Sugarbush - 3/24 & 3/25/2006

**Greg** · Mar 25, 2006, 5:06 PM

FRIDAY:

Date(s) Skied: Friday, March 24, 2006 - 9:05 am - 4:05 pm

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush Resort - Warren, Vermont

Conditions: Surface conditions - spring variable; Cloudy, No wind.

Trip Report: My father-in-law and I boarded the Gatehouse lift shortly after 9 am. Once at the top we hopped on the North Lynx Triple. Our first run was Birch Run was a partially flash frozen mix of spring snow and new dense snow. Kind of a teeth chatterer so we decided to head for the Super Bravo chair to ski some of the grromed runs. First run was Murphy's Glade which was also not groomed, but had a bit softer snow. We then hit Birdland which was groomed and in great shape. I did a run down Stein's which was decent but it was pretty firm and too early to really have a great run. Tons of snow on Stein's though. We also skied Lower Jester before heading to the summit via Heaven's Gate.

Off Heaven's Gate we tried Upper Jester which was groomed and a bit fast, but in great shape due to recent snow. We then did a few runs on Sigi's. Skier's left actually still had some awesome powdery moguls. The snow gradually became firmer as you got lower in elevation. I tried Paradise which was great up top with soft bumps. It progressively became thinner in the treed section, but still fun. There was one frozen icefall with side-to-side glare ice about 30 feet in width. I didn't analyze it too long and safely made my way across it.

We then headed back to Bravo and I bumped into Lostone at the lift. We rode up together and took the traverse over to Spring Fling. There was a cool bump course on Spring Fling which had perfect spring moguls. Hero bumps, really! We did another run with Lostone before hitting the Mushroom for lunch.

After lunch is somewhat a blur, but we skied hard all afternoon. Runs of note were Lixi's Twist and The Mall. Both were gnarley thin runs. Great bumps on top of both and really thin with ice, mud and rock down low. I actually enjoyed them trememendously. Am I weird for loving thin natural trails like these in the Spring? I absolutley love the challenge of picking my way through such trails with what most people would consider crappy thin cover. I loved them both.

Hit a few more groomers and the bumps on Spring Fling before finishing up by heading to the summit. I did Organgrinder which was starting to set up. Dense firm chunky snow. Still fun. I rode Bravo one last time to hit Stein's at 4 o'clock. We were absolutely exhausted from the day. I almost fell asleep in my beer(s).

A fantastic spring day at the Bush for sure. Never a wait in line which let us get in a ton of skiing. The cover is thin though and it certainly is not what I would expect there in late March in a normal winter. Sorry - forget my camera on Friday

SATURDAY:

Date(s) Skied: Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 8:05 - 11:15 am

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush Resort - Warren, Vermont

Conditions: Firm natual snow. Groomers skied great. Dense crud. Cloudy. On and of snow showers. No wind.

Trip Report: The plan was to ski a few hours this morning and head home early. We boarded Bravo at 8:05 and skied a few runs down the groomers - Lower Jester, Lower Organgrinder, Birdland and Murphy's. They skied fast early on but a nice change from the heavy spring mush the day before. I then did a run on the Spring Fling bumps. They were okay, but it was a bit too early. I then hit Lixi's Twist to Lower Moonshine. Again somewhat firm still, but fun. I then noticed from the Bravo chair that it looked like the Castlerock Double was spinning! I notice several people on Castlerock running confirming it! BEELINE!

Took two runs on Castlerock. CR to Bailout and then Middle Earth. CR was pretty good up top, but the snow became brutally dense down low. Middle Earth, however. Un-friggin-real. Soft bumps and a great line right down the center of the trail. It was a bit crowded when I skied it though and I actually wish I had skied ME instead of CR the first run. Might have done a double on ME. Middle Earth is absolutely one of my favorite runs. After my brief Castlerock fix I was satisfied. We were hoping to aim to leave by 11:30 so I only had time for one final run down The Mall. I really like this run. Natural snow down the steep Valley House Double liftline. My kind of run and it didn't disappoint. Still gnarley and thin at the bottom - did I mention I love that stuff?

