The "Sugarbush Thread"

From the webcam, looks like they opened Ripcord. The trail report doesn't say anything yet and I didn't feel like going out today, so just going off webcams. I just saw someone come out Lower RC by the bottom of the HG chair, so guess they did have enough cover to open that too.

Looks like ME will have 1 route open tomorrow off GMX and that's it (Northstar to Mainstream to Straight Shot). I was thinking of hitting opening day there, but I don't really think that is worth it. I'm better off just sticking with a few runs at LP in the morning before heading home.

Weekend looks promising...

The snow report was updated sometime this evening/tonight to say that ME's opening has now been pushed back to Saturday.

Today was wicked good fun! Not the usual fun for this particular day, but still big time fun!

Hopefully is warm enough tomorrow, had the usual lake at top of stairs heading to bravo. Felt like April

route 22

Damn they lost a pretty decent amount of snow yesterday/last night. DS has a couple sections that are now only about half the trail width wide. Lower Ripcord has numerous large bare spots now too between the snowmaking piles.

WinS said:

route 22

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My understanding is that Rt. 21 and 22 are on skier's right off of OG and not off the bottom of Spills. Rt. 21 was near unskiable last year because of deadfall and the odd dead tree. A little rearrangement of this debris would go a long way.

Stopped by Mt Ellen today - opening day postponed (rumor is they were waiting on a part for GMX and were working on it when I was there). I must say I was very impressed with the modest facelift given to the base lodge in consortium with the VT Adaptive addition. The main floor seems so much more spacious and open (no more stairs downstairs when you first walk in). There are bathrooms on all levels and a enormous new deck off of the GML. Also amazing what new carpet and a fresh coat of paint will do too. Still work to be done (brand new picture windows still to go in).

Overall, the charm is still there - just freshened up a bit. Bravo!

Happy holidays from us to you! Please note all ornaments in the trees were filled with bourbon or heady topper. Today was a one run day…

Too funny and also Awesome. I recognize a bunch of your people. Happy Holidays to you also.

Tough day out there today. Snowmaking (irrigating) downspout was awful. It wasn’t crazy crowded but that trail is bad enough with out daytime Saturday snowmaking. What happened to the towers on that trail? Also you can tell what a difference the HKD equipment is over the snow logic guns. Snow tonight should help, please.

Ahhh... the saga of towers on Downspout. The problem was due to the nature of the trail (pitch, grooming, where the snow gets plowed by skiers), it buried the tower bases. A few years back, my crew and I spent all night digging out 4 towers. Sure, you could put them on higher bases, but you'd need ladders to get up to them to connect hoses, spin the tower, etc. Some already were nearly 4' high before we start making snow.

The decision was made to remove/relocate the towers to other trails and to install land guns. Since Downspout is a critical trail, and the wind is never perfect on that trail, land guns make more sense. They can be pulled way out early season in order to get skier's right, or can be aimed up/down hill to work with the wind. Most of the hydrants on Downspout are in large culverts which protects them from the pushing/moving of snow. The use of land guns also means a more even distrubution of man-made snow across the trail. Often with the towers, the left side of the trail would be buried, but the right side would have much less base.

Early season, it did make more work for us with land guns (Snow Logics, as the days of Ratniks had long come and gone unfortunately), but it did save us from having to dig 4' down through every layer of snow known to man. Towers I believe still survive down to OG flats, but were removed below there.

HKD vs Logic... there are things that can go wrong with either, but personally I always thought the HKDs produce better snow. Maybe because I'm more accustomed to the HKD towers. The logics are more susceptible to having their "nukes" not work. If that occurs... you're not getting the air/water mixture critical to making snow.

Shady knows what he is talking about. Hope you see you this winter!

WinS said:

Shady knows what he is talking about. Hope you see you this winter!

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Thanks, Win! Hope to come up for a few days in Jan. Happy Holidays to you, your fam, and the community!

Skiing this weekend was fun. Saturday was a little techical but the new snow made Sunday morning nice. Early ups Sunday was a blast. Good to see all the usual people. Where were you Win!

We even went to visit Henri and Bernard. Awsome as usual. They are understaffed and need help. Hopefully they find some people to fill in as runners and servers.

Hawk said:

Skiing this weekend was fun. Saturday was a little techical but the new snow made Sunday morning nice. Early ups Sunday was a blast. Good to see all the usual people. Where were you Win!

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Maybe Win is sticking to mid-week skiing now that he's retired! I did run into him on the hill last week one day (Tuesday maybe it was?) and we had a nice chat for a few minutes.