Sugarbush 2/11/07

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: 2/11/07

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush Resort, VT

Conditions: PP, Thin Natural Trails

Trip Report:

Well, found a good weekend to take a trip to my favorite ski areas. First on the list was a Sunday visit to Sugarbush. Departed my house at 5:15 AM and pulled into the south parking lot around 9:20. First thing I checked on the snow report was the status for Slide Brook and to my satisfaction, it was open. That meant I would spend time at both areas.

Booted up in the excellent new Gate House lodge and headed up Super Bravo a little after 9:30. Guns were ablaze on Spring Fling, Stein's Run, and Murphy's (not-a) Glade. Started off on the very first pitch of Birdland before cutting over to Murphy's for some fresh manmade. From there, I headed across the mountain on Heaven's Gate Traverse and hit Lower Domino off that as a little warmup for Castlerock. Domino is a fun natural trail with a decent pitch. Hit the Castlerock connector trail off that.

Skied onto the Castlerock double and ascended up the legendary peak. First run there was Castlerock Run. Upper was about flawless at that point besides one crappy spot. Lower wasn't as great with a few more bare spots. Hit the very last pitch on Liftline which is about as icy, rocky, and bare as it gets. Pretty much just straightlined it over that.

Next run up Castlerock was Middle Earth. This would prove to be in worse condition than CR with rocks and bare spots in many more places and 1 15 foot long icefall that stretched the width of the trail. The less steep bottom parts were in better conditions. I headed on down the Castlerock Runout from there and to the base.

Next, I headed up Gatehouse. That lift had the only "wait" I experienced the entire weekend (about 2 mins). Took the Slidebrook Express from there. Were they drunk when they spaced the chairs? anyway, it's a very unique ride and it's quite a thrill going over the top of and down a 2,000' hill.

First run at Ellen was up the North Ride Express and down Exterminator. The coverage was excellent. There were quite a few people on the trail. It's very steep and bumpy and pretty fun. I headed down Way Back at the halfway point.

From there, I went up the Summit Quad and down Rim Run. Took it all the way around to Lower FIS. Completely deserted trail... I didn't see one soul until the runout. The trail starts out steep and then mellows out. The runout is a PITA. It teases the hell out of you as you go up a hill, down a bit, and then repeat the process about 6 times. Everytime it goes down, you ask "Is it over yet" just as another hill hits and you get to hike up some more.

Next run was up the GMX as I spotted fresh manmade directly underneath on Cliffs. I took that run and had a fun time in the manmade pow. At the bottom, I headed back over on Slide Brook as I'm not incredibly fond of the terrain at Ellen and it was quite a bit colder there.

Back at south, I headed up North Lynx for a run up Sunrise. This trail had great coverage to skiers right with nice soft bumps the entire way. From there I headed to Sleeper. I started on Sleeper Chutes which were scraped clean. The main trail was much better and I cruised to a great lunch in the gatehouse around 12:40.

Next run was up Super Bravo and down Stein's. The guns made this trail fantastic. The entire run was full of fresh manmade with some great lines on skiers left.

Following that was a nice run on the Mall. This trail had better conditions than damn Castlerock. Not to mention it was deserted. There were many bare spots in the troughs, but it was still nice.

Next I headed up Super Bravo, down Murphy's to HGT (I avoid Downspout at all costs) and up to the summit. Skied Paradise which was reail nice for most of the way. The gladed section was a bit rocky, but those were avoidable. From there, I headed down Lower Downspout to Castlerock Double.

I took a run down Castlerock Run which by then was beat to submission with dirt and rocks everywhere. I took Cotillion at the midpoint which was quite a bit better. From there, I headed back to the base.

Next up were a pair of runs on Twist and Moonshine. Those had similar conditions to Castlerock, with Twist being slightly better. Lower Moonshine was decent too.

Spring Fling followed which was in the guns, so no long GS turns for that run. Still made some good manmade powder runs which was pretty good.

Closed out the day with 3 straight runs down the man-made powder heaven of Steins. A great way to end the day. Man I was wiped after 3 straight runs down that thing.

Well, that does it for my Sugarbush TR. I'll have my powder day at MRG report tomorrow.

[Newpylong]

If you like the speed the Slidebrook goes, then you will appreciate chair spacing. With the cable length, if the chairs were spaced as per normal HSQ's, it would be one longggg ride. 2 miles is a lot of tension.

[Zand]

No... what I am saying is some were spaced like normal HSQs and some were spaced like Castlerock. The chairs were all over the place. It was quite weird.

[Newpylong]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh okay, haha. I gotcha. Like the Skyeship sometimes, lol.