Headed out from the Paradise Deli at 11:30 and made it home by 3:30. An awesome day and a half. Still smiling and probably the end of my season now. I was psyched to have my finish include some Castlerock runs! Sweet!

Click HERE for Saturday's pics.

Zand · Mar 25, 2006, 5:25 PM

Nice. I'm leaving at 5 AM tomorrow for SB. Doubt I'll make it over to Mount Ellen. Hitting up MRG on Monday.

loafer89 · Mar 25, 2006, 5:28 PM

Nice report, it looks like you had fun. What happened to the 15" of new snow that Sugarbush was reporting earlier this week? How much longer do you think Sugarbush can stay open?

riverc0il · Mar 25, 2006, 5:46 PM

nice report greg! after your disappointment with the natural trails at loon, i am very glad to hear you got some time up on castlerock and the bush's other natural snow runs. looks like you had a great time.

have fun zand. you might want to call ahead at MRG. they have not given any indication of closing after sunday, but having skied there on thursday, i honestly wouldn't be surprised. the lower section of the mountain is rough and the warm weather and traffic this weekend probably hasn't helped. but the upper mountain is totally kick butt. i will be at mad river glen tomorrow. i sure hope they stay open another week, i still have two more mad card vouchers to use.

loafer, even if powder lasted more than a day or two, the temperature has been warm up here. all the powder that had not been skied off or chewed up has long since consolidated due to the temperature. i suspect wednesday was the last day any pow could be found any where in new england.

**Greg** · Mar 25, 2006, 5:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loafer89

Nice report, it looks like you had fun. What happened to the 15" of new snow that Sugarbush was reporting earlier this week? How much longer do you think Sugarbush can stay open?

That 15" was only evident at upper elevation - maybe the top 800'. The upper trails off Heaven's Gate and the higher runs on Castlerock had a lot of natural snow still. 15" is a legit number up top. It's starting compress and firm up though as it's been warm during the day. SB is aiming for April 9 at South and maybe the end of April for Ellen. Snowmaking trails have full side-to-side coverage. Many of the natural runs have only a few days left, at best.

loafer89 · Mar 25, 2006, 6:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverc0il

nice report greg! after your disappointment with the natural trails at loon, i am very glad to hear you got some time up on castlerock and the bush's other natural snow runs. looks like you had a great time.

have fun zand. you might want to call ahead at MRG. they have not given any indication of closing after sunday, but having skied there on thursday, i honestly wouldn't be surprised. the lower section of the mountain is rough and the warm weather and traffic this weekend probably hasn't helped. but the upper mountain is totally kick butt. i will be at mad river glen tomorrow. i sure hope they stay open another week, i still have two more mad card vouchers to use.

loafer, even if powder lasted more than a day or two, the temperature has been warm up here. all the powder that had not been skied off or chewed up has long since consolidated due to the temperature. i suspect wednesday was the last day any pow could be found any where in new england.

Even though there was no direct sunshine today at Belleayre, the UV rays did alot to turn the new snow that fell into mush by noon, even though the temperature when we left at 1:30pm was only 39F. This time of year, the sun is really strong and works on snow quickly.

Zand · Mar 25, 2006, 6:52 PM

Quote:

have fun zand. you might want to call ahead at MRG. they have not given any indication of closing after sunday, but having skied there on thursday, i honestly wouldn't be surprised. the lower section of the mountain is rough and the warm weather and traffic this weekend probably hasn't helped. but the upper mountain is totally kick butt. i will be at mad river glen tomorrow. i sure hope they stay open another week, i still have two more mad card vouchers to use.

Oh well. If they close, I'll just spend an extra day at Sugarbush. I was very happy when I checked SB's report this morning to see that Castlerock had opened for the weekend, considering 2 weeks ago the exact opposite happened to me. I've only skiied one run on Castlerock in my life, back when I was pretty inexperienced and it bumped me up pretty good (pardon the pun). Can't wait to rip it up now.

**ALLSKIING** · Mar 25, 2006, 8:09 PM

Nice report Greg. Not bad ending your season at the Bush...What was the total for the year?

