The "Sugarbush Thread"

[KustyTheKlown]

I've had a heck of weekend already. Got up to VT. Started to unpack my bag and realized that I forgot my ski pants. Had to wait until REI opened at 9am in Williston. Bought a pair of pants that I was unhappy with but they were cheap. Couldn't stop thinking about the pants and stopped at Alpine Options where I found a nice pair of Patagonia shells. My pants are insulated so even though I didn't want/need another pair of pants, they are a piece that was missing from my kit. Aspirationally sized tho.

Sooo...after all that, I didn't get on the mountain until 10:45am which in hindsight really wasn't so bad. Started out on Sleeper which was okay and went over to Bravo. Immediately went Downspout (absolutely horrible but not the worst run of the day) and up HG to Upper Jester which all things said was relatively good. Tons of folks on Upper OG. From Jester I took Allyn's Traverse to Snowball. Then went to Lower Snowball which was by far and away the worst run of the day. Once you got around the turn it was nuts. I was sliding sideways about 40mph and praying I stayed on my feet. I managed to stay upright but I have to imagine there were plenty of people who had serious problems.

I heard from multiple people on the lifts that Ellen was much worse. Moved back over to Gate House around 2ish and found NL had opened. Did 3-4 laps on Birch which was (again comparatively speaking) pretty good.. Skipped lunch and called it a day around 3:15pm.

Went to dinner in Burlington. Sitting at the bar at Poco (solo) and get the news that Bob Weir passed away. Couldn't stop tearing up which was incredibly awkward. Middle age guy sitting at the bar alone crying. LOL.

I hope tomorrow is better.

Yikes. I’m glad I didn’t ski this weekend. Sorry you had a rough one.

I had a similarly emotional reaction to the bobby news and have been feeling down since last night. You’re around a lot of people als feeling blue tho, in Burlington and the MRV

 

[cdskier]

Complete 180 today...the runs on Morning Star this morning may have been some of the best ones I've had on that trail in a while.

Also got my dad out for his first few runs of the season.

 

[vtski802]

Complete 180 today...the runs on Morning Star this morning may have been some of the best ones I've had on that trail in a while.

Also got my dad out for his first few runs of the season.

Soooooo much better today

 

[LuckyStrike]

Wow. Lincoln is playful today. Very fun. Did anyone hit Castlerock?

 

[1dog]

First things first, I'd move Hammond to directing cars in the parking lot and driving the sugar shuttle. Overhaul social media and be way more communicative.

Then I'd fix snowmaking - 2 new ponds at each mountain, 250 mil gallons each. Increase pumping capacity to 10k gal/min. All electric compressors. Automated HKD towers everywhere, fan guns from mid mountain down. Hire world class snowmaking teams that can lay down product the right way (solid wet base, topped by styrofoam whales). Make huge whales and let them drain properly before pushing out. GPS depth trackers on all cats.

Lifts: Ohhhh, boy, the lifts.
New SB, GH, GMX, NR and Inverness, all top of the line Doppelmayr D line 4's. New triple at NL, naturally. New conveyor 4 at Summit.
Single stage (or midstation option) T2B funitel or high capacity parallel funiculars at both mountains.
Slidebrook replaced with a dopp d line 6, wind hardened (somehow) and permitted to run when there's no snow on the ground (just figure it out ffs!). base to base shuttle service every 10 minutes when slidebrook isn't running.
Blow out and expand both beginner areas - quads and carpet bongs galore!
Clean up all the glades - remove deadfall, smart selective thinning, cover up rocks, etc.

New soil and grass cover at the top of ripcord/paradise and on header to castlerock (note: not in Castlerock proper itself) to eliminate the cheese grater. Maybe a new trail here or there, nothing too over the top. Maybe a new lift and trail pod above Inverness, and more trails off brambles/walt's.
86 Club 58.
And, the coup de grace...
Install drinking water at Walt's and Allyn's.

Has anyone mentioned adding top notch on mountain lodge?
Big cap ex, but have to assume long term gains- weddings , summer tourism, relief for weekend Gatehouse Lodge'crowds.
Is it still the only major mt. w/no mid or summit lodge? Maybe Okemo?Snow?

While that (true) summit terminal for old gondi, would be perfect- best view in VT , maybe NE, all the talk was top of Gatehouse flat.


Mt Ellen base lodge has all the character of a base lodge- great deck expansion couple years ago- good vibes upstairs w locals- they are the best, but a cheap solution is at least expand or replace that deck at Walt's and add water and more space at Allyn's.

To summarize- place needs a boatload of water storage, more power via generators, double or triple snowmaking,
Replace 4 chairs, open up SB to expansion ( those of us who have combed those woods for years groan) and add summit and mid-mountain major lodges.

All they need are Deer Valley clientele ( you know, the ones moving out of northeast due to tax burdens) and bam! $100m should do it.


Meanwhile everyone on this string will keep coming and know it's the best terrain combo in the NE. And best local valley vibe too.

And all that above would ruin it..

Kinda sad, but also very 1st world problems.

How about just 100 seasonal beds for folks working the place? Isn't too much to ask except NIMBY.

 

[Getskied]

Ellen was decent today as well, especially the first half of the day on the upper half of the mountain. Quite a recovery from what I read/heard of yesterday’s horror show.

 

[cdskier]

And firing up the guns again on Stein's even though they still have several trails they haven't touched at all yet...make it make sense!

