severine
New member
Some well-timed snow saved the day for us at Mad River Glen! We arrived Tuesday to a few inches of fresh powder over hardpack/ice/low cover. While they normally do groom some of their trails, nothing had been groomed since the snow started falling. Only the famous single chair and the Sunnyside lifts were in operation, which was somewhat disappointing since I was planning on spending much of my time in Birdland (this is my first season, after all). New experience for me to basically be skiing under the snow but it was fun all the same. Snow was still falling rather heavily so visibility wasn't too good; couldn't see any of the views off the mountain, and sometimes not much more than 10 feet ahead of you. We hit just about every green you could: Fox, Easy Way (with the exception of a section of it that was still labeled as "Panther"-the labeling didn't match the trail map so we skipped it just in case), Duck, Lark, Loon, Robin, and Wren. (Interestingly, they must have relabeled several of the trails recently as Robin and Wren were marked as greens on the trail signs but are blues on the trailmap.) It was also entirely uncrowded; no liftlines at all, and most of the time, we had the trails to ourselves (I know, because everyone else was skiing the mroe difficult terrain). We left after a half day to save our energy for the following 2.
Wednesday we went to Mt. Ellen of Sugarbush. Race training on Inverness. Ugh. Did not start the day off well. Fortunately, other than the busloads of kids, it wasn't too busy. Snow had ended the night before, but it had come just in time for SB as well since they had quite a few trails with thin cover even with the recent snow. We made first track on Northridge Expressway, which was groomed packed powder. Followed it down Lwr Northstar and Straightshot to the bottom. Didn't see a single person the whole way down the first time. By the second run, people (and racers) started to converge on the mountain. On the 3rd run, we decided to try Walt's Trail. It's about as close as you could get to our experience the day before at Mad River Glen. Ungroomed, several inches of powder over packed/thin cover. I think I had the most fun at SB on Walt's Trail. We did try Mainstream on a later run, but the mountain was starting to get overrun with snowboarders over in that area and they make me nervous. In the end, I decided I liked MRG much better.
Thursday, the last day of our 3-day Ski the Valley lift tickets. I decided I wanted to go back to MRG. Completely different than 2 days before. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and temps were predicted to be in the low 40s. It was showing as much of the snow that had fallen on Mon/Tues was already gone on Thur. Lots of bare spots on the trails. Again, only Sunnyside and Single Chair lifts open. This time I tried the Single Chair and got off at the mid station to take Broadway over to Easy Way. Broadway, Easy Way (including Lower Panther, which I skiied this time), Fox, and (I believe) Duck were all groomed at this point. However, Lark, Robin, and Wren were not. I had more fun on those than all the groomers, in spite of my insufficient beginners skis! On my last run I did the lower portion of Waterfall, just as the snow was getting soft and slushy in places. It was HOT. I can't see how MRG will be open much longer this season unless they get a *significant* dumping of snow in the next week.
In any case, I would go back to MRG any time. The advertising may scare you, but they really do have terrain for any abilitiy level. I'm undecided about SB... Ever since MRG, I don't think anywhere else will ever be the same for me again.
Looking down from intersection of Fox and Vixen on 3/11...
More pictures to come when I get the rest of them back...the ones from the digital camera are already posted in the Gallery.
Wednesday we went to Mt. Ellen of Sugarbush. Race training on Inverness. Ugh. Did not start the day off well. Fortunately, other than the busloads of kids, it wasn't too busy. Snow had ended the night before, but it had come just in time for SB as well since they had quite a few trails with thin cover even with the recent snow. We made first track on Northridge Expressway, which was groomed packed powder. Followed it down Lwr Northstar and Straightshot to the bottom. Didn't see a single person the whole way down the first time. By the second run, people (and racers) started to converge on the mountain. On the 3rd run, we decided to try Walt's Trail. It's about as close as you could get to our experience the day before at Mad River Glen. Ungroomed, several inches of powder over packed/thin cover. I think I had the most fun at SB on Walt's Trail. We did try Mainstream on a later run, but the mountain was starting to get overrun with snowboarders over in that area and they make me nervous. In the end, I decided I liked MRG much better.
Thursday, the last day of our 3-day Ski the Valley lift tickets. I decided I wanted to go back to MRG. Completely different than 2 days before. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and temps were predicted to be in the low 40s. It was showing as much of the snow that had fallen on Mon/Tues was already gone on Thur. Lots of bare spots on the trails. Again, only Sunnyside and Single Chair lifts open. This time I tried the Single Chair and got off at the mid station to take Broadway over to Easy Way. Broadway, Easy Way (including Lower Panther, which I skiied this time), Fox, and (I believe) Duck were all groomed at this point. However, Lark, Robin, and Wren were not. I had more fun on those than all the groomers, in spite of my insufficient beginners skis! On my last run I did the lower portion of Waterfall, just as the snow was getting soft and slushy in places. It was HOT. I can't see how MRG will be open much longer this season unless they get a *significant* dumping of snow in the next week.
In any case, I would go back to MRG any time. The advertising may scare you, but they really do have terrain for any abilitiy level. I'm undecided about SB... Ever since MRG, I don't think anywhere else will ever be the same for me again.
Looking down from intersection of Fox and Vixen on 3/11...
More pictures to come when I get the rest of them back...the ones from the digital camera are already posted in the Gallery.
