Frozen granular...

Wall-to-wall coverage on the Flume.

Snowmaking piles on the middle of King's Horn.

Snowmaking piles on the lower King's Horn.

Soft snow was the name of the game yesterday, we hit a high of +4C and the temperature hovered just above the freezing point overnight lastnight. At 7am it was still +2C on the mountain when things started cooling off. We tried grooming as late as we could this morning, in an effort to allow the soft snow to set up and freeze. It somewhat worked. Today, we're skiing and riding frozen granular... think of skiing on tiny snow pebbles. With some careful grooming tonight (@ -10C) the snow should be even better tomorrow. - SB

Snowed on and off all day...

Snowmakers packing up their gear after a great night/morning of making snow on King's Horn. The mid/lower King's Horn is covered in snowmaking whales.

Diten doing some Crabbe Mountain Ski Patrol training this afternoon.

The Glades, War Dance, Sunvalley and Little Brave were open today and have a great base!

Another great day of skiing and riding at Crabbe. Jay and I went out for a few midday runs. We're up to 14/22 runs today. The quote we keep hearing... "conditions are alot better than I expected!" I'd say the best snow today was on the Upper Dave's thru Greg's Way loop and they both have 100% natural snow coverage at the moment. Also, the Upper Harold's to Tippy Canoe to Elgees run was pretty sweet too. As of update time (5:45pm) it's been snowing on and off all day here at Crabbe, i'd say 3-4cm so far... let's see where tomorrows forecast takes us. - SB

PS. One thing Jay and I talked about while skiing on Christmas Eve Day (what an amazing day of skiing that was) is that when conditions are as good as they are right now, you really have to make the most, of your days on the slopes and ski as often as you can because conditions can change very fast. Especially on the East Coast! Don't catch yourself saying... "I should have gone up yesterday!"

More trails for today...

Snowmaking is still dropping a snow storm on King's Horn. There is a ton of snow on it already and they'll continue to make snow until temps begin to rise later today. We're up to 14 trails, ski patrol open up the Glades, War Dance, Sunvalley and Little Brave. It's 10:30am and currently snowing here at the mountain! - SB

From 3 to 10...

What the snowstorm on King's Horn looks like through the windshield of the groomer.

The tiller on the groomer hard at work making corduroy snow.

We started out the day with 3 trails and by 2pm we were up to 10 trails. The Beginner Hill, Upper Dave's, Ski Out, Greg's Way, Dave's Dream, The Flume, Upper Harolds, Upper Tippy, Lower Norms, Lower Elgees. All in all a pretty good day and a busy one at that. Lots of skiers and riders took advatage of the sunshine today! The snow survived yesterdays warm weather quite nicely. Let's see how tomorrow forecast treats us! - SB

"Snowmageddon" - 42cms of snow...

Yesterday was the day The Department of Transportation forgot about Crabbe Mountain Road. When we arrived at the bottom of the road at 7:45am Monday morning, there was a massive snowbank at the bottom of it and it hadn't been touched by a snowplow all night. Jay waded up Crabbe Mountain Road through waist deep snow to get the tractor from the garage and I did the same and made my way up the road to the office to post an update to say "stay tuned, Crabbe Mountain Road is currently impassable at the moment, opening soon". Needless to say, Jay cleared a 'one car width path' down the road and by 10am the lift was turning. Skiers and riders who ventured to the mountain yesterday were rewarded with 42cm of new snow, the winds that came with this storm were in our favour and we opened with a wopping trail count of 18 trails. Today we are sitting at 14 trails. The Glades has been left ungroomed, everything else is packed powder groomed corduroy. Lower Elgee's and Lower Norm's can be accessed by using the Upper Tippy Connector. Below is a video from yesterday. We've dubbed it "Snowmageddon". Lower Norm's and the Glades were awesome. We all took turns with the video camera. It's a tuff job, but someones got to do it! - SB

PS. Jay called the local DOT office a few times. The plow finally plowed Crabbe Mountain Road at 4pm. Boo.

Think NW Winds and lots of snow...

Enviroment Canada has just issued a Blizzard Warning for the region with 100 km/hr winds along the coast. Crabbe is far enough away from the coast, but high winds, specifically wind direction could make or break this storm for us.

