dlague
Active member
Okemo
Conditions: PP on top of MG hard pack. Nearly perfect conditions!
Trip Report:
After skiing S6 the day before we wanted something a little bigger and opted to use our VT Ski 3 Passes. We have always enjoyed Okemo as a great cruising resort. I know many diss Okemo and refer to it as the Bretton Woods of VT which is kind of is, but I find it much more entertaining. Every single run we went on had near perfect conditions and turns were smooth and quiet. From time to time, there were the scrapped off spots that made you pay attention. Those were few and far between.
Without getting into a lot of detail, my goal was to keep my wife on trails that were listed as black. I originally wanted to ski South Face, but my son was interested in the taking the Black Ridge chair over the terrain park. This lead us to make our way over to the Jackson Gore side. So on Jackson Gore Peak we skied Vortex to Eclipse and another run from Vortex to Quantum Leap . The last run on that area was on Upper Limelight to Lower Limelight. Upper Limelight was interesting to say the least for my wife. She enjoyed the bumps on the upper section but closer to the bottom they were scrapped off and she made it clear that bumps that are scraped off are not fun. She did it either way so I was cool with it.
We then decided to ski some of the middle mountain trails and headed back on Mountain Road (the most boring crossover trail at Okemo). This part was a little frustrating since sooooooooo many beginners were on that trail making wedge turns or ski/snowboarding erratic patterns. In any case we ended up skiing Sidewinder, Sapphire, Turkey Shoot, Upper and Lower World Cup, and Defiance to Lower World Cup. After a few runs there, we headed in for a bite and some adult beverages at The Sitting Bull! The food was OK and the beer tasted as it always does!
Heading back out I wanted to ski the South Face and my son wanted to hit Hot Dog Hill a couple of times. My son’s pass was a NH Sunday Solution lift ticket which allowed him to snowboard until 1:30 so whatever we did it had to be well executed. As always, you more or less have to head up A or B Quad which allowed our son to go to the mini park which was really lame. And then we worked our way to South Face via Sachem and Glades Peak Quads. We ended up knocking out three runs on Stump Jumper, Punch Line and Blind Faith. My son wanted to get back to the mini park again which would not have been possible since his lift ticket was expired technically. So, we made the bad decision to take the Upper Mountain Road back and that is like a run out nightmare. Actually today it was not so bad since the conditions were a bit faster and coasting on the flats were feasible even for a snowboarder. Nonetheless he made it to the mini park one more time and he called it a day after that.
When he went in, my wife and I made a few fun runs lapping the Northstar Express Quad and headed down Timberline, Sapphire and Jolly Green Giant. Not surprising, since these are more traveled, these blue trails had quite a few scrapped off spots, but we had fun with them in any case. One thing I noticed A LOT, the No Jumping signs at most of the rollers. This was a little annoying but after seeing a few close calls, I got it! Then again who stops on the downhill side of the sudden drop in a trail? Isn’t that asking for trouble?
Overall, the conditions were some of the best I have experienced this year. Was it the most challenging, no! However, it made me realize, skiing with pretty decent speed down long and moderately steep cruisers and having my wife on the same trails with me is pretty cool! This year has been a work in progress with my wife who would do the occasional black trail last year to skiing them most of the day this year. She is even hitting some of the mild to moderate bump trails. It was also fun to see my 11 year old rip up the trails and launch himself on the rollers.
We had an awesome day!
Sorry I stalled on the picture taking front this is all I got!
Conditions: PP on top of MG hard pack. Nearly perfect conditions!
Trip Report:
After skiing S6 the day before we wanted something a little bigger and opted to use our VT Ski 3 Passes. We have always enjoyed Okemo as a great cruising resort. I know many diss Okemo and refer to it as the Bretton Woods of VT which is kind of is, but I find it much more entertaining. Every single run we went on had near perfect conditions and turns were smooth and quiet. From time to time, there were the scrapped off spots that made you pay attention. Those were few and far between.
Without getting into a lot of detail, my goal was to keep my wife on trails that were listed as black. I originally wanted to ski South Face, but my son was interested in the taking the Black Ridge chair over the terrain park. This lead us to make our way over to the Jackson Gore side. So on Jackson Gore Peak we skied Vortex to Eclipse and another run from Vortex to Quantum Leap . The last run on that area was on Upper Limelight to Lower Limelight. Upper Limelight was interesting to say the least for my wife. She enjoyed the bumps on the upper section but closer to the bottom they were scrapped off and she made it clear that bumps that are scraped off are not fun. She did it either way so I was cool with it.
We then decided to ski some of the middle mountain trails and headed back on Mountain Road (the most boring crossover trail at Okemo). This part was a little frustrating since sooooooooo many beginners were on that trail making wedge turns or ski/snowboarding erratic patterns. In any case we ended up skiing Sidewinder, Sapphire, Turkey Shoot, Upper and Lower World Cup, and Defiance to Lower World Cup. After a few runs there, we headed in for a bite and some adult beverages at The Sitting Bull! The food was OK and the beer tasted as it always does!
Heading back out I wanted to ski the South Face and my son wanted to hit Hot Dog Hill a couple of times. My son’s pass was a NH Sunday Solution lift ticket which allowed him to snowboard until 1:30 so whatever we did it had to be well executed. As always, you more or less have to head up A or B Quad which allowed our son to go to the mini park which was really lame. And then we worked our way to South Face via Sachem and Glades Peak Quads. We ended up knocking out three runs on Stump Jumper, Punch Line and Blind Faith. My son wanted to get back to the mini park again which would not have been possible since his lift ticket was expired technically. So, we made the bad decision to take the Upper Mountain Road back and that is like a run out nightmare. Actually today it was not so bad since the conditions were a bit faster and coasting on the flats were feasible even for a snowboarder. Nonetheless he made it to the mini park one more time and he called it a day after that.
When he went in, my wife and I made a few fun runs lapping the Northstar Express Quad and headed down Timberline, Sapphire and Jolly Green Giant. Not surprising, since these are more traveled, these blue trails had quite a few scrapped off spots, but we had fun with them in any case. One thing I noticed A LOT, the No Jumping signs at most of the rollers. This was a little annoying but after seeing a few close calls, I got it! Then again who stops on the downhill side of the sudden drop in a trail? Isn’t that asking for trouble?
Overall, the conditions were some of the best I have experienced this year. Was it the most challenging, no! However, it made me realize, skiing with pretty decent speed down long and moderately steep cruisers and having my wife on the same trails with me is pretty cool! This year has been a work in progress with my wife who would do the occasional black trail last year to skiing them most of the day this year. She is even hitting some of the mild to moderate bump trails. It was also fun to see my 11 year old rip up the trails and launch himself on the rollers.
We had an awesome day!
Sorry I stalled on the picture taking front this is all I got!
