xlr8r
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2009
- Messages
- 947
- Points
- 43
Where: Stratton
When 3.2214 and 3.23.14
Weather: Packed Powder
Why: Now that it is Late season, I took advantage of Stratton's "One Nighter" package, which is 2 days skiing, and one nights lodging for 2 people at the Black Bear Lodge (Formerly Stratton Inn) for only $230. But because I was solo the price was only $154 before tax, and included a $20 voucher for dinner on site at Bently's which I was not expecting, but made the deal even better. I know the Vermont mountains up north have had more snow and better conditions, but I really like this deal, very cheap to get 2 days of skiing in and stay on mountain, and the conditions ended up being excellent.
Saturday: Woke up later than I wanted to, but was on the road at 6:30 so I arrived at 9:30, and was on Amex by 10. The winds were very apparent all day, but did not close any lifts. The gondola ran slow all weekend, but I don't know if that was because of wind or not. I only rode the gondola 3 times all weekend because it was faster to take Amex and URSA in tandem rather than waiting for and riding the gondola. Also good riddance to those cabins, its about damn time.
Because of the winds, I spent most of the day on the Sun Bowl and Kidderbrook side of the mountain, which is also the side of Stratton I have skied very little of previously. I spent the first few runs on groomers on that side of the mountain as it started to flurry. After an early lunch the snow was coming down pretty hard, but it only lasted an hour and only amounted to 1"-2".
With the fresh coating of snow I headed for the glades and ended up doing Eclipse, Vertigo, Diamond in the Rough, Moonbeam, and Test Pilot. Test pilot was insane, never before had I skied a glade that long, over a mile long I think. The top 1/3rd of it is very tight for my 6'-4" body but still unique and interesting. Then it opens up to a nice widely spaced, but little tracked glade for the the bottom 2/3rds. Doing Test Pilot top to bottom is an exhausting experience. My favorite glade of the weekend was Vertigo, as it was widely spaced, but had a good pitch, and also had plenty of untracked spots as almost nobody was on it. The whole Kidderbrook area skied fantastic as so few people were over there because it required 2 lift rides to lap.
Eventually after the snow squall and my glades venture, the sun peaked out for a bit, but clouds came back and the winds picked up even more at the end of the day. I spent the last few runs over on the Snow Bowl side which was much windier. Ended the day at 4 with 20 runs and over 25,000 vertical feet skied.
Photos:
Sunrise Express
Test Pilot
Test Pilot
Vertigo
Vertigo
When 3.2214 and 3.23.14
Weather: Packed Powder
Why: Now that it is Late season, I took advantage of Stratton's "One Nighter" package, which is 2 days skiing, and one nights lodging for 2 people at the Black Bear Lodge (Formerly Stratton Inn) for only $230. But because I was solo the price was only $154 before tax, and included a $20 voucher for dinner on site at Bently's which I was not expecting, but made the deal even better. I know the Vermont mountains up north have had more snow and better conditions, but I really like this deal, very cheap to get 2 days of skiing in and stay on mountain, and the conditions ended up being excellent.
Saturday: Woke up later than I wanted to, but was on the road at 6:30 so I arrived at 9:30, and was on Amex by 10. The winds were very apparent all day, but did not close any lifts. The gondola ran slow all weekend, but I don't know if that was because of wind or not. I only rode the gondola 3 times all weekend because it was faster to take Amex and URSA in tandem rather than waiting for and riding the gondola. Also good riddance to those cabins, its about damn time.
Because of the winds, I spent most of the day on the Sun Bowl and Kidderbrook side of the mountain, which is also the side of Stratton I have skied very little of previously. I spent the first few runs on groomers on that side of the mountain as it started to flurry. After an early lunch the snow was coming down pretty hard, but it only lasted an hour and only amounted to 1"-2".
With the fresh coating of snow I headed for the glades and ended up doing Eclipse, Vertigo, Diamond in the Rough, Moonbeam, and Test Pilot. Test pilot was insane, never before had I skied a glade that long, over a mile long I think. The top 1/3rd of it is very tight for my 6'-4" body but still unique and interesting. Then it opens up to a nice widely spaced, but little tracked glade for the the bottom 2/3rds. Doing Test Pilot top to bottom is an exhausting experience. My favorite glade of the weekend was Vertigo, as it was widely spaced, but had a good pitch, and also had plenty of untracked spots as almost nobody was on it. The whole Kidderbrook area skied fantastic as so few people were over there because it required 2 lift rides to lap.
Eventually after the snow squall and my glades venture, the sun peaked out for a bit, but clouds came back and the winds picked up even more at the end of the day. I spent the last few runs over on the Snow Bowl side which was much windier. Ended the day at 4 with 20 runs and over 25,000 vertical feet skied.
Photos:
Sunrise Express
Test Pilot
Test Pilot
Vertigo
Vertigo
