How our picks held up
Every Thursday we name mountains to ski that Saturday. After the weekend we check each call against what the day turned out to be, and post the result here. Misses included.
The season so far
No Saturday has been graded yet. The first results post here the Monday after the first Saturday picks go out.
How a pick is graded
The rules are fixed and the same for every pick. A pick is graded on what it told you, using the weather record for that Saturday at that mountain.
- Rain. We do not pick rain days. 0.1" or more of rain while the lifts were running is a miss.
- New snow. When we forecast 2" or more, at least 60% of it has to fall for the call to hold. Under 30% is a miss. In between is mixed.
- Temperature. A forecast high of 34°F or colder that reaches 40°F or warmer is a thaw we did not call. That makes the pick mixed.
- The edge. When a pick claimed more snow than another mountain, we check that too. If the other mountain got 2" or more beyond our pick, it is a miss.
- The result. A pick gets its worst mark. One miss makes it a miss.
What this does not tell you
- Crowds are not graded. The crowd label is our estimate, and there is no measured count to check it against.
- The weather record is Open-Meteo's reading of the day at the mountain's location. It is not a snow stake, and the mountain's own report can differ.
- Picks are made Thursday morning for Saturday. They lock when Saturday starts and are never edited afterward. Every change to this record is public in the site's ledger file.
- Mountains cannot pay to be picked, and a graded miss stays on this page.