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Loved Or Hated 20-21 Season

  • Loved

    Votes: 15 62.5%
  • Hated

    Votes: 9 37.5%

End of Season Thread

9K views 106 replies 37 participants last post by  serenity.hoskins 
#1 ·
I don't think I saw one of these yet, this season sure was different than normal. I thought it'd be cool to have a thread to reflect on the 20/21 season, vent about stuff, etc.

Personally, this season was very inconsistent. The season was short, starting an entire month later than last year, and ending a week earlier than last year. But the snow was really good in the Chicago area (for the midwest) at least. Since my home hill shut down early, I was able to explore some places that aren't nearly as close. A lot of hills here were doing special events and deals because they had a good year. Cascade Mountain let you go for free if you had a season pass from anywhere else. Tyrol Basin had some really cheap all day tickets. I ended up going to Cascade for my first time this year, it's the closest I've been to going out west while not being on a real mountain. Lots of different runs and different choices going down the hill, most midwestern resorts you take a straight line lift up the hill and have only a couple choices, maybe there's a "run" that just connects the next run a hundred feet over.

I think we had three "powder" days in the midwest, something that hasn't happened in a very long time.

The hill was filled with noobs, I think some of the worst offenders I can think of were both a skier and a snowboarder. One run at my hill had moguls in the middle, with two narrow paths to avoid them. It's Wisconsin, it's pretty much always some snow on top of solid ice, both the skier and snowboarder went down within a minute of each other, plowing all the snow off.

Lines were horrible, we could share a quad lift with one other person if we wanted. The noobs used the singles line to cut in front of everyone, and then there were people who didn't understand the singles line and would not join you on the lift, making two empty chairs go up right after another. It was only a few weeks before they got rid of the singles lines, and then the lifties would have to spend their mornings (even weekday ones) trying to organize people on the lifts.

I guess just vent, share your experiences this season, etc. Do you think 21-22 will be like this? I can't decide, either there's going to be a huge recession and $4/gal gas and everyone is going to start mass selling their snowboard stuff this fall because they can't afford to go or there's a ton of new people who will keep snowboarding and skiing.
 
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#3 ·
Sometimes you get the VD from a $15 hooker from a Denver Dennys, so I think I can say that I would've been better without
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Conditions have been all time in the PNW. At one point I got tired of powder because I missed riding good groomers and park.

I made the right call buying multiple season passes locally so I never missed a day due to reservations or holiday crowds.

Stevens handled everything poorly but Crystal has been amazing. Even had a few good days at Alpental.

Hoping to do some summer riding on Mt Hood and there's still plenty of spring riding left. As long as there's a jump line somewhere I'm happy.

Next year is Ikon pass, I'm saving up vacation days to spend a week or three traveling for that.

Oh, and tomorrow is day 51 and counting...
 
#5 ·
Blasphemy! I'll give an update on May 25th... I should be able to take a fair bit of time off work in May so aiming for a minimum of 15 slushy days that month before we close. Might break 100 in a single season for the first time ever 🤞
 
#6 ·
I fully expected there would be another shutdown of "non-essential" businesses in my area, including ski/snowboard areas, and that I would have been grateful for getting out 2 or 3 times. However, the shutdown never happened, and I got out much more than I expected to. All that, combined with good natural snowfall in early-mid Dec., late Jan., and in Feb., turned this season into one that exceeded my modest expectations. For that I am thankful.
 
#8 ·
Our season was shut down in Ontario at the end of December. It didn't look like we were going to get a season at all, but amazingly we were able to open on Feb 16th.

Day one was a pretty epic powder day for Ontario. Managed to squeeze in about 20 days or so since then.

No such thing as a bad season if you get to ride!
 
#9 ·
NH checking in. Better than I expected, for sure.

Snow was better than it should have been. It was a very light year for snowfall, but no real rain/freeze or thaw/freeze events (until late) so groomers were killer. Enough stuff landed in the woods, but just enough.

Little weird getting used to a mask, and getting comfortable standing in line, but it came. Had a blast doing parking lot bbqs and hidey hole picnics, but I miss my bartenders.

Numbers were down a bit by my observation, and I didn't notice any real influx of chuckleheads. Just the normal chuckleheads. Avoiding lift lines plays a big role in where I ride, though, and I was pretty successful this year.

I'm going to get another 2-3 days this week then off to the in-laws Easter weekend. We'll see what's left after that. I'll definitely consider it a bonus if it happens. Then I might try this split boarding thing. :sneaky:
 
#17 ·
It was my best pow season ever. Counted 23 pow days so far VS. 1 groomer day. Total days out are low as we didn't drive to the mountains when there was no pow to avoid crowds as much as possible by skipping queuing for gondolas for groomers only. Weather gods were with us this year, for sure.

I have to say tho that I'm over riding crowded groomers - pandemic or not - meanwhile. That one groomer day was a stormy cold day where lifts and slopes were empty, and then, it was actually a blast to ride those empty groomers, to carve and charge. But on nice sunny days? The circus on groomers is more and more not for me. I rather bootpack 2hrs for 1 run in halfway decent BC conditions than spend half a day in a lift queue and try to slalom through the crowds.
 
