Date(s) Skied: 1/16/16 – 1/18/16
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarloaf
Conditions: Packed Powder, Powder, Hardpack
Trip Report:
With the summit less than a couple weeks away, I thought I would post a TR report to give you some stoke. First observation, WOW what a difference a week makes after the R@#% event two Sundays ago. With ~17 inches of snow in the last week, the loaf has recovered well, and the skiing is fantastic right now. For me, this past weekend was by far the best weekend of the year (so far). It was perfect skiing weather: snowing on two of the three days (something about skiing while it is snowing…it is the best), and the other day was bluebird with no wind. Temps ranged from high teens to low twenties on two of the days, with Monday’s temps in the single digits. The winds were not nearly as bad as forecasted all weekend, which is an extra bonus when you are skiing at the Loaf.
Saturday’s storm did not live up to the hype, but it did deliver a solid 2-3 inches to improve things. Monday storm was light with 1-2 inches. Obviously the trails with snowmaking skied the best….Tons of snow on the edges with plenty of soft snow & bumps to make it fun with the occasional pockets of deep pow to plow through. The groomers skied very well with no problems holding edge & nice quiet skiing (especially in the morning). Later in the day you started to see things get scraped off especially in the center of the trails where you start to see some hardpack/ice, but minimal. The trails with manmade snow that stood out for me over the weekend: Widowmaker/Flume (skiers left all the way down was awesome & love getting that trail early in the day with the morning sun beaming down), Spillway had good cover, and Gondi was awesome. Skiers right down gondi line is skiing great right now….The groom line has a ton of snow on it & the blow over snow into the glade makes for a fun run bouncing in & out of the glade.
I did not venture too much onto the au natural trails…still lots of obstacles you need to navigate (unless you don’t give a shit about your bases). Kudos to the Loaf for being liberal about opening some trails with little cover & letting us decide what to ski. My only natural trails for the weekend were wedge, boomauger, binder, comp hill, double bitter, and sherboom…they were all good, but they all had their share of navigating around obstacles, with the occasional “oh sh#%” because you went over something you did not see. Glades were all “closed”, and agree they probably should be….I saw some tracks coming out of Bracket Basin & in various other spots, but can’t imagine it is any good. My guess is another good couple of storms needed to start to officially opening up somethings in the woods. The only glade I did was skiers right of Gondi Line which was buried (especially closer to the trail edge), since it gets all the manmade blow over snow.
The loaf is pushing towards the summit with Timberline expecting to open sometime this week….After they open that chair, my guess is the front face will be next with Nitro, Wedge, and Gondi Extension coming online with a few days of snowmaking/natural snow.
Everyday at the Loaf is getting better than the last…With cold temps and an active weather pattern, you should be looking good for an enjoyable summit and hopefully some glades in play.
P.S. Today at the Loaf the wind is howling & only Skidway chair is running. :-o
TOD: Gondi Line
Sorry for the lack of photos...had phone issues all weekend
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarloaf
Conditions: Packed Powder, Powder, Hardpack
Trip Report:
With the summit less than a couple weeks away, I thought I would post a TR report to give you some stoke. First observation, WOW what a difference a week makes after the R@#% event two Sundays ago. With ~17 inches of snow in the last week, the loaf has recovered well, and the skiing is fantastic right now. For me, this past weekend was by far the best weekend of the year (so far). It was perfect skiing weather: snowing on two of the three days (something about skiing while it is snowing…it is the best), and the other day was bluebird with no wind. Temps ranged from high teens to low twenties on two of the days, with Monday’s temps in the single digits. The winds were not nearly as bad as forecasted all weekend, which is an extra bonus when you are skiing at the Loaf.
Saturday’s storm did not live up to the hype, but it did deliver a solid 2-3 inches to improve things. Monday storm was light with 1-2 inches. Obviously the trails with snowmaking skied the best….Tons of snow on the edges with plenty of soft snow & bumps to make it fun with the occasional pockets of deep pow to plow through. The groomers skied very well with no problems holding edge & nice quiet skiing (especially in the morning). Later in the day you started to see things get scraped off especially in the center of the trails where you start to see some hardpack/ice, but minimal. The trails with manmade snow that stood out for me over the weekend: Widowmaker/Flume (skiers left all the way down was awesome & love getting that trail early in the day with the morning sun beaming down), Spillway had good cover, and Gondi was awesome. Skiers right down gondi line is skiing great right now….The groom line has a ton of snow on it & the blow over snow into the glade makes for a fun run bouncing in & out of the glade.
I did not venture too much onto the au natural trails…still lots of obstacles you need to navigate (unless you don’t give a shit about your bases). Kudos to the Loaf for being liberal about opening some trails with little cover & letting us decide what to ski. My only natural trails for the weekend were wedge, boomauger, binder, comp hill, double bitter, and sherboom…they were all good, but they all had their share of navigating around obstacles, with the occasional “oh sh#%” because you went over something you did not see. Glades were all “closed”, and agree they probably should be….I saw some tracks coming out of Bracket Basin & in various other spots, but can’t imagine it is any good. My guess is another good couple of storms needed to start to officially opening up somethings in the woods. The only glade I did was skiers right of Gondi Line which was buried (especially closer to the trail edge), since it gets all the manmade blow over snow.
The loaf is pushing towards the summit with Timberline expecting to open sometime this week….After they open that chair, my guess is the front face will be next with Nitro, Wedge, and Gondi Extension coming online with a few days of snowmaking/natural snow.
Everyday at the Loaf is getting better than the last…With cold temps and an active weather pattern, you should be looking good for an enjoyable summit and hopefully some glades in play.
P.S. Today at the Loaf the wind is howling & only Skidway chair is running. :-o
TOD: Gondi Line
Sorry for the lack of photos...had phone issues all weekend
