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Eclipse PSA
- Thread starter Zermatt
- Start date
jimk
Well-known member
Did something different today for Eclipse Day, 8 Apr 2024, went up to Solitude, UT for snowshoeing and partying.
This is what the eclipse looked like at peak totality in UT (~50%) at 12:30 pm MDT, not too different from a normal day?
Here's what it looked like with a filter.
Then we went snowshoeing with a happy crew, starting at Solitude Village.
Early in the 90 minute trek, entering the beautiful Redman Campground area. This is lookers left of the base of the Solitude ski trail layout. Still a 6+ foot deep snowpack in this area.
The white mountainside above in this photo is the far edge of the Great Western terrain at Brighton ski area.
Mr and Mrs Jim K.
Post trek thirst quencher, with Solitude's Sunrise chairlift rising in the center-background.
This is what the eclipse looked like at peak totality in UT (~50%) at 12:30 pm MDT, not too different from a normal day?
Here's what it looked like with a filter.
Then we went snowshoeing with a happy crew, starting at Solitude Village.
Early in the 90 minute trek, entering the beautiful Redman Campground area. This is lookers left of the base of the Solitude ski trail layout. Still a 6+ foot deep snowpack in this area.
The white mountainside above in this photo is the far edge of the Great Western terrain at Brighton ski area.
Mr and Mrs Jim K.
Post trek thirst quencher, with Solitude's Sunrise chairlift rising in the center-background.
LoafSkier19
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What an incredible experience. So glad we had the chance to see it from the summit of Sugarloaf!
AdironRider
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drjeff
Well-known member
- you *might* of met one of my friends, Wendy C, from CT then.. She was there since one of her best friends is one of LBO's assistants!
abc
Well-known member
That’s interesting. I took it with my phone. It looked just like the one others put up in this thread, pale image of the real thing.
I took a couple with my SLR. It’s much better than the cell phone ones. But even thought “better”, it isn’t near the real thing we saw either.
I know my pictures were over-exposed. Too bright, too many “rays”. I suspect yours are also over-exposed on the bead…
3 minutes was too short to just enjoy it. I didn’t want to waste my time fiddling with my camera.
I took a couple with my SLR. It’s much better than the cell phone ones. But even thought “better”, it isn’t near the real thing we saw either.
I know my pictures were over-exposed. Too bright, too many “rays”. I suspect yours are also over-exposed on the bead…
3 minutes was too short to just enjoy it. I didn’t want to waste my time fiddling with my camera.
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Zand
Well-known member
Hearing the whole Notch area is a total shit show at this hour. Rt 3 and 118 backed up for miles before the merge with 93 which itself is backed up to Littleton and not moving. Waze sending people around the Notch down some crazy dirt roads.
Not sure if you had a better way to get home than to go through there. Might have been worth going through Crawford Notch to 16.
abc
Well-known member
I’m not “going home” tonight. Staying put at Montreal to enjoy the city. Moreover, I’ll get to ski tomorrow too. Then I drive home on empty roads.
But even then, I couldn’t help to get hung up a bit in traffic. The drive from Mt Sutton to Montreal should have been 1 1/2 hours. It took over 2 hrs.
Mont Sutton had a really good setup today. The mountain has 2 peaks. Normally, one take the first chair to the lower peak, ski over to take the second chair to the summit. Today, they let the pedestrians take the chair to the lower peak, but skiers are told to hang out at the 2nd chair and at the summit. Then, after the totality is over, they started downloading the pedestrians while allowing skiers to go up on that same chair till 5 o’clock.
(Somebody at Sutton had their high school math done right. They figured out how long it takes to download 250 pedestrians (at half speed). That’s when they stopped us skiers going UP! I took one of the last few chairs up a couple minutes before 5 o’clock. As I got to the top, I could see they were loading the last 10 pedestrian on the chair going down. Impeccable timing!)
Between 4-5, the snow had just corned up to perfect cream cheese consistency. Had they kept running the lift, I would kept on skiing past 5!
Sutton is a really cool mountain. Old style trails that twist and turns. They don’t groom much either. So it’s got banks and side hills. Lots and lots of wide open glades. I quite enjoyed it.
2 days for $99 (CAD). Best $99 I’ve spend a long time!
But even then, I couldn’t help to get hung up a bit in traffic. The drive from Mt Sutton to Montreal should have been 1 1/2 hours. It took over 2 hrs.
