Sugarbush - 1/19/2007

[Greg]

Date(s) Skied: Friday, 1/19/2007 - 9:30 am - 3:55 pm

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush, Vermont

Conditions: Powder, crud, breakable crust, crust pieces, ice, thin cover on natural runs; hardpack with a few inches fresh over the groomers; some icey troughs with powder tops on the bumps. Cloudy, light to moderately heavy snow, calm, very foggy on Lincoln Peak. No crowds - 2 chair wait max, mostly ski-on.

Trip Report: 2knees, Joe and I stayed at KingM's Golden Lion last night (thanks Michael!). We started out at Ellen this morning and loaded the GMX around 9:30 am. We then jumped on the Summit Quad and scoped Black Diamond which looked pretty thin and crusty based on the one set of tracks down it. After Rim run, we decided to start on Bravo which we incorrectly assumed was groomed. It wasn't and given the sluggishness due to the previous night's festivities, as well as the dust on crust over icey bumps, it was pretty much a disaster for all of us. Joe's first run of the season and not a great way to start. We then jumped on the NRX and hit Exterminator. Nice moguls of manmade snow and a few inches of powder to cover some of the icey troughs. We ended up skiing Exterm the rest of morning. Eventually more and more ugliness appeared in the troughs. Still feeling a bit sluggish, we decided to head to Lincoln and grab lunch in an effort to feel human again.

We hopped into the cars and went to LP. Got back out after lunch around 1:15 pm and rode Super Bravo and then skied down to Heaven's Gate. An ambassador on the way up to Gatehouse mentioned Paradise was in good shape. He defined it as crud and dense snow. Once on Paradise I would consider his assessment pretty accurate, but there was certainly some crust in there too. It's a bit thin, but powdery in spots. Hopped turns required. We then hit Spillsville which was the run of the day. My first time for Spills - nice natural run of small to medum sized bumps, some crust, thin cover, etc. We hit Spills many more times and then again on Paradise. Then back to the Base. Joe and I hit Twist/Lower Moonshine which was much more crust and powder. Totally skiable though and enjoyable, but a little thin. I finished up with a solo run down Upper and Lower Moonshine. Upper Moonshine skied a bit better than Twist with less crust.

A great day at the Bush indeed. There were a few points where it was snowing pretty heavily. I would say LP had 4" new snow by the time we left and it was still snowing. Saturday should be great if the winds stay down. I have a bunch of video so I'll put something together in the coming days. Kinda shot right now...

[loafer89]

The moguls on Exterminator where nothing that I could not handle on monday, what really gave me the most trouble was the unedgable ice in between them.

Black Diamond looked thin when we where there, yet a whole group of kids came flying down it

Glad that you had a good day out.

[2knees]

sluggishness. I like that term better then ragingly hungover. For the record, as greg and joe can attest, i managed to lock myself out of my room at an ungodly hour.

spillsville and paradise were a blast for sure. I struggled alot today. the hangover and the crust/ice got me but still had a great time.

[ALLSKIING]

You broke your own rule....trading skiing time for drinking time.. Glad you guys had fun. How was the new lodge?

[KingM]

It was fun to see you guys up here, although it's a shame it wasn't one day later, as we've got about 12 inches of fresh snow since yesterday and they opened Castle Rock for the first time.

Originally Posted by 2knees

sluggishness. I like that term better then ragingly hungover. For the record, as greg and joe can attest, i managed to lock myself out of my room at an ungodly hour.

Next time, though, call. Really, it happens more often than you'd guess.

In January 2004 during -15 temps, a couple of teenagers snuck into the hot tub after hours and then locked themselves out of the room. They called from outside the front door and by the time I dragged myself out of bed and got downstairs their swimming suits had turned completely rigid and it looked like they had hair helmets. Ouch.

[ski_resort_observer]

Very windy but we were doing great until about 11AM when all the major lifts at ME went on windhold. Still spinning at LP tho.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by 2knees

sluggishness. I like that term better then ragingly hungover. For the record, as greg and joe can attest, i managed to lock myself out of my room at an ungodly hour.

spillsville and paradise were a blast for sure. I struggled alot today. the hangover and the crust/ice got me but still had a great time.

Raging hangover? Yah, okay that's probably a better description...

We were all running at about 50% at best, at least in the morning. You look pretty good in the videos. I'm getting close to finishing that up.

Originally Posted by ALLSKIING

You broke your own rule....trading skiing time for drinking time.. Glad you guys had fun. How was the new lodge?

Well, we still staggered out by 9:30 so we didn't lose much time. Going out the night before was just a bit debilitating.

Originally Posted by KingM

It was fun to see you guys up here, although it's a shame it wasn't one day later, as we've got about 12 inches of fresh snow since yesterday and they opened Castle Rock for the first time.

Ooof...If that ain't a kick in the nuts. Thanks again for your hospitality.

Originally Posted by ski_resort_observer

Very windy but we were doing great until about 11AM when all the major lifts at ME went on windhold. Still spinning at LP tho.

Not surprised Ellen went on windhold. Pretty windy here in CT right now. I can't believe we missed Castlerock by a day. Oh well, Paradise and Spillsville was entertaining enough for this bunch of feeble drunks. The video should be done soon. Please be kind...

[Greg]

Okay, here's the video:

Sugarbush - 1/19/2007

It's almost 8 minutes and over 31 MB so be patient for the download. You'll notice that all three of us spend some time horizontally... Challenging surface for sure.

[Greg]

Here's the crappy low-res YouTube version for those that don't want to wait for the higher res download:

[Lostone]

I hadn't realized you were only there for the day. Thought you were still here, today.

The bummer is I was at North all day, yesterday, but I was blue boxing it. Just didn't think there was enough snow to make Exterminator good for me.

Now today, I did a little more in the way of tougher terrain.

Won't talk too much about Castlerock, except to say you can read my (very wordy) story here.

And good work with te video, except the title says hunter?