Condition Updates - Page 2 - Snowboarding Forum

johnnymac · 01-09-2012, 05:29 PM

Its the locals that would help me out here. My point is I dont want people who dont live close to have to drive up just to see if its worth the extra $40 a lift ticket.

poutanen · 01-09-2012, 05:36 PM

I drove 4.5 hours this weekend in search of good snow, and had to make decisions based on the official reports. Machine groomed might as well mean machine groomed ice for some of the hills. One resorts website said "powder" when in fact it hadn't had new snow for over a week (as reported by their 0 cm of new snow in the last 7 days) and in fact had rain on parts of the mountain.

I ended up finding "onthesnow.ca" which has a spot at the bottom for comments. Comments also have to be taken with a grain of salt as there are very different riders, riding all different sides of the mountains, and my definition of perfect groomers might be different from somebody elses. The other trouble with the site is some of the comments were a week old or more.

That said, I would love it if there was a popular site for user reported conditions. It would have to be popular enough to have at least 3/4 comments per mountain per day to make it worth while.

I wonder if it'd make more sense to use existing infrastructure for this kind of thing. It'd be easier to make a snow conditions facebook group for your favorite mountain, where people would comment. Every smartphone has a facebook app or social app available to it. It'd be nice to get a realtime feed of conditions at various resorts around my town. I have a love/hate thing with facebook but maybe this is a good use for it???

johnnymac · 01-09-2012, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poutanen

I drove 4.5 hours this weekend in search of good snow, and had to make decisions based on the official reports. Machine groomed might as well mean machine groomed ice for some of the hills. One resorts website said "powder" when in fact it hadn't had new snow for over a week (as reported by their 0 cm of new snow in the last 7 days) and in fact had rain on parts of the mountain.

I ended up finding "onthesnow.ca" which has a spot at the bottom for comments. Comments also have to be taken with a grain of salt as there are very different riders, riding all different sides of the mountains, and my definition of perfect groomers might be different from somebody elses. The other trouble with the site is some of the comments were a week old or more.

That said, I would love it if there was a popular site for user reported conditions. It would have to be popular enough to have at least 3/4 comments per mountain per day to make it worth while.

I wonder if it'd make more sense to use existing infrastructure for this kind of thing. It'd be easier to make a snow conditions facebook group for your favorite mountain, where people would comment. Every smartphone has a facebook app or social app available to it. It'd be nice to get a realtime feed of conditions at various resorts around my town. I have a love/hate thing with facebook but maybe this is a good use for it???

I think the facebook thing is a pretty good idea however I absolutely hate facebook. I would like to create a website as popular as facebook in the snowboarding world to create real time updates on conditions. Maybe a text update would be an option to make it more like facebooks phone friendly app?

grafta · 01-09-2012, 06:04 PM

It wouldn't be hard (or maybe it would be) to have an app better than facebook for mobile

It blows on Android anyway... actually FB messaging just blows, period

poutanen · 01-09-2012, 06:24 PM

Yeah I hate facebook too (not sure why I haven't deleted my account yet but my family lives all over the place)... Actually on my Nokia N8 I've got a facebook widget that gives me realtime updates on my main screen. So if I subscribed to pages with condition updates it would show me a scrolling update of conditions at all the resorts I subscribed to.

For the short term I'm going to create a few groups for the mountains I'm at the most often and see if they take off.

In the long run I'd totally back a mountain conditions website. Either a mobile version or dedicated apps, or RSS feeds would work. The main thing is your site would only be as valuable as the people posting conditions, so you'd need it to be popular enough to attract enough people that are willing to take time while they're at the hill, or at the end of their day, to post what they think of the conditions. I wish resorts would actually be honest about conditions... Machine groomed and packed powder seem to be synonymous with hardpack for them, and I'm not a big fan of riding on hardpack.

wrathfuldeity · 01-09-2012, 06:37 PM

thing is...
snow report is in the past
you also need current condition
and future...likely conditions...forecast

so around here folks often...and I mean often, check
dot, nwacc, noaa, hill's website, and a couple of forum threads.

then you digest and based on some historical reference you can have a good idea.

but alot of folks have their on-hill contacts and will call and chat.

But perhaps unlike the upper midwest, we have kind of a micro climate thing; and in some cases a mere difference in 300 ft of vert or wind direction changes snow and weather conditions.

Toecutter · 01-09-2012, 07:15 PM

What's to keep someone from being deceptive?

[Wow, there's 12" fresh pow and hardly any crowds. I hope it stays that way.]

"Conditions up here blow. Don't bother coming!"

poutanen · 01-09-2012, 07:15 PM

Yeah I totally get it, I use the Weather Network for current and future predictions, and the resorts website for last snowfall and a couple word description of current conditions. Unfortunately (or fortunately!?!) for me I moved 3500 km from my family to live and work in snowboarding country, and I don't have locals I can call at some of the resorts I go to. I've created facebook groups for the 4 resorts I'll frequently go to:

Kimberley Alpine Resort

Fernie Alpine Resort

Lake Louise Ski Area

Nakiska Ski Area

If it catches on, I'll create groups for Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, and Sunshine... Not sure RCR is going to be happy about it but hey, the easiest thing would be for them to post ACTUAL conditions on their website.

poutanen · 01-09-2012, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toecutter

What's to keep someone from being deceptive?

