Sunday River - 3/31/12

Had a good day at Sunday River today with my son. A lot of trails are closed, but a lot of trails are still open. Temps were around 30 when we started at 8am, rising to probably upper 40's in the afternoon when we called it a day around 4pm. It was cloudy in the am, then nice and sunny in the afternoon. No wind all day.

Found a wide variety of conditions. The steeper headwalls seemed to frequently be a lot of hardpack, and they were sometimes narrow too. Trails where they had made snow were in really good shape, like Cascades. We did quite a few runs down Sunday Punch which had a lot of fun loose snow. Found some deserted trails that were also a blast, like Lollapalooza over on Jordan. Some trails had thin spots and hazards, and it was actually fun to dodge some of the obstacles.

We had lunch over at the White Cap lodge, and did some sweet runs afterwards down Starlight, which is usually a park, but has been mostly spread out to just a deeply covered trail with some easy air opportunities.

Crowds were pretty light for the most part. I heard a rumor that some sort of event was going on at Sugarloaf, so that probably kept the crowds down at SR.

Below are some pics. I didn't get any shots of the best stuff, since I was too busy enjoying it. That was probably a wrap on my season, so a nice way to end it.

Upper White Cap looks like plenty of coverage but hasn't been open. Any ideas why? Sheet of ice maybe?

Newpylong said:

Upper White Cap looks like plenty of coverage but hasn't been open. Any ideas why? Sheet of ice maybe?

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Not sure why. Plenty of coverage. White heat not lift served tho

Another awesome day on the hill. Lots of freshies on sides good day for rock skis lol

The trails I could see around White Heat looked like ungroomed moguls. Probably anything they didn't groom would have been icy and had bare spots. Maybe there wasn't enough snow left up there to push around. Or with the smaller crowds, maybe they didn't think it was worth the effort.

I think we ran into some of the famous "British" invasion at the top of the Tempest Chair. Bunch of young people there with British accents. If they're the reason SR made snow this spring, my hat's off to them.

speden said:

The trails I could see around White Heat looked like ungroomed moguls. Probably anything they didn't groom would have been icy and had bare spots. Maybe there wasn't enough snow left up there to push around. Or with the smaller crowds, maybe they didn't think it was worth the effort.

I think we ran into some of the famous "British" invasion at the top of the Tempest Chair. Bunch of young people there with British accents. If they're the reason SR made snow this spring, my hat's off to them.

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Makes no sense it's closed. Earned some of best turns of year on it, nice it was "closed" lol Brits everywhere great to see they seem to be having fun

Thanks for the TR, Sunday River was on my radar for the weekend, I decided to hit Saddleback instead. My first, and only, visit to Sunday River was last April. I scored two days there for $20. A guy from NYC sold me one for twenty, the next day, Easter Sunday, was their last day of the season, everyone skied for free. White Heat is a great Spring trail, Agony was in great shape then too. Looks like you and your Son had a great day.

I was skiing with the guys in the third picture. Pretty nice weekend

Cornhead said:

Thanks for the TR, Sunday River was on my radar for the weekend, I decided to hit Saddleback instead. My first, and only, visit to Sunday River was last April. I scored two days there for $20. A guy from NYC sold me one for twenty, the next day, Easter Sunday, was their last day of the season, everyone skied for free. White Heat is a great Spring trail, Agony was in great shape then too. Looks like you and your Son had a great day.

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Yeah, prices were good for the amount of skiing they have. My son's ticket was only 24 dollars since it was half off with my season pass.

Too bad you couldn't fit SR into your tour. They're having a good spring despite the weather.

Bob R said:

I was skiing with the guys in the third picture. Pretty nice weekend

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Small world. I thought all the AZers would be at the Loaf. Looks like they're not running the Jordan Bowl lift this week, so I guess we got some of the last turns off that. Too bad, I really enjoyed the tight switchbacks they had made at the top of Lollapalooza. I don't know if they usually groom it that way, but it was neat to see how fast I could take the sharp turns.

Looks good! It was a real gorgeous day on Saturday and Sunday. Cool enough that you didn't sweat like a pig skiing but warm enough that you could dress light and comfortable and it softened the snow just enough.

speden said:

Small world. I thought all the AZers would be at the Loaf. Looks like they're not running the Jordan Bowl lift this week, so I guess we got some of the last turns off that. Too bad, I really enjoyed the tight switchbacks they had made at the top of Lollapalooza. I don't know if they usually groom it that way, but it was neat to see how fast I could take the sharp turns.

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Lolla was like a water slide ride. Same idea usually, not so agressive. A few commented it was like a traditional New england windy trail with out trees. I, and a few others in this thread are SR weekenders.

Nick said:

Looks good! It was a real gorgeous day on Saturday and Sunday. Cool enough that you didn't sweat like a pig skiing but warm enough that you could dress light and comfortable and it softened the snow just enough.

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Yes, the weather was great. It was a little chilly early in the morning, but I'll take that over having the snow turn to slush. And it was clear skies the night before, so my son and I took a short hike in the forest behind our motel. The moon was out so we could see pretty well. Sure is nice to be able to see all the stars without the city lights of Boston to drown them out.

Newpylong said:

Upper White Cap looks like plenty of coverage but hasn't been open. Any ideas why? Sheet of ice maybe?

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While I was there last weekend WH was walking required on Saturday at the top (100 feet at most) and was down to dirt after the shock wave intersection. SW was missing snow in 1 or so spots. I'm guessing they just weren't confident in the 4 inches they got.

Watatic Skier said:

While I was there last weekend WH was walking required on Saturday at the top (100 feet at most) and was down to dirt after the shock wave intersection. SW was missing snow in 1 or so spots. I'm guessing they just weren't confident in the 4 inches they got.

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Better coverage than the weekend it was open, no walking required once you go to the top of White Cap. All I can think is that SR thought the 5" on top would give way too quickly to ice underneath. There were some sheets of ice to be careful of, but 95% was great...but we hit it when there was still decent coverage..and the bumps on skiers right...oh my..oh my...pure heaven. As it stands now, if it's a little softer I don't see why they can't open it again, maybe for Parrothead? I think even Friday's report said they were spinning it for the weekend, but it didn't.

speden said:

Yes, the weather was great. It was a little chilly early in the morning, but I'll take that over having the snow turn to slush. And it was clear skies the night before, so my son and I took a short hike in the forest behind our motel. The moon was out so we could see pretty well. Sure is nice to be able to see all the stars without the city lights of Boston to drown them out.

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Isn't the sky amazing up there? Totally different than the one above Boston lol.

Yes, the sky up there is amazing. I was wishing I had a telescope with me. We were picking out the planets and guessing which ones they were. I think we saw Jupiter and Mars. The big dipper and little dipper were easy to pick out, and Orion. After that I couldn't remember any more constellations to point out to my son. Where was Wikipedia when I needed it... but just fun to take it in.

speden said:

Yes, the sky up there is amazing. I was wishing I had a telescope with me. We were picking out the planets and guessing which ones they were. I think we saw Jupiter and Mars. The big dipper and little dipper were easy to pick out, and Orion. After that I couldn't remember any more constellations to point out to my son. Where was Wikipedia when I needed it... but just fun to take it in.

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Well there is an app for that. I have Night sky. Point phone to heavens and it tells you what you're looking at. A few weeks ago in ME i saw mars Saturn and another ? Jupiter? Whatever, just cool loll

I use an app called GoSkyWatch for that. Don't get to use it often but it's pretty sweet when I do.