3/13/13 Tremblant Conditions
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:49 am
T360 Early Apres Ski Edit/Intro. @ 6:00 P.M.
This is the main thing you need to know about Tremblant today...
There were periods of intense Snowfall.
The skiing and boarding started out smooth, but holiday traffic
began to create moguls of some size at mid-day.
There were icy substrates in some areas, however traffic and
small accumulations of Natural snow from last night did cover
quite a few of them with enough loose top layer to actually get
good grip on.
As the day progressed, there was a wide range of atmospheric
conditions that even included some bright Sunshine for a few minutes...
We got into a friendly argument with some kids from Toronto
who we were riding up the Gondola with, after we'd listened
to them complaining about every single run being nothing but
ice for the first half of the ride.
We knew that was simply not true, so we asked....
"When did you have your Skis tuned last?"
Answer: "Can't remember"
Question: Was it this Year?
Answer: No.
There's the trouble....
In the mean-time... our skis are tuned, edges sharp,
and yes, we can sense the occasional ice underfoot,
but all day long we may have had 2 instances of loss
of grip, the whole rest of the day was spent carving
up trail after trail with virtually complete and total
confidence.
Are people so out of touch?
They must be.
How else could anyone complain when the solution is right before
them in the form of a simple utility function as basic as a tune-up?
Furthermore, it seems a bit contradictory to drive 8 hours each way,
stay in a World Renowned Ski Resort for a week(which takes a
fair size financial commitment), then complain about Naturally
Occurring Seasonal Conditions when for just under 40 bucks,
you can basically have better edges and bases...
1) than when your gear was brand new,
and then you can....
2) carve turns like a Surgeon with a sharp scalpel for the whole week.
Going to a Ski Resort for a week's Holiday without tuning up your gear is
"penny wise and dollar foolish", defined.
It would be like taking your Ferrari to the race track and putting flat tires on it.
etc., etc., etc....
If you were complaining about ice today, you need a tune-up.
We had our gear done two days ago and it was like we were running
on rails all day long today... so we felt like saying...
"wake up, you silly people."
Sorry to be so blunt, but it was frustrating to hear complaints
when ignorance(unintentional or otherwise), about Gear condition
is the real problem as humans cope with something as overwhelming
as Mother Nature.
There were other legitimate challenges today that would have been
stretching the limits of Beginners, Intermediates and Experts too.
Spring conditions by their very soft nature are prone to mogul formation
so those used to the smoothness of mid-winter groomed, as it is first thing
in the morning, would be encountering some very sharply contoured bumps
by late afternoon when it gets soft.
Versant Soleil, Toboggan... was an example of the late aft. Soup du Jour...
a mix of every condition on the Mountain, all in one run. There were
sections of perfect snow, there were sections of icy, scraped off,
exposed base, there were moguls sharp enough to launch you into
the air if you were not careful with speed. It was an example of
a "Blue" run with "Black" challenge by end-of-day.
Kind of a neat Sunshine Snow Squall Shower in the distance...
As they crossed over Tremblant, they did add up to measurable depth.
Our advise if you want to try Toboggan tomorrow... go early, before
it gets the days worth of scraping and bump building.
The secret to handling the bumps when you get caught in them, begins
with absolute speed control through linked, swivelled or skidded parallel
turns. It's an old school technique but when the bumps are so tightly close
together, carving them is practically impossible. Basically, with each
swivelled parallel turn, you come to a brief stop at the apex of the turn.
The duration of that stop, generated by edge set, determines the amount
of braking or speed reduction you get. Stop longer, stay slower. We're
talking fractions of a second here, longer if need be, but only long enough
to keep speed under control.
The next most important aspect, at least in our opinion, is to stay low
over your skis. The lower your torso is, the less leverage it's momentum
will have due to a lower centre of gravity.
Another strategy is to get out earlier when it's still flat, then
"Go for a Beer", i.e., quit early when the bumps have really built up.
More detail on all this tomorrow morning, hope to see you then...
------------ 6:49 A.M. Orig. Post -----------------------
58(*) Open Trails on 3 Sides of Tremblant.
Pretty obvious what 2 days of quite warm, plus value,
above freezing "Spring" temps, wind and rain, followed by a drop
to Sub-zero will do to the Open Trail Count...
It's not that the count has gone down because of a loss of base either,
there's still tons of snow around and the base is in a very intact state,
but as the Official Tremblant.ca Snow Report says...
"There is a grooming strategy that is being used after we receive conditions
such as rain – it consists of several phases and protects our runs for the future.
It is a lengthy process and presently we are in the transition phase.
Our grooming team will continue to work throughout the day to recuperate
from the rain therefore certain runs will have a progressive opening.
Our snow conditions web page on tremblant.ca will be updated regularly
throughout the day. Say goodbye to your books and homework and come
ski at Tremblant!"
