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Sunday River 12/25/2013

dlague

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Sunday River

Conditions:
Machine groomed PP, some snowmaking freshies on frozen HP

Trip Report:

We decided to take advantage of our comp ticket that we got for the Sunday River/Sugarloaf sponsored movie event at Portsmouth Music Hall in NH. The movie was Sherpa Cinema’s Into The Mind. The comp expired on the December 25th so we set out to use it. We got a bit of a late start, but made it there by midday with lots of anticipation. The day before we were at Waterville and the conditions were actually pretty good so expectations for Sunday River were set high. When we arrived we were surprised to see no crowds. We parked in the White Cap lodge parking lot and got front row parking – score!

Once we were geared up we actually got on the closest chair (Little White Cap Quad) which was a bit of a mistake but it worked out pretty good since we got to shoot down Starlight on untouched corduroy. It was firm Styrofoam, but that zipper sound is cool when it is like that. It skied really fast yet getting an edge was not a problem. It set the expectation for the day.

We then took White Cap Express headed over to Barker Mountain Express. They were blowing snow on Right Stuff so we headed down Lazy River to South Ridge area. Lazy River was a fun cruiser. Broadway was by far the busiest trail and until then we always had runs to ourselves – felt like a private mountain. We avoided Broadway for the most part due to all the beginners and ski schools there! We lapped the Chodola lift for a couple of runs to warm up – it was cold (around 9 degrees at the base with a real feel of 2). After that we worked our way over to Aurora Peak Quad and subsequently Jordon Bowl Express. The only dicey section was the top of Northern Lights which was dust on crust but then again nothing too bad. We took a few spins on both of those chairs and just had fun with it before heading back to South Ridge Lodge to warm up – well the kids warmed up – was an excuse to enjoy a Goose Island IPA and my wife a Bloody Mary at the Foggy Goggle.

After a quick break we headed up the Chondola and headed over to Barker for a couple of runs and then to White Cap area. Heading over to White Cap we headed down Ecstasy and a small section of Cascade toward Tempest. Not sure exactly where it was but they had been blowing snow and the skiing was very quiet and powder like and felt really smooth. Tempest also had fresh snow on it and also skied really well. In fact that was probably the best run of the day due to snowmaking!

Overall, the skiing was a lot of fun, but more of a fairly fast cruising day. There are definitely some good long runs there! We often had trails to ourselves and never experienced a lift line! We felt we covered a lot of ground for about 3-3.5 hours of skiing. However, if you do not like skiing at Okemo then based on their trails, then you probably would not be very interested in what they have open at this time. I never realized how many easy to intermediate trails they have that cross over the whole resort. A little more advanced skiing would have been nice but considering the wet weather we had a few days earlier, I was very happy with cruising and long runs! It was right up my wife’s alley! Conditions were consistent everywhere and the trails were covered with machined groomed which they did a nice job with! Occasionally, there was the phantom icy spot that would snap you out of your sub consciousness and make you think for a second. Sunday River lived up to expectations!

BTW they are blasting snow all over the place which is not surprising!
 

dmw

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Thanks for the report, I'm considering a bus trip up there Monday 12/30. It'll be my first time there so hope they have a good amount open.
 

dlague

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Thanks for the report, I'm considering a bus trip up there Monday 12/30. It'll be my first time there so hope they have a good amount open.

On Monday with all the rain we had they still had 51 trails open, Tuesday 58, Yesterday (Christmas) 64, today 67 and while we were there they were blowing snow all over the place. If you like cruisers then you will be fine. If you like bumps well....I did not find any and I would not have expected it due to the refreeze. Glades are all ice or frozen snow.
 

dmw

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Thanks. I had no expectations of anything natural, but based on what you saw do you think there's any chance of ropes dropping if they get enough tonight? Any idea of how liberal or stingy they are with opening terrain?
 

dlague

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I think they had enough base in the woods with the snow they got last night there is a sting possibility. They got a good dumping! Jealous.
 

dmw

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Lots of wind hold today here. I've spotted some woods open, some roped but tracked. Heading for some momentarily.
 
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