The local wind forecast below is calling for moderate 40 km/hr and gusting 60 km/hr NE wind speeds changing to NW in the afternoon, to W by Monday evening. The front of the mountain is N - NE facing. We're hoping the winds shift to a NW - W direction sooner than expected to allow for some cross loading of the trails. Basically using the tree bands between the trails as a giant snow fence. North winds blowing up the mountain help snow storms fill in our many gladed areas of the mountain, but don't have the same effect on the wide open north facing trails. Got our fingers crossed for NW-W winds, or no wind at all and lots of snow! - SB

Environment Canada Issued : 4.00 PM AST Sunday 21 December 2008
Blizzard warning in effect.

Tonight
Cloudy. 60 percent chance of flurries early this evening. Snow at times heavy and blowing snow beginning this evening. Amount 15 to 25 cm. Wind becoming northeast 40 km/h gusting to 60 early this evening. Temperature rising to minus 4 by morning.

Monday
Day: Periods of snow and blowing snow ending near noon then clearing. Amount 5 cm. Wind northwest 40 km/h gusting to 60. Temperature falling to minus 9 in the afternoon.Night: A few clouds. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming west 20 near midnight. Low minus 15.

ENVIRONMENT CANADA ISSUES WINTER STORM WARNING...

WINTER STORM WARNING: Fredericton and Southern York CountyIssued at 4:45 AM AST SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER 2008

SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 15 TO 30 CENTIMETRES WITH STRONG WINDS GIVING REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING SNOW TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING.
AN INTENSIFYING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM EMERGING FROM THE NEW ENGLAND COAST WILL TRACK ACROSS NEW BRUNSWICK TONIGHT AND THE GULF OF ST LAWRENCE ON MONDAY. THE HEAVY SNOW WILL SPREAD FROM THE SOUTHWEST LATE TODAY REACHING THE ACADIAN PENINSULA THIS EVENING. GENERAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 15 TO 30 CENTIMETRES ARE FORECAST EXCEPT CLOSER TO 40 CENTIMETRES OVER NORTHEASTERN SECTIONS. ALONG WITH THE HEAVY SNOWFALL WILL BE HIGH WINDS REDUCING VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING SNOW WITH FREQUENT WHITEOUT CONDITIONS EXPECTED. WINDS WILL BE ESPECIALLY STRONG ALONG BOTH THE FUNDY AND GULF OF ST LAWRENCE COASTS WITH GUSTS LIKELY EXCEEDING 100 KM/H. THESE WINDS WILL ALSO GENERATE HIGHER THAN NORMAL WATER LEVELS AND POUNDING SURF ALONG THE EAST COAST.

Make sure your snowblower is working...

There's snow heading our way! So far the forecast is calling for 20cm. I'd say we'll be seeing a heavy snowfall warning being issued soon.
- SB

Get your skis shined up...

Snowmaking at Chairtop.

More snowmaking.

Snowmaking has begun on the top of the Flume.

We've been making snow 24/7 and things are looking great! We'll be open tomorrow (Friday, December 19) for skiing and riding on the Beginner Hill and Dave's Dream. Snowmaking is currently dropping a snow storm on chair-top, chair-bottom and on the Upper Flume. The question of the day, "When is the Flume going to be open?" The answer, "All depends how snowmaking goes in the next 24-48 hrs. As soon as I know... you'll know." That's a guarantee! - SB

PS. Night skiing starts tomorrow night and the Fredericton Bus to Crabbe will be running everyday over the Christmas Holidays with the exception of Christmas Day. Details are all available at http://www.crabbemountain.com/

"Roast Beef and Rails II" video...

Click the play button to view. - SB

Crabbe featured on CBC News at Six...

The glow from the bottom of Crabbe Mountain Road.

10cm of light dry snow today at Crabbe... plus we've been making snow since yesterday at noon. CBC News was at Crabbe Mountain today and Crabbe was featured in a story on all the new snow! Click the following link and go to 5 mins 28 secs into the newscast. http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/newsatsix/fredericton.wmv
It will open in your media player and may take a bit to load depending on your connection speed. - SB

Snowmaking is up and running again...

Just got off the phone with the snowmaking crew. They are up and running and have got snow guns spread out all over the mountain at the moment. A few at the bottom of the chair, a few on Dave's and a few on the Beginner Hill doing some patch work. If you've been looking at the web cam today, you would have noticed a little melting on the Beginner Hill from yesterday. Keep your chin up because the forecast is calling for a cooling trend beginning this afternoon into this evening giving us some excellent weather for snowmaking later in the week.

