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The "Sugarbush Thread"

Hawk

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Nov 22, 2016
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Mad River Valley / MA
Just back from Dolimiti Superski. I won't bog down this thread with all details but I will say this.
One of my favorite trips of all time even without new snow. It kind of redefined what skiing can really be. It is NOT all groomers as said before. I did a guided day and did my own exporing and skied dry light power and chaulk on the the north facing slopes and peal away on the south facing slopes all over the place. Found steeps and couloirs that were remarkable. Place is ridiculouly huge all connected with over 140 lifts and trams. Food is far superior to anywhere else I have been.
This is a 7 day benifit with your IKON so take advantage of this. Lodging is cheaper than France, Switzerland and Austria and usualy includes breakfast and someplaced dinner. Just GO!IMG_0421.jpgIMG_0434.jpgIMG_0435.jpgIMG_0462.jpg6ed41cfa-9986-4cc5-8cf9-63c6723bf830.JPG7fc543e0-66a7-4bce-866a-8477236c76c6.JPG
 

gladerider

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Jan 2, 2005
Messages
1,124
Points
38
Location
NJ
Just back from Dolimiti Superski. I won't bog down this thread with all details but I will say this.
One of my favorite trips of all time even without new snow. It kind of redefined what skiing can really be. It is NOT all groomers as said before. I did a guided day and did my own exporing and skied dry light power and chaulk on the the north facing slopes and peal away on the south facing slopes all over the place. Found steeps and couloirs that were remarkable. Place is ridiculouly huge all connected with over 140 lifts and trams. Food is far superior to anywhere else I have been.
This is a 7 day benifit with your IKON so take advantage of this. Lodging is cheaper than France, Switzerland and Austria and usualy includes breakfast and someplaced dinner. Just GO!View attachment 56810View attachment 56811View attachment 56812View attachment 56813View attachment 56814View attachment 56815
very nice.
was a bit warm?
 

Hawk

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Nov 22, 2016
Messages
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Location
Mad River Valley / MA
Classic European skiing. The mornings started off in the mid twenties at the base and then went up to around 40. Upper mountain stayed below freezing in the shade all day. But with the sun angle it rose above freezing but felt warmer. No day was any higher than mid 40's at the base.
 

gladerider

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Jan 2, 2005
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just came back from SB for the long weekend. i have been taking my family up for MLK and Prez wknd to avoid Killington traffic the past couple of years.
i gotta say, i love the mountain but the dining options really suck. got lucky on Friday with hide away. knew it would be a zoo so we cooked dinner on Saturday. was hoping for a little luck on Sunday. the american flatbread told us no table, of course. then the wait for the take out was 3 hours. :oops:

so went to mad tacos. waited 2 hours to pick up the tacos. oh boy. one thing the big K has going is that even on long wknds, much better when it comes to dining options. and i know that many establishments at the big K closes at the end of the season. hope it improves at SB.
 

gladerider

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Classic European skiing. The mornings started off in the mid twenties at the base and then went up to around 40. Upper mountain stayed below freezing in the shade all day. But with the sun angle it rose above freezing but felt warmer. No day was any higher than mid 40's at the base.
nice. love the overall european skiing experience. something we don't have here in the states. need to go back soon.
 

Lotso

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May 27, 2021
Messages
199
Points
43
Just did the SBX tour. Really nice surface at MEllen, and Sunrise was firm but nice in the sun. SBX is such a cool ride- surprised how much snow in the woods- a foot this week will change the game
 

oldfartrider

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Dec 9, 2021
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186
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Nashua
Nice going Hawk! I did the Indy pass Japan tour a few weeks ago and doing Arosa Switzerland next month. Agreed the Euro experience is unreal.
 

ThatGuy

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Feb 10, 2021
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America
Just back from Dolimiti Superski. I won't bog down this thread with all details but I will say this.
Looks amazing, if you have the time a trip report would be very interesting. Or even just a photo dump.
 

ducky

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Nov 18, 2017
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302
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Location
Waitsfield, VT
just came back from SB for the long weekend. i have been taking my family up for MLK and Prez wknd to avoid Killington traffic the past couple of years.
i gotta say, i love the mountain but the dining options really suck. got lucky on Friday with hide away. knew it would be a zoo so we cooked dinner on Saturday. was hoping for a little luck on Sunday. the american flatbread told us no table, of course. then the wait for the take out was 3 hours. :oops:

so went to mad tacos. waited 2 hours to pick up the tacos. oh boy. one thing the big K has going is that even on long wknds, much better when it comes to dining options. and i know that many establishments at the big K closes at the end of the season. hope it improves at SB.
1824 House, Mad River Barn, Hostel Tevere and Deco Restaurant, Pitcher Inn (and Tracks downstairs), Emily's Bar, Canteen Creemee, Peasant, Fit to be Thai'd, General Stark's Pub, Chez Henri, Blue Stone, Pizza Soul, Tucker Hill Inn, and a dozen more in Waterbury. There are options.
 

