WWF-VT
Well-known member
Mount Ellen @ Sugarbush
MLK Day , January 19, 2015
Conditions: Powder, packed powder. Temperature low 30’s base, 20’s at the summit, cloudy, snowing
Some days it pays to be in the right place and patient on a powder day. Sunday it rained for a few hours late in the day and by 9 PM it switched to a heavy snowfall. On Monday Sugarbush reported 6-12” of new snow with dense snow down low and lighter snow at higher elevation. I avoid the powder day feeding frenzy at Lincoln Peak and ski at Mt Ellen.
The GMX chair was delayed due to icing and I joined the line “crowd” of maybe 50 people waiting for the Inverness chair that opened at 9. The snow off the Inverness chair was 6-8” of forgiving dense snow and I tore it up with my kid getting fresh tracks on Brambles, Semi Tough, Semi Tough Woods and Walt’s Trail. Every time we came back to the base I looked to see any signs of the GMX finally loading. We got in line and were maybe 10 chairs back when the GMX started around 10 AM. It hiccupped a few times and was a slow ride. I soon found out they we were on one of the last chairs that loaded before they shut the chair down for about another hour.
We were in a very fortunate group of probably around 30 people that got to lap the Summit chair on a powder day! We stayed on the Summit chair not knowing if the GMX was going to run again. FIS had ridiculously deep snow and it was maybe one of the best times I have ever skied it. It seems like everyone wanted to ski Black Diamond and it was well skied off by noon. We were the third set of tracks down Elbow and it got even better on Exterminator and Bravo. Few people know that you can cut back to the Summit chair from those trails so we were alone on multiple laps. The usually very challenging rock face on Bravo was completely covered and was an easy few turns. We were still finding untracked lines on Exterminator all morning. We never waited more than a couple of chairs for the Summit chair and it was ski on at 12:30. Mid day we did a challenging run of Bravo to Tumbler and finished up with a run down the chopped up powder on Which Way. When we left at 2:30 it was still snowing hard. I didn’t take any pictures - my battery was low and clouds/snow limited visibility plus I was trying to keep up with my 16 year old kid all day.
I’m hoping they get the North Ridge chair figured out and running soon. Overall the snow from this storm has the mountain in great shape.
MLK Day , January 19, 2015
Conditions: Powder, packed powder. Temperature low 30’s base, 20’s at the summit, cloudy, snowing
Some days it pays to be in the right place and patient on a powder day. Sunday it rained for a few hours late in the day and by 9 PM it switched to a heavy snowfall. On Monday Sugarbush reported 6-12” of new snow with dense snow down low and lighter snow at higher elevation. I avoid the powder day feeding frenzy at Lincoln Peak and ski at Mt Ellen.
The GMX chair was delayed due to icing and I joined the line “crowd” of maybe 50 people waiting for the Inverness chair that opened at 9. The snow off the Inverness chair was 6-8” of forgiving dense snow and I tore it up with my kid getting fresh tracks on Brambles, Semi Tough, Semi Tough Woods and Walt’s Trail. Every time we came back to the base I looked to see any signs of the GMX finally loading. We got in line and were maybe 10 chairs back when the GMX started around 10 AM. It hiccupped a few times and was a slow ride. I soon found out they we were on one of the last chairs that loaded before they shut the chair down for about another hour.
We were in a very fortunate group of probably around 30 people that got to lap the Summit chair on a powder day! We stayed on the Summit chair not knowing if the GMX was going to run again. FIS had ridiculously deep snow and it was maybe one of the best times I have ever skied it. It seems like everyone wanted to ski Black Diamond and it was well skied off by noon. We were the third set of tracks down Elbow and it got even better on Exterminator and Bravo. Few people know that you can cut back to the Summit chair from those trails so we were alone on multiple laps. The usually very challenging rock face on Bravo was completely covered and was an easy few turns. We were still finding untracked lines on Exterminator all morning. We never waited more than a couple of chairs for the Summit chair and it was ski on at 12:30. Mid day we did a challenging run of Bravo to Tumbler and finished up with a run down the chopped up powder on Which Way. When we left at 2:30 it was still snowing hard. I didn’t take any pictures - my battery was low and clouds/snow limited visibility plus I was trying to keep up with my 16 year old kid all day.
I’m hoping they get the North Ridge chair figured out and running soon. Overall the snow from this storm has the mountain in great shape.
