The "Sugarbush Thread"

Tin said:

There was more snow on Liftline and Middle on Tuesday than there has probably been in two years and they have received another foot since. Never heard a noise under my skis and that included all the ledges. There is PLENTY of snow.

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Open the lift and put a whole weekends worth of traffic on it and see what it looks like. You also have to remember that there was nothing on the ground 2 weeks ago. It will get eaten up quick. You were one of probably a couple hundred that skied it this week. What do you suppose 1000's will do to it?

Hawk said:

Open the lift and put a whole weekends worth of traffic on it and see what it looks like. You also have to remember that there was nothing on the ground 2 weeks ago. It will get eaten up quick. You were one of probably a couple hundred that skied it this week. What do you suppose 1000's will do to it?

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Sorry edited, I'm all for keeping the lift closed for that reason, but there is plenty of snow.

Hawk said:

From my friends reports, There is not enough snow yet and not enough of a demand to support opening the lift. Also there was no mechanical issue that forced its closure or kept it closed.

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It is a good idea to wait for the lift but let those who are eager enough to hike it ski it. They do get kudos for aggressively opening terrain but also being wise as to when to turn the lift.

nhskier1969 said:

It ran for about a week. There weren't issues with the lift. The marginal snow base last year, the terrain couldn't handle the skier traffic if they opened up the chair. The long trail isn't a bad hike and it keeps the traffic down.

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I never knew they intentionally closed the lift to help out the snow quality. Sounds like a great idea and makes sense to me! I recall getting the lift during one trip last season (in Feb I think?) and then I hiked it a couple times on a powder day. Will certainly be hiking it again soon assuming the snow keeps falling.

Never heard of lift issues last year. Plenty of snow issues though. I hiked it more than used the lift and rock ski is were a good idea most of the time last year.

Please please leave the lift off this weekend. I've been looking forward to getting that all week while stuck at work.

thetrailboss said:

It is a good idea to wait for the lift but let those who are eager enough to hike it ski it. They do get kudos for aggressively opening terrain but also being wise as to when to turn the lift.

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+1

nhskier1969 said:

It ran for about a week. There weren't issues with the lift. The marginal snow base last year, the terrain couldn't handle the skier traffic if they opened up the chair. The long trail isn't a bad hike and it keeps the traffic down.

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I've never done the hike...assuming the lift is closed over the holidays when we will be there, is the Long Trail marked? How do I get to it? Can my 14 and 12 year olds deal with the hike? They are excellent skiers so I'm not worried about the terrain. Thanks so much.

PS. I love how this thread turned on a dime from the SB sux chorus to the SB is awesome chorus.

mikec142 said:

I've never done the hike...assuming the lift is closed over the holidays when we will be there, is the Long Trail marked? How do I get to it? Can my 14 and 12 year olds deal with the hike?

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It's a pretty easy hike relatively. Only a couple of sections where you remove skis and walk uphill. It is a bit tiring so you do earn your run for sure. It is not marked but it is generally easy to follow. I did get lost my first time and had to backtrack a little but if you go on a weekend, there are plenty of people making the trek over.

mikec142 said:

I've never done the hike...assuming the lift is closed over the holidays when we will be there, is the Long Trail marked? How do I get to it? Can my 14 and 12 year olds deal with the hike? They are excellent skiers so I'm not worried about the terrain. Thanks so much.

PS. I love how this thread turned on a dime from the SB sux chorus to the SB is awesome chorus.

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I think your perception of the conversation is wrong. No one was saying SBs suck I think. There are some of us that want a better snow making system is all. I think there are zero people that do not like SB with abundant snow. The critique will come back once it R*&#'s. ;-)

Another awesome day today at Sugarbush. 6+ inches of new snow overnight up high and it snowed at varying levels of intensity all day.

I pretty much skied everything that was open with the exception of hiking Castlerock. Highlights were Spillsville and Paradise.



All alone on Spillsville:




Lots of snow on Paradise:




Looks like the plan is to have all of the Valley House terrain open tomorrow which is pretty damn good for December 10th.

mikec142 said:

I've never done the hike...assuming the lift is closed over the holidays when we will be there, is the Long Trail marked? How do I get to it? Can my 14 and 12 year olds deal with the hike? They are excellent skiers so I'm not worried about the terrain. Thanks so much.

PS. I love how this thread turned on a dime from the SB sux chorus to the SB is awesome chorus.

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The Long Trail itself is marked...but good luck seeing the white blazes in the winter! It is about a 15-20 minute hike. A couple uphill sections where you take your skis off. Then a few downhill sections. It is the long trail, so it is relatively narrow and a bit twisty.

Relatively easy to get to and pretty easy to follow the path of others. You ski straight down Paradise along the ridgeline and just keep going straight into the woods at the end of the top section of Paradise instead of turning right to head downhill. (Last year SB actually had the entrance marked with a patrol marker that said "CR Open" or something like that). The first hundred feet or so in the woods is really the only part where I think you can get "lost" as there are sometimes divergent tracks with people skiing down into the woods in Paradise instead of hiking towards CR. One you get onto the main Long Trail section though it always seemed pretty easy to know you were on the right path.

And I completely agree with the way Sugarbush handles the CR lift vs allowing hiking access. If the lift is closed but hiking is allowed, it means they do not believe there is sufficient snow to handle the amount of traffic a lift would bring. If they are officially allowing hiking though, then my experience from last year hiking it says that means there is definitely enough snow to ski it for people willing to hike. Last year the lift only ran 11 or 12 days I believe, and it was entirely due to insufficient snow pack to handle a lot of people. The 3 hikes I took over last year were well worth it. After those hikes I started to almost wish they never ran the lift and only allowed access via hiking :smile:

WWF-VT said:

Another awesome day today at Sugarbush. 6+ inches of new snow overnight up high and it snowed at varying levels of intensity all day.

I pretty much skied everything that was open with the exception of hiking Castlerock. Highlights were Spillsville and Paradise.



All alone on Spillsville:

Lots of snow on Paradise:

Looks like the plan is to have all of the Valley House terrain open tomorrow which is pretty damn good for December 10th.

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Nice pics. I was up there this morning but just drove home for the weekend and didn't take any turns today. Planning to drive back up Monday and ski Tuesday-Friday hopefully. ME opening day next Friday should be rather sweet and I'd like to at least get out and hour or 2 in the morning on Friday before driving home again.

Things are really looking sweet there.

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mikec142 said:

Can my 14 and 12 year olds deal with the hike?

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How much pissing and moaning will they do, and how much can you put up with?!


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WWF-VT said:

Lots of snow on Paradise:

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So friggin' sweet.


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A few more pics from earlier this week...

mikec142 said:

PS. I love how this thread turned on a dime from the SB sux chorus to the SB is awesome chorus.

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That's what happens when it snows.

Hawk said:

I think your perception of the conversation is wrong. No one was saying SBs suck I think. There are some of us that want a better snow making system is all. I think there are zero people that do not like SB with abundant snow. The critique will come back once it R*&#'s. ;-)

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No NO No...
SB sucks, don't go there this weekend, please stay away. LOL
In fact stay away from the Mad River Valley, no snow here.

Sooo sick, thanks for sharing! My trip is the Feb 3-5th *fingers crossed* for tons of pow!

cdskier said:

After those hikes I started to almost wish they never ran the lift and only allowed access via hiking [emoji2]

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Hmmm, now there's a thought there are times I'd like that.

Have had 12 yr olds and younger on the hike. Must be comfortable hiking in snow with skis on shoulder. And be into such activities.