Top five most challenging runs in SNE?

List your top five most challenging runs in SNE.

1. Beast at Berkshire East
2. Gunbarrel at Sundown (with bumps this year)
3. Flying Cloud at Berkshire East
4. Catapult at Catamount
5. Jericho at Jiminy

Granted, Beast is hardly ever open so I have to give the nod to Gunbarrel once the bumps are seeded this season. Sure every other run on that list is steeper than Gunny, but aside from skier's right of Flying Cloud, just about every steep run in SNE is normally groomed flat as a pancake. Liftline at Jiminy has to be mentioned too, but I haven't skied it so I didn't include it in my list. Plus it's only open about as often as Beast. Haven't skied anything at WaWa so maybe something there is in the running (10th?).

I think at the end of this season, we will look back and say with confidence that the mighty Sundown provided the most consistently challenging run in SNE with bumps on Gunbarrel.

It's so rare that I ski in southern NE, the most challenging from my experience will be Thunderbolt Trail at Greylock.

Greg said:

[5]Jericho at Jiminy
Liftline at Jiminy has to be mentioned too, but I haven't skied it so I didn't include it in my list. Plus it's only open about as often as Beast.

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I dont know if I can agree with Jericho. It is extremely wide, and pancake flat. Yes it is steep, but the only real difficult part about it is how it gets very icy from wind blowing up it.

Liftline is a much better, and challenging trail. Very narrow so you must be real confident in your turns, plus there is alot of buried stumps/rocks there. While it does not open that often it is a awesome run(especially when the triple is not running, as its easier to poach). The way the land is they get alot of drifts, that are fun to bust through or launch off of as people ride above on the lift.

I would put Claire's on my list. It is always bumped up and with the wind coming up the trail, it is almost always extremely icy.

Hawkshot99 said:

I would put Claire's on my list. It is always bumped up and with the wind coming up the trail, it is almost always extremely icy.

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Claire's, 'Purna, Lower K27 and even Upper Crossover trumps anything on my list. NY is not technically "SNE".

To be clear; SNE meaning Southern New England, which does not include NY state.

I've never been on either Jericho or Liftline at Jiminy, but Liftline certainly looked pretty damn challenging to me the only day I skied there.

bvibert said:

I've never been on either Jericho or Liftline at Jiminy, but Liftline certainly looked pretty damn challenging to me the only day I skied there.

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I've skied Jiminy a fair amount and unfortunately haven't had the pleasure of skiing it either. Clearly, the best run now at Jiminy.

Jiminy Liftline Stoke

Greg said:

Claire's, 'Purna, Lower K27 and even Upper Crossover trumps anything on my list. NY is not technically "SNE".

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We're New Yawkas....

Greg said:

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Want to ht it!

Beast, Liftline, UMass, Tomahawk at BEast and Catapult at Catamount. I disagree about Gunny being more challenging than Catapult. Catapult is a lot steeper and more sustained than Gunny not to mention there's usually bump lines on the side or side to side.

Hawkshot99 said:

I dont know if I can agree with Jericho. It is extremely wide, and pancake flat. Yes it is steep, but the only real difficult part about it is how it gets very icy from wind blowing up it.

Liftline is a much better, and challenging trail. Very narrow so you must be real confident in your turns, plus there is alot of buried stumps/rocks there. While it does not open that often it is a awesome run(especially when the triple is not running, as its easier to poach). The way the land is they get alot of drifts, that are fun to bust through or launch off of as people ride above on the lift.

I would put Claire's on my list. It is always bumped up and with the wind coming up the trail, it is almost always extremely icy.

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I agree, but I think Upper Exhibition at Jiminy is harder than both.

powderman said:

Beast, Liftline, UMass, Tomahawk at BEast and Catapult at Catamount. I disagree about Gunny being more challenging than Catapult. Catapult is a lot steeper and more sustained than Gunny not to mention there's usually bump lines on the side or side to side.

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I *think* (and I'm sure Greg will correct me if I'm wrong) that he meant Gunbarrel WITH the bumps that will be on it this coming season - not Gunbarrel as it was last season.

severine said:

I *think* (and I'm sure Greg will correct me if I'm wrong) that he meant Gunbarrel WITH the bumps that will be on it this coming season - not Gunbarrel as it was last season.

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I think that's what he meant, but Catapult usually has bumps

At least I didn't add my list with my whopping 2 seasons under my belt. :lol: Y'all would just laugh me right out of the thread.

powderman said:

I think that's what he meant, but Catapult usually has bumps

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Trust me. Top to bottom seeded bumps on Gunny is going to be more of a challenge than the short lines of bumps that form on the sides of Catapult. Bank on it.

Greg said:

Trust me. Top to bottom seeded bumps on Gunny is going to be more of a challenge than the short lines of bumps that form on the sides of Catapult. Bank on it.

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Excluding the very first part of the trail, the lines on the side of Catapult are top to bottom. IIRC, the bumps on Gunbarrel are also on the side of the trail, not side to side. That said, I'd say Catapult is more of a challenge

powderman said:

Excluding the very first part of the trail, the lines on the side of Catapult are top to bottom. IIRC, the bumps on Gunbarrel are also on the side of the trail, not side to side. That said, I'd say Catapult is more of a challenge

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The steep part of Catapult is very steep, but overall, Catapult and Gunny are of similar length and vertical. But I'll definitely give the nod to Catapult for more more consistent pitch. No question there. As far as bumps, Catapult has a funky turn in it. Anytime I've seen bumps on it, it's been at that turn where it gets really steep from under the chair down. But for the most part, the trail is normally groomed. Granted, like I said, Catapult is very steep by SNE standards and can be quite the challenge when icy.

Based on what Sundown didn't groom on Gunny last year when they tried to get some spring bumps to set up, I'm going to guess what gets seeded this year will be at least half the trail, and I know they plan to go top to bottom. I would guess somewhere around 5+ lines of bumps, and maybe two groomer passes of groomed trail on skier's left.

So for argument's sake, let's consider the vertical drop and length equal. I would call Catapult the overall steeper of the two, but since more of it is groomed, it's the easier run for the average skier to ski than Gunbarrel will be once it gets seeded and all of us rad AZers get a chance to ski everything in ( :lol: ). And once there are bumps, Sundown is not going to sissy out and mash them down when they get ugly. Instead , they'll dust them if they can, or just leave them and either hope for a dump, or wait until the spring warmth makes them truly rad. Sundown has even been known to send terrain guys up the hill with shovels to tweak burned out troughs. That's what I call dedication!

Now, be honest. you're just trying to validate your Catamount pass purchase... :razz:

Damn, Greg is really pumped about the Gunny bumps! Let's hope he's right!

bvibert said:

To be clear; SNE meaning Southern New England, which does not include NY state.

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I actually view Connecticut as more of a suburb of NYC than a New England state, so I'd say the options should be limited to Mass and RI :lol: