Today is the kind of day that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt
that there is no greater power on the face of Earth than Mother
Nature. First the heat, then the cool, and then, the most technically
challenging day of this new season.
Within the random order of unique weather factors, we might only
have 1 or 2 days like that in the whole season, maybe none.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 12.22.18.Summit.Views.Soleil.Quad.Off.Load.c.jpg (160.18 KiB) Viewed 1904 times
in between 5 or 6 hours and went from “+” to “-“ so quickly,
and with so much wind force behind it, that basically, it flash-froze
everything... right now.
This very quickly generated an icy mantle over the whole Mountain
and even with some snowfall, there was not much of a chance of it
bonding with the surface the way we had hoped. It all just happened
too quickly, and with way more wind than would ever permit the
snow “Settling”.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 12.22.18.Summit.Views.Soleil.Sector.Warnings.b.jpg (169.43 KiB) Viewed 1904 times
helped some, but it was clear that there were some guests that
were a bit over their skills. We’re being polite with that, but it was
the reality.
Mountain Crews have their work cut out for them tonight, but we
are confident you will see some dramatic improvements overnight.
The mid-day reduction in Open Trails was justified by both safety
and terrain preservation
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- 12.22.18.Lowell.Thomas.Bas.Lower.Icy.Section.Sample.d.jpg (638.28 KiB) Viewed 1904 times
edges that were in the “Lee” of the wind, where the snow got retained to a
larger extent by the way it had some shelter. You had to be very good at
short radius parallel turns, but we frequently encountered soft, shallow
powder lines that would run for whole sections like this Lowell Thomas Bas,
Lower sample above. The Screen-right side shown above was quite soft
and easy to swing tons of tiny turns on.
The Race Course is still set up on McCulloch, so there may be work
there for all the young racers?
There were some very well prepared surfaces in the Green, we think
the best example was Nansen Haut, Upper. It was busy though, so
even though there was good traction and minimal slickness, the
number of people using it demanded total focus and continuous
scanning.
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- 12.22.18.Nansen.Haut.Upper.Best.Green.Terrain.c.jpg (591.83 KiB) Viewed 1903 times
Blue terrain, just because Beginners and Intermediates need higher degrees
of user friendly for safety and confidence, while Experts can usually take
care of themselves.
We want to specifically mention that the Default Setting for
natural Re-freeze cycles at Tremblant seems to be “Smooth”.
Smooth makes everything else doable, per user skills matched to
terrain ratings, and over the years, we have observed Mountain
Crews investing big hours into rendering “Smooth” after these
rare types of temporarily overwhelming natural weather.
Conditions Caveat:
This is no time for Intermediates to be on Expert Trails.
Some Intermediates do not seem to be aware of,
or understand, the "Laws Of Physics", with particular
reference to "Consequential Damages of Gravitational Force,
pulling on a 100Kg Intermediate Skier, at high speed, placed
on a steeply inclined, Icy, Black Diamond, Experts Only, Rated Surface”.
Uncontrolled or Poorly Controlled Speed potentials over steep, icy,
Expert Rated trails are dangerous.
More in the morning but you absolutely need the best edges
you can bring if you want to optimize your efforts.
Without edges, you may be spending a lot of time going sideways.
We think there is a very high probability of substantial overnight
groomed trail quality improvements. Mountain Crews recovery
efforts have usually started right at Last Run following this type
of weather, and that effort is typically apparent the very next morning.
-------------------- 5:59 A.M. Orig. Post -----------------------
57(*) Open Trails on Sud, South, Nord, North and Soleil Sectors at #Tremblant .
--------------- 10:34 A.M. Update -----------------
REVISED open Trails to 42(*) Archive data attached below.
Evidently the combined weather factors spanning yesterday
through to now have affected Open trail status. Tremblant.ca
has stated that the Open Trail number is part of a conservation
strategy which we can fully understand. The possibility exists
that this number may be further revised, either up or down,
during the remainder of the day.
Check with the Tremblant Info.Ski Crews with their Yellow
jackets and the big ”?” on the back. They are Radio Controlled
and have the best info. available.
(good thing we took this one yesterday...)
12.21.18.La.Crete.Summit.Info.Ski.Is.This.One.Open.Question.c.jpg
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- 12.21.18.La.Crete.Summit.Info.Ski.Is.This.One.Open.Question.c.jpg (402.71 KiB) Viewed 1991 times
Thank Goodness For “North"...
As In “Latitude”.
@ 6:00 A.M. this morning:
Jeffersonville Vt. @ +10 C
Stowe Vt. @ +10 C
Killington Vt. @ +12 C
Tremblant @ +1 C
While many Regional Ski Areas were closed yesterday, not
only was Tremblant Open, but the Skiing was, as we reported
in last night’s Apres Ski, technically speaking, and despite
foggy cloud particle atmospheric factors... the skiing was pure
“Spring” with some truly superb carving performance.
12.21.18.Superieur.Super.Smooth.Speed.Snow.f.jpg
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 12.21.18.Superieur.Super.Smooth.Speed.Snow.f.jpg (554.3 KiB) Viewed 2081 times
our unofficial “Trail du jour” award for Best Overall Conditions
And Performance. This was a legitimately excellent trail with
almost flawless Top-To-Bottom carving, and in a sense due to
the Spring-like softness, very easy and forgiving.
