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Where to go Sunday? K or SR?

Where to go Sunday?


  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .

urungus

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Heading to Killington, which is a 2 hour drive for me, vs 4 hours for Sunday River.
 

Zand

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Unless the extra drive time is more than a few minutes, I'd go to SR. If I had the option Tuesday I would go there but K will do.
 

crazy

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Can you lap the TTB trails at Sunday River, or are you basically lapping the upper half of Locke and there's a sketchy way down for getting back to the lodge at the end of the day?
 

thebigo

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Can you lap the TTB trails at Sunday River, or are you basically lapping the upper half of Locke and there's a sketchy way down for getting back to the lodge at the end of the day?

That is a good question, checked the sr forum and the upper looks good but nothing on lower.

We went to k yesterday, likely going to sr tomorrow. Smaller/preferable crowd and some variety. Both are effectively the same drive for us, sr marginally more expensive because they classify a six year old as a youth, not free child like k.
 

shwilly

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The limiting factor lapping SR today was lines, which were apocalyptic at the base of the Locke lift and bad at the midstation. The snow was good, particularly on top, and crowds on the trails weren't too bad. You could lap Sunday Punch top to bottom, but the lift line was really long. Hopefully crowds will be a little lighter tomorrow and they can open the Barker lift soon.
 

machski

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The limiting factor lapping SR today was lines, which were apocalyptic at the base of the Locke lift and bad at the midstation. The snow was good, particularly on top, and crowds on the trails weren't too bad. You could lap Sunday Punch top to bottom, but the lift line was really long. Hopefully crowds will be a little lighter tomorrow and they can open the Barker lift soon.
Don't plan on Barker spinning til Friday.

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MEtoVTSkier

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Really wondering when SR is going to up their early season game and replace Locke, and or, come up with a better solution. The next year and a half will be very telling to see where Boyne spends their money.
 

machski

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Really wondering when SR is going to up their early season game and replace Locke, and or, come up with a better solution. The next year and a half will be very telling to see where Boyne spends their money.
Well, given they just spent more money on the current Locke Triple (in addition to the all new top return station a few years ago) to raise it above the new T-Bar (three new towers and sheave sets, including a new depression tower), I seriously doubt they do anything with Locke. It is what it is. I would rather they up the Snowmaking infrastructure on Paradigm, Northern Lights, Airglow and Lights Out and go back to that setup early in Aurora. Other than the first few weekends, Locke is more a standby chair accessing very little terrain. There are many other areas that could use big $$ spent before Locke due to that.

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Dickc

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Well, given they just spent more money on the current Locke Triple (in addition to the all new top return station a few years ago) to raise it above the new T-Bar (three new towers and sheave sets, including a new depression tower), I seriously doubt they do anything with Locke. It is what it is. I would rather they up the Snowmaking infrastructure on Paradigm, Northern Lights, Airglow and Lights Out and go back to that setup early in Aurora. Other than the first few weekends, Locke is more a standby chair accessing very little terrain. There are many other areas that could use big $$ spent before Locke due to that.

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I have always wondered why they do not blow Jungle road early with Jim's whim. That would allow uploading from the base on the Barker quad, and Locke could be used exclusively from the mid station.
 

deadheadskier

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I have always wondered why they do not blow Jungle road early with Jim's whim. That would allow uploading from the base on the Barker quad, and Locke could be used exclusively from the mid station.
Wouldn't you still need to use Locke for downloading if they aren't open to the base?

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Dickc

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Wouldn't you still need to use Locke for downloading if they aren't open to the base?

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Yes, but lapping the top would be able to load every chair. You could possibly run that lift at full speed too as with the alternating chair scheme, they run it at about 2/3 speed as it is. Yes, they would have to slow for download, but the UPHILL would be so much better.
 

machski

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Yes, but lapping the top would be able to load every chair. You could possibly run that lift at full speed too as with the alternating chair scheme, they run it at about 2/3 speed as it is. Yes, they would have to slow for download, but the UPHILL would be so much better.
You could potentially overload the Triple by running Barker like that. (As in way too many skiers on the hill making things worse.) The only way to take away the pain would be making Locke a detach with a full midstation. But that is crazy $$ for a lift used heavily for only a couple weeks a year.

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Dickc

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You could potentially overload the Triple by running Barker like that. (As in way too many skiers on the hill making things worse.) The only way to take away the pain would be making Locke a detach with a full midstation. But that is crazy $$ for a lift used heavily for only a couple weeks a year.

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Unless you replace that instead of Barker. You could revamp the very start of Lazy River that used to originate at the top of Locke to get to the top of Barker and only run Barker on weekends.
 

crazy

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With the new North Ridge chair, Killington has a much better early season setup. The setup at SR with Locke is what it is, it isn't great, but it allows SR to open up pretty early. Early openings are not a money maker, the goals of opening early are:

1) To help develop a strong relationship with the pass holders, and
2) To get PR

Most passholders and other misc hardcore skiers are just happy to be skiing, even if Locke sucks, so #1 is taken care of with the current lift. A better setup won't affect #2. So since they are meeting their goals, why would they invest heavily in a better solution? It just wouldn't make sense financially when there are so many other issues at SR that need addressing, like getting a new Barker lift!
 

skef

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And the winner is...

I ended up going to Sunday River (yes, I ignored the poll and read the commentary instead).

It was a fine first day. Lines were long-ish, but not "apocalyptic." It's true TTB, but uploading mid-station is an odd compromise; a lot of empty chairs going up with long lines at the base. Early on, it was every other chair, but they pulled back to every third chair later. I think every fourth might have been fairer.

At any rate, my day 1 is in the books and I'm not complaining!

Pics follow.

Photo Nov 10, 8 00 46 AM.jpg
Photo Nov 10, 8 19 36 AM.jpg
Photo Nov 10, 8 22 31 AM.jpg
Photo Nov 10, 12 03 43 PM.jpg
 
Last edited:

machski

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Unless you replace that instead of Barker. You could revamp the very start of Lazy River that used to originate at the top of Locke to get to the top of Barker and only run Barker on weekends.
No way, still not enough Snowmaking terrain and Locke Trails are hogged by Gould racing anyway. Locke is what it is for a very loooong time.

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deadheadskier

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Why not

Chondola + Spruce lift

Am Ex for first trail. Overdraft back to Chondola for downloading.

Seems like that would take less snow than Aurora. Better lift situation than Locke.

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machski

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Why not

Chondola + Spruce lift

Am Ex for first trail. Overdraft back to Chondola for downloading.

Seems like that would take less snow than Aurora. Better lift situation than Locke.

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The one problem with that is you need lower Downdraft to either Grand Rapids or the connection to AmEx. The AmEx connection would seem to make sense except for the fact that short link does not have its own Snowmaking line. The only difference with Aurora is I think the base is a few hundred feet higher and it is turned a bit more northerly than AmEx and Spruce.

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