With all due respect, we have been on the Mountain for the both the last two
days of the alleged rainy period and at least during the day, the Mountain has
certainly gotten some rain, but in our opinion it's a fraction of the rain that's
fallen in St.Jovite, so we think we're lucky it hasn't been more.
We think there's a possibility the notice was drafted in advance when there
was still a forecasted certainty of rain.
No doubt, it's been really damp, foggy and sort of drizzly at times, but it's never
ever been anything close to a soaking rain at any point where we have been
on the Mountain and there is no real evidence of the type of surface
erosion that rain typically causes that we can see. Rain also almost
instantly turns whole sectors into "Corn Snow" and there's none of that.
There is sort of wet snowball snow, but it is still of fine granular size,
and obvious to us, never been significantly rained on.
scroll---->>>> for complete images... no thumbnail's here.
Additionally, riding up the Gondola as quiet observers, people are saying
things like "I thought it was going to be bad, but I really had a good day"...
"The trails are in surprisingly good condition" ... The day's gone by quickly
and everyones having a lot of fun"... If you were here, you would have
overheard all of that too, and you will know it's true.
The Mountain has also certainly been exposed to "Heat", with "Wind",
and we think that "Blow Dryer" combination has been the real trouble maker,
but as far as outright "Rain", we're happy to say that even though we predicted
the need for them, we have not worn our Descente Poncho's for the past two
days and have stayed reasonably dry throughout.
While this is not any kind of scientific reference to rain on the Mountain,
it is a practical user anecdote.
Soft Spring Carving Snow on Johannsen, South Side, Resort Base.
Sorry for the mild out-of-focus below, but the relevant part is the obvious,
nice shred characteristics of the snow under good edge technique.
Below:
The wall to wall, seamless white trail surfaces, softened by the Spring
factors has been an excellent learning environment. There is no deep
mushiness yet, still lot's of frost underneath, but the top layers are
definitely easy to edge on and anything from a basic snowplow to a
full-on super-carve race technique is doable for all skill levels.
Below:
Family Time... Tremblant is host this week to many families on
Spring Break. So far, despite the forecasted weather drama that
does not appear to have actually materialized, the conditions have
been very easy for all family members to enjoy and we think that
will continue on for the balance of the week.
Below:
Interesting aspects of this pic. are the opaque, partially congealed/freezing
droplets of accumulated moisture from the Summit's Misty, Foggy, and
sometimes drizzly conditions are marking the precise moments of
temperatures falling into the Sub-zero range at 3:45 yesterday
afternoon. When fog prevents you from capturing those long views
at Tremblant, Mother Nature never fails to provide a beautiful
Macro view instead.
Versant Nord, The North Side, Axle, en route to Lowell T.
We fully understand the necessity of recovering the trail surfaces with the
temporary closures... regardless of the source and the medium of delivery,
"Heat" by air temp, rain, wind, sun(remember the sun ??? ...it's that big
ball of light that you can see in the sky sometimes, even though the
memories seem distant), "Heat" in any form does not go with "Snow"
in the same sentence without some impact to the "Snow" part.
The reduction in Open Trails is vitally important in the short term to allow
Mountain Crews to stabilize, repair, move some snow around if necessary,
etc., etc. in order to maximize the potential life, quantity and quality of
available Terrain, for as long as possible into the remaining future of the season.
Based on the fact that there was no hard sub-zero frost last night, temps got
down to -1C for a couple of hours just before dawn, we think conditions today on
the Open terrain will be very similar, if not slightly firmer, than yesterday.
That means there's going to be loads of great, smooth and fast Skiing
and Boarding. With any luck, we'll have the pic's to prove it Apres Ski.
The near term forecast shows Snow, dropping temps and
we think, a very good chance for a great recovery.
58(*) Open Trails on the Official, Downloadable, PDF,
Trail and Grooming Status Report, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
Tremblant Mountain Crews are the masters of recovery and
quality.
There will be good skiing and boarding at Tremblant today,
however it may take some exploration to find all the best lines
to suit your skill level.
Pay close attention to matching your skills with posted signs,
explore initially at an appropriate, cautious and safe speed,
watch out for icy bits and natural hazards, use gear that has
been recently tuned and you will have a great day of fresh air,
fun and very solid exercise.
Links and not-so-fine print:
http://www.tremblant.ca
http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/winter ... port-e.htm
(*)
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 the
First 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.)
.
This is the main thing you need to know about Tremblant today...
There were periods of intense Snowfall.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.13.13.Summit.Snow.b.jpg (317.2 KiB) Viewed 2754 times
began to create moguls of some size at mid-day.
There were icy substrates in some areas, however traffic and
small accumulations of Natural snow from last night did cover
quite a few of them with enough loose top layer to actually get
good grip on.
