The "Sugarbush Thread"

[thetrailboss]

Directed to our resident snowmaking experts.
It occurred to me that the water supply may be low so I checked the pond and river this morning. The pond looked down a bit, maybe 2-3'. The weir was inflated and some water was being directed to the pond but the river flow is very low, as was the flow into the sluiceway. On the sluice cover was a meter showing 91.4% with a green light on #1 and a red light on #5. Anyone know what this means?
From what I've read, the whole pond is only good for 3-4 days of snowmaking. How long would it take to open GH at full capacity?
I heard that in the not too distant future the VT ANR will actually require a hgher river flow (taller sluice) and that will further limit snowmaking in dry years.

View attachment 66979

So who at Sugarbush gets to carry the "Football" for this operation?

 

[Lotso]

Big group o'skinners at GH now

 

[Plowboy]

I see Paula put in some training up on Ellen before heading North of the border for this weekend's races.

She has a video on FB

 

[Julius]

Big group o'skinners at GH now...

Friends of The Mad River on Instagram: "Coming this Friday evening, this could be you! Climb up Lincoln Peak under a full moon, strip off your skins, and prepare for a moonlit descent back down to Sugarbush! Then, join in conversation and storytellin

423 likes, 3 comments - friendsofthemadriver on December 1, 2025: "Coming this Friday evening, this could be you! Climb up Lincoln Peak under a full moon, strip off your skins, and prepare for a moonlit descent back down to Sugarbush! Then, join in conversation and storytelling around winter...

www.instagram.com

 

[ducky]

Climb it for Climate

 

[SurfMoon]

First day out and the upper third of the mountain is skiing well- quite low tide on the natural terrain they've dropped ropes on, rocky and bony- got a nice edge core shot en route to heavens gate on downspout. Imagine they will close a decent amount of what they opened up with weekend traffic as it is very thin pre weekend crowds. The rock skied well top to bottom, got lucky checking the report on way up to HG, and got over there 30 mins after it opened. Good snow at elevation, but quite bony and wind scoured down low.

 

[cdskier]

And that brings us back to lack of communication. Snow report offers some glimpses like trying to open GH this weekend but it's been maybe a month since the last state of the mountain blog post.

Nothing really interesting at all in the latest update...

State of the Mountain 12/5/25 - SugarBlog

Not only have we already been open for two weeks, but we’ve been enjoying top-to-bottom skiing since Opening Day.

blog.sugarbush.com

 

[vtski802]

Nothing really interesting at all in the latest update...

State of the Mountain 12/5/25 - SugarBlog

Not only have we already been open for two weeks, but we’ve been enjoying top-to-bottom skiing since Opening Day.

blog.sugarbush.com

That's an incredibly lame update. Might as well have been the daily snow report.

 

[Lotso]

MRG running the single

 

[Hawk]

Killington was excellent yesterday. Lines not too bad. They opened a bunch of natural terrain also. It was great to get off the “hard pack”. Lol

 

[Hawk]

I skied Sugarbush on Sunday. I have to say that the conditions were pretty good on most of the groomed slopes. I think they finally have had enough time to till and grind up the base so that it is at least edge-able. I skied several natural trails like Birdland, lower ripcord and left side of Murphy's. I know that they want to have their count of trails up but HOLY SHIT there are a ton of rocks, dirt and brush slicking out. Unless you have complete rock skis it is hardly worth it.....and I am a huge fan of skiing marginal conditions. This goes beyond that in many places. The top of ripcord and the entrance to Paradise is complete bare with all rock. You have to walk it.

 

[Smellytele]

I skied Sugarbush on Sunday. I have to say that the conditions were pretty good on most of the groomed slopes. I think they finally have had enough time to till and grind up the base so that it is at least edge-able. I skied several natural trails like Birdland, lower ripcord and left side of Murphy's. I know that they want to have their count of trails up but HOLY SHIT there are a ton of rocks, dirt and brush slicking out. Unless you have complete rock skis it is hardly worth it.....and I am a huge fan of skiing marginal conditions. This goes beyond that in many places. The top of ripcord and the entrance to Paradise is complete bare with all rock. You have to walk it.

Love your honesty with no spin!

 

[VTSkiBike]

MRG running the single

I skied MRG both days this weekend and was amazed how much better the snow was than Sugarbush. Both days were also damn near empty.

 

[tumbler]

Gotta think SB-Fling will open soon with temps and production. I always think they should run lower SB-racers edge and spring road with the initial push and get more open over there.

 

[Blurski]

I skied Sugarbush on Sunday. I have to say that the conditions were pretty good on most of the groomed slopes. I think they finally have had enough time to till and grind up the base so that it is at least edge-able. I skied several natural trails like Birdland, lower ripcord and left side of Murphy's. I know that they want to have their count of trails up but HOLY SHIT there are a ton of rocks, dirt and brush slicking out. Unless you have complete rock skis it is hardly worth it.....and I am a huge fan of skiing marginal conditions. This goes beyond that in many places. The top of ripcord and the entrance to Paradise is complete bare with all rock. You have to walk it.

Plenty of rock for sure, but also plenty of wind buff, I had a lot of fun skiing in, turn placement was key, I admit I have a set of skis that are allocated for thin cover trails.

 

[fulgoreXC]

Plenty of rock for sure, but also plenty of wind buff, I had a lot of fun skiing in, turn placement was key, I admit I have a set of skis that are allocated for thin cover trails.

Agreed. The bypass around the right side of HG unload was key to getting over to Paradise. Rip was a no-go. I skied Domino without a core shot, but you're spot on, turn placement was key. Maybe they will pivot over to lower SB-Racers. Then they could open valley house and take some pressure of the middle part of the mountain. It was full combat skiing on Murphy's and Lower Grinder.

 

[slatham]

They need to cover Downspout. That has to be next IMHO. Whether - and what - they can double up with that I do not know.

 

[Lotso]

I skied MRG both days this weekend and was amazed how much better the snow was than Sugarbush. Both days were also damn near empty.

Fewer skiers overall and the lift capacity aid in keeping it nicer.

 

[thetrailboss]

I listened to the Storm Podcast over the weekend. One episode was with the new owners of Killington and Mike Solimano. They disclosed that POWDR was very, very close to a deal with Alterra to buy Killington and several other POWDR resorts, but that it fell through. They were saying how grateful they were to be independent and to only have the limited 5/7 day deal with Alterra, which is in place for at least seven more years.

They also said that Killington was one of, if not the only, resort in VT that generates enough money to reinvest in itself. They are thrilled to not have that money leaving the ski area to go to other areas in a "conglomerate".

 

[AdironRider]

They also said that Killington was one of, if not the only, resort in VT that generates enough money to reinvest in itself.

I think Killington works best as an independent also, but the statement above is just pure conjecture on their part.