Here is what we found on many trails including Superieur:
Super Easy, Super Fun, Mega Carving Traction Action,
All Day Spring Corduroy.
12.21.18.Nord.North.Ptit.Bonheur.All.Day.Corduroy.Spring.Snow.Sample.b.jpg
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 12.21.18.Nord.North.Ptit.Bonheur.All.Day.Corduroy.Spring.Snow.Sample.b.jpg (371.49 KiB) Viewed 2064 times
With A “Sunny” Weekend Day, You Would Not Have Found An
Empty Parking Space Within 20 KM’s. Instead, we found ourselves,
the Few and the Brave, all alone on these wonderful, virtually
empty trails with literally “All Day Corduroy” for run after run after run.
All you had to do was adapt to stay dry with either Poncho or
any other form of what Sailors call “Foul Weather Gear”.
On Top Of All That... It Did Not Rain All Day, Only Periodically.
Basically, for about 75% of the day, you were simply Skiing
in cloud. For sure, there were passing bands of active rain,
most of which was more like “Drizzle” or “Sleet”, but the vast
majority of the time it was only the almost molecular-fine
suspended water droplets that make up “Cloud”.
If you scroll back up to the “Superieur" Pic. above you will actually
see that at that moment, we were Skiing in natural Snowfall as
indicated by the very clearly shown white streaks that can be seen
across the dark shape of the Skier.
Once again, the Weather Forecast freaks out everyone but
the brave, who with very little weather compensation effort,
took full advantage of some excellent Spring Skiing conditions. Period.
12.21.18.Johannsen.Resort.Base.Shred.Quality.Snow.c.jpg
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- 12.21.18.Johannsen.Resort.Base.Shred.Quality.Snow.c.jpg (626.89 KiB) Viewed 2059 times
The Base Is Safe.
Moving Forward...
Weather Notes:
Please Note: Natural Snowfall began at 6:37 A.M. in the
Old Village Of Mt. Tremblant, adjacent to the Versant Sud,
South Side Resort Base.
- 12.22.18.Weather.Data.a.jpg (187.08 KiB) Viewed 2048 times
Very, very fortunately, it has started Snowing here before 7 A.M.,
so that should make a HUGE, positive difference for Ski conditions
in the temperature drop that is occurring now. It was a degree
or two Plus C, just above freezing overnight at cooler Mountain
elevations and by 7:30 A.M. it is already -3C at the Summit, so
we expect the new snow to bond with the chilling base as and
where it is resolidifying. We think there is a good chance the new
snow will be a sufficient buffer to prevent outright icy conditions,
however with dropping temp’s to well below zero C, there are
inevitably going to be icy tendencies in all substrates. The N/W wind
component is another “Wild Card” in the mix, so everything may
be subject to that influence, especially on upper Sud, South terrain
as it rises up over Beauvallon and McCulloch to cross over the Summit.
It could have been far worse, but in this scenario, all you need
to do is bring good edges and be very sensitive to dynamic changes
as temp’s drop further and more snow falls.
Use Caution And Reduced Speed For All Initial Explorations.
Surface quality may be directly proportional to falling snow
accumulations related to traffic/wind patterns and dropping temp’s.
There could be highly variable differences and/or changes in open
trail status as the day progresses. Pay attention to Ski Patrol Hand
Posted signage and obey all directives related to Skill Level Advisories
and/or Hazard Advisories the signs contain.
57(*) Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions
for December 22, 2018, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions Courtesy of Tremblant.ca - 12.22.18.Trail.Status.Data.a.jpg (361.74 KiB) Viewed 2081 times
42(*) REVISED Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions
for December 22, 2018, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions Courtesy of Tremblant.ca - 12.22.18.Trail.Status.Data.b.jpg (349.26 KiB) Viewed 1992 times
Temperature swings are totally natural anytime in the
“Fall-In-To-Winter” seasonal transition, so we have been
very lucky to have had so much consistent “Winter” so far.
Being “North” has it’s advantages, especially when it comes
to “Winter” and Tremblant has once again clearly shown
those benefits of Northerly Latitude within its group of
regional Ski Resort peers.
Links and not-so-fine print:
http://www.tremblant.ca
What’s The Use? Research Benefits of this Archive: http://tinyurl.com/gp5vjps
(*)
Understanding Trail Counts - http://alturl.com/n54py http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/trailmap-e.htm
http://www.tremblant.ca/galleries/webcams/index-e.htm
http://translate.google.com/translate_t ... =fr&tl=en#
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAQC0360
Forum Index: http://alturl.com/r4cco
Bring Back The Memories... 
Research Future Visits... If you would like to look up dates you visited Tremblant, or you
want to research days/weeks/months to visit, you can sample what
they look like historically, month by month, year by year.
GoTo: Archive, Search Reports by Date: Index: http://tinyurl.com/yktelmu
When reviewing dates from any of the past, numbered, archived pages,
you can use the "Previous Topic" or "Next Topic" buttons, located
screen far right, in upper date/message bar to scroll through sequential
dates, or use your browsers "back" button to stay on the selected index
page for non-sequential date reviews in either forward or reverse order.
There are approximately 6, 25 day Index pages per season.
(
If you "Bookmark" the link above, it will always take you to theFirst index page with the latest posts. That gives you an immediate,
current to 25 day past, review scroll of Winter Alpine Conditions by
consecutive date.)
.