As the day progressed, there was a wide range of atmospheric
conditions that even included some bright Sunshine for a few minutes...
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.13.13.Tremblant.Summit.Weather.Views.a.jpg (236.79 KiB) Viewed 2689 times
who we were riding up the Gondola with, after we'd listened
to them complaining about every single run being nothing but
ice for the first half of the ride.
We knew that was simply not true, so we asked....
"When did you have your Skis tuned last?"
Answer: "Can't remember"
Question: Was it this Year?
Answer: No.
There's the trouble....
In the mean-time... our skis are tuned, edges sharp,
and yes, we can sense the occasional ice underfoot,
but all day long we may have had 2 instances of loss
of grip, the whole rest of the day was spent carving
up trail after trail with virtually complete and total
confidence.
Are people so out of touch?
They must be.
How else could anyone complain when the solution is right before
them in the form of a simple utility function as basic as a tune-up?
Furthermore, it seems a bit contradictory to drive 8 hours each way,
stay in a World Renowned Ski Resort for a week(which takes a
fair size financial commitment), then complain about Naturally
Occurring Seasonal Conditions when for just under 40 bucks,
you can basically have better edges and bases...
1) than when your gear was brand new,
and then you can....
2) carve turns like a Surgeon with a sharp scalpel for the whole week.
Going to a Ski Resort for a week's Holiday without tuning up your gear is
"penny wise and dollar foolish", defined.
It would be like taking your Ferrari to the race track and putting flat tires on it.
etc., etc., etc....
If you were complaining about ice today, you need a tune-up.
We had our gear done two days ago and it was like we were running
on rails all day long today... so we felt like saying...
"wake up, you silly people."
Sorry to be so blunt, but it was frustrating to hear complaints
when ignorance(unintentional or otherwise), about Gear condition
is the real problem as humans cope with something as overwhelming
as Mother Nature.
There were other legitimate challenges today that would have been
stretching the limits of Beginners, Intermediates and Experts too.
Spring conditions by their very soft nature are prone to mogul formation
so those used to the smoothness of mid-winter groomed, as it is first thing
in the morning, would be encountering some very sharply contoured bumps
by late afternoon when it gets soft.
Versant Soleil, Toboggan... was an example of the late aft. Soup du Jour...
a mix of every condition on the Mountain, all in one run. There were
sections of perfect snow, there were sections of icy, scraped off,
exposed base, there were moguls sharp enough to launch you into
the air if you were not careful with speed. It was an example of
a "Blue" run with "Black" challenge by end-of-day.
- 3.13.13.Versant.Soleil.Toboggan.a.jpg (398.45 KiB) Viewed 2688 times
As they crossed over Tremblant, they did add up to measurable depth.
Our advise if you want to try Toboggan tomorrow... go early, before
it gets the days worth of scraping and bump building.
The secret to handling the bumps when you get caught in them, begins
with absolute speed control through linked, swivelled or skidded parallel
turns. It's an old school technique but when the bumps are so tightly close
together, carving them is practically impossible. Basically, with each
swivelled parallel turn, you come to a brief stop at the apex of the turn.
The duration of that stop, generated by edge set, determines the amount
of braking or speed reduction you get. Stop longer, stay slower. We're
talking fractions of a second here, longer if need be, but only long enough
to keep speed under control.
The next most important aspect, at least in our opinion, is to stay low
over your skis. The lower your torso is, the less leverage it's momentum
will have due to a lower centre of gravity.
Another strategy is to get out earlier when it's still flat, then
"Go for a Beer", i.e., quit early when the bumps have really built up.
More detail on all this tomorrow morning, hope to see you then...
------------ 6:49 A.M. Orig. Post -----------------------
58(*) Open Trails on 3 Sides of Tremblant.
Pretty obvious what 2 days of quite warm, plus value,
above freezing "Spring" temps, wind and rain, followed by a drop
to Sub-zero will do to the Open Trail Count...
It's not that the count has gone down because of a loss of base either,
there's still tons of snow around and the base is in a very intact state,
but as the Official Tremblant.ca Snow Report says...
"There is a grooming strategy that is being used after we receive conditions
such as rain – it consists of several phases and protects our runs for the future.
It is a lengthy process and presently we are in the transition phase.
Our grooming team will continue to work throughout the day to recuperate
from the rain therefore certain runs will have a progressive opening.
Our snow conditions web page on tremblant.ca will be updated regularly
throughout the day. Say goodbye to your books and homework and come
ski at Tremblant!"
With all due respect, we have been on the Mountain for the both the last two
days of the alleged rainy period and at least during the day, the Mountain has
certainly gotten some rain, but in our opinion it's a fraction of the rain that's
fallen in St.Jovite, so we think we're lucky it hasn't been more.