#21 ·
I have to say tho that I'm over riding crowded groomers - pandemic or not - meanwhile. That one groomer day was a stormy cold day where lifts and slopes were empty, and then, it was actually a blast to ride those empty groomers, to carve and charge. But on nice sunny days? The circus on groomers is more and more not for me. I rather bootpack 2hrs for 1 run in halfway decent BC conditions than spend half a day in a lift queue and try to slalom through the crowds.
Oh my! The amount of times I've had to holler at brazen riders/skiers this season... tisk tisk I feel the pain
 
#18 ·
With the temperature hitting 20C today here in Ontario, the season is toast. @Needmoresnow managed to double my days as I was able to get a total of 10 in. But every one of those 10 was a great day. Now only one of them was powder, but the balance of them were groomers in great shape and yo-yo riding. The hill had restricted the # of bodies on the hill and the lift lines ( or lack of ) reflected that. Often had runs to myself. Even though it was my lowest day total in 10 years, it was great to have a least a bit of a season verses nothing at all. Fingers crossed that we get back to normal for all of next season. Time to brush out boards and slap on a layer of wax for the summer
 
#24 ·
This was my first season, and I've got 14 days in. Will probably look to finish with 15 days under my belt. Started the season eating shit on bunny slopes. Now I find myself carving down blues, taking the occasional side hit, and buttering when on not so steep faces. It's been a bunch of fun, but definitely should have worked more on switch riding. I've been riding through a sprained ankle all season, so hopefully I can heal that up 100% LOL.

It was great; love being on the mountain. Can't wait to keep improving.
 
#26 ·
Still have about 6 weeks to go...then its slepping up the hill for another 2-3 months. So far have only about 25 days...but mid week to avoid the noobs on the weekends. Had about 3 days of crowds but mostly quick laps, some great groomer and pow days. Nothing against our northern neighbors not being able to visit...but all the southies can stay in home. Saw a ton of out of state plates in the parking lots.
 
#33 ·
It's interesting to see such varied responses. People had seasons ranging from non-existent to pretty close to normal. It sounds like if you're in Europe, there's a good chance you didn't even get to go, if you're outside of Europe most places were a lot busier than normal, some weren't too bad though. Eivind så klart seems to be the luckiest one here, they stopped grooming our hill in the evenings because they had no where to put all the people and not avoid covid social distancing being broken. So any evening the hill would be completely trashed and destroyed.

At least the indoor places, while they were closed, have the chance to open year round if things get better.
 
#34 ·
It's interesting to see such varied responses. People had seasons ranging from non-existent to pretty close to normal. It sounds like if you're in Europe, there's a good chance you didn't even get to go, if you're outside of Europe most places were a lot busier than normal, some weren't too bad though. Eivind så klart seems to be the luckiest one here, they stopped grooming our hill in the evenings because they had no where to put all the people and not avoid covid social distancing being broken. So any evening the hill would be completely trashed and destroyed.

At least the indoor places, while they were closed, have the chance to open year round if things get better.
In my area of the US (Mid atlantic/New England) what folks and places have really seen is a lot of people moving for the outdoors if they can afford it. I was talking to someone at Jay Peak that said he was living with his parents and working before COVID but Jay put out an advert to rent one of their condos for 15k for the entire season. It was possible for him to work remotely and he could afford the rent so he just went for it and doesn't have to deal with quarantine restrictions for the state. I heard the same when I was in Hunter in NY back in december. Folks that had the money and could work remotely just moved into the countryside where they had access to outdoor activities they enjoyed.

My 'local' hill has been limiting people's slope access to reduce crowding but they don't have enough staff to keep the lift lines good in the off-peak hours and it becomes a sheet show.

The US season has been phenomenal for those who didn't follow guidelines or those that had the money to relocate. We got very lucky in PA with the snow this year, then I got lucky in NY with the dump in Dec (no travel restrictions), then I got lucky with a recent trip to NH and then VT after they allowed vaccinated folks in without quarantining. With the size of many european countries, closing borders have meant pretty much closing access altogether.
 
#39 ·
Pretty good season around these parts with a few weeks still left. Looks like I'll top out at around 40 days on hill (all midweek) which is about average...more than last year and no shutdowns, so happy about that. Rode switch most of the time, learned a few new tricks... pretty happy.

The good:
  • Only locals allowed accommodation bookings (through the resort at least), so the mountain seemed way less busy, especially during Christmas/Spring break.
  • Really great 'Locals' vibe all season. Kinda felt like seasons of the past (parking lot Breakfast/lunch/dinner tailgaters, everyone respecting the rules, and such).
  • Instead of lingering around the mountain/village areas, people tended to do there 2/3/4 hour session then take off, so parking was never an issue.

The bad:
- only thing I can think of is that they shut down night access to the runs. Night is a great time to lap the park or just get a few more riding hours in. I probably could have got 4 more days if it was open.
 
#41 ·
the season isn't quite over for me. I did not get to ride my inbounds powder board at all this season, but this (below) is from this weekend and is pretty good compensation IMO. I got injured Friday (right knee) and probably should not have gone out on Sunday, when this was filmed. Pardon the skier..


I love how he changes his mind on a dime about how to ride (or ski) the slope
 
#42 ·
I only got three days so far but they’ve all been powder days so I’m grateful. Brighton UT in December and then two at Mammoth this past weekend with 14”. Gonna finish it off at China Peak for number four. Didn’t expect lift ticket prices to jump up like they have. Need to get a pass for next season.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#45 ·
The worst season is the one where you needed to fly to even get close to a mountain, and there are no social flights out of Australia due to Covid, which basically doesn't exist here anyway. Loved watching Neni's pics and Deagol's line above though. had to live my snowboarding by watching those things. Horrible season is my vote.
 
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