Date(s) Skied: Saturday 11/24/07
Resort or Ski Area: Sunday River
Conditions: HARDPACK!!!
Trip Report:
Was out late last night with company in town, so a bit slow going this morning and made it up for the half day. I was expecting some crowds and things to be a bit skied off, but not to the level that it was. Perhaps the worms were good for the early birds, but I took my first run on Risky Business at noon and it was hard to find edgable snow even on the sides of the trail. At the bottom of Risky there were some actually pretty decent bumps on skiers right with good snow, but that was one of only two places I found on the mountain with packed powder. The other was Monday Morning, which was still in decent shape with variable terrain at the end of the day. The rest of the open terrain was completely skied off. Like I said, I was somewhat expecting this having arrived at noon and there being a lot of traffic on the slopes, but it was pretty bad; not nearly as good of snow quality as my last time out on the previous Sunday.
I'm not certain if there are different formulas for snowmaking, but if there is, it would appear that all Sunday River has blown only base building snow; essentially a rock hard slab that can stand up to inclement weather. It was quite encouraging seeing the amount of snow being made on American Express, Escapade, Southpaw etc. It looks like they'll have North Peak open as early as tomorrow. That being said, i would have much rather seen the mountain making snow and attempting to improve the surface quality of what they have open instead trying to expand terrain.
So, kind of a negative trip report. This all said, I had fun. Bad skiing conditions is better than no skiing conditions and so far it's been a great start to the season. I got out and made further progress towards getting my ski legs back, so as always, I'm glad I went.
Resort or Ski Area: Sunday River
Conditions: HARDPACK!!!
Trip Report:
Was out late last night with company in town, so a bit slow going this morning and made it up for the half day. I was expecting some crowds and things to be a bit skied off, but not to the level that it was. Perhaps the worms were good for the early birds, but I took my first run on Risky Business at noon and it was hard to find edgable snow even on the sides of the trail. At the bottom of Risky there were some actually pretty decent bumps on skiers right with good snow, but that was one of only two places I found on the mountain with packed powder. The other was Monday Morning, which was still in decent shape with variable terrain at the end of the day. The rest of the open terrain was completely skied off. Like I said, I was somewhat expecting this having arrived at noon and there being a lot of traffic on the slopes, but it was pretty bad; not nearly as good of snow quality as my last time out on the previous Sunday.
I'm not certain if there are different formulas for snowmaking, but if there is, it would appear that all Sunday River has blown only base building snow; essentially a rock hard slab that can stand up to inclement weather. It was quite encouraging seeing the amount of snow being made on American Express, Escapade, Southpaw etc. It looks like they'll have North Peak open as early as tomorrow. That being said, i would have much rather seen the mountain making snow and attempting to improve the surface quality of what they have open instead trying to expand terrain.
So, kind of a negative trip report. This all said, I had fun. Bad skiing conditions is better than no skiing conditions and so far it's been a great start to the season. I got out and made further progress towards getting my ski legs back, so as always, I'm glad I went.
