2018-2019 Sunday River

Oh, and if you enjoy Crossbow and Tightwire, better get your fill if they reopen them this year. Crossbow sounds like that trail is a definite loss to the racing T-Bar and likely Tightwire too unless they cut a new exit. Lots of bad juju this week from the mountain.

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That 3" skied much deeper in the AM. Super dense snow made me ski aggressive as ice and hitting debris was pretty much a non-issue. Spent my entire AM on Jordan Bowl and Aurora. Got a TON of first tracks. Sunday River definitely suffers from what I call "the Okemo phenomenon" as the clientele does not go off groomers. I hit the trail under the Oz lift and got 2nd tracks at 10:20am. I was lapping fresh powder in Blind Ambition til the Jordan lift went down. Lots of people today but very few off trail or off the beaten path in the glades. After a late lunch I hit Spruce Peak and did Downdraft and Grnarnia. Grnarnia lives up to its name. Tomorrow I will hit Barker and Whitecap.

Had a lot of fun today. Kind of enjoying staying at the "resort" for a change. It is also sad as you can tell everything is from the 80s and 90s...no new money flowing in. However a ski patroller said on the lift they were having a banner year and the bartender at the restaurant I visited in town said the same.

I also spent the morning in Jordan/Oz until the wind hold. The snow was excellent everywhere, and agreed about lots of first tracks, true even in the afternoon. Poppy Fields and the eastern side of Blind Ambition were highlights, kept getting fresh lines. While I did see people in the woods from time to time, there is just so much open that everyone got spread out.

ss20, you’ll find the snow heavier when you go to White Cap tomorrow. Finished my day on Chutzpah and while it was fun, it was definitely more work than the western woods. My legs are beat.

A few pix from today below.



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nice reports

machski said:

Oh, and if you enjoy Crossbow and Tightwire, better get your fill if they reopen them this year. Crossbow sounds like that trail is a definite loss to the racing T-Bar and likely Tightwire too unless they cut a new exit. Lots of bad juju this week from the mountain.

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While I'm bummed for those trails to go away and I'd love it if they found a way to keep Tightwire in play—I think the Crossbow / Tightwire combo is a relatively hidden jewel in that trail pod—the t-bar is a good thing. It's incredibly helpful for the competition programs, both in terms of turnaround time and in terms of not losing days to wind, but it should also help take pressure off the Barker and Locke lifts as well as Ecstacy on peak days because racers will be using the t-bar rather than adding another 30-200 bodies to the congestion (numbers will vary, but on a race day it could well be over 200, all of whom are trying to get on the lift at the exact same time; on a training day, 30-60 at a time would be more normal).

machski said:

Oh, and if you enjoy Crossbow and Tightwire, better get your fill if they reopen them this year. Crossbow sounds like that trail is a definite loss to the racing T-Bar and likely Tightwire too unless they cut a new exit. Lots of bad juju this week from the mountain.

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That is complete and utter BullSh*t from Boyne. Without a doubt, those two trails are my favorite on the mountain. I guess I will be poaching the t-bar line on a regular basis as a form of protest. screw them.

Hawk said:

That is complete and utter BullSh*t from Boyne. Without a doubt, those two trails are my favorite on the mountain. I guess I will be poaching the t-bar line on a regular basis as a form of protest. screw them.

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Yeah, that sucks for sure. Great hits on a pow day.

kbroderick said:

While I'm bummed for those trails to go away and I'd love it if they found a way to keep Tightwire in play—I think the Crossbow / Tightwire combo is a relatively hidden jewel in that trail pod—the t-bar is a good thing. It's incredibly helpful for the competition programs, both in terms of turnaround time and in terms of not losing days to wind, but it should also help take pressure off the Barker and Locke lifts as well as Ecstacy on peak days because racers will be using the t-bar rather than adding another 30-200 bodies to the congestion (numbers will vary, but on a race day it could well be over 200, all of whom are trying to get on the lift at the exact same time; on a training day, 30-60 at a time would be more normal).