Got a terrific email from Claude Cote at the Environment Canada Weather Office in Fredericton. Let's just say, if i was optimistic before, I'm even more optimistic now! I'm sure that will make more sense as time goes on. Thanks for the great email Claude. - SB

Snowmaking pics - Dave's Dream...

The smile says it all.

Snowmaking on Dave's Dream.

Snowmaking has begun along the bottom to the Chairlift.

Looking up the bottom pitch of Dave's Dream.

Wow, have our Snowmaking Crews made a pile of snow on Dave's Dream. I'm talking big piles! Jay, our buddy Cole and myself went down this morning to see the snowmaking progress first-hand. There are currently snow guns on Dave's Dream from the Greg's Way split to the chairlift. There's some warm weather in the forecast for Monday/Tuesday, so our plan is to not crack the piles (crack: meaning to open them up with the groomer and spread them out over the trail) and they should stand up to the warm weather nicely just like the piles on the Beginner Hill did last week. Next, we need to get snow made from the top of the chairlift to the top of the Beginner Hill.

"The Old Farmer's Almanac 2009" is calling for:

Dec. 12-16 Snow, then sunny, cold
Dec. 17-22 Snow showers, cold
Dec. 23-25 Snowstorm, very cold

Lets's see if they know something Environment Canada doesn't. - SB

"Roast Beef & Rails II" a huge success...

Crabbe Mountain Terrain Park Coordinator, Richard Cote riding the "new" Hubba Tube feature at yesterdays "Roast Beef & Rails II".

A huge thanks to everyone who made the trek the Crabbe this weekend. Yesterday we saw skiers and riders from Edmunston, Saint John, Moncton, Truro, Halifax, Charlottetown, the list goes on and on. We'd also like to thank the Crabbe Mountain Terrain Park Crew for setting up the an amazing opening weekend terrain park. Also, a big thanks to our "Roast Beef & Rails II" sponsors... Elusive and The Radical Edge. Jay, Cole and myself are heading out the check out snowmaking progress on Dave's Dream. Pics to follow. - SB

Thank You to the Bill Hunt and The Daily Gleaner...

I'd like to thank Bill Hunt for his excellent article in the Daily Gleaner today about Crabbe Mountain. You can find it on the front page of the Sports Section (B1) or check it out below:

By BILL HUNT
Neither rain nor sleet, etc., etc., will stop Crabbe Mountain from opening this weekend.

Stefan Billings, the promotions and marketing director at the hill in Central Hainesville, says the beginner's hill will be open for skiing and snowboarding Saturday and Sunday.

The mountain will be closed again Monday through Thursday while snowmaking continues in an effort to open more trails next weekend.

"I've been checking around and, as far as I can tell, we'll be the only skiing in the Maritimes," Billings said.

Billings said conditions for snowmaking were ideal Monday evening, dipping to minus 18, and they were able to cover the beginners trail and "probably half of Dave's Dream," the feature among the 22 trails that open when the hill is pumping at maximum capacity.

But with the "tropical storm that came through," said Billings, "it's going to take a while to finish that."

He said as soon as conditions are conducive to doing so, they'll be opening more trails in an effort to repeat last season's success, when the hill was open for a record 123 days.

The bus from Fredericton will run Saturday with stops at the YMCA on Saunders Street at 8 a.m., the Student Union Building on the UNB campus at 8:15, Rossy's at the Brookside Mall at 8:30 and Keswick Landing at 8:40 a.m. Cost is $10.

Opening day was Dec. 6 last year. The hill closed April 20

Source: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/509854

Bill is definitely thinking snow! - SB

The Way of the Road...

It looks like all the freezing rain this morning helped put a turtle shell on the snow here at the mountain. We got some r**n this afternoon, but the snow that fell overnight and early this morning is still on the ground. Although everything is super wet right now, it looks like we actually gained from this storm. Temps are supposed to drop overnight and will hopefully freeze everything up. Jay is looking to groom the Beginner Hill and touch up the rails early tomorrow morning when everything is a little firmer. I was hoping to hike up the Beginner Hill this afternoon and get some pics of the rails, but we've been trying to stay off the snow today as much as possible. Jay got a call that his basemant had 3 inches of water in it and rising. So he's gone back into town set up a pump to get it out. I'm waiting for the delivery truck to arrive for the cafeteria, the weather has caused them to run behind schedule. They're thinking 7:30pm tonight. You know what they say... "It's the way of the road". - SB

Thank You to the Crabbe Terrain Park Crew...

