Bristol Conditions

[Johnny V.]

Two day report. Yesterday/Monday was groomed with sun that disappeared around 11:30 or so. Pretty busy for a Monday! Bumps gone on Rocket. Good day to spend some time on the race skis getting ready for today's race-haven't had the terrain to really let them rip.

First beer league race today. Foggy with soft very edgeable snow which make for a fun race. The predicted rain turned into soft snow making for great post race free skiing. Upper North Star was open-the first time anyone has had a chance to ski it with the recent widening. Big improvement as the older narrower version, while nice got skied off quite quickly. Never opened last year. Assuming they can get it opened top to bottom it will be a fantastic run off the Galaxy chair. Quit around 12:30 with tired legs as the snow turned to stinging sleet/grauple.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Two day report. Yesterday/Monday was groomed with sun that disappeared around 11:30 or so. Pretty busy for a Monday! Bumps gone on Rocket. Good day to spend some time on the race skis getting ready for today's race-haven't had the terrain to really let them rip.

First beer league race today. Foggy with soft very edgeable snow which make for a fun race. The predicted rain turned into soft snow making for great post race free skiing. Upper North Star was open-the first time anyone has had a chance to ski it with the recent widening. Big improvement as the older narrower version, while nice got skied off quite quickly. Never opened last year. Assuming they can get it opened top to bottom it will be a fantastic run off the Galaxy chair. Quit around 12:30 with tired legs as the snow turned to stinging sleet/grauple.

Thanks for the great update! Can't wait to rip Northstar top to bottom!

 

[Johnny V.]

Can't wait to rip Northstar top to bottom!

It will be very nice. I know the long term plan is to make it the race trail and move the events center over there. Whether it will happen before I stop racing or die is the big question! If it happens it will be a fun race trail!

Skied today until about noon just as the rain was starting. Soft groomed conditions allowed for edge confidence, although as expected the light was flat. Glad I got yellow lenses with my new goggles. Happy I didn't sign up for Wednesday night racing-it's going to be miserable...............

 

[Johnny V.]

Took two of my granddaughters down for their Saturday groups which means I stick around until 2:30-I adjust my expectations and deal with the Saturday crowds. Bristol survived the 1" of rain on Thursday night. All trails that were open Wednesday are still open, although there are some brown and thin spots. Eclipse (lower part of the loop) sustained damage-a culvert backed up and wiped out a good portion of the snow. It was closed yesterday. The crew refilled and moved enough snow to open it, although the spot where it happened is narrowed until they can do a permanent repair. Snow was spring conditions today-mushy and chunky. They're supposed to receive some wet snow tomorrow and Monday AM which will help along with some lower temps to hopefully run the guns again.

Old man rant: Way too many "meat missiles" on the hill. Saw one kid run straight down Comet-no poles and obviously couldn't stop or turn for anything. Many more examples on the crowded green slopes. Wish patrol would pull a few passes-the word might get out.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Took two of my granddaughters down for their Saturday groups which means I stick around until 2:30-I adjust my expectations and deal with the Saturday crowds. Bristol survived the 1" of rain on Thursday night. All trails that were open Wednesday are still open, although there are some brown and thin spots. Eclipse (lower part of the loop) sustained damage-a culvert backed up and wiped out a good portion of the snow. It was closed yesterday. The crew refilled and moved enough snow to open it, although the spot where it happened is narrowed until they can do a permanent repair. Snow was spring conditions today-mushy and chunky. They're supposed to receive some wet snow tomorrow and Monday AM which will help along with some lower temps to hopefully run the guns again.

Old man rant: Way too many "meat missiles" on the hill. Saw one kid run straight down Comet-no poles and obviously couldn't stop or turn for anything. Many more examples on the crowded green slopes. Wish patrol would pull a few passes-the word might get out.

Meat missile ... that's a good name. I refer to them as "mountain vermin"

Yeah would be great if they'd pull some passes.

Thanks for the mountain updates.

 

[Johnny V.]

Report for 1/29-1/30. Some snow overnight on Sunday, so some fresh was mixed in with the groom on Monday. It kept snowing which helped the slopes, but combined with the fog, made for less than great visibility. Today was decent, although marbles on some of the steeper slopes. Our Tuesday racecourse ended up with berms due to the frozen granular surface. Not bad, but not a confidence building day with more low light. No new trails-the pond is full just waiting for cold weather to fire up the guns.

 

[Johnny V.]

Nice day today. Got down late-around 10:30 as I had an 8AM annual physical. Sun with a softened surface made for one of the best days of this pretty poor ski year. Everything still open-looks like they got a little snow overnight. Skied until about 1:15 or so as the sun gave way to clouds.

 

[Johnny V.]

One of those "hey at least we're skiing" days. Sprinkling when we left Rochester, but my wife said "I'm dressed for skiing, we're going". Got there in mist which changed to light wet snow. Surface wasn't bad-the slight amount of new snow helped. Fog banks came and went throughout the morning. Chunked and stiffened up as the time passed. We quit about noon and headed home. Snow is holding up except for the Eclipse part of the loop where the washout occurred last Friday-it's covered but getting pretty brown. Maybe temps will allow at least a slight resurfacing there in the next couple of days.

 

[Johnny V.]

Gotta give Bristol credit for running the guns on the upper part of the hill under marginal snowmaking conditions to do some resurfacing. Sun came out and I spent the morning on the backside with my daughter as she gets her ski legs back under her and we looked for her kids in their groups. Snow was nice and it was nice to crank short turns on slalom skis on the greens.Mid to bottom of the Loop was suger snow, which make for not pleasant conditions for the beginners. No closed trails, management is doing their best to make a decent ski season with the deck stacked against them. College GS race on Comet with a big field-glad I wasn't racing as the ruts got huge in the whole course.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Was there also Saturday morning. Not first chair but waited in line before they started loading. I was pleasantly surprised also to see them trying to make snow where able. It made me feel like it was a bit more winter like than actual.

Meteor was our first run and was surprisingly decent. Skied upper Northstar for the first time in two years since it never opened last year. The snow was pretty good and seems like the new guns made a lot better snow. I expected it to be wider given the trail renovations, but it seems only a little wider. Then we tried Galaxy, it was so choppy and erratic it was one and done. Same for Rocket, I couldn't get off of it soon enough. Made a few more runs on meteor and Northstar then finished up on southern cross and finally Milkyway.


Anyway overall I was pleasantly surprised. I bet the afternoon sun may have made it a bit better.

I've now used only 2 of 12 tickets. It's gonna be very difficult to use them all, especially with another western trip planned for March. My neighbor is also sitting on 11. Next year I think he and I will split a 12 pass. I'll put the savings on the pass plus the savings when I don't renew my driveway plowing contract toward our next year's Ikon passes. Maybe that will help insure a snowier next year for us