The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Lotso]

Like the plan, like the communication. Love seeing snow on cams! Although relatively short, there are several windows over the next week + to put down snow.

“We've got our eyes on the thermometer and are hoping to begin snowmaking this evening. We'll provide more updates as temps fall into place. Thanks to a healthy dose of late fall rain, both of our snowmaking ponds are full and river levels have risen a bit. We're keeping a ready eye on the weather to determine what pod of terrain we will focus on for early operations. If given the opportunity we will focus on opening lower mountain terrain first, but we are prepared to shift to upper mountain terrain if temps don't cooperate down low. Stay tuned for a State of the Mountain blog soon with a deeper dive into our operational plans.”

I am guessing Elbow and Jester. Down low not cold enough until next week

 

[cdskier]

I'm happy to see the webcam at the top of HG looking down RC is back! (Visible on their live stream list on Youtube). Baby steps...lol

 

[Lotso]

I'm happy to see the webcam at the top of HG looking down RC is back! (Visible on their live stream list on Youtube). Baby steps...lol

Agreed Linky Looks like Mordor now. Will get really windy soon

 

[Mak]

Another winter arrives. It's great to see.

 

[Lotso]

25 tomight at 3000', not out of 20's tomorrow

Wind will make it spicy though

 

[HowieT2]

Not quite sure of what the actual ratio is, but I think there's a bit of Sugarbush wanting to solve their snowmaking water storage issues vs the State of Vt + the environmanetal lobby allowing Sugarbush to work on solving their snowmaking water storage issues

This a popular narrative but in this instance the snowmaking pond for LP was/is permitted for more storage than it was built to.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

If they want to expand that pond to its full permitted volume, they’re gonna have to do some serious hard rock mining. That’s all solid ledge underneath there. It ain’t going nowhere without the aid of explosives.

That’s why they stopped where they did. They already done scraped off all the easy bits to remove.

 

[fulgoreXC]

If they want to expand that pond to its full permitted volume, they’re gonna have to do some serious hard rock mining. That’s all solid ledge underneath there. It ain’t going nowhere without the aid of explosives.

That’s why they stopped where they did. They already done scraped off all the easy bits to remove.

Correct. Blasting in all likelihood would fracture the underlying bedrock requiring implementation of sealing techniques. To go from the existing 18mgal to the originally permitted volume of 25 would be prohibitively expensive. The solution is and always has been another reservoir higher up on the mountain. SB is far behind most other ski areas in regards to the volume of storage (18mgal) vs. the pumping capacity (4000gpm) vs the required seasonal volume (180mgal).

 

[machski]

So the history as I have been told, is this. When Less Otten bought Sugarbush he install miles of pipe that was sources from China. That pipe was made of poor quality steel and totally sucked. It roughed out over the years and now all of it has to be replaced. They have one portions of Gate house, Spring Fling and snow ball, portions of HG and the run down to the River. All of the rest needs replacement. Last year Sunrise blew out and they stopped making snow on it. I have not heard if they fixt that. They have also rebuild pump and valve stations but more work is needed.

Sunday River had the same issues buy I think Boyne has been more proactive. Machski would know.

You would be correct Hawk. Not that Boyne had much choice, especially on the main feedline up from the reservoir to the on hill flake factory. That line used to run up Barker MTN Road. They blew it out in various spots 3 years in a row, caused a ton of flooding damage to the road and almost flooded out Brookside once. And that was just the feed to the hill. On hill they have had other problems, much of which they have solved either with totally new distribution routes or repiping what they have. Still a few dead lines from the weak pipe, the Backside and Polaris trails still sit uncovered, a victim to bad pipe.

 

[Plowboy]

I found this bumper sticker in my collection, from the early Les Otten Bush day’s.

 

[Blurski]

Correct. Blasting in all likelihood would fracture the underlying bedrock requiring implementation of sealing techniques. To go from the existing 18mgal to the originally permitted volume of 25 would be prohibitively expensive. The solution is and always has been another reservoir higher up on the mountain. SB is far behind most other ski areas in regards to the volume of storage (18mgal) vs. the pumping capacity (4000gpm) vs the required seasonal volume (180mgal).

Just finished a decent size blasting project in VT, we blasted & moved to an onsite location 10,000cy of rock, spent $800k of direct costs or $80/cy. The pond has about a surface are of 600,000sf looking at google maps, if you lower it by 3' = 66,666cy of blasting @ $80/cy = $5.33M I'm guessing with that much surface area and the relative remote location the unit price would come down by at least 20%, they would be able to bring larger equipment and do a much larger & sequential line blast pattern.
Lower 3' @ 600,000sf = 13,464,000gal. In addition there would be other costs, like lining, additional hauling if no room on the site.

 

[tumbler]

wasn't it a 63 Million gallon approval?

 

[Newpylong]

61M

 

[thetrailboss]

I found this bumper sticker in my collection, from the early Les Otten Bush day’s.

I always liked, "More Rock, Less Otten."

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

They shoulda gentrified Castlerock
...am joking of course

 

[thetrailboss]

They shoulda gentrified Castlerock
...am joking of course

We're going back now over 30 years. I was a teenager in the NEK. I felt that Sugarbush was my dream area, based upon drooling over trail maps I had picked up at the Black Diamond Store in the University Mall. OK, now that I have reminisced, I clearly remember that Les had a plan to add snowmaking and widen Castlerock trails and the locals were all saying, "oh hell no!" He ultimately ran out of money.

 

[Lotso]

We're going back now over 30 years. I was a teenager in the NEK. I felt that Sugarbush was my dream area, based upon drooling over trail maps I had picked up at the Black Diamond Store in the University Mall. OK, now that I have reminisced, I clearly remember that Les had a plan to add snowmaking and widen Castlerock trails and the locals were all saying, "oh hell no!" He ultimately ran out of money.

I remember that rumor but could never confirm it. I heard it was to get a loop on CR and Middle Earth. Rumble and LL would stay natural.

I did like the year Hardy dragged guns through the woods from Cliffs to Hammerhead. Put just enough on it to make it skiable longer. Ditto the one gun on the rock garden on Bravo. I doubt we'll se that again, and I know many would be fine with that.

 

[cdskier]

I remember that rumor but could never confirm it. I heard it was to get a loop on CR and Middle Earth. Rumble and LL would stay natural.

I did like the year Hardy dragged guns through the woods from Cliffs to Hammerhead. Put just enough on it to make it skiable longer. Ditto the one gun on the rock garden on Bravo. I doubt we'll se that again, and I know many would be fine with that.

I've seen hoses dragged and a gun staged at the top of the rocks on Bravo a couple times the past few years, but I can't say I've ever actually seen anything blown on there.

 

[Lotso]

I've seen hoses dragged and a gun staged at the top of the rocks on Bravo a couple times the past few years, but I can't say I've ever actually seen anything blown on there.

Could be. To be honest, I have not ridden NRX in maybe 3 years since it has been down or just not running whenever I was there, so I would not have seen it (haven't been down that stretch of Bravo during that time either).

 

[fulgoreXC]

I've seen hoses dragged and a gun staged at the top of the rocks on Bravo a couple times the past few years, but I can't say I've ever actually seen anything blown on there.

Usually done under the cover of darkness. Management frowns on that gun placement.