This is our 2nd time ever to Sugarloaf. The first time was 3-day before new year. Last time it rained and froze, which was easily our worst ski trip of the season. So we were hoping for better luck this time.
Our first day was Friday. It snowed 6 inches Wednesday night/Thursday morning and I wasn’t expecting fresh powder. But to my surprise, we found pretty deep untouched powder on rip saw during our first run, which was a lot of fun. Moved to Misery Whip and found plenty of powder too with only one track. Kids wanted to ski trees so we moved to Brackett Basin. Condition was good but no powder there. After several runs in Brackett we went back to Misery Whip and the powder was tracked out. Should’ve done more runs there earlier. The upper mountain was pretty quiet in the morning. But after lunch we hit a monster line at whiffletree lift, 30 minutes wait, not sure what happened. Once we get to upper mountain, the line became short again. In the afternoon, we mostly skied moguls and trees off spillway x-cut. Condition was great as soft snow was everywhere.
Condition continued to be good on Saturday with maybe a bit less soft snow. The trees near skidded and haymaker were really good. However it became crowded quickly. The line at skyline became 10+ minutes by 10am. Moved to timberline with more bearable lines. Lapping the glades there. The snow was pretty first there so it skied fast. Went to snowfield once and it was icy. After lunch, somehow the crowd disappeared by 1:30pm. We started to lapping skyline again and Had more runs in glades. Upper mountain trees continued to hold plenty of snow. went to broccoli garden at the end of day and it was pretty tracked out.
Sunday was snowing hard with strong wind. Knowing that lift may stop at any time. We skied as hard as possible, hitting 10 runs before the mountain shut down. The best runs were early morning at winters way and bubblecuffer. The wind blew the snow away from the surface and deposited them into the troughs of the moguls. There were at least 6 inches deep in those troughs. By staying in the troughs it was essentially powder skiing. However as wind got stronger later on the snow in the trough got blown away making it less fun. Then we went into trees. Brackett Basin didn’t have much snow because of wind but the glades near super quad has 2-3 inches on the ground. Branding ax glade was especially good so we did it twice. The mountain fully shut down before 1pm and we had a late lunch before going home.
With 6 days at Sugarloaf this season, we get to experience it in both good condition and bad. With good snow, the abundant natural terrain can be very fun. We will come back in the future despite the long drive, when the condition is right. There are a few downsides though. First is that this mountain seems to be much more prone to wind comparing to others. Windhold happened twice out of 6 days despite forecasted wind speed under 15 mph. The lift operation seems to be poorly managed too. Last time there was a 20 minutes delay open on whiffletree due to poor planning and communication. This time they shut down double runner and whiffle tree while king pine and skyline being open, resulting a massive line at super quad that is totally unavoidable. My last impression is that while there are good amount of interesting terrain. It feels much smaller than advertised. Burnt mt is only accessible by Cat. Brackett Basin sort of flat and many sections have trees are too open to be glade skiing. Snowfield is rarely open and icy when it open. And west mountain only has easy terrain. Still a fun mountain that I’d come back to. But feels much smaller than killington and sugarbush that provide more variety.
Our first day was Friday. It snowed 6 inches Wednesday night/Thursday morning and I wasn’t expecting fresh powder. But to my surprise, we found pretty deep untouched powder on rip saw during our first run, which was a lot of fun. Moved to Misery Whip and found plenty of powder too with only one track. Kids wanted to ski trees so we moved to Brackett Basin. Condition was good but no powder there. After several runs in Brackett we went back to Misery Whip and the powder was tracked out. Should’ve done more runs there earlier. The upper mountain was pretty quiet in the morning. But after lunch we hit a monster line at whiffletree lift, 30 minutes wait, not sure what happened. Once we get to upper mountain, the line became short again. In the afternoon, we mostly skied moguls and trees off spillway x-cut. Condition was great as soft snow was everywhere.
Condition continued to be good on Saturday with maybe a bit less soft snow. The trees near skidded and haymaker were really good. However it became crowded quickly. The line at skyline became 10+ minutes by 10am. Moved to timberline with more bearable lines. Lapping the glades there. The snow was pretty first there so it skied fast. Went to snowfield once and it was icy. After lunch, somehow the crowd disappeared by 1:30pm. We started to lapping skyline again and Had more runs in glades. Upper mountain trees continued to hold plenty of snow. went to broccoli garden at the end of day and it was pretty tracked out.
Sunday was snowing hard with strong wind. Knowing that lift may stop at any time. We skied as hard as possible, hitting 10 runs before the mountain shut down. The best runs were early morning at winters way and bubblecuffer. The wind blew the snow away from the surface and deposited them into the troughs of the moguls. There were at least 6 inches deep in those troughs. By staying in the troughs it was essentially powder skiing. However as wind got stronger later on the snow in the trough got blown away making it less fun. Then we went into trees. Brackett Basin didn’t have much snow because of wind but the glades near super quad has 2-3 inches on the ground. Branding ax glade was especially good so we did it twice. The mountain fully shut down before 1pm and we had a late lunch before going home.
With 6 days at Sugarloaf this season, we get to experience it in both good condition and bad. With good snow, the abundant natural terrain can be very fun. We will come back in the future despite the long drive, when the condition is right. There are a few downsides though. First is that this mountain seems to be much more prone to wind comparing to others. Windhold happened twice out of 6 days despite forecasted wind speed under 15 mph. The lift operation seems to be poorly managed too. Last time there was a 20 minutes delay open on whiffletree due to poor planning and communication. This time they shut down double runner and whiffle tree while king pine and skyline being open, resulting a massive line at super quad that is totally unavoidable. My last impression is that while there are good amount of interesting terrain. It feels much smaller than advertised. Burnt mt is only accessible by Cat. Brackett Basin sort of flat and many sections have trees are too open to be glade skiing. Snowfield is rarely open and icy when it open. And west mountain only has easy terrain. Still a fun mountain that I’d come back to. But feels much smaller than killington and sugarbush that provide more variety.
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