Ski the East

Bromley Brings in Camelback GM

Richard Wiseman, formally General Manager of Camelback Ski Area in Pennsylvania is set to take over as President of Vermont's Bromley Mountain.  John Cueman, Bromley president since 1984, will assume a new position as Vice President of Real Estate Planning for Bromley.

Wiseman began his career in the ski industry in the early 70's when he purchased Otis Ridge Ski Area in Western Massachusetts. He worked at Stowe for three years and became the Vice President of Mountain Operations at Mountain High, in California before returning east to Camelback in 1993.

photo of Bromley Mountain by Mike Doyle

Time For Tuckerman's?

If you check the latest photos on tuckerman.org it may seem like a great weekend ahead, that is if the rain expected for tomorrow doesn't continue during a freeze cycle. 

Everybody heading out to ski or ride should check both the Weekend Update and the Latest Avalanche Advisory . The Weekend Update will be there tomorrow and a new Advisory will also be up in the morning. Be sure to read the advisory all the way through as it also contains warnings as to terrain and trail conditions.

Have fun and don't forget to drop a donation for the ski patrol...

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

The last chair to load this afternoon closed out a record-breaking season today at Sugarloaf making it the last resort to close on the east coast. Sugarloaf began the season on November 9 and continued without interruption through today, providing six full months of skiing on Maine's second tallest peak.

Sugarloaf received nearly 100 inches of natural snow by January 1 and finished the season with 224 inches, including eight inches last Wednesday. $5 million worth of summer investments are planned, including additional enhancements to its snowmaking and resort facilities.

photo copyright Sugarloaf Resort

Sugarloaf Gets 8" of New Snow!

Eight inches of new snow blanketed Sugarloaf last night, bringing the season's total snowfall at the resort to 224 inches.

Sugarloaf plans to remain open until May 4, and will team up with Northern Outdoors to offer its first ever Raft and Ski Weekend, giving guests the opportunity to raft the Dead River on Saturday, May 3, and then ski at Sugarloaf on Sunday, May 4.

Lift tickets are just $39 for adults and young adults, and just $30 for juniors and seniors through the end of the season. Skiers and riders looking to prepare for next season should act fast to purchase a 2008/2009 New England Pass by the April 30 deadline for the best prices and benefits. Passes are available at 1.800.THE.LOAF, or online at sugarloaf.com.

photo copyright Sugarloaf Resort

Last Hurrah

A look at who's open this weekend:

Maine

Sunday River

Sugarloaf

New Hampshire

Wildcat

Vermont

Jay Peak

Mount Snow

Sugarbush

For conditions check Snocountry Mountain Reports.

That's All Folks! But remember - As Time Goes By: We'll Always Have Tuckerman's...

Whiteface Gets NASTAR Gold

At the end of 07-08 NASTAR competition Whiteface Mountain ranked first in the mid-Atlantic region, first overall in the east and seventh nationally in racer days.  A total of 123 resorts hosted NASTAR activity during the 2007-08 winter season. Whiteface’s performance was an improvement from last winter when the mountain, burdened with a late start due to weather issues, placed 11^th.

NASTAR, which is the acronym for National Standard Race, incorporates national handicaps for recreational skiers and boarders, similar to golf handicaps, and allows racers of different abilities to compete fairly. Anyone can race in NASTAR and if you haven't never raced you can register for next season and be set up in the national computer now.

This winter, Whiteface saw 7,556 racer days, twice as many as a year ago. This led to 16,740 starts, almost twice the number of last season. Both figures were tops in the mid-Atlantic.

Dumont Sets New High Air At Sunday River

Last Friday, April 11,  X Games star Simon Dumont broke the world record for highest air on a quarterpipe at his home resort of Sunday River. Sunday River is located minutes from Dumont's home near Bethel Village in western Maine’s Mahoosuc Mountains.

By peaking at a height of 35 feet above the top of the quarterpipe Dumont topped the previous world record of 32.5 feet held by Norwegian Terje Haakonsen . The 38-foot quarterpipe where Dumont set the new mark was built by Snow Park Technologies with support from the Sunday River Park Crew and is the largest quarterpipe ever constructed.

