Pat's Peak, skin and ski-Superbowl Sunday, 02-07-16

For the first time this season I skied back to back days, a skin and ski at Pat’s Peak again on Superbowl Sunday for day five. It was 19 degrees with perfectly clear blue skies after a 36 mile, 31 minute drive that put me in the Route 114 shuttle bus parking lot at 9am. I boarded a waiting bus and in just minutes I was dropped off at the steps to the base lodge. This saved me the aggravation of parking and walking through a jammed packed and muddy parking lot at the base. I began my skin up on the same route that I had taken last Sunday and reached the top in 50 minutes, about 10 minutes faster than a week ago. I rested on top for 20 minutes and skied back to the base. The mountain picked up a good 4 inches of snow on Friday and it had been groomed and packed perfectly making for some real smooth and easy skiing. I sat in the bright sun light on the deck of the base lodge with temperatures now reaching about 40 degrees. Pat’s Peak has two designated uphill routes, the outer most trails on either side. I did another skin up, this time on the other route which is less steep and only goes about half way up the mountain. At the top of both sides, on the way up and while I was sitting on the deck, several people inquired about the AT ski set-up and how it worked, showing interest in this approach to the sport. I had a 20 ounce PBR at the Sled Pub and then headed home to watch the Superbowl. My wife will be joining me on the next stop of the ski tour. We are very excited.

How busy was it there? I didn't realize Pats had a satellite lot on 114.
Thought about going there with the family on Sat but feared heavy crowds.

Sounds like fun. I was there from 10:30am to 12:30pm lapping the magic carpet. I didn't know that there was a satty lot. It was a pain to hike it from the parking lot carrying all the gear for me and my toddler. It was crowded but didn't seem to be too crowded on the mountain.

xwhaler said:

How busy was it there? I didn't realize Pats had a satellite lot on 114.
Thought about going there with the family on Sat but feared heavy crowds.

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The two outer Lifts were not bad from what I saw, I didn't even look at the two main lifts that go up the middle. The lodge was jammed packed. The slopes were not too bad the two runs I took. The satellite lot on 114 is on the right going south, it is about 1/4 mile before you make the right turn onto the access road. There's is a sign at the turn in.

DoublePlanker said:

Sounds like fun. I was there from 10:30am to 12:30pm lapping the magic carpet. I didn't know that there was a satty lot. It was a pain to hike it from the parking lot carrying all the gear for me and my toddler. It was crowded but didn't seem to be too crowded on the mountain.

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The lot worked really good, both ways. The bus pulled in as I was approaching the turn in, it went to the very back of the lot. I found an open space right next to the entrance. I got out, got my equipment and the bus pulled right up next to my car. On the way back, I walked out to the bus loading area, waited about 30 seconds and a bus pulled up. By then the main lot at the base area was pretty muddy.

The lot is at the well company and is usually just used by employees.