Mont Sutton had a really good setup today. The mountain has 2 peaks. Normally, one take the first chair to the lower peak, ski over to take the second chair to the summit. Today, they let the pedestrians take the chair to the lower peak, but skiers are told to hang out at the 2nd chair and at the summit. Then, after the totality is over, they started downloading the pedestrians while allowing skiers to go up on that same chair till 5 o’clock.
(Somebody at Sutton had their high school math done right. They figured out how long it takes to download 250 pedestrians (at half speed). That’s when they stopped us skiers going UP! I took one of the last few chairs up a couple minutes before 5 o’clock. As I got to the top, I could see they were loading the last 10 pedestrian on the chair going down. Impeccable timing!)
Between 4-5, the snow had just corned up to perfect cream cheese consistency. Had they kept running the lift, I would kept on skiing past 5!
Sutton is a really cool mountain. Old style trails that twist and turns. They don’t groom much either. So it’s got banks and side hills. Lots and lots of wide open glades. I quite enjoyed it.
2 days for $99 (CAD). Best $99 I’ve spend a long time!
When I made that post, we were getting back on the road from Exit 41. Google Maps had recommended I take 302 , but I decided to stay on 93 as I didn't want to get caught by some slowpoke on 16. 1:15 later and we hadn't even made it to Franconia! Like 3 miles tops. I crossed the median and headed back North to 302. When I was heading back North, I saw a couple wreckers and an ambulance heading South. So I'll be interested to hear if there was an accident in the Notch
302 was totally fine. 16? Caught in a line of 30 cars by some asshole going 5-10 under all the way from Conway to Wakefield before I could get by Mr. dickhead in a Prius. Always a god damned Prius.
All told what is normally 3:15 from North Troy , took us 7:15 with two quick pee breaks. Had I done 302; in the first place it would have been a little over 6 hours.
Glad the eclipse was amazing because that was the slowest drive of my life.
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BenedictGomez
Well-known member
I've never seen traffic like that in my life. It took 1.5 hrs from Sugarbush south on rt 100 just to get to Rochester. We were bumper to bumper from the end of Granville Gulf all the way to Rochester. Then the northway and thruway were not much better. Overall 9 hrs to get back to NJ (including about an hour to grab dinner at a diner). Really should have just stayed in VT and left tomorrow (or I guess today at this point lol).
Edd
Well-known member
Pics from Sugarloaf on Instagram 
kbroderick
Active member
It was an incredible experience, but that's also the (not unexpected) worst traffic I've ever seen around here. Stop and go for 3.3 miles to make the turn from 16 onto 26 in Errol, then some false hope as it cleared up until a bit north of the Umbagog boat launch before remaining mostly sub-10 MPH until week into Grafton but flowing well after the short (500-ft-ish) section of gravel. I can only assume that the road was at capacity, a handful of people slowed to 5-10 on the gravel, and it rippled back, because there's no side road or anything for people to enter and bottleneck from there.
Still worth it, but I really should've taken today off too.
Still worth it, but I really should've taken today off too.
MikeW
New member
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- Jan 4, 2009
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Last minute decision, gave up a nice day of spring skiing (which I'll have more of), to see the eclipse (which I probably won't). I looked on the map and picked out Middlebury for no apparent reason. 2 hour nice drive, parked no problem. Had lunch at Mad Taco. I watched the eclipse in the park, right in front of that raging waterfall, lots of people, kids running around, dogs. Maybe 10 minutes of traffic getting out of town, but that was it. Drive back was fine. All in all, a great day!
I had this grand plan to eat a small dose of mushrooms and ski at cannon or jay but the media scared me off so I stayed home and ripped a fire out back. It was super cool and I now realize why people would go through all that to get into the proper path.
Now that things are back to normal I'm going to harvest some sun at the cat today.
Now that things are back to normal I'm going to harvest some sun at the cat today.
BodeMiller1
Well-known member
Got much darker than I expected. Montpelier sold a ton of weed, expected.
Yeah, I would certainly want to see totality again and would travel for it.
Apparently there's going to be another over the Great Pyramids in a few years and that one will have 5+ minutes of totality. That would be something else, but no I am not going to travel to Egypt for any reason the way things are in the world these days.
Apparently there's going to be another over the Great Pyramids in a few years and that one will have 5+ minutes of totality. That would be something else, but no I am not going to travel to Egypt for any reason the way things are in the world these days.
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