**Greg** · Mar 26, 2006, 7:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverc0il

nice report greg! after your disappointment with the natural trails at loon, i am very glad to hear you got some time up on castlerock and the bush's other natural snow runs. looks like you had a great time.

Indeed. I should also mention that the Unlimited AC3s performed better than expected. I hadn't had the chance to try them on any natural terrain until SB. They were rock solid yet responsive and really gave me the confidence to attack some pretty gnarley terrain in The Mall, Lixi's and part of Paradise. That's the type of terrain where they shine. After seeing how well they did, I was almost wishing I went with the AC4. But realistically, my skiing also consists of a lot of groomers and I do like the bumps so I think the AC3 is a good compromise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALLSKIING

Nice report Greg. Not bad ending your season at the Bush...What was the total for the year?

21. Not bad, all things considered. I'm satisfied.

2knees · Mar 26, 2006, 6:02 PM

nice report and great pics as usual. if thats your last day, sounds like you went out with a good one.

Mar 25, 2006, 5:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Greg Nassahegan, CT: 8/14 Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Thomaston, CT Posts: 20,138	Sugarbush - 3/24 & 3/25/2006 FRIDAY: Date(s) Skied: Friday, March 24, 2006 - 9:05 am - 4:05 pm Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush Resort - Warren, Vermont Conditions: Surface conditions - spring variable; Cloudy, No wind. Trip Report: My father-in-law and I boarded the Gatehouse lift shortly after 9 am. Once at the top we hopped on the North Lynx Triple. Our first run was Birch Run was a partially flash frozen mix of spring snow and new dense snow. Kind of a teeth chatterer so we decided to head for the Super Bravo chair to ski some of the grromed runs. First run was Murphy's Glade which was also not groomed, but had a bit softer snow. We then hit Birdland which was groomed and in great shape. I did a run down Stein's which was decent but it was pretty firm and too early to really have a great run. Tons of snow on Stein's though. We also skied Lower Jester before heading to the summit via Heaven's Gate. Off Heaven's Gate we tried Upper Jester which was groomed and a bit fast, but in great shape due to recent snow. We then did a few runs on Sigi's. Skier's left actually still had some awesome powdery moguls. The snow gradually became firmer as you got lower in elevation. I tried Paradise which was great up top with soft bumps. It progressively became thinner in the treed section, but still fun. There was one frozen icefall with side-to-side glare ice about 30 feet in width. I didn't analyze it too long and safely made my way across it. We then headed back to Bravo and I bumped into Lostone at the lift. We rode up together and took the traverse over to Spring Fling. There was a cool bump course on Spring Fling which had perfect spring moguls. Hero bumps, really! We did another run with Lostone before hitting the Mushroom for lunch. After lunch is somewhat a blur, but we skied hard all afternoon. Runs of note were Lixi's Twist and The Mall. Both were gnarley thin runs. Great bumps on top of both and really thin with ice, mud and rock down low. I actually enjoyed them trememendously. Am I weird for loving thin natural trails like these in the Spring? I absolutley love the challenge of picking my way through such trails with what most people would consider crappy thin cover. I loved them both. Hit a few more groomers and the bumps on Spring Fling before finishing up by heading to the summit. I did Organgrinder which was starting to set up. Dense firm chunky snow. Still fun. I rode Bravo one last time to hit Stein's at 4 o'clock. We were absolutely exhausted from the day. I almost fell asleep in my beer(s). A fantastic spring day at the Bush for sure. Never a wait in line which let us get in a ton of skiing. The cover is thin though and it certainly is not what I would expect there in late March in a normal winter. Sorry - forget my camera on Friday SATURDAY: Date(s) Skied: Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 8:05 - 11:15 am Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush Resort - Warren, Vermont Conditions: Firm natual snow. Groomers skied great. Dense crud. Cloudy. On and of snow showers. No wind. Trip Report: The plan was to ski a few hours this morning and head home early. We boarded Bravo at 8:05 and skied a few runs down the groomers - Lower Jester, Lower Organgrinder, Birdland and Murphy's. They skied fast early on but a nice change from the heavy spring mush the day before. I then did a run on the Spring Fling bumps. They were okay, but it was a bit too early. I then hit Lixi's Twist to Lower Moonshine. Again somewhat firm still, but fun. I then noticed from the Bravo chair that it looked like the Castlerock Double was spinning! I notice several people on Castlerock running confirming it! BEELINE! Took two runs on Castlerock. CR to Bailout and then Middle Earth. CR was pretty good up top, but the snow became brutally dense down low. Middle Earth, however. Un-friggin-real. Soft bumps and a great line right down the center of the trail. It was a bit crowded when I skied it though and I actually wish I had skied ME instead of CR the first run. Might have done a double on ME. Middle Earth is absolutely one of my favorite runs. After my brief Castlerock fix I was satisfied. We were hoping to aim to leave by 11:30 so I only had time for one final run down The Mall. I really like this run. Natural snow down the steep Valley House Double liftline. My kind of run and it didn't disappoint. Still gnarley and thin at the bottom - did I mention I love that stuff? Headed out from the Paradise Deli at 11:30 and made it home by 3:30. An awesome day and a half. Still smiling and probably the end of my season now. I was psyched to have my finish include some Castlerock runs! Sweet! Click HERE for Saturday's pics. __________________ Greg 2007-08, 2006-07, 2005-06, 2004-05 Life's too short for warm up runs.

