The "Sugarbush Thread"

Hawk said:

I hear the tails of skiing in the woods. I tried a few places but hit all kinds of shit. I have one serious injury under my belt from skiing woods too early. That is a card that I am most hesitant to play these days.

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I tried a couple places as well and thought there was still quite a bit lurking that you had to be cautious (particularly lower down). I think Kusty earlier in this thread mentioned Eden was all good which is not at all what I saw. Very low elevation and I saw what it looked like before the storm so I wasn't surprised, but it was quite thin with a lot of obstacles barely hidden under the new snow. I even saw one kid in Eden literally get launched several feet when he hit something (he was fine, but it still shows that you couldn't just fly through Eden by any means).

cdskier said:

I tried a couple places as well and thought there was still quite a bit lurking that you had to be cautious (particularly lower down). I think Kusty earlier in this thread mentioned Eden was all good which is not at all what I saw. Very low elevation and I saw what it looked like before the storm so I wasn't surprised, but it was quite thin with a lot of obstacles barely hidden under the new snow. I even saw one kid in Eden literally get launched several feet when he hit something (he was fine, but it still shows that you couldn't just fly through Eden by any means).

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agreed. there was even underlying funk up in paradise woods. and I won't even discuss enchanted forest.

i found eden to be the most skiable of the three i checked out. i am very on the record of having a high tolerance for thin woods. steins was too steep and untracked and stuff was lurking everywhere. xmas tree was of a similar pitch but had been skied in and a savvy skier could pick his line. eden, being the least steep of the three and also pretty skied in by 1 PM when i got there, i found to be totally skiable with the completely normal stumps and rocks that are eastern tree skiing. i certainly let it rip thru eden without much concern. i also wasn't really moving thru untracked snow there tho

KustyTheKlown said:

i found eden to be the most skiable of the three i checked out. i am very on the record of having a high tolerance for thin woods. steins was too steep and untracked and stuff was lurking everywhere. xmas tree was of a similar pitch but had been skied in and a savvy skier could pick his line. eden, being the least steep of the three and also pretty skied in by 1 PM when i got there, i found to be totally skiable with the completely normal stumps and rocks that are eastern tree skiing. i certainly let it rip thru eden without much concern. i also wasn't really moving thru untracked snow there tho

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Looks like I was in Eden around 10am...there was still a decent amount of untracked there that some people were skiing at that time. The fact that you weren't skiing the untracked is an important caveat (not that there should be much of that left by now if there was even much left by the time you were there at 1pm yesterday).

Pretty funny seeing people waiting for the bus on German flats today talk about low elevation
Great day. Loved the vibe but the sun is strong already losing snow

Today was a good day at the bush. Paradise still had some hidden pockets of fresh here and there.
2 times in the morning tried to hit castlerock but lift kept having issues. Finally got on the lift around 12:30. Surprised how well it still skied. Hit lifeline and middle earth. Best snow on the mtn.

I had a great day there. There was a ton of snow on paradise and skied castle rock run was really nice too. Called it a day around 2 because I had to drive back to ct but it was definitely worth the trip to use my last quad pack ticket

Smellytele said:

Today was a good day at the bush. Paradise still had some hidden pockets of fresh here and there.
2 times in the morning tried to hit castlerock but lift kept having issues. Finally got on the lift around 12:30. Surprised how well it still skied. Hit lifeline and middle earth. Best snow on the mtn.

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Speaking of lifts - just back from an extended trip Big Sky, Grand Tarhgee, Brighton/Alta/Snowbird/Deer Valley - rode most if not all the lifts - and not once did we have a stall/stop 9-3 or 4 each day. ( other than a load/unload issues). I gotta believe some has to do with age, and engineers/mechanics, but a lot must have to be related to humidity- I know it kills my motorized, stored off season toys. More stops and halts than a resort needs. Western resorts gotta have same employee problems, so other than age, what else could be the difference?

Rode Mt Ellen last Thursday and Lincoln Peak last Friday for the first time since 3/2019. It was great getting turns again on some of my favorite runs at the mountain I called home for 10+ years. Had a nice lunch at Walt's and got to enjoy the sun on the new GML deck (such an improvement!) and check out some live music. Snow coverage I thought was better than what Killington had the day before. There was some ice, but it was relatively manageable on the groomers. Mt Ellen softened up nice on Thursday in the sun. I headed to NY Friday afternoon to see more friends, so I missed out on the storm.

Most likely won't make it up for the rest of the season, but hoping for a very snowy season 2022/23 so I can make it up again.

Vail Resorts (Stowe) raises minimum wage at 37 resorts to $20 along with other benefits.

ducky said:

Vail Resorts (Stowe) raises minimum wage at 37 resorts to $20 along with other benefits.

Vail Resorts Unveils New Company Direction That Focuses on Employees - SnowBrains

Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch sent a letter to all employees yesterday, laying out a "pivotal shift in our company’s direction with a focus

snowbrains.com

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In the wrong thread?

Smellytele said:

In the wrong thread?

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No, this relates to Sugarbush raising their minimum wage to be competitive in hiring. SB currently offers $15. But I think you know that.

Middle Earth ❤

Idle curiosity. How was Middle Earth on Sunday? I made it over to CR for one lap and was split between ME and CRR. Did CRR to Cotillion which was great but I'm still curious about ME...

Got a 3 hour session in at the Bush this afternoon...thats about all I could handle after 2 powder days at Jay. Full sunshine and temps into the 40s made for the most perfect of early spring days.

Started off with a few runs on Castlerock. Middle Earth was a lot of fun but definitely losing coverage fast in the rock covered sections. Rumble was an adventure but so much fun. Coverage was actually better than Middle Earth but still plenty of maneuvering to be done around the rock bands. The snow in the tree canopies above was raining down the whole way for added effect. CR had the best coverage and some fun soft bump lines as well. Be aware that the very bottom by the lift is pretty much totally melted out and you either have to ski over rocks or walk for a few feet.

Moved over to Heavens Gate for the rest of the afternoon. Started off with a corny Ripcord to get some wind in the face after getting all sweaty on Castlerock. Then made my way to Paradise which wasnt really corned up at all, still good packed powder in a lot of spots but also a lot more ice flow peeking through. Nice soft bumpline on Organgrinder led the way to Spillsville which was more slick than I expected. Obviously the sun can't really get to it but also not as much loose snow as Paradise. Real deep coverage there though, should last a while.

Was already getting worn out so took a phenomenal Upper Jester down to what I intended to be Spring Fling but got sucked into Steins. Not much softening on that and the icy base was poking through quite a bit. So went back up one more time and finished up the right way on the perfect corn of Spring Fling.

Heading home now but if youre in the area, get up here. 2 more days of this weather and the spring skiing is terrific.

glad you are getting to enjoy some good days zand

Zand rules the day!
That will be me tommorrow.

Hate to spread rumors - though given my source this is true and thus not a rumor - anyone have any color on the personnel changes in the snowmaking department?

slatham said:

Hate to spread rumors - though given my source this is true and thus not a rumor - anyone have any color on the personnel changes in the snowmaking department?

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so what's the rumor/fact?

Yes what is the story?