Royal Mountain Conditions

[Jim]

I was pleasantly surprised how well the snow held up to the warm and rain of the past week. Things got patched up pretty nicely and we only lost Doc's Drop from last weekend. Captain Jack's is really thin but was open. There are still some pretty big mounds scattered around that can be pushed around as needed. The snow quality was as expected, a somewhat frozen but wet granular. Easy to catch your tails in a rut or on a little mound of it if not careful. Probably the strangest thing was. that a whole lot of leaves had blown out of the woods and onto the top half of Prince. I couldn't really feel any effect on my skiing but it was weird skiing over so many of them. The snow overall was nice enough that I took about 15 runs across all of the trails. It was colder than I expected, and cloudy and breezy. By the end (I left before 1), it was sleeting, then snowing, then sleet mixed with a little rain.

Looking at the forecasts, it seems that over the next 2 days Royal could get anywhere from a light coating of slush to a substantial snowfall. I'm holding off on whether to head up tomorrow until I see what the weather looks like.

The snow drag that was planned for today was postponed, not sure if they'll be able to reschedule. That's too bad because I think it's a good money maker. The cardboard sled derby is still on as planned next weekend, with pond skimming the following week.

 

[tirolski]

I was pleasantly surprised how well the snow held up to the warm and rain of the past week. Things got patched up pretty nicely ... The snow quality was as expected, a somewhat frozen but wet granular. Easy to catch your tails in a rut or on a little mound of it if not careful. Probably the strangest thing was. that a whole lot of leaves had blown out of the woods ... I couldn't really feel any effect on my skiing but it was weird skiing over so many of them.

About the same at Song yesterday but twas warmer. Avoided any big brown spot but there were a few tiny brown spots from the leaves, most likely uncovered due to the weather. Much better than skiing over little rocks.

 

[Jim]

Royal reported 4" this morning. I arrived around 12:30 and it had shrunk to 2 or 3" or so. More up top, less down low. What we did get made for some pleasant skiing. The surfaces were more firm than yesterday, and with the exception of some low angle ungroomed spots like parts of Lower Red Carpet, not too grabby. It was a heavy, wet snow, of course, and was getting mounded up in some spots. The new snow wasn't enough to get Doc's back, and not even close to enough to bring any trees back into play, but it did extend Captain Jacks for at least another day. I made 11 runs in about 90 minutes, and was satisfied with the amount of skiing I was able to do on this otherwise busy day.

 

[Jim]

Headed up in a little while this morning. Here's a Facebook post from yesaterday:

It sure has been an interesting season here at the mountain! Throughout the season there are always many critical decisions to make on how much snow you need to make to get you through a fair season for pass holders.
Similar to last season, we opted for a longer snowmaking season at marginal temps, assuming little to no natural snowpack.
Although this pays off for a long snowpack this is an extremly costly expense to the mountain. Although there are many expenses associated with snowmaking, the largest is the power usage. The power bills for snowmaking this season was well over 100k.
The pictures posted are from today 3/15 after a mid day groom in hopes of a setup before morning. We still have great cover but the snowpack is starting to get thin.
This up coming week the night temps will be in the low to mid 20s so we should be able keep good coverage with snow management with the cats.
For this weekend we have decided to close the Captain Jack until the temps cool down allowing us to move some snow around.
We hope to see everyone this weekend to enjoy the snow! Cardboard sled derby on the slope and entertainment in the bar tomorrow.

 

[Jim]

The Friday groom turned out to be a great call. The snow was firm and edgeable all morning, really some of the best surfaces all season except for those way-too-rare fresh natural snow days. The sun didn't really come out much until after 11, then things got softer. All 5 main ways down were good. Prince and Royal were my picks of the day. I could only stay until 12:30. I did 16 runs, would have gladly done 20 more if I could have stayed longer.

There are some thin spots on the main trails, nothing too bad yet. Lots of dirt and leaves groomed and skied in make it look a little ugly in some places down low, still edge-to-edge cover for the most part though.

Edit: adding a few pics from today. Royal.

Top of Challenge.

Lower Red Carpet and terrain park.

Queen from the top.

 

[Harvey]

Was today closing day?

 

[Jim]

No changes have been announced yet to the intent to stay open for Easter break. That might not be possible but there's plenty of snow to get through the upcoming colder week to be open as planned next weekend. Pond skim on Saturday.

I've got a lot of travel coming up, but there's a small chance I can get up there for a few runs next Sunday. Other than that, my next chance on a planned day of operation won't be until Thursday 4/4.

 

[Jim]

From my snowsports school director:

Operations Update
Friday (3/29): Closed for skiing. Open for the 3rd and final snow drag of the season. Sign-up 4-6, racing @ 7pm.
Saturday (3/30): Open for skiing and riding as usual, 9am to 4pm.
Sunday (3/31): Closed for Easter.
Monday to Sunday (4/1 - 4/7): Open for skiing and riding, 9am to 4pm. Weather dependent, this is subject to change.

I'm mostly away and/or working but hope to get up for a few runs to close out my Royal season next Thursday.

 

[Jim]

I'm in FL right now, so can only report what's on the FB page:

"We are open all week from 9AM-4PM weather dependent.
BOGO lift tickets. Buy 1 get 1 half off all week. Second lift ticket is of equal or less value to the first."

Looks like my Royal season might not be over. I hope to make some runs Thursday and again Sunday for what could be closing day.

 

[Harvey]

Royal going for April with the big boys!