Mar 25, 2006, 5:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
Zand Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Leicester, MA Posts: 1,835	Nice. I'm leaving at 5 AM tomorrow for SB. Doubt I'll make it over to Mount Ellen. Hitting up MRG on Monday. __________________ 2003-2004: 21; 2004-2005: 27; 2005-2006: 31; 2006-2007: 31 2007-2008 Days- 38 Wachusett: 11/23; 11/29; 12/6; 12/9; 12/14; 12/20; 12/22; 1/4; 1/7; 1/15; 1/17; 1/18; 1/25; 1/27; 2/4; 2/8; 2/12; 2/14; 2/27; 2/29; 3/10; 3/26; 3/28; 3/29; 4/6 Mount Snow: 11/12; 11/24; 12/28; 1/21; 2/20; 4/19; 4/27 Berkshire East: 2/23 Okemo: 3/7 Stowe: 3/15; 3/16 Mad River Glen: 3/20 Sugarbush: 3/21

Mar 25, 2006, 5:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
loafer89 Sugarloaf Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Coventry, C.T Posts: 3,551	Nice report, it looks like you had fun. What happened to the 15" of new snow that Sugarbush was reporting earlier this week? How much longer do you think Sugarbush can stay open? __________________ Ski School - A place where novices are turned into menaces.

Mar 25, 2006, 5:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
riverc0il Ari Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Ashland, NH Posts: 6,683	nice report greg! after your disappointment with the natural trails at loon, i am very glad to hear you got some time up on castlerock and the bush's other natural snow runs. looks like you had a great time. have fun zand. you might want to call ahead at MRG. they have not given any indication of closing after sunday, but having skied there on thursday, i honestly wouldn't be surprised. the lower section of the mountain is rough and the warm weather and traffic this weekend probably hasn't helped. but the upper mountain is totally kick butt. i will be at mad river glen tomorrow. i sure hope they stay open another week, i still have two more mad card vouchers to use. loafer, even if powder lasted more than a day or two, the temperature has been warm up here. all the powder that had not been skied off or chewed up has long since consolidated due to the temperature. i suspect wednesday was the last day any pow could be found any where in new england. __________________ -Steve TheSnowWay.com featuring Big Jay Coverage "Skiing is not a sport, it is a way of life." - Otto Schniebs 52

Mar 25, 2006, 8:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
ALLSKIING The Glen Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Mattituck, NY Posts: 4,304	Nice report Greg. Not bad ending your season at the Bush...What was the total for the year? __________________ Dave 35 days 07/08 Season

Mar 26, 2006, 6:02 PM	#10 (permalink)
2knees The big pig @ Forrest Park Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,918	nice report and great pics as usual. if thats your last day, sounds like you went out with a good one.

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