The "Sugarbush Thread"

[shadyjay]

I'm so glad I held off before purchasing a $49 Mt Ellen ticket for Thursday 3/12. I'd be pretty ticked off to only be able to ride the few trails off Sunny Q and basically just North Ridge Expressway to SS (Inverness closed until the afternoon for racing, unsure about conditions on Walt's and Semi... two great trails, if the snow is there). Yeah, I get it, buyer beware and all that, but still, something told me to wait... glad I did. A friend even offered me a free ticket for tomorrow... nope. Not wasting my time. Will save my energy for Friday at Lincoln, and endulge in some "valley" activities for tomorrow.

Stowe today (3/11) was a lot of fun, and stayed mostly dry. Super soft snow that was a lot of fun, but the loss of coverage in recent days is pretty substantial. Guess next year I'll try to schedule this trip for February, as this is 2 years in a row of getting skunked out of the "goods". Still fun though, regardless, and better than being at work!

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Stratton has going to the top:

The Shooting Star HS6 - which almost never runs on a 'normal' midweek. It runs as low as 550ft/min to 770ft/min
The URSA HS6 - which is the workhorse and mostly out of the wind - it runs in the 850ft/min range
The Gondola - which is not running 25-40% of the time due to wind. It runs similar speed to the AMEX which is in the 700ft/min to 800 ft/min, I never ride the gondi.
The Snow Bowl HSQuad (not six) - which is also down for wind issues almost as much as the gondi - it also runs in the 850ft/min range

Once in very blue moon, somebody must make a mistake and they crank the Snow Bowl HSQ up to 1000ft/min. You really notice it and everybody on the lift talks about it.

Midweek at Stratton is excellent.

That’s my scene now, the difference versus weekends/holidays is incredible. We’ve had some guests/family on weekends, fortunately there’s a shuttle bus, but what a zoo.

Several years Pre-covid, I was a weekend warrior with a western trip every year or two. Now I just wish I was 20 years younger skiing midweek all winter.

 

[Lotso]

ME just Inverness and SQ again. Ugh.

At least temps are dropping. Maybe they will groom while lifts are not spinning and Friday will be nice...for the hikers.

 

[Hawk]

So from another Thread on here. I think that sugarbush might have a typo on the events page. Unless Zach has an helicopter transfer.

 

[tumbler]

Haha that was me asking for them to bring him back. He puts on a good show. I appreciate the effort to get music at all the apres places but the quality has gone downhill this year besides the usuals like detonators, etc. A lot of acoustic stuff and not full bands.

 

[Hawk]

Not entirely. There has been some ripping good bands at Castlerock pub and GML.

 

[skithEEEast]

Castlerock lift is closed, does this mean castlerock extreme is cancelled? Or are they hopping to reopen on the 1-3" inches of snow forecasted Friday into Saturday?

 

[Hawk]

I would bet they are preserving the snow for the contest. Less traffic.

 

[cdskier]

It seems like they've been cutting it close or had to cancel a number of the past few years. Hope they can still pull it off this year. Maybe they need to start making this event earlier (of course the year they do that is when we'll go back to having a normal March with the deepest snowpack occurring during that time).

 

[skithEEEast]

I doubt it will happen on these conditions, taken today. It's also boilerplate sun cuped snow

https://imgur.com/a/psWq1mB

 

[fulgoreXC]

Are we basing ACT250 activity on submission date in the ACT250 database? Or is there some outside process not captured in the online portal? I only ask because Valley House, Village, and Sunny Q were all only submitted formally in April of the same year the replacements were done per the ACT 250 database records. HG was submitted a little earlier (February of the year it was replaced).

Watching the database. My understanding is the engineering is taking additional time. Not design for the lift, but the necessary work for the permit applications.

 

[fulgoreXC]

The lifts are so bad that I'm tempted to just get an Epic pass just for Stowe next year but the Sugarbush Local Pass price and access to just too good to make the switch.

I'm just astounded that Alterra has let these lift issues persist for several seasons. It's just so embarrassing and an f--- you to the people who ski there regularly.

I was there a few weeks ago. Difficult choice.

 

[Blurski]

I doubt it will happen on these conditions, taken today. It's also boilerplate sun cuped snow

https://imgur.com/a/psWq1mB

Looks perfect to me, I know someone else would feel the same way.

 

[skithEEEast]

Looks perfect to me, I know someone else would feel the same way.

It's definitely skiable but not really good for freeride, I was only able to hit 2 really small features and it was more of a roll than a send and I am someone who can do the full big one no powder, no step in semi decent conditions at least

 

[Hawk]

These are the conditions that the Mail man excels in.

 

[Blurski]

It's definitely skiable but not really good for freeride, I was only able to hit 2 really small features and it was more of a roll than a send and I am someone who can do the full big one no powder, no step in semi decent conditions at least

It will be won on ones technical skiing ability to be smooth and place your turns very precisely with an occasional air to clear some rocks, flow like water down the hill and yes Mail Man Style for sure!

 

[cdskier]

They now state that CR will be closed for the foreseeable future due to thin cover...

Also looks like GMX/NRX (and therefore Summit) still planned to be closed tomorrow. Now is the point we can start to worry if any will be fixed by the weekend... (The NRX webcam also seems to be completely offline now lol)

 

[Blurski]

IKON Pass $1,399 no $100 discount this year unless i missed something, up almost 14%, I think we are finally above the season pass price pre IKON days, 2017/18 was last pass before IKON, over all id saved us money over the years.

 

[cdskier]

IKON Pass $1,399 no $100 discount this year unless i missed something, up almost 14%, I think we are finally above the season pass price pre IKON days, 2017/18 was last pass before IKON, over all id saved us money over the years.

You can get a $50 renewal discount this year (or one of the other renewal "benefits" they have instead...which are being discussed in another thread this afternoon here)

 

[Blurski]

You can get a $50 renewal discount this year (or one of the other renewal "benefits" they have instead...which are being discussed in another thread this afternoon here)

What thread?