The "Sugarbush Thread"

kingslug said:

17 inches of...powdizzle!
Thats a lot of powdizzle
Ks effect on afterburner!
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Powdizzle? WTF?

kingslug said:

Head kore 93,105,118
The blasters are good in everything..not floaty, but its rare when we get to float.
They have titanium on both sides running up to where it starts to rocker...so stiffer than the heads. On most days you can fly through anything. The heads will chatter like crazy as they are so light.
I skied 15 inches of very heavy snow with them and was glad to have them...

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I want Head to bring back the MONSTER!

cdskier said:

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I agree that NRX should have been a priority (and to me was more important to need to be replaced even before HG).

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So $$$ should not have been an issue to replace BOTH NRX and Heaven's Gate. I have to wonder if there as a snag in permitting or if Poma/Dopp just could not build a new HSQ on such short notice.

On Friday I rode up the lift with a former SB employee in their lift department. I told him that NRX was down and having multiple issues. He laughed.

"They just completely rebuilt the motor like 3 years ago. WTF?!"

NRX is just an old lift. It doesn't help that Dopp relocated it in 1995 and completely fucked it up then. It's got a cadence chain system that is archaic. It's too bad.

Remind me--what's the deal with Inverness Bearings?

cdskier said:

Disarray? LOL. How many days a year do you actually ski at SB again? With the exception of NRX, I'm really struggling to see what key lifts have had issues that haven't been fixed.

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Inverness chair, but I heard it's an electrical thing that is not fixable other than through lift/drive replacement

Off topic, but heading to Utah tomorrow with the plan of staying in Park City (wife doesn't ski so more stuff to do in PC for non-skiers) but my daughter and I are planning to ski one day each at Deer Valley, Alta, Snowbird (IKON pass here). But it looks like snow on 2 of the 3 ski days. I assume my rental car won't have snow tires. Thoughts on getting from PC to Alta/Bird safely? I believe I can drive to the base of LCC and catch a bus up the canyon. Is this easy? Are there lines? Will it be a huge wait both directions? We are skiing mid-week (Tues-Thurs). Looking like snow on Tues and Thurs with Wednesday being clear. Am I better off just braving it and driving up the canyon?

mikec142 said:

Off topic, but heading to Utah tomorrow with the plan of staying in Park City (wife doesn't ski so more stuff to do in PC for non-skiers) but my daughter and I are planning to ski one day each at Deer Valley, Alta, Snowbird (IKON pass here). But it looks like snow on 2 of the 3 ski days. I assume my rental car won't have snow tires. Thoughts on getting from PC to Alta/Bird safely? I believe I can drive to the base of LCC and catch a bus up the canyon. Is this easy? Are there lines? Will it be a huge wait both directions? We are skiing mid-week (Tues-Thurs). Looking like snow on Tues and Thurs with Wednesday being clear. Am I better off just braving it and driving up the canyon?

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I think free with IKON


No idea about lines

I think mid week late season you will be fine riding the UTA buses

Cars all the way down the Ellen access road on my way out at 11 today

When you take the bus, are you wearing your ski boots?

jay also reporting crowding/parking issues

Magic is sold out. The black chair got liney (10 min singles), so they got red open and it’s been ski on all day. pleasure skiin

mikec142 said:

When you take the bus, are you wearing your ski boots?

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If you want to be. Alta has lockers and stuff in goldminers

mikec142 said:

Off topic, but heading to Utah tomorrow with the plan of staying in Park City (wife doesn't ski so more stuff to do in PC for non-skiers) but my daughter and I are planning to ski one day each at Deer Valley, Alta, Snowbird (IKON pass here). But it looks like snow on 2 of the 3 ski days. I assume my rental car won't have snow tires. Thoughts on getting from PC to Alta/Bird safely? I believe I can drive to the base of LCC and catch a bus up the canyon. Is this easy? Are there lines? Will it be a huge wait both directions? We are skiing mid-week (Tues-Thurs). Looking like snow on Tues and Thurs with Wednesday being clear. Am I better off just braving it and driving up the canyon?

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Yes, the busses should be running. If it’s snowing anticipate some (probably minor) crowds and waits. Word has it that busses are frequently full. You can wear boots on it.

Thanks all for the intell.

Any thoughts on fun terrain at Deer Valley. It's me and my adult daughter. Not into hardcore stuff. Happy to do bumps/glades/groomers. Not into hike to stuff. Looking at the map, it looks like the Bald Mountain terrain and the Empire and Lady Morgan terrain as well.

KustyTheKlown said:

If you want to be. Alta has lockers and stuff in goldminers

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Dont wear ski boots..its a long ride..

mikec142 said:

Thanks all for the intell.

