On a day that most would discard...
Proof Of “We Were There”
(Proof of “If It’s Open... We’ll Ski It in ANY Weather")
Even if it seemed a bit surreal, in a Ghostly sort-of way...
3.31.16.Versant.Sud.South.Summit.Sector.McCulloch.Views.Gondola.Ghost.b.jpg
- www.Tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.31.16.Versant.Sud.South.Summit.Sector.McCulloch.Views.Gondola.Ghost.b.jpg (353.54 KiB) Viewed 13043 times
grade cameras as driving wind and rain immediately soaked lens, control buttons
and viewfinder screen. We could only get one quick Snap Shot per camera
deployment and even then the resulting images were mostly unusable for lack
of detail or wet smeared lens distortion.)
As was completely predictable... staying dry was the challenge du jour.
As was completely predictable, the Descente Poncho was the most commonly
used form of exterior shell. We did see one clever person who was using
“Foul Weather Gear” from Summer Sailing Sports, however considering
the difference in cost for high quality Sailing “Foul Weather Gear” as compared
to the Descente Poncho, the poncho still represents an outstanding value.
Ski Conditions:
It can be very difficult to concentrate on Ski Conditions if you are wet through to
the skin, however, with an adequate barrier between the rain and yourself, you would
have quickly come to the realization that there were some very Fast, Sweet,
Great Carving surfaces.
3.31.16.Versant.Nord.North.Beauchemin.Bas.Lower.Super.Swift.Sweet.Carving.Performance.c.jpg
- www.Tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.31.16.Versant.Nord.North.Beauchemin.Bas.Lower.Super.Swift.Sweet.Carving.Performance.c.jpg (665.35 KiB) Viewed 13040 times
to flawless, smooth surfaces with the very highest Grip and Speed in pure Spring Snow.
We managed to get this pic. at a moment of low rain/wind force, however the contrast
was still very low, so what you see here is a pic with Definition, Contrast, Saturation
and Sharpness all Turned up and Burned Up to get as much Snow Surface detail
as possible.
We have reported on this Rainy Day High Performance phenomenon for years
because it is a highly under appreciated aspect within the whole range of
Ski Experiences. We have written that we have had some of our most fun
Ski Days in the Spring Rain, however we must say that today tested the
limits of that concept due to a combination of wind, sheer volume of rain,
and as you might deduce from the pic. above... vision.
Not only was vision limited by Wet Lens and sometimes very high density
cloud/fog, but the flat grey light virtually eliminated any perceptible contrast
between your eyes and the Trail Surface ahead.
This leads us to perhaps the most significant quality of surfaces today...
the almost Ideal, Consistent, Seamless, Reliable, Smoothness and Flatness
of the Groomed Trail Surfaces that was key to forward progress without
undue Shin impacts when your eyes can not register irregularities.
Mountain Crews did a superb job of delivering on all the above noted attributes
and that made a huge and very positive contribution to “User Friendly” on a day
that most would consider anything but User Friendly.
Tomorrow’s Weather Forecast is highlighted in today’s Original Post, below.
-------------------- 7:07 A.M. Orig. Post ---------------------
64(*) Open Trails on Versant Sud, South, and Versant Nord, North, Two Sides of #Tremblant.
All You Need To Know About Today, Tomorrow...
1) You Can Stay Dry If You Want To...
2) It Won’t Be Crowded...
- www.Tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.8.12.Sissy.Schuss.Descente.Poncho.jpg (278.82 KiB) Viewed 13179 times
Great Edge Set and Carving Performance to “Soggy”, saturated, slow,
Hydrodynamic Drag related forward resistance.
There will be Sweet Spots of Very Fine Spring Ski Performance within the Open Terrain.
It is difficult to speculate where, other than to say that Medium, Well Drained Pitches
may be the most consistent performers, Steeper Pitches may be prone to Moguls,
but keeping in mind Point # 2 above, it’s not going to be crowded, so the mogul
thing may not happen much. Plateau’s may be the most likely places to exhibit
pooling water and slow speeds, so places like the long runout of Versant Nord,
the North Side’s Jasey-Jay Anderson as it passes the bottom of Devils River,
could be zones of significantly reduced glide.
Skill Level Trail Ratings versus Actual Skills Required for Unusual Circumstances
may vary and if there are Hand Posted Skill notices placed by the Ski Patrol...
Pay Attention!
Weather Notes:
Regarding “Icon” Size, below you will see the rain Icons vary in the
intensity by the number of drops indicating more or less per unit of time.
What we want to look at are the “Light Rain” , 2 drop Icons because they
represent the largest percentage of the total rainy timeline in this forecast.
Where it is currently “Light” rain in the Old Village of Mont Tremblant, adjacent to
the South Resort Base, we would call it Light Rain with Periods of No Rain.
We would consider this a typical pattern of Light Rain that seems to be passing
over the area in bands of activity. In this location, it is not a heavy rain by any
means. By way of example, lets say you have 2 loads of groceries to carry
across about 25 Metres from the car to the door. In those 2 trips, 25 metres
in and out X 2 = 100 Metres total walking, you don’t get really wet. It almost
qualities as “Drizzle” a lot of the time. As far as Mountain Trail Surfaces go,
this is the least influential. It could be different on the Mountain, how much
is just a guess until experience shows.
If you look at the Heavy Rain Icons, there are about 12 hours of exposure, so because
they happen to be during today’s Open Hours, staying dry will be the biggest, yet
most simply solved challenge. The answer, of course, is in our lead Rainy “Goto” picture
at the top of this post.
- Screenshots Courtesy of The Weather Network.
- Screen Shot 2016-03-31 at 1.58.13 AM.jpg (247.88 KiB) Viewed 13180 times
only, so tomorrow may see a truly fine day of Ultra-Spring Pitch-Ripping Super-Soft Fun!
We have been asked several times... “Do you think it will affect Base Coverage?”
and other similar questions about erosion or loss of snow covered Terrain that
could occur.
Overall, we don’t think so, but in detail, we’re not exactly sure because there were
some pre-existing bare spots, so those may seem bigger by the end of the day.
Even if we had to guess, we’d say there is still quite a bit of supporting frost underlaying
the very well packed and groomed Trail Surfaces and we think and hope, that there is
at least enough frost below to generate an Icy, water shedding barrier that may last
until Sub-Zero Temps return.
We could be wrong, but our general feeling is that between all the Snow
and all the Frost... in most places the Trail Base should be capable of withstanding
a couple of days of Warm ’n Wet quite easily.
Don’t Forget... 24 hours ago, it was -6 C at South Resort Base Level, cooler on
the Mountain, so we think there’s very good stability in the overall base.
We also think that the Open Trail Number at 64(*) over South and North is a very good
sign that Tremblant’s Mountain Operations Group is confident in Trail Durability too.
Past experience shows that if there is a perceived threat to Terrain loss, there can
be quite a bit of proactive, temporary, Trail closures, so with so much on the 2 sides
Open(only one closed Trial on the whole North Side for example), we take that as
very good omen regarding base condition/durability.
64(*) Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open Trails, Grooming,
Snowmaking and Lift Status for March 31st, 2016, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Archival Copy of Official Open Trails, Grooming, Snowmaking and Lift Status, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Screen Shot 2016-03-31 at 7.56.27 AM.jpg (308.19 KiB) Viewed 13180 times
Typical Spring Weather Cycles Over a Typical Winter Established Base...
So the bottom line is still unusually extensive coverage for the beginning of April.
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.)
.