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The "Sugarbush Thread"

cdskier

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I'm getting very little accomplished at my office. leaving this afternoon.

My cousin was originally planning to come up from MD Friday morning to drive up with me from NJ Friday afternoon. Now he bailed due to not wanting to miss his daughter's first HS Lacrosse game. If I had known earlier he wasn't going, I could have taken tomorrow off and gone up tonight after work instead of going up tomorrow afternoon. Too late now though as I already have several meetings tomorrow morning at work. :-(
 

tumbler

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I'm getting very little accomplished at my office. leaving this afternoon.

Wish I could but i took off Thursday and Friday last week for that storm (which was great). Will be there bright and early Sat morning.
 

MommaBear

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The videos and pics I've been seeing unofficialsugarbush share on Facebook today have me drooling at my desk at work...Very hard to get work done when I know snow is falling in VT!

And now I'm not getting anything done at work (because I felt it necessary to go see what they were posting). Thanks! :(
 

cdskier

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PS...just ran into one of my co-workers that happened to be in SB last weekend with his family. He said last weekend was the best skiing he's done all year (he normally skis at K, but does 1 or maybe 2 trips to SB a year if he can).
 

mikec142

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Probably making the drive up (solo) this weekend and have a few questions. I usually ski with my family. When my wife is with us we stick to the tamer stuff, but when it's just me or me and my teenagers we will tackle the more serious stuff. We've pretty much skied marked, inbounds trail at Lincoln Peak.

So my question is, if I start hiking in off of Paradise on my way to Castlerock and decide to drop in somewhere in the middle, what am I looking at? I'd be solo, which is really the only thing giving me pause. I'm a solid skier who takes things cautiously, but I'm not looking to do anything stupid.

Do you basically just ski down and depending on various lines, either reach Bail Out, Castlerock Run, or Lower Paradise? Or is it possible to find yourself lost or somewhere that I really don't want to be.
 

WWF-VT

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Probably making the drive up (solo) this weekend and have a few questions. I usually ski with my family. When my wife is with us we stick to the tamer stuff, but when it's just me or me and my teenagers we will tackle the more serious stuff. We've pretty much skied marked, inbounds trail at Lincoln Peak.

So my question is, if I start hiking in off of Paradise on my way to Castlerock and decide to drop in somewhere in the middle, what am I looking at? I'd be solo, which is really the only thing giving me pause. I'm a solid skier who takes things cautiously, but I'm not looking to do anything stupid.

Do you basically just ski down and depending on various lines, either reach Bail Out, Castlerock Run, or Lower Paradise? Or is it possible to find yourself lost or somewhere that I really don't want to be.

Pretty dumb idea for a solo trek if you don't know where you will wind up....even if you know where you are going you have crossed the line of "not looking to do anything stupid" by skiing that area alone.
 

KustyTheKlown

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eh, I mean, its not THAT gnarly. about halfway thru the hike you get to a pretty obvious open clearing, probably with some tracks. that is the church. the church has some large quasi mandatory drops and then spits you out into pretty typical sugarbush tree skiing. I think you wind up on lower paradise or bail out (?). that area is in-bounds on the map, the boundary runs the ridge between heavens gate and castlerock, whereas slide brook is not within the boundary.
 

MommaBear

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PS...just ran into one of my co-workers that happened to be in SB last weekend with his family. He said last weekend was the best skiing he's done all year (he normally skis at K, but does 1 or maybe 2 trips to SB a year if he can).

Hoping to get up there this weekend! Those videos lit a fire under me...lol!
 

bdfreetuna

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keep the faith
eh, I mean, its not THAT gnarly. about halfway thru the hike you get to a pretty obvious open clearing, probably with some tracks. that is the church. the church has some large quasi mandatory drops and then spits you out into pretty typical sugarbush tree skiing. I think you wind up on lower paradise or bail out (?). that area is in-bounds on the map, the boundary runs the ridge between heavens gate and castlerock, whereas slide brook is not within the boundary.

It can be semi gnar if the conditions aren't right. I've only skied that on a great spring corn snow day. Not something I would go for in normal northeast "mid winter" conditions.

Only remember one mandatory drop it's about a 4-5 footer with a semi tricky landing if I remember correctly.

My favorite stuff at Lincoln Peak is between Paradise and church. A bit less intimidating but some nice little chutes.

But as for church I think if it was a nice enough day I'd be willing to ski it I wouldn't be worried about going solo.
 

ducky

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Probably making the drive up (solo) this weekend and have a few questions. I usually ski with my family. When my wife is with us we stick to the tamer stuff, but when it's just me or me and my teenagers we will tackle the more serious stuff. We've pretty much skied marked, inbounds trail at Lincoln Peak.

So my question is, if I start hiking in off of Paradise on my way to Castlerock and decide to drop in somewhere in the middle, what am I looking at? I'd be solo, which is really the only thing giving me pause. I'm a solid skier who takes things cautiously, but I'm not looking to do anything stupid.

Do you basically just ski down and depending on various lines, either reach Bail Out, Castlerock Run, or Lower Paradise? Or is it possible to find yourself lost or somewhere that I really don't want to be.

Mike, Start with some woods off the trails first and get yourself up to speed before "dropping in" off the Long Trail. The snow is deep and not packed in so you may find obstacles and then difficulty getting up after a fall in deep snow. Also be aware of tree wells. It takes a few runs to get used to visualizing the gaps not the trees. To ski the woods fluidly you need to look ahead and not look at the trees. Skiing the Church from a post on this forum is not the best idea and is starts with a 12' jump to a flat followed by a tight gulley and then another 6' jump to traverse. Start slow and work your way up. Most woods between the inbound runs are skiable and every bit as good currently. (I have skied them every day this week and last - Day 102)
My 2¢.
 
Last edited:

Hawk

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Probably making the drive up (solo) this weekend and have a few questions. I usually ski with my family. When my wife is with us we stick to the tamer stuff, but when it's just me or me and my teenagers we will tackle the more serious stuff. We've pretty much skied marked, inbounds trail at Lincoln Peak.

So my question is, if I start hiking in off of Paradise on my way to Castlerock and decide to drop in somewhere in the middle, what am I looking at? I'd be solo, which is really the only thing giving me pause. I'm a solid skier who takes things cautiously, but I'm not looking to do anything stupid.

Do you basically just ski down and depending on various lines, either reach Bail Out, Castlerock Run, or Lower Paradise? Or is it possible to find yourself lost or somewhere that I really don't want to be.
Mike, Everything on the long trail either runs into Paradise woods, Bear Claw or Bailout. The church is described above and I think you could take the ladies tee to the left, pick your way down and stay out of trouble. You will probably see people as I assume with the conditions that people will be everywhere this weekend. There are all kinds of lines in there. Some tight, some steep and there are some drops if you wander around. Personally the only run I would consider alone is the ladies tee at the Church as it is traveled and has a defined path.
 

mikec142

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Guys,

Totally appreciate all the advice. It's very helpful. I've skied many of the glades off the trails at LP already (and love them). I think the big thing that I'm not into is having to jump. The "ladies tee" sounds right up my alley. Is it safe to assume that when you say Ladies Tee to the left you mean skier's left. I wouldn't drop in to glades unless I saw a decent amount of tracks already. Even though I'm sure that untracked powdery glades would be amazing, I'd be more confident if I saw that someone had successfully navigated the area before me.
 

Hawk

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Mike there still will be a couple of places with a small drop. Maybe 4 or 5 feet with all this snow. But nothing huge. Yes skiers left. it should be obvious.
 
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