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I agree the T is a boost for the comp program. HOWEVER, it was sold to donors and the public it would go up on skier's right of MM. They changed the plans after they had the funding. My guess is because SR did not want to extend the Race Arena snowmaking line all the way up, which would make reliably covering the upper part of the T-Bar line difficult, at least in the early going of the season. Now the line is right by the primary MM snowmaking line and they can use SR-7 guns to blast up and down the line.

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machski said:

The mountain has just pissed off a bunch of regulars today as we have discovered they have quietly moved up the closing date to April 21 from the 28th. None of us are too happy, especially given all the snow and that it appears to have been changed AFTER the flash sale for next year's season passes closed. Starting to get tired of paying more each year and seemingly getting less. I will grant that we were skiing much earlier into October this year than several past years, but they always try for that if nature will cooperate. Ski Mania used to be called that because it fell on May Day!!! Glad I bought my Beast Spring pass now!!!

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Gotta love it - bragging rights for being open in October.... but bitching for closing too early in Aoril.

Spent my day at Barker and Whitecap (between windholds). I got 2nd tracks down the moguls on Agony. Hollywood is a great glade. The real winner though was Whitecap. Chuzpah and Hardball glades are some of the best tree runs I've done on this coast. Both have great technical, steep upper sections, and then a variety of pitches and tree types the rest of the way down. Any glade over 1,200 vertical gets an A in my book. The whole area skis like a longer (but certainly not steeper) Bear at Killington, but with less southern exposure and more snow/elevation. The "above treeline" thing is kinda cool on the top hundred feet, and the wind today made for fresh tracks up there. Shockwave (and its cliff) skied fabulous. I did not ski White Heat at 100 seconds down skidding groomed turns did not sound too enticing with real terrain right there in the pod.


Planning an all-out assault for tomorrow with mid-winter conditions in the AM and then spring in the PM. Going to hit my favorites on all 8 peaks tomorrow. Wish me luck!

there are unofficial glades you may want to try. for example htere is a glade on skiers right on shockwave. SR gas been promoting some of these unofficial to "official" in the last few years. hollywood is one such which received some 'glade' management. but some of these like poppy fields in the west are still pretty steep, tight and hard to find a line (at least for a old foggy like me). have fun!

ss20 said:

Spent my day at Barker and Whitecap (between windholds). I got 2nd tracks down the moguls on Agony. Hollywood is a great glade. The real winner though was Whitecap. Chuzpah and Hardball glades are some of the best tree runs I've done on this coast. Both have great technical, steep upper sections, and then a variety of pitches and tree types the rest of the way down. Any glade over 1,200 vertical gets an A in my book. The whole area skis like a longer (but certainly not steeper) Bear at Killington, but with less southern exposure and more snow/elevation. The "above treeline" thing is kinda cool on the top hundred feet, and the wind today made for fresh tracks up there. Shockwave (and its cliff) skied fabulous. I did not ski White Heat at 100 seconds down skidding groomed turns did not sound too enticing with real terrain right there in the pod.

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This sums up my feelings about that peak very well. I really like that area, and I do White Heat maybe three times a season.

The funny thing about the terrain at the very top is that it's only around 2600' elevation! It certainly feels higher.

WWF-VT said:

Gotta love it - bragging rights for being open in October.... but bitching for closing too early in Aoril.

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They once paced Killington on both ends, going as late as Memorial Day in the LBO era. Now they keep cutting weekends off the end and yet our season pass process are still the most expensive in the East.

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nanjil said:

there are unofficial glades you may want to try. for example htere is a glade on skiers right on shockwave. SR gas been promoting some of these unofficial to "official" in the last few years. hollywood is one such which received some 'glade' management. but some of these like poppy fields in the west are still pretty steep, tight and hard to find a line (at least for a old foggy like me). have fun!

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I did that "backside" glade off Shockwave today. Wow. Thank you so much!!! It began with a windblown slab (5ft vertical drop, nothing crazy) into a 50-75 foot chute of windblown delight. Then the "canyon" area had stayed snow keeping the snow fresh and light...also some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in the woods. Good amount of technical terrain in there opening up to classic NE hardwoods skiing.