The assault on the record began Tuesday morning when Dumont arrived at Sunday River directly off a flight from Sweden. Dumont began hitting the quarter pipe in the early afternoon and reaching heights as high as 28 feet before drifting in the air and falling nearly 66 feet onto the snow below. A resulting injury and windy weather caused Simon to postpone skiing the pipe until Friday morning.

On Friday, after an hour of repeatedly hitting the quarter pipe, at 10:12 a.m. EST Dumont hiked an additional 15 feet up the hill to gain more speed, hit the quarterpipe doing 55mph and not only launched up to 35 feet, but managed to spin a 900 in the process (a trick where the athlete spins 2.5 complete rotations in the air).

Congrats to Simon on the Record and congrats to the crew of Snow Park Technologies and Sunday River’s operations teams including Parks Manager Nick Roma, Mountain Manager Brian Jones, and Terrain Park Development Manager for Boyne’s New England Resorts Jay Scambio...

Photo of Dumont's record breaking run in the Sunday River Quarterpipe by Christian Pondella/Red Bull Phofiles. 

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H2B Congressional Hearing Wednesday 4/16

The House Immigration Subcommittee has scheduled a formal Hearing on the H-2B program for next week. The details of the Hearing are:

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Save Small Business.org is urging all who support the H2B visa and it's "returning worker provision" to contact their Representative and urge him, or her, to go to the Hearing and make a statement in support of the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption.

Go to Save Small Business.org to read more about supporting the proposal and be sure to check out the stance and language of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the most highest profile group opposing the H2B Program.

A Rumor of Springtime

Many times, rumors are labeled "nasty" or more distinctly referred to as an "ugly rumor." Well, The Rumor trail at Gore Mountain was open today and while a bit barren on the lip it was far from ugly. In fact, mid-morning it was a long, pretty picture of awkward bumps and bruises. Hey, it's springtime and they sure weren't making any snow so just dropping the ropes on The Rumor for a few last romps made it a lot of fun.

Forget about the uncontrollable slide for life, the soft snow was sure to stop anyone within a few vertical feet. The biggest problem I had was shooting through the bald spots on the face of the lip and losing a pole for which I had to sidestep back up - one foot up slide down two. Caveat is - use the pole straps don't worry about a need for self-arresting in the ice cream.

Actually, when I lost my pole in the softening snow it was when I went back to get some pictures for my ski friend, Tom, who wasn't able to make it today. As much as he likes Gore Mountain Tom was under Doctor's order to rest two broken ribs he got falling in the Basement Couloir.

I looked down the Basement Couloir that tripped Tom up and I could tell The Rumor was much more forgiving today. You see Tom lost an edge and slipped where the Couloir took a hard skier's left, very near the bottom. Analyzing Tom's fall the consensus is don't wear slippers when you're carrying skis down to the basement tuning bench.

I say strap those ribs and give The Rumor one more shot but then again, I'm relating this with one eye on the weather. It could be a wash out coming, and maybe The Rumor will be put to sleep until next year, but I do hope you and Tom can get a run in if you are so inclined...

Mount Snow To Go The Distance

While many ski areas are finalizing closing plans and announcing a last day of skiing. Mount Snow in Vermont has announced that it would not set an official closing day. “As long as there’s snow on the slopes, and people on that snow, we’ll stay open,” said Mount Snow’s General Manager, Kelly Pawlak.

With that as a perameter Mount Snow could be open for quite a bit longer into spring. If you remember Peak Resorts, which purchased Mount Snow in April of 2007, spent $3.5 million upgrading its snowmaking system last summer, including 101 fan guns installed all over the mountain. Pawlak estimated that an average of four to six feet of snow is piled up on trails equipped with those fan guns.

Mount Snow was the first resort to open in Vermont for the 2007-08 season, and the first resort to open in New England with top to bottom skiing and riding. Mountain Manager Elia Hamilton stated that, as of Thursday, every single trail on the mountain was still completely covered in snow, top to bottom, edge to edge.

Discounted late season lift ticket pricing went into effect Monday, March 31, 2008. Also, skiers and riders will receive a $10 voucher good for next season, valid from opening day through December 24th, with the purchase of every full price lift ticket, or purchase a 2008/09 season pass this spring and ski or ride the rest of this season free.

photo of Mount Snow in November '07