Beginner Rail, Harlan's Stall, Hubba Tube

Big Daddy Box, Little Baby Box

C-Box, Reverse Picnic Table

Just got an MSN message from Jay. They just got done building the terrain park set-up for Saturday. Impressive considering they started around 1pm Thursday afternoon. It's midnight now. A huge thanks to our terrain park crew Richard, Harlan, Chris and of course Jay in the groomer for countless hours of hard work. Here's the list of features so far: C-Box, Reverse Picnic Table, Down Flat Down, Shot Gun Rail, Up Down Box, Barrel Bonk,Big Daddy Box, Little Baby Box, Beginner Rail, Harlan's Stall, Hubba Tub.

Both Jay and I have errands to run for the mountain in town Friday morning, so when i get to the hill, I'll try to get pics of all the features and post them. - SB

Open this Saturday and Sunday...

View from inside the groomer.

Big Larry pushing around some snow.

The top two piles above the Beginner Hill.

Looking down the top of the Beginner Hill.

Looking up the Beginner Hill.

Well, what a wild week of weather. We've seen everything... snow, freezing rain, r**n, ice pellets, -18C, even some tropical temperatures yesterday followed by a flash freeze around 5pm. Our snowmaking piles on the Beginner Hill seemed to have survived the tropical weather yesterday. Which is great news!

As I write this Big Larry is out grooming and moving snow around on the Beginner Hill. Jay is out in the tractor moving rails from the parking lot to the bottom of the Beginner Hill.

Some weather coming tomorrow, so we will be open this Saturday and Sunday 9am-4:30pm on the Beginner Hill only. There will be a terrain park rail set-up as well and our Annual "Roast Beef & Rails II" Rail Jam is a go for this Saturday!

Details on lift tickets, rentals and Roast Beef & Rails II are available at http://www.crabbemountain.com/ , stay tuned to Crabbe Mountain dot com for the latest. The mountain will be closed the following Monday thru Thursday (Dec. 15-18) to focus on snowmaking and terrain expansion, scheduled to re-open Friday, December 19th for the season. - SB

PS. There are still some piles of snowmaking snow along the top part of Dave's Dream down to about Embree's/Greg's Way. Below that no dice. We'll be focusing snowmaking efforts on getting the lower part of Dave's and across the top part of the mountain. Keep your fingers crossed for some natural snow to speed things up a bit!

Speaking of soaking wet...

Speaking of behind the scenes. Bonnie got a call from the Stop & Shop Canada Post Outlet today to pick up a stack of soaking wet mail. See, the mail box at the bottom of Crabbe Mountain Rd. was knocked into the ditch and covered with snow by the plow (happens alot) sometime over the weekend during the snow storm. Bonnie had dropped a stack of outgoing mail into the box on Friday. All of it ruined (see above pic). We've called the Canada Post 800 number about it and apparently they are not responsible for mail that gets soaked while in their mailboxes. Go figure. To say the least we're not impressed. I gotta say it's a good thing Bonnie, our Office Manager keeps such careful records or we would have no idea what to resend. So, if you have been looking for your Gift Certificates, Stocking Stuffers, etc in the mail this week... we do apologize and they should arrive shortly, as long as the mail box doesn't fall over again. - SB

PS. If there are any Crabbe skiers or riders that work for Canada Post and know who we can call to resolve this problem feel free to send their contact info to gm@crabbemountain.com

Cooling off?...

We're currently sitting at half a degree above zero. Hopefully this r**n will change over to snow. - SB

April in December...

Snow on the mountain is taking a pounding today. The snowmaking piles are shrinking a bit, but seem to be fighting the mild temps. The natural snow is melting like warm butter. We're sitting at about +8C... r**n, fog and S winds, all sworn enemies of snow. Temps are supposed to drop this evening. - SB

Batten down the hatches...

Looking up the flats on Dave's Dream.

Jay out for a ski on Upper Dave's during our 10am coffee break.

Looking down the Beginner Hill.

Huge snowmaking pile made lastnight on the top of the Beginner Hill.

The pile to the left took 24 hrs @ a -7C average, the pile on the right was made in less than 12 hrs lastnight @ -18C. Amazing what -18C will do!

