The "Sugarbush Thread"

steamboat1 said:

Can you post up the other two pictures from above the top terminal?

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Those two weren't mine. Last time I took/posted pics from above the top terminal was about a month ago before the retaining wall was in.

And yes, Win is very active in that forum during ski season.

These were posted by skimore on the MRV forum.

For contrast

Bush better have water in their holding ponds this season.
All the enhancement means little if you can't fill the pipes.

Has there been an issue with water supply from the pond in previous years?

Snow looks good

slatham said:

Has there been an issue with water supply from the pond in previous years?

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During Irene the snowmaking pond was destroyed causing problems. Others than that I don't think they have had any trouble making snow.


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jaybird said:

Bush better have water in their holding ponds this season.
All the enhancement means little if you can't fill the pipes.

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Ya don't think the 25 million gallon pond is enough?

Newpylong said:

Ya don't think the 25 million gallon pond is enough?

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They have plenty of water. And the replaced all the pipe on that side of the mtn over the last two years to increase capacity.

Love the carpet loader at SL. In addition to being slightly faster, it really cuts down on stops and seems to fill the chairs.

HowieT2 said:

They have plenty of water. And the replaced all the pipe on that side of the mtn over the last two years to increase capacity.

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My understanding is that the issue holding SB back on blowing more snow on more trail sectioms simultaneously was always not enough air, not water. i believe that all of the new Lo-E snowguns alomg with some work on a couple of compressors may be allowing the MT to alleviate this bottleneck.

For any Sugarbush fans, these are listed on eBay. Interesting pieces of history.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-Sugarb...829547?hash=item35f52ffceb:g:OhQAAOSwwbdWNrBr

thetrailboss said:

For any Sugarbush fans, these are listed on eBay. Interesting pieces of history.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-Sugarb...829547?hash=item35f52ffceb:g:OhQAAOSwwbdWNrBr

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That's pretty awesome

Bump.

So it looks like once again Sugarbush is struggling to open on their traditional opening weekend. Granted the weather has been warm, but it is not stopping Sunday River or Killington from moving ahead. I also saw that Stowe is moving ahead.

The last two years I was a passholder this issue peeved me...and I know it peeved others in here. Sugarbush was pretty bullish regarding opening early....until 2009 or so and then they just seemed to be caught flatfooted and not motivated. It just seemed wrong that everyone else was opening and working to open and Sugarbush was "?"

Well, the issue came back for me when I saw the Sugarbush PR guy or gal on Facebook post a picture of the mountain saying, "look at how great things are? Oh yeah, but we might not make it for the weekend", followed up by a post bragging about how he/she just got back from skiing at MRG. WTF?

I guess that Sugarbush has concluded that early season is just not their thing anymore....and early as in the weekend before Thanksgiving early. Seemed we almost always could bet on that. And when you are holding yourself out as better than Killington or Stowe, and both are blowing snow to open (or are open), it just doesn't look good.

Just my $0.02. Not that it impacts me now, but just seems like Sugarbush can't compete in that regard.

Stowe has said they aren't opening until next Wednesday.

In most years I'd agree with your sentiment, but this year is a little different.

With what the forecast looks like for Thursday, its of little surprise to me that it's looking like K, SR and BW are it for the weekend.

deadheadskier said:

Stowe has said they aren't opening until next Wednesday.

In most years I'd agree with your sentiment, but this year is a little different.

With what the forecast looks like for Thursday, its of little surprise to me that it's looking like K, SR and BW are it for the weekend.

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Yeah, that's why I didn't respond on FB. What was the peeve for me was the rep saying, "gosh darn it, we probably won't open" and then posting a pic bragging about their ski outing at MRG. If I was sitting in Boston or NYC I'd be asking "WTF?"

I get not competing with K or SR for the very early season opening but the Stowe one is a bit puzzling. I just cannot figure out why SB cannot laydown snow as fast as other resorts. My hunch is that it is the new high efficiency guns that use no air, I don't think they do too well in marginal temps. You need the older air hogs like the K-gun that is still used. From first hand observation I think the other resorts actually "make snow" they do guns runs, check quality and move the guns to get an even blanket. SB turns them on and makes huge piles that have almost grass between them and making the goggle sticking slop. I have been amazed by some of the whales they make with the gun buried.

thetrailboss said:

Yeah, that's why I didn't respond on FB. What was the peeve for me was the rep saying, "gosh darn it, we probably won't open" and then posting a pic bragging about their ski outing at MRG. If I was sitting in Boston or NYC I'd be asking "WTF?"

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I'm sitting at my desk in NYC, fwiw. it was about 65f yesterday so not really skiing weather. They got some natural snow so it was possible to skin and ski but not enough to open and that will be dissipated by the r%$^&n coming. Its pretty clear that Sb isnt in the first to open race. they try to open the weekend before thanksgiving and in my time have largely been successful. but with stowe also unable to open this weekend, I doubt anyone will blame them for a lack of effort. They have been making snow when temps permit.

From everything I've seen, they've been pushing as hard as possible given the weather not being very cooperative. There have been some good updates over in the MRV forums from both Win and people working on the snowmaking crews.

The logistics at each area are unique as well. Weather between SB, Stowe, and SR can be quite different. K has a lot of available fire-power and is still limited to a relatively small amount of vertical near the top of the mountain. I suspect (I couldn't quickly find the numbers to confirm this) that to get the North Ridge area at K open doesn't require being able to blow snow at as low of an elevation as being able to blow to the bottom of Heaven's Gate which is what Sugarbush would need. SB needs to be able to make snow on over 1400' of vertical to get to ski the HG area. North Ridge at K is only a 600' vertical area so even accounting for extra vertical from the top of K to the top of the North Ridge area still gives them at least a few hundred feet of cushion above where SB would need to make snow. A few hundred feet can be substantial this time of year.

Also not sure I see the relevance of someone earning turns at MRG on a few inches of snow with SB being able to open the mountain.

I'd personally rather SB offer a good product on opening day than push to have minimal coverage on a couple trails. Last year coverage on opening day on the open trails was excellent at Sugarbush. I'll take quality over rushing things just to say "we're open".

tumbler said:

I get not competing with K or SR for the very early season opening but the Stowe one is a bit puzzling. I just cannot figure out why SB cannot laydown snow as fast as other resorts. My hunch is that it is the new high efficiency guns that use no air, I don't think they do too well in marginal temps. You need the older air hogs like the K-gun that is still used. From first hand observation I think the other resorts actually "make snow" they do guns runs, check quality and move the guns to get an even blanket. SB turns them on and makes huge piles that have almost grass between them and making the goggle sticking slop. I have been amazed by some of the whales they make with the gun buried.

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Huh? If stowe can't open either, how is this an indictment of SB's ability to make snow. My understanding is that the new guns have allowed them to make more snow than they did with the older guns.
The thing is that their water capacity is split between mt ellen and lincoln peak. So its not like they can concentrate the total capacity on lp to get that open. theyre making snow over at mt ellen even though that wont open to the public until mid december. Thats good for GMVS so they can start race training, but doesnt do anything to help getting LP open early.