The "Sugarbush Thread"

OffPeak · Mar 13, 2015

Hey,

Going to sugarbush next week Tue-Fri This will be my 1st trip. Taking my Wife and 2 sons 22/19yrs. What should I expect in terms of conditions?

Thx OP

rocks860 · Mar 22, 2015

Anyone skied the bush lately? I was thinking of going next Saturday and wondering what the conditions are like. Also trying to figure out if I should bring my new skis or my old beater pair. If it's going to be thin out there I don't want to mess up my new ones. Thanks

steamboat1 · Mar 22, 2015

Skied the Bush this past Tues. Still plenty of cover on natural trails as well as man made runs. Conditions will be dependant on the temperature the day you ski but lack of cover shouldn't be an issue.

BenedictGomez · Mar 22, 2015

Skied Sugarbush on Saturday. Not terrible. Intermediate groomers were in good shape with the lone exception being Murphys, which was very icy. Woods were kind of firm, they need snow. Castlerock was a "mistake", only hit it once. All in all it wouldn't be my choice of where to ski right now if you're not locked in. Go farther north.

rocks860 · Mar 22, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
Skied Sugarbush on Saturday. Not terrible. Intermediate groomers were in good shape with the lone exception being Murphys, which was very icy. Woods were kind of firm, they need snow. Castlerock was a "mistake", only hit it once. All in all it wouldn't be my choice of where to ski right now if you're not locked in. Go farther north.

I'm only going for a day so sugarbush is pretty much the limit for how far north I can go. Is there anything better that far north or south of that?

steamboat1 · Mar 22, 2015

rocks860 said:
I'm only going for a day so sugarbush is pretty much the limit for how far north I can go. Is there anything better that far north or south of that?

Stowe might be in better shape, I don't know. Takes about the same time to get to Stowe as it does to get to Sugarbush off I-89.

rocks860 · Mar 22, 2015

I'd prefer sugarbush over Stowe, especially since it's even more expensive at stowe

slatham · Mar 22, 2015

Gonna rain everywhere this week. Unless back-side snow, the key will be temp and amount of sunshine. Low on both, firm. Sunny and warm, spring corn. I am hoping for the later as I want to go (and I doubt there will be enough back-side snow to make a difference)

rocks860 · Mar 22, 2015

Looks like the forecast is rain thursday snow friday then 31 degrees on Saturday. That's the forecast for warren so who knows what the actual mountain will be lile

shadyjay · Mar 22, 2015

We're in the middle of our latest thaw-freeze cycles (which seem to be occurring Saturday night into Tuesday). Coverage is excellent right now just about everywhere on the mtn. If you're going to explore Castlerock, that's the only area where there can be some "thin" cover, but that's to be expected up there.

Elsewhere on the mtn, if it warms up, it'll soften things up. We did get some 10" in the past week which helps to refresh things. I actually went down Upper OG last Friday (bypassing the top headwall) and it was a delightful run.

It all depends on your ability level and preference. I have a couple friends who skied the woods today and said they were great. We are not a mtn that grooms 100% of their terrain every night, so there is always a challenge. And since the temps dropped from 42 degrees yesterday to zero this morning, things locked up. It'll get better. I'm not complaining, though... consistent awesome conditions reigned supreme from January until early March this season.

rocks860 · Mar 22, 2015

I was there in early January and had a very nice empty mountain powder day so definitely not complaining. Want to get in one more day at sugarbush this season so hopefully saturday isn't bad

billski · Mar 22, 2015

shadyjay said:
... consistent awesome conditions reigned supreme from January until early March this season.

Thanks for the color. My memory must be fading; I don't remember January being anything to write home about this year, or last. Maybe the last week of January.

bellowthecat · Mar 23, 2015

Went last Friday and conditions were really pretty good. Hardly any ice on the main trails and solid coverage everywhere I went. Even Deathspout was in pretty good shape. Some of the woods were skied off, but others were still in prime condition.