Lastnight was a phenominal night for snowmaking, temps dropped into the -18C range and the wind became calm. Check out the above pics. Our snowmakers have been working their way down Dave's Dream towards Chair Bottom. The weather is looking sketchy for Wednesday, lets hope our piles make it through this warm weather event. Been getting a few emails asking what trails will be open this weekend, lift pricing, etc. Once we get through our mid-week warm up, we'll have a better idea and will be posting un update on http://www.crabbemountain.com/ We're actually having a managers meeting just before quitting time late Wednesday afternoon to go over things for the weekend. Look for an update Thursday mid-morning and think snow! - SB

PS. Just in case... I called Victory today and ordered 80lbs of roast beef for Roast Beef & Rails II.

Another amazing Crabbe Mountain sunrise...

Jay was out for an early morning ski and sent these along. Another amazing sunrise! - SB

Early December Snow...

Skin track up(left), sweet turns on the right. Upper Dave's.

Looking down the skin track on Upper Dave's.

Winter snow!

Early morning on the mountain.

It snowed 10cm on Saturday evening here at the mountain. Then yesterday the forecast got interesting. Snowfall Warning!!! Between Saturday night and Sunday we ended up with just over 25cms of new snow on the mountain. Upper parts of the mountain are wind drifted snow, while there seems to be the most snow at the mid-mountain level. Jay and I met at the top of the mountain for sunrise, which was spectacular by the way! Clicked into our skis and headed down the Flume. The upper part was windblown slab and not so great. But, then when we started over the second pitch (which is usually out of the wind)... everything changed to soft fluffy powder. WOW! Powder on December 8th.

I got the above shots on my way back up the mountain. I was skinning up through the bottom of War Dance and Sunvalley Glades and ended up coming out at the bottom of Upper Dave's. Looked up and it looked awesome. So, i took a hard right and headed up the slope. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the above pics and let them tell the story.

Snowmaking is up and running again. Jay is out in the groomer packing down as many trails as he can. There's a hiccup in the forecast on Wednesday, a blip of warm weather, so we need to get all this natural snow packed down to help start a base. Forecast is calling for cold air tonight. - SB

Snowfall Warning...

Just got back from some cross country skiing in Wilmot Park and noticed this... issued by Environment Canada @ 2:19pm 12/07/08. Got my fingers crossed. - SB

Environment Canada:
SNOWFALL WARNING: Fredericton and Southern York CountyIssued at 2:19 PM AST SUNDAY 7 DECEMBER 2008
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 15 TO 20 CENTIMETRES ARE EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.

A DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SOUTH OF NOVA SCOTIA IS FORECAST TO INTENSIFY RAPIDLY AS IT TRACKS ACROSS EASTERN NOVA SCOTIA EARLY THIS EVENING AND INTO SOUTHERN QUEBEC OVERNIGHT. SNOW AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM HAS SPREAD ACROSS MOST OF THE PROVINCE. HOWEVER, ALONG THE FUNDY COAST AND NORTHUMBERLAND STRAIT A MIXTURE OF RAIN AND SNOW IS BEING REPORTED...BUT THIS WILL CHANGE TO SNOW BY THIS EVENING AS MUCH COLDER AIR USHERS IN BEHIND THE LOW. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 15 TO 20 CENTIMETRES ARE EXPECTED IN PARTS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NEW BRUNSWICK BEFORE TAPERING TO A FEW FLURRIES TONIGHT OR EARLY MONDAY MORNING.

Let it snow...

Nice to see big snowflakes falling from the sky in Fredericton. Snowed all Saturday evening and into the night at Crabbe. Snowmaking went until about 3pm yesterday. Look for it to start up again when temps and humidity drop again. - SB

Thank You Snowmakers video...

Thank you snowmakers! - SB

More snowmaking pics...

Our Snowmakers have unleashed a snowstorm on the mountain. The last pic was taken at 4:15pm. - SB

Snowmaking is officially underway...

Smowmaking operations are now underway. Snow guns are cranking snow on the Beginner Hill and down the top part of Dave's Dream. More pics to come. Gotta let my fingers warm up! - SB

Snowmaking window?...

Snowmaking crews have been keeping a close eye on the forecast and it looks like temps are supposed to start dropping like a rock around noon. Big Larry and his crew have started setting up on the Beginner Hill and the top of Dave's Dream, while Dwight is in the Snowmaking Building charging the system (pumping water and air into the pipes that run to the hydrants the snow gun hoses are attached to). Stay tuned. - SB