[Wow, there's 12" fresh pow and hardly any crowds. I hope it stays that way.]

"Conditions up here blow. Don't bother coming!"

You gotta hope that enough people post to show who the jokers are, and then you gotta moderate things. Maybe have a moderator for each hill who could call somebodies bluff and ban them?

It would be nice to have it in this forum but I don't know if you'd get enough people for each hill to make it worth while. Plus I don't care if my info comes from skiers or boarders... info is info!

Toecutter · 01-09-2012, 07:38 PM

Hmmmm...once I'm up on the mountain I know what the conditions are, and the last thing on my agenda is posting about it anywhere.

01-09-2012, 05:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
johnnymac Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 149	Its the locals that would help me out here. My point is I dont want people who dont live close to have to drive up just to see if its worth the extra $40 a lift ticket. __________________ Vote for my tshirt design this week! Help me win 2 Grand! http://www.threadless.com/submission...owmore,designs

01-09-2012, 06:37 PM	#16 (permalink)
wrathfuldeity Resident poet Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bham Posts: 2,734	thing is... snow report is in the past you also need current condition and future...likely conditions...forecast so around here folks often...and I mean often, check dot, nwacc, noaa, hill's website, and a couple of forum threads. then you digest and based on some historical reference you can have a good idea. but alot of folks have their on-hill contacts and will call and chat. But perhaps unlike the upper midwest, we have kind of a micro climate thing; and in some cases a mere difference in 300 ft of vert or wind direction changes snow and weather conditions. __________________ Last edited by wrathfuldeity; 01-09-2012 at 06:39 PM.

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01-09-2012, 05:36 PM	#12 (permalink)
poutanen Resident Creep-o-saurus Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 3,558	I drove 4.5 hours this weekend in search of good snow, and had to make decisions based on the official reports. Machine groomed might as well mean machine groomed ice for some of the hills. One resorts website said "powder" when in fact it hadn't had new snow for over a week (as reported by their 0 cm of new snow in the last 7 days) and in fact had rain on parts of the mountain. I ended up finding "onthesnow.ca" which has a spot at the bottom for comments. Comments also have to be taken with a grain of salt as there are very different riders, riding all different sides of the mountains, and my definition of perfect groomers might be different from somebody elses. The other trouble with the site is some of the comments were a week old or more. That said, I would love it if there was a popular site for user reported conditions. It would have to be popular enough to have at least 3/4 comments per mountain per day to make it worth while. I wonder if it'd make more sense to use existing infrastructure for this kind of thing. It'd be easier to make a snow conditions facebook group for your favorite mountain, where people would comment. Every smartphone has a facebook app or social app available to it. It'd be nice to get a realtime feed of conditions at various resorts around my town. I have a love/hate thing with facebook but maybe this is a good use for it???

01-09-2012, 06:04 PM	#14 (permalink)
grafta Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,752	It wouldn't be hard (or maybe it would be) to have an app better than facebook for mobile It blows on Android anyway... actually FB messaging just blows, period

01-09-2012, 06:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
poutanen Resident Creep-o-saurus Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 3,558	Yeah I hate facebook too (not sure why I haven't deleted my account yet but my family lives all over the place)... Actually on my Nokia N8 I've got a facebook widget that gives me realtime updates on my main screen. So if I subscribed to pages with condition updates it would show me a scrolling update of conditions at all the resorts I subscribed to. For the short term I'm going to create a few groups for the mountains I'm at the most often and see if they take off. In the long run I'd totally back a mountain conditions website. Either a mobile version or dedicated apps, or RSS feeds would work. The main thing is your site would only be as valuable as the people posting conditions, so you'd need it to be popular enough to attract enough people that are willing to take time while they're at the hill, or at the end of their day, to post what they think of the conditions. I wish resorts would actually be honest about conditions... Machine groomed and packed powder seem to be synonymous with hardpack for them, and I'm not a big fan of riding on hardpack.

01-09-2012, 07:15 PM	#17 (permalink)
Toecutter Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mt. Bachelor Posts: 1,512	What's to keep someone from being deceptive? [Wow, there's 12" fresh pow and hardly any crowds. I hope it stays that way.] "Conditions up here blow. Don't bother coming!"

01-09-2012, 07:15 PM	#18 (permalink)
poutanen Resident Creep-o-saurus Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 3,558	Yeah I totally get it, I use the Weather Network for current and future predictions, and the resorts website for last snowfall and a couple word description of current conditions. Unfortunately (or fortunately!?!) for me I moved 3500 km from my family to live and work in snowboarding country, and I don't have locals I can call at some of the resorts I go to. I've created facebook groups for the 4 resorts I'll frequently go to: Kimberley Alpine Resort Fernie Alpine Resort Lake Louise Ski Area Nakiska Ski Area If it catches on, I'll create groups for Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, and Sunshine... Not sure RCR is going to be happy about it but hey, the easiest thing would be for them to post ACTUAL conditions on their website.

01-09-2012, 07:38 PM	#20 (permalink)
Toecutter Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mt. Bachelor Posts: 1,512	Hmmmm...once I'm up on the mountain I know what the conditions are, and the last thing on my agenda is posting about it anywhere.