KustyTheKlown

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Mar 1, 2013
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Brooklyn
Not at all surprising .. the snow surface last few weeks at JHMR is like skiing in a bouncy house .. bottomless and dreamlike.
Colby Stevenson was King of Corbett this year. His parental heritage includes many days on Castlerock chair with our posse 👍

The surface was actually trash til Sunday. They had a few weeks of high pressure and no snow. It’s epic now tho
 

Lotso

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May 27, 2021
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1824 House, Mad River Barn, Hostel Tevere and Deco Restaurant, Pitcher Inn (and Tracks downstairs), Emily's Bar, Canteen Creemee, Peasant, Fit to be Thai'd, General Stark's Pub, Chez Henri, Blue Stone, Pizza Soul, Tucker Hill Inn, and a dozen more in Waterbury. There are options.
Agreed there are options, but lots gone, too: how many places in the Village?, Common Man, Worthy Burger/Jay's, Gallagher's, The Tavern/Localfolk, Olde Times, Egan's, Blue Tooth, Sam Rupert's, Bass/Terra Rossa, Bongiorno's. On balance, the Valley has less to offer than it did not that long ago. Not that I'd take K-town's access road options over ours, but it is tight now.
 

cdskier

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Mar 26, 2015
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1824 House, Mad River Barn, Hostel Tevere and Deco Restaurant, Pitcher Inn (and Tracks downstairs), Emily's Bar, Canteen Creemee, Peasant, Fit to be Thai'd, General Stark's Pub, Chez Henri, Blue Stone, Pizza Soul, Tucker Hill Inn, and a dozen more in Waterbury. There are options.

Peasant is only an option for a few more weeks. March 12th is their last service. And for me personally I don't consider Waterbury an option in the winter. I have no desire to drive that far this time of year for dinner.
 

cdskier

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Agreed there are options, but lots gone, too: how many places in the Village?, Common Man, Worthy Burger/Jay's, Gallagher's, The Tavern/Localfolk, Olde Times, Egan's, Blue Tooth, Sam Rupert's, Bass/Terra Rossa, Bongiorno's. On balance, the Valley has less to offer than it did not that long ago. Not that I'd take K-town's access road options over ours, but it is tight now.

I think there's a distinct lack of what I'll call "upscale casual" in the valley now. Common Man, Peasant, Sage, and even Terra Rosa I would likely have put in that category. And they're all gone (or soon to be). Mad River Barn (downstairs) is good and maybe could fill that role, but I feel like they rush you out way too fast (last time I was there downstairs pre-covid we had appetizers, entree, and dessert and had the check at our table in around 45 minutes...it was just ridiculous. The appetizer was on the table before they even brought the wine over).

Tucker Hill I haven't been to with the new owners yet, although when I looked earlier this winter I was really surprised just how limited their options were.

1824 looks interesting and maybe could fit in that genre. I feel like I saw in one of their recent social media posts that they don't do reservations though, which is annoying for that type of restaurant.

Love Fit 2 Be Thai'd, but they've shrunk the amount of tables they have inside and also no longer do reservations.

Love Pitcher Inn...but that's high-end and not a place I could afford to go to with any regularity.
 

crank

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Mar 3, 2005
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CT
just came back from SB for the long weekend. i have been taking my family up for MLK and Prez wknd to avoid Killington traffic the past couple of years.
i gotta say, i love the mountain but the dining options really suck. got lucky on Friday with hide away. knew it would be a zoo so we cooked dinner on Saturday. was hoping for a little luck on Sunday. the american flatbread told us no table, of course. then the wait for the take out was 3 hours. :oops:

so went to mad tacos. waited 2 hours to pick up the tacos. oh boy. one thing the big K has going is that even on long wknds, much better when it comes to dining options. and i know that many establishments at the big K closes at the end of the season. hope it improves at SB.

So we learned to make reservations well in advance for dinners in Warren/Waitsfield. And/or drive up to Waterbury. Yes the valley needs more restaurants. We did New Year's Eve at Rumbles because Chez Henri was booked up a couple weeks in advance. More fun there anyway with fireworks and music.

Oh, regarding Jackson Hole. We had a great week with sun and pretty good snow Sunday and Monday and then a nice storm came in Monday night and all day Tuesday and set us up for the week. No lines at all until Friday! Walk on tram rides. First tram on powder days getting in line at 8:30.

And regarding Dolomites. Looks great and looks like the snow was like it was when we were there last season. We stuck to groomers with no off piste because my wife was just 1 month out of surgery for a broken elbow and we didn't want to do anything to eff her healing up. If we return we will get a guide! So many places to ski in Europe that I have not been to so it may be a little while before we get back to Dolomiti Superski.
 

thetrailboss

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Jun 4, 2004
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The surface was actually trash til Sunday. They had a few weeks of high pressure and no snow. It’s epic now tho
Same in Utah. Friday was pretty skied off and hard at Snowbird. Sunday's 4-6" provided some cushion, but one still hit the coral reefs underneath and variable base surfaces.
 

cdskier

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Mar 26, 2015
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It’s what 25 minutes to Waterbury?

About 35 minutes from my condo which puts it at over an hour round trip (assuming weather is ok)... That's double compared to eating anywhere within the MRV.

But why should people have to leave the valley to eat? Just a couple pages ago people were saying that the valley needs more lodging on/close to the mountain. If you want more lodging, you also need more local places to eat. You can't tell everyone to go to Waterbury for dinner. That isn't an answer.
 
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