Any thoughts on fun terrain at Deer Valley. It's me and my adult daughter. Not into hardcore stuff. Happy to do bumps/glades/groomers. Not into hike to stuff. Looking at the map, it looks like the Bald Mountain terrain and the Empire and Lady Morgan terrain as well.

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Check the tree skiing..its the best part of the place
Also the daley chutes area

thetrailboss said:

So $$$ should not have been an issue to replace BOTH NRX and Heaven's Gate. I have to wonder if there as a snag in permitting or if Poma/Dopp just could not build a new HSQ on such short notice.

On Friday I rode up the lift with a former SB employee in their lift department. I told him that NRX was down and having multiple issues. He laughed.

"They just completely rebuilt the motor like 3 years ago. WTF?!"

NRX is just an old lift. It doesn't help that Dopp relocated it in 1995 and completely fucked it up then. It's got a cadence chain system that is archaic. It's too bad.

Remind me--what's the deal with Inverness Bearings?

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Look, Deer Valley is suffering and needs 16 new lifts and a gondola oh and a new village. I mean we all know how ghetto Deer Valley is.

Heard Saturday was 8k visits, today pushed 10k.

Hope the beer and fries held out

Lotso said:

Inverness chair, but I heard it's an electrical thing that is not fixable other than through lift/drive replacement

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I wouldn't consider Inverness "key". The primary function is a backup to get you to NRX when GMX goes on hold for any reason. And that just broke this year and like you said, I heard electrical as well and not something that can be quickly fixed mid-season and they already had an overhaul of it planned for this coming off-season. So that will either be addressed by what they already planned to do or simply added to it.

thetrailboss said:

So $$$ should not have been an issue to replace BOTH NRX and Heaven's Gate. I have to wonder if there as a snag in permitting or if Poma/Dopp just could not build a new HSQ on such short notice.

On Friday I rode up the lift with a former SB employee in their lift department. I told him that NRX was down and having multiple issues. He laughed.

"They just completely rebuilt the motor like 3 years ago. WTF?!"

NRX is just an old lift. It doesn't help that Dopp relocated it in 1995 and completely fucked it up then. It's got a cadence chain system that is archaic. It's too bad.

Remind me--what's the deal with Inverness Bearings?

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NRX is borderline old. There's still quite a few detachable quads out there that are about the same age or even older than NRX. And with ME's season being on the shorter side, from an hours perspective, it is younger than the age would indicate. And it was rebuilt by Dopp only 10 years ago (that was separate from the rebuilding of the motor you mentioned). The thought was at the time that would address the issues. It is hard to argue with the logic for rebuilding it at the time. But being a Poma/Dopp combination (and having been moved) makes it unique and likely contributes to some of the issues. The frequent lightning strikes over the summer can't be good either.

I do think the decision to delay it another year instead of doing it this off-season is unfortunate. I'd be really curious to know the reason. I have a hard time thinking it would be difficult to get the permits since you're replacing an existing lift on privately owned land. Certainly possible the manufacturers couldn't meet the demand for this year. Or else someone just thought they had everything figured out and genuinely thought it could make it another year.

Lotso said:

Heard Saturday was 8k visits, today pushed 10k.

Hope the beer and fries held out

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Wouldn't surprise me. I'd bet today was the busiest day of the season at quite a few resorts. I was at ME (even with NRX being down) as I really wanted to get another day in there this season and with next week being Easter I don't plan on being up for ME's closing weekend. On one hand, waiting in lines due to no NRX sucked. But on the other hand, my legs appreciated the extra rest and there were some trails that skied way better than they would have if NRX was open (Bravo was a perfect example as no one was on that trail and yet it had some great snow on it...even on the headwall!). Ultimately I skied what I wanted at ME today, it just took longer than it would have if NRX was running.

It was a pretty spectacular day at SB. Sure felt like one of the busiest of the year. Thought the crowds were handled reasonably well. Way busier early morning than on a usual Sunday...and people hung out longer than normal. Super Bravo got busy at times, but for me never longer than 10 minutes or so. Valley House was never really busy. Castlerock was another story, that line was long. Possibly the longest waits were for the bus at the bottom of Slide Brook. GMT was only running 1 bus all day (and it;s a 1 hour round trip.) Slide Brook was excellent, but kind of crowded. It was the last day of the Blazers program and it felt like they were all in there. Those in the know went into SB and circled back through South Beach. Paradise Woods and Church were the best conditions in years. Calling in sick tomorrow to get one more day before the warm up later in the week.

A few photos from ME today: