the facts or opinions we put in our articles.
I thought I’d like to chime in as an east coast skier.
I absolutely agree with the original article: skiing in the east has its charms and has very good value for someone living in the east.
That is not to say that skiing out in the west is inferior to skiing in the east in general. If I could pick between a perfect day in the east and a perfect day in the west, there is no contest. I’d pick a perfect day in the west with no hesitation. If I count my top 10 ski days, the majority belong to the west, although I’ve skiied mainly in the East.
Having said that, in reality, I, as someone living in the east, cannot always ski in the perfect conditions in the west, because, as the original article correctly pointed out, I’m at the mercy of Mother Nature during the period that I had chosen probably months earlier. It costs an insane amount of money to take my family to the west to ski, and the thought of having to deal with the weather lottery is not pleasant.
If you had a private jet and a chalet and can fly out to the west on a moment’s notice after a storm, then it could be a different story, I think. But as an ordinary skier with moderate means, I agree that staying in the East has great value.
Thanks, Ken…glad you like the article, but more important, glad you like Eastern snow! We’re starting to get excited about skiing…it’s that time of year. And, frankly, without great snowmaking, we wouldn’t even start to think about it for another month or so. My skis came out last week, and are headed for their “new season” tune; if we get a freak Halloween snowstorm, I want to be ready. Here’s to a great 2010-2011 Eastern ski season!