We think there's a possibility the notice was drafted in advance when there
was still a forecasted certainty of rain.
No doubt, it's been really damp, foggy and sort of drizzly at times, but it's never
ever been anything close to a soaking rain at any point where we have been
on the Mountain and there is no real evidence of the type of surface
erosion that rain typically causes that we can see. Rain also almost
instantly turns whole sectors into "Corn Snow" and there's none of that.
There is sort of wet snowball snow, but it is still of fine granular size,
and obvious to us, never been significantly rained on.
scroll---->>>> for complete images... no thumbnail's here.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.12.13.P'tit.Bonheur.Foggy.Smooth.Carving.Fun.d.jpg (229.05 KiB) Viewed 2932 times
things like "I thought it was going to be bad, but I really had a good day"...
"The trails are in surprisingly good condition" ... The day's gone by quickly
and everyones having a lot of fun"... If you were here, you would have
overheard all of that too, and you will know it's true.
The Mountain has also certainly been exposed to "Heat", with "Wind",
and we think that "Blow Dryer" combination has been the real trouble maker,
but as far as outright "Rain", we're happy to say that even though we predicted
the need for them, we have not worn our Descente Poncho's for the past two
days and have stayed reasonably dry throughout.
While this is not any kind of scientific reference to rain on the Mountain,
it is a practical user anecdote.
Soft Spring Carving Snow on Johannsen, South Side, Resort Base.
Sorry for the mild out-of-focus below, but the relevant part is the obvious,
nice shred characteristics of the snow under good edge technique.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.12.13.Johannsen.Snow.Shred.Surface.c.jpg (189.2 KiB) Viewed 2932 times
The wall to wall, seamless white trail surfaces, softened by the Spring
factors has been an excellent learning environment. There is no deep
mushiness yet, still lot's of frost underneath, but the top layers are
definitely easy to edge on and anything from a basic snowplow to a
full-on super-carve race technique is doable for all skill levels.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.12.13.Expo.Ecole.Sur.Neige.d.jpg (152.22 KiB) Viewed 2932 times
Below:
Family Time... Tremblant is host this week to many families on
Spring Break. So far, despite the forecasted weather drama that
does not appear to have actually materialized, the conditions have
been very easy for all family members to enjoy and we think that
will continue on for the balance of the week.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.12.13.Fuddle.Duddle.Bas.At.Le.Griffe.b.jpg (373.06 KiB) Viewed 2886 times
Interesting aspects of this pic. are the opaque, partially congealed/freezing
droplets of accumulated moisture from the Summit's Misty, Foggy, and
sometimes drizzly conditions are marking the precise moments of
temperatures falling into the Sub-zero range at 3:45 yesterday
afternoon. When fog prevents you from capturing those long views
at Tremblant, Mother Nature never fails to provide a beautiful
Macro view instead.
Versant Nord, The North Side, Axle, en route to Lowell T.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 3.12.13.Axle.Tree.Macro.Congealed.Droplets.2.c.jpg (413.48 KiB) Viewed 2923 times
temporary closures... regardless of the source and the medium of delivery,
"Heat" by air temp, rain, wind, sun(remember the sun ??? ...it's that big
ball of light that you can see in the sky sometimes, even though the
memories seem distant), "Heat" in any form does not go with "Snow"
in the same sentence without some impact to the "Snow" part.
The reduction in Open Trails is vitally important in the short term to allow
Mountain Crews to stabilize, repair, move some snow around if necessary,
etc., etc. in order to maximize the potential life, quantity and quality of
available Terrain, for as long as possible into the remaining future of the season.
Based on the fact that there was no hard sub-zero frost last night, temps got
down to -1C for a couple of hours just before dawn, we think conditions today on
the Open terrain will be very similar, if not slightly firmer, than yesterday.
That means there's going to be loads of great, smooth and fast Skiing
and Boarding. With any luck, we'll have the pic's to prove it Apres Ski.
The near term forecast shows Snow, dropping temps and
we think, a very good chance for a great recovery.
58(*) Open Trails on the Official, Downloadable, PDF,
Trail and Grooming Status Report, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Screenshot of the Official, Downloadable, PDF,
Trail and Grooming Status Report, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca - Screen Shot 2013-03-13 at 7.46.06 AM.jpg (221.5 KiB) Viewed 2957 times
quality.
There will be good skiing and boarding at Tremblant today,
however it may take some exploration to find all the best lines
to suit your skill level.
Pay close attention to matching your skills with posted signs,
explore initially at an appropriate, cautious and safe speed,
watch out for icy bits and natural hazards, use gear that has
been recently tuned and you will have a great day of fresh air,
fun and very solid exercise.
Links and not-so-fine print:
http://www.tremblant.ca
http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/winter ... port-e.htm
(*)
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.)
.