I had a great trip. I really liked the feel of the terrain and the mountains. All the fixed-grip lifts went pretty fast and had very few stoppages. Navigation between peaks was easy. Not too much traversing required save for Jordan back to the top of North Peak. Grooming was impeccable. Much less slickness than one would expect given only 3" has fallen in a week. Not too sure why people hate this place for overgrooming....lots of terrain both natural/snowmaking had bumps. As expected, I didn't find anything very technical/steep (although I'm sure Whitecap glades and Spruce cliff under the chair would be much more challenging with less snow). Trees are Sunday's biggest asset, and most of the reason why I came. From Whitecap to Jordan there was a great variety of well-maintained tree runs. Crowds were honestly larger than I expected for mid-March widweek. The wait for Jordan and Barker reached 10-20 chairs at times. South Ridge parking was filled, even parked a couple rows in the big lot by the Snow Cap. I knew the mountain did not handle wind well but had no idea how bad it was. On Monday and Tuesday there were windholds. Not even a breath of wind at the base but powerful gusts up top. Why is there no wind fencing atop Jordan or White Cap?????

Really not too much to complain about (within the mountain's control) other than that there was no soap two days in a row in the upstairs bathroom of the base lodge. Lifts ran in circles, snow surfaces were good, no BS lift closures as one may expect late season, and no groomers on fire.

Let's hope that Boyne had the forethought or financial clout to "reserve" a spot with the lift manufacturers in that there are only a few, and the demand to replace aging lifts is sky high!

skinowworklater said:

Let's hope that Boyne had the forethought or financial clout to "reserve" a spot with the lift manufacturers in that there are only a few, and the demand to replace aging lifts is sky high!

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I have a feeling Boyne probably has a few slots with Dopp they can pull at any time. When you become the first to install and debut their new technology line (Ramcharger 8 D-Line), you probably get some privileges.

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skinowworklater said:

Let's hope that Boyne had the forethought or financial clout to "reserve" a spot with the lift manufacturers in that there are only a few, and the demand to replace aging lifts is sky high!

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Outside of Barker what needs replacing within 10 years??? Maybe Locke? SR was developed super late... mostly late-80s/early 90s lifts. Lot of life left in them.

ss20 said:

Outside of Barker what needs replacing within 10 years??? Maybe Locke? SR was developed super late... mostly late-80s/early 90s lifts. Lot of life left in them.

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The Whole Barker Lodge needs to be replaced. It's basically the orig structure from the 60's w/ a couple additions.
Parking lot also needs to be addressed

Not to mention the sorry state of the White Cap lodge for the LAST 10 YEARS

NEW HS Six Pack for Barker.
Loading Carpet for Aurora
NEW Tempest and Lil White Cap lifts

I would expect the remaining lift manufacturers to be scaling up production, in response to increased demand.

2Planker said:

The Whole Barker Lodge needs to be replaced. It's basically the orig structure from the 60's w/ a couple additions.
Parking lot also needs to be addressed

Not to mention the sorry state of the White Cap lodge for the LAST 10 YEARS

NEW HS Six Pack for Barker.
Loading Carpet for Aurora
NEW Tempest and Lil White Cap lifts

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Yes on your list except for Little White Cap, they won't spend money there. And honestly, the only hope for Tempest is for Jordan to be replaced by a HSS and they refurb and reuse Jordan on Tempest.

After the mob scene this Saturday at South Ridge when the Chondi went on wind hold, I honestly think the SRQ needs to be upgraded to a HSS to have adequate carrying capacity for the numerous times the Chondi goes on wind holds.

As to Locke, would love to see a detach replacement with a full midstation to ease the pain of downloading season, but that is a pipe dream. We'll be lucky enough for Boyne to replace Barker in a few years, we'll never get them to spring for a new Locke chair, especially with the money just spent to install a new too return station a few years ago.

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