Sugarbush 1-7-11

Conditions: ungroomed, packed powder, loose powder
Temps 30-34 degrees, overcast, sun in the valley.

Got a late start to the day (some people just are NOT punctual) and arrived around 10:30am. Collected my pass and headed up the Bravo lift and down Jester and Organ Grinder. Despite some thin cover in a few spots, the snow was soft and the bumps were amazing. Took a few runs at the top of the mountain, but coverage there was pretty scarce, too. Spent a good bit of time on Spring Fling and the "hero moguls."
All in all, conditions were pretty decent. Headed back Saturday and Sunday this weekend so long as the forecast doesn't call for a hellish warm up.

Nice! We are heading up the 2nd wknd of February for my 1st time at Sugarbush. Hoping for full boundary to boundary terrain by then. Great to be part of AZ!

I'll add to Saturdays report --

Temps were pretty warm on the lower mtn, maybe up to 40... Spent most of the day on the beginner double chair and the quad next to it (Gate House) teaching my nephew and niece to ski for the first time. Snow was soft, sleeper was nice, as was the trail under the lift (hotshot/waterfall) and the green over there (pushover). Met up with WWF-VT for a few and we had a great time on some warmup runs --

Coverage was pretty good on most of the beginner area-- It was fun to see the first timers progress over the course of the day, and also entertaining to see the wipeouts... for me, it was first day of the year on tele's, so I appreciated the easier terrain too


Sunday --

Woke up to a dusting on the ground, but did hear a quick passing rain-shower the night before.... temps dove and ski'd like typicall new england hard-pack... Big flurries all day, accumlated maybe an inch tops.... Explored the rest of the open mountain, and checked out Mt Ellen too -- Saturdays soft bumps had hardened up good, and made for some challenging bump runs. My trail pick of the day was probably Snowball to SpringFling -- Rim Run on Ellen was fun and fast.

They had a lot of trails open, that in years/decembers prior most mountains wouldn't have -- I give them credit for allowing people to make their own calls -- but I'm sure some base damage was reported by those who went after any and all open terrain --

I skied at both Lincoln Peak and Mt Ellen on Saturday. Took a few early runs with rocojerry then moved on to the Super Bravo chair. Nice soft snow on Birdland, Murphy’s Glade, Lower Organ Grinder and Jester. Did a few laps on Snowball and Springfling before lunch. Avoided the Heaven’s Gate chair as reports said that Organ Grinder and Ripcord were rock hard and not worth the trip. In the afternoon I went to Mt Ellen from 2-4 PM. The visibility up top was limited as low clouds had moved in. I took a run on Cruiser which was soft and fun. Rim Run and Looking Good also were in good shape but visibility was a challenge. Moguls on Elbow were locked up frozen snow and not a lot of fun. Cut over to Exterminator which had hard bumps and thin cover up top. Lower Exterminator to Northstar was great. Full coverage and soft natural snow on Lower Exterminator and tons of man made with mounds and whales on Northstar.

Looking uphill on Exterminator – thin cover and thick clouds:



Here’s Lower Exterminator to Northstar:




Sunday I skied only at Mt Ellen. As expected with the temperature drop conditions went from spring soft on Saturday to frozen granular on Sunday. Groomers were OK, guns were on to resurface trails and expand terrain.

pics always take a report to a new level good to see you again up there! Already looking forward to coming back--

Lookin good jerry! What does ROCO stand for anyway?