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The "Sugarbush Thread"

Slidebrook87

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The rain the other day did more damage that we thought. We think it is going to take another two full days of snowmaking to get Jester, Valley Traverse and Downspout done with a sufficient depth. We will likely let it sit and cure for a couple of days before grooming it out which will take a few shifts with the winch on Downspout. It we do is correctly, it is set up well for the year. We are next going to use the temps in the forecast to get to the bottom from Heaven's Gate and also most likely finishing off Lower Grinder next. By next weekend we should have too ways to the bottom and Bravo and Heaven's gate running. Fingers crossed for Sunday. Hopefully, it will come a bit more Northerly.

Ah, other than some ice, the conditions were pretty good today. I’m curious as to when snow making will begin on Gondolier or Coffee Run as either one of those runs is needed if Super Bravo and Heaven’s Gate are going to be open.


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cdskier

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Ah, other than some ice, the conditions were pretty good today. I’m curious as to when snow making will begin on Gondolier or Coffee Run as either one of those runs is needed if Super Bravo and Heaven’s Gate are going to be open.

Neither are needed for Super Bravo and Heaven's Gate to be open.
 

Slidebrook87

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Neither are needed for Super Bravo and Heaven's Gate to be open.

How would one ski back to the base then after skiing Organgrinder or Downspout? The only way I can think of is to close off lower downspout and force everyone to Heaven’s Gate so they can take Jester to Valley House Traverse.


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cdskier

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How would one ski back to the base then after skiing Organgrinder or Downspout? The only way I can think of is to close off lower downspout and force everyone to Heaven’s Gate so they can take Jester to Valley House Traverse.

Exactly...and that's how it is done fairly often in the early season. I thought you were an expert that did all this research? (I really did try so hard to avoid making that last comment...but I'm from NJ so sarcasm runs deep in my blood :p )
 

Slidebrook87

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Exactly...and that's how it is done fairly often in the early season. I thought you were an expert that did all this research? (I really did try so hard to avoid making that last comment...but I'm from NJ so sarcasm runs deep in my blood :p )

I just wouldn’t have thought that it would be practical to force all downspout skiers on to Heaven’s Gate. It seems inefficient to me, but I guess it works.


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cdskier

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I just wouldn’t have thought that it would be practical to force all downspout skiers on to Heaven’s Gate. It seems inefficient to me, but I guess it works.

Generally speaking most people would be aware that lower DS is not open and that the only reason to take DS is if you want to get on HG to go to the summit.
 

Slidebrook87

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Generally speaking most people would be aware that lower DS is not open and that the only reason to take DS is if you want to get on HG to go to the summit.

I guess so. I didn’t ski this early in the season last year so that is why I was a bit confused. Last year my first day was around December 12th. All of the Lincoln lifts were open except Castlerock. I don’t think North Lynx was open, but I’m not sure. I can’t wait for more trails to be open. Today gave me a taste of what’s to come this season!


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Win, I have a very important question :) -- sorry if you answered it already. Is Nomad Coffee coming back this season?
 

nhskier1969

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Interesting approach Sugarbush is taking to open terrain up this year. If you look over the past several years at all Altera properties they seems to get all the beginner areas open first. I am not sure if this is the approach Sugarbush is going to use going forward. If it is, I bet you it won't make many people who read these forums too happy.
 

cdskier

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Interesting approach Sugarbush is taking to open terrain up this year. If you look over the past several years at all Altera properties they seems to get all the beginner areas open first. I am not sure if this is the approach Sugarbush is going to use going forward. If it is, I bet you it won't make many people who read these forums too happy.

I can see the value in wanting to spread people out and I think they were lucky this year in that they had the temps to get both a GH route and a VH route open. If they had only had enough temps down low to get the GH route done and couldn't finish Spring Fling/Snowball, then I think you'd hear quite the uproar. I'd reverse the snow-making order personally and hit the VH route first and GH second to avoid such a potential scenario.

Personally I'd rather be T2B before having GH open, but that's me and I get it that the mountain doesn't revolve around what I want. :smile:
 

WinS

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I can see the value in wanting to spread people out and I think they were lucky this year in that they had the temps to get both a GH route and a VH route open. If they had only had enough temps down low to get the GH route done and couldn't finish Spring Fling/Snowball, then I think you'd hear quite the uproar. I'd reverse the snow-making order personally and hit the VH route first and GH second to avoid such a potential scenario.

Personally I'd rather be T2B before having GH open, but that's me and I get it that the mountain doesn't revolve around what I want. :smile:

Our goal was get all types of terrain open for opening day. When you look at the people who have turned out either they would not have come or they would not have had a good experience on advanced terrain like Upper Snowball and Spring Fling. Out plans are made looking out at the forecast, and we believed we had the hours of cold available to start on the GH side as well as on Snowball Spring Fling. Initially, we had about half the tower going on the latter until the GH side was done and then moved to 100%. Not only was this good for guest to have this terrain but it made a number of our ski instructors happy to have work this early in the season. They have hoped for this for quite a while. This time of year it is all about where the cold temperatures are.
 

WinS

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Interesting approach Sugarbush is taking to open terrain up this year. If you look over the past several years at all Altera properties they seems to get all the beginner areas open first. I am not sure if this is the approach Sugarbush is going to use going forward. If it is, I bet you it won't make many people who read these forums too happy.

This is now and will be a local mountain decision. Every resort is different!
 

cdskier

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Our goal was get all types of terrain open for opening day. When you look at the people who have turned out either they would not have come or they would not have had a good experience on advanced terrain like Upper Snowball and Spring Fling. Out plans are made looking out at the forecast, and we believed we had the hours of cold available to start on the GH side as well as on Snowball Spring Fling. Initially, we had about half the tower going on the latter until the GH side was done and then moved to 100%. Not only was this good for guest to have this terrain but it made a number of our ski instructors happy to have work this early in the season. They have hoped for this for quite a while. This time of year it is all about where the cold temperatures are.

In the future when you get the proposed snowmaking upgrades done this all becomes a moot point as ideally you'll then be able to blow on multiple routes at once while you have good temps!

I do hear you though. Like I said, I understand it isn't about what just people like me want. Although to be fair, if for some reason only GH had been open, I wouldn't have made the drive up and skied earlier this week. Getting both GH and VH routes open is definitely quite ideal to satisfy a wider audience.
 

nhskier1969

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In the future when you get the proposed snowmaking upgrades done this all becomes a moot point as ideally you'll then be able to blow on multiple routes at once while you have good temps!

I do hear you though. Like I said, I understand it isn't about what just people like me want. Although to be fair, if for some reason only GH had been open, I wouldn't have made the drive up and skied earlier this week. Getting both GH and VH routes open is definitely quite ideal to satisfy a wider audience.


But there original plan was to open GH this year. They/us lucked out with the cold temps for them to blow enough snow and open VH. I don't know. based on what Win said about the traffic for the two lifts several post ago it balanced out traffic. I just didn't know that there were so many beginner skiers jonesing to ski at the beginning of the year.
 

WinS

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Jester and Valley House Traverse are in good shape so we are pulling the guns off them and moving down to Domino Shoots, Lower Organgrinder and into Gondolier this afternoon. Downspout still needs more and hopefully 24 hours will do it so we have use that production elsewhere and have two ways down to the base area. The temperatures are looking favorable for most of the week, so we might be able to fill in more of the middle mountain too. We will take advantage of cold temperatures to stay as low as we can this time of year. Some of the trails have a nice crust base so 6-8" of snow could see some additional expansion.
 

Orca

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Generally good snowmaking temps and some snow in the forecast. Nice to have things running in a favorable direction.
 
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