"White Tuesday" at Sugarbush: (12/4/07) POWDER DAY!

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: December 4, 2007

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush

Conditions: Hmmm…I wonder…16-24 inches of powder, chowder.

Weather On and off snowshowers, some wind. Peaks of sun.

2007-2008 Report #: 6

Trip Report: Some folks get excited with Black Friday. You know, it is the day when some folks get up at the crack of dawn to go stand in long lines outside of stores, hoping to get the stash. Well, today at Sugarbush was “White Tuesday.” After somewhere between 16-24” of new snow, it was a true powder day and I made sure to get up there as soon as I could. Despite snowy roads and some interesting moments (folks, please DON’T STOP in the middle of a climb up a snowy hill), I made it in good time…getting there at about 8:40 or so. Folks were glad to be there…the first powder day of the 2007-2008 season.

Even before the 9am chair, you could feel the energy from the fifty or sixty folks who were standing in line for the first runs. I booted up and headed out to meet a herd of happy, caffeinated, screaming skiers and riders. It was incredible. Folks talked about how they managed to get out of work for a few hours, or what they did with their kids. Many, like me, were lucky students who had no morning classes. We all were staring with delight at the snow covered Lincoln Peak and ready for action.

At 9am the gates were opened and folks began shouting and cheering. I boarded with three other locals who were rabid for freshies…my chairmates were relatively tight lipped about strategy, but I did hear the word “Birdland” dropped. That was my plan…until I saw about ten people blast down it. So the next plan was to go to the summit.

I hit a groomed Domino Chute and then dove into Domino. Within seconds, I was up to my waist in powder. Unreal. I made some jump turns and got into the rhythm…before ducking out onto Heaven’s Gate Traverse.

After catching my breath, I had to decide: Ripcord, Organgrinder, or Paradise? I had decided on Ripcord only to see an army of folks hit it. So Organgrinder it was…and I got first tracks. We’re talking face shots folks. It was sick. Deepest snow I have skied since January 2000 at Jay Peak. Unreal. Light and easy to turn in.

I cut onto Spillsville and got first tracks as well. What was tough was that the moguls were all covered and not visible…so you would fly along and then be waist deep in snow and going face forward into the pow.

Lower Paradise was the same…incredible. I was warm and out of breath. First run in pow is always the toughest.

So Ripcord was next and it was unreal. Light chowder and some untracked on my side of the run. Wow. Unreal. I jumped onto Lower Ripcord and found more waist deep stuff on the side.

Now I was pumped…legs were getting into it…the right skis for the job, so I pointed them down Paradise. Good call. The chowder and bumps were deep. One had to take care on the downhill side of bumps because rocks and ledge were exposed…I learned this quickly. My Monsters hit some stuff, but came out largely unscathed. I hugged the extreme side of the trail and had plenty of deep snow…all to myself. Most of my runs were just me…no crowds. Paradise has become a new fav of mine…these conditions it would be anyone’s. I was skiing it well…and loving the pow and chowder.

Lower Paradise skied well again.

I made a beeline to the base in order to use the bathroom and ran into Lostone just above the base. Well, he talked me into a run…we decided to hit Stein’s on my recommendation. Good choice and probably one of the best runs of the day. Steep, deep, and incredible. Hop turns and soft snow. The bottom one third was a bit risqué in places, but doable. Lostone hit a rock or two, but I seem to miss them…

We took another half run…he hit Stein’s and I did The Mall. Nice run with good snow, but as Lostone said, the lower part had some water bars, and some were still open (beware).

We parted and I took a break before heading back up. Birdland was the call…great pow bumps. Murphy’s was stellar…deep drifted snow (by the way, on most runs the tracks filled back in very quickly from the wind).

I decided to try Lower Birdland. On most days, I avoid it because it is icy, rocky, narrow, and has a nasty double fall line. Most folks were avoiding it today…which left some nice snow for me. On the first run, I was enjoying the drifted deep snow. When I did it later, I found a few more rocks, including the very lip of the mountain bike track (Ouch). No major damage…

I also made sure to hit Lixi’s Twist, which was amazing on the top and had great snow, as well as Moonshine, which skied pretty well considering it was tracked out.

Closing run was down Stein’s…which was worth three trips.

I left at 1:30 tired and happy from an incredible outing! Get out there…the snow is AMAZING!