 

[mikec142]

Complete 180 today...the runs on Morning Star this morning may have been some of the best ones I've had on that trail in a while.

Also got my dad out for his first few runs of the season.

Totally agree. Murphy's was great. Lower Domino was thin but very edgeable and fun. Jester was good as well.

I skipped Morning Star (which is usually a fav) because Birch today was kind of scrappy compared to yesterday.

I think if aliens were looking down from outer space at Saturday and Sunday at Sugarbush, they wouldn't think they were viewing the same sport on both days.

 

[elfnif1016]

Has anyone mentioned adding top notch on mountain lodge?
Big cap ex, but have to assume long term gains- weddings , summer tourism, relief for weekend Gatehouse Lodge'crowds.
Is it still the only major mt. w/no mid or summit lodge? Maybe Okemo?Snow?

While that (true) summit terminal for old gondi, would be perfect- best view in VT , maybe NE, all the talk was top of Gatehouse flat.


Mt Ellen base lodge has all the character of a base lodge- great deck expansion couple years ago- good vibes upstairs w locals- they are the best, but a cheap solution is at least expand or replace that deck at Walt's and add water and more space at Allyn's.

To summarize- place needs a boatload of water storage, more power via generators, double or triple snowmaking,
Replace 4 chairs, open up SB to expansion ( those of us who have combed those woods for years groan) and add summit and mid-mountain major lodges.

All they need are Deer Valley clientele ( you know, the ones moving out of northeast due to tax burdens) and bam! $100m should do it.


Meanwhile everyone on this string will keep coming and know it's the best terrain combo in the NE. And best local valley vibe too.

And all that above would ruin it..

Kinda sad, but also very 1st world problems.

How about just 100 seasonal beds for folks working the place? Isn't too much to ask except NIMBY.

I would argue that the best view is at North off the Summit Chair. Either coming down FIS, or Upper Rim Run looking out towards Camel's Hump and the rest of the terrain out in that direction.

 

[cdskier]

I would argue that the best view is at North off the Summit Chair. Either coming down FIS, or Upper Rim Run looking out towards Camel's Hump and the rest of the terrain out in that direction.

I would agree...love looking north along the spine from the top of Ellen. Even the true summit of LP does not have that same "wow" factor.

And I give Exhibit A from back in December to support this argument:

 

[elfnif1016]

I would agree...love looking north along the spine from the top of Ellen. Even the true summit of LP does not have that same "wow" factor.

And I give Exhibit A from back in December to support this argument:
View attachment 67345

Spot on. That's exactly what I mean. The view from Heaven's Gate isn't bad, but it pales in comparison to this. Even from the top of the single at MRG (not bad) does not match up to this.

 

[Hawk]

Considering that A - It's a National Forest Lease and they don't own the land and B the long trail crosses both locations, there is not even a slight chance this will ever happen. More likely they would build a lodge in the big flat at the top of Gatehouse. This has already been studied buy the Otten Regime. I think it might be on the old master plan.

Any ideas of development in the slidebrook basin have sailed many years ago with the agreement to put in the connector lift. I believe the verbiage was in perpetuity or something like that.

Snowmaking upgrades, employee housing and lift upgrades are what we really need. That is all I can say.

 

[Hawk]

I skied Stratton this weekend because a family member got a place at the base to celebrate a 60th birthday and it was on the pass so we went.
I will say this. It only takes one trip down there to re-remember why I am at sugarbush. Nice place in general with lots of lifts, trails, snowmaking and amenities. But holy hell, do they pack the trails with beginners and intermediates of all ranges of abilities. I mean it was the most amount of people on a trail I have experienced in my life. It even superseded Killington in the fall for Kaos. LOL The issue they have is that the gondola and six packs all over the place sending people up by mass. I think I saw 6 lifts that dump out at the top. Head on swivel and combat rules most of the time. My brother in law got taken out twice. My wife helped a girl out of the woods after a crash. Her friends abandoned her. Starter jacketed Kids with pocket boom box rap playing. Everything! LOL Glad to be back next weekend.

 

[pinion]

But holy hell, do they pack the trails with beginners and intermediates of all ranges of abilities.

Stratton, Snow, Okemo... weekends there are all like this. Hell, I mostly ski MWV and this is the modus operandi for Cranmore and Bretton Woods as well. Looking forward to 10 years from now when I can ski midweek more often and start enjoying places like Stratton again.

 

[ducky]

Don't Deer Valley the MRV

 

[Blurski]

Another "new" thing that bothers me this year...they rarely update the snow report with the grooming plan for the following day until early in the morning. For years they always updated it after 4PM to show what was on the plan for that night. Now 99% of the time it just stays showing whatever was groomed today until they update it in the morning tomorrow.

I liked when the grooming showed up on the map as highlighted, one quick look and you know what was groomed, not sure why that went away.

 

[solar]

I liked when the grooming showed up on the map as highlighted, one quick look and you know what was groomed, not sure why that went away.

This still exists within the Ikon app so I imagine they just haven't updated the tech on the website.

 

[Blurski]

This still exists within the Ikon app so I imagine they just haven't updated the tech on the website.

I cant find, i'm sure it is user error on my part, this is what I find on the map.

 

[oldfartrider]

Groomed trails show up. It's on the layer key. I never use the Ikon map.

 

[solar]

In the top right of your screen, there should be a vertical ellipsis for more menu items that includes map display settings.