Worst Ski Season Ever?

depts.washington.edu/cwws/Outreach/Presentations/miles.pdf

check out this presentation from the lead climate researcher at UW. Lots of info, but compelling data.


And, sorry Jerm. no more east coast bashing. My only point with that is, east coasters have a little different perspective on mountains, snow and skiing than people who have lived out here all their lives.

Jerm - I too have skied great snow in NE, and I've also hiked 2 inches of ice on top of dirt on some of the highest northerly mountains during the month of January. <br><br>If you're headed back that way, say "hi" to the yellow birch glades in the northeast kingdom for me!

Jerm,<br><br>Hadn't meant my comments to be serious. I too have had great experiences in New England. <br><br>Now the Mid Atlantic....... thats another story.<br><br>Alan

Trying to catch up on my reading here...<br><br>It seems like a wide range of points of view have been aired - great discussion. I would like to add one idea related to MW88888888's first (?) post, and that is that it is possible to report useful snow/avi/skiing conditions information here without revealing exactly where you skied and thus risking an invasion of TAYers or TAY lurkers.<br><br>There are very few places that I go that I think would be at risk of invasion AND where that invasion would diminish my skiing experience. When I post a TR from one of those places (and I always do) I simply include all of the typical information I normally give except that which would allow someone to localize the place exactly. What's useful? General location, slope elevation and aspect, weather, and snowpack, avi, and skiing quality details. This information can be very useful for other skiers, even if they can't pinpoint the exact location of the secret stash.<br><br>I would guess that MW88888888 comes here, like most people, mainly for the snow/avi/skiing info which is so generously provided by TRs members who post about their ski trips. It seems to me that a good case could be made for the argument that people who use the information posted here have an obligation to contribute information as well, when they have such information. This system works only by people both giving and taking. If everyone here was a taker and nobody were to share their information, then there would be no information here for anyone to benefit from, and thus there would be no trip reports forum at all.<br><br>

Charles, very true.<br><br>I find that I feel better when I post a day or two here and there when the info isn't "compromising" my good snow spots. I don't feel bad for not posting for a while in a season like this, 'cause your wonderful Telemetry Index was really why I started to visit this site. The TR's where really extra and mostly confirmed what I know from slope angle, altitude, temperature and history in the numbers in plane view for everyone. Really, when yout hink about it, there really isn't too much you could add in a Trip Report that the wonderful telemetry sites already don't say. The numbers don't lie. You just don't want to say where in northern mountains, central or south mountians you are if you enjoy being the only car in the car park.<br><br>Anyway, I enjoy reading/writing about this great sport and will do so in the future. Hopefully with better snow reports. I'm heading to Cali at the end of the month, so I'm sure the tide will change!

Your view of telemetry vs reports is interesting, because despite all of the time I have spent looking at telemetry and correlating it with field conditions, I still look to the reports as the most accurate info about skiing conditions. The telemetry is valuable, of course, but I've been tricked into expecting certain conditions, only to find them quite different, too many times to be really confident using only the telemetry. But everybody has their own best system...<br><br>I should add that when I say "skiing conditions" I'm not trying to ignore all of the snowboarders. I just find it cumbersome to keep typing "skiing/boarding conditions", but that's what I mean - the quality of the snow for sliding.