HowieT2 · Mar 23, 2015

saturday was warm and consequently soft. even got sticky down low, but the upper elevations were in very good shape. Can't comment on the groomers. Sunday was cold and so it hardened up, but there was about 2" of fresh dense snow, so the woods skied very nicely.

SkiingInABlueDream · Mar 23, 2015

Was at Sugarbush this past Fri thru Sun.
Friday, Lincoln Peak: Groomers in great shape. Lower mountain mapped glades > icy bumps. non-map but obvious tree lines > no ice. Bump trails (Castlerock etc) > miserable ice bumps. Except for Castlerock liftline which was in great shape below the rocky top part.
Saturday, mostly ME: Groomers > excellent. trees > excellent. Bump trails > Black Diamond & FIS were far better than expected (more snow piles than ice). Exterm, not as good.
Sunday, LP: Mostly lapped groomers which were icy (overall and increasingly at lower elev.) but edgeable (at least for me w/ a fresh ski tune). The one tree lap I did from the top of Heaven's was still non-icy. Organgrinder was in decent shape. (ice in between the bumps, but bumps still soft.)
So overall pretty good but not excellent IMO; they need either more snow or warmth & sun.

Edit: Forgot to mention it snowed heavily at Mt Ellen Saturday afternoon for maybe an hour. It stopped about the same time I jumped on SB back to LP. Wondering if the squall happened at LP too or just ME?

BenedictGomez · Mar 23, 2015

skifastr said:
Bump trails (Castlerock etc) > miserable ice bumps.

That was quite an experience Friday, even with freshly worked skis it was "survival skiing", lol. I should have known better when I saw there was practically nobody on the chair, and looking uphill the trails seemed empty. I really wanted to do Middle Earth, but after getting down Castlerock I thought better of it and rejoined the gf for some casual/lazy intermediate groomers.

thetrailboss · Mar 23, 2015

Re: Castlerock

This will get a rise for sure. :stirpot:

In all the years that I skied Castlerock, I have to say that I always thought it was overrated and usually had some of the worst skiing at the area thanks to marginal conditions and/or way too much traffic. The majority of my runs over there were in the "one and done" category. Of course I'm thinking anecdotally and it has been a while, so maybe memory is biased, but except for the awesome Spring of 2008 where the cover was deep, bumps soft, and crowds thin, I really did not spend much time over there. I just think there are other areas at Sugarbush that ski better.

SkiingInABlueDream · Mar 23, 2015

@BG: I can confirm Middle Earth sucked on Friday. You did not miss out!

@Trailboss: Objectively, I probably agree, even if it might be tough to admit. I remember the fear & pride I felt the first time I did a run there (as a kid with my dad). First time I skied there as an adult was a midweek powderday after a surprise November (1999) storm dumped ~3 ft. The memory of waistdeep untracked on Castlerock Run & Rumble is etched in my mind.
Everytime I ski sugarbush I feel compelled to go there hoping (sometimes in vain) that it'll be good and without a long liftline. <shrug>

SkiingInABlueDream · Mar 23, 2015

Just thought of this. Does Sugarbush still occasionally groom Middle Earth and/or Castlerock run? I was told by a patroller that they did that occasionally when those run(s) got too beat up. That was sometime in the mid/late 00's and wondering if they still do it.
A foot of fresh over groomed surface on Middle Earth would be a sweet run.

HowieT2 · Mar 23, 2015

skifastr said:
Just thought of this. Does Sugarbush still occasionally groom Middle Earth and/or Castlerock run? I was told by a patroller that they did that occasionally when those run(s) got too beat up. That was sometime in the mid/late 00's and wondering if they still do it.
A foot of fresh over groomed surface on Middle Earth would be a sweet run.

Yes, maybe 2 or 3 times a season. the last time they groomed was a few weeks ago. Thereafter, they didnt get as much snow as anticipated and so the bumps havent re-formed where it was groomed.

castlerock is ungroomed terrain so unless the weather is cooperating, conditions can be challenging. That being said, until the thaw last week, it had been in great shape the last 2 months.

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