ChileMass
Active member
Off to Sunapee with my buddy Rob - the kids and moms backed out, so the boys can play. Report and pics later tonight.
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
Mt. Sunapee - 1/2/2004
- Thread starter ChileMass
- Start date
ChileMass
Active member
Sunapee Report - 1/2/2004
Hey folks - finally got some turns in at Sunapee today. As I mentioned previously, it was a Dad's day on the slopes. Gray and cloudy ride to the hill (departed 6:40AM, arrived 8:30AM), just started to snow very lightly as my pal Rob P and I got to the access road. 9:00AM -Took the new quad up to the top, took less than 10 minutes, even with 2 stops. First run down Upper/Lower Wingding to the old quad (Sunbowl quad), mostly natural snow with some manmade at the bottom near the lifts. Not bad cover at all, considering recent rain and warm weather. Cruised Skyway and Wingding a couple times to get our feet underneath us in the new season.
Made a quick stop for hot chocolate when it started to snow harder around 11:00, more fog rolling in, getting harder to see the contours of the slopes. Made a couple runs down the Sunbowl quad liftline, which had some fun bumps and lots of good natural snow on the sides. Made one wrong turn and wound up all the way over on the other side of the hill on Lower Ridge, which was filled with beginners and covered with 6-10" of very granular, very mushy manmade. And, under the manmade was boilerplate which was quickly emerging, even in the morning.
Back up the new quad, down Upper Blast-off to avoid crowds, which had great cover and nice rolling terrain with a couple steeps. Problem is - the snow which had been dumping for over an hour had now changed to nasty freezing rain and sleet, and in a couple more runs we had a major glazed-doughnut effect going. Goggles and glasses became useless, and the whole crowd was skiing bare-eyed in the stinging rain. Weird. So about 1:30PM ol' buddy Rob suggested lunch (his knees and my quads were aching), so we made our way down through the crowds to the main lodge.
Note - the new lodge is nice (only 4 years old), but don't look for a beer there. It was so crowded for late lunch that people were standing because there were no seats to be found. Off to the old lodge, and upstairs at Goosefeathers Pub, the staff couldn't have been nicer, the burgers were quickly delivered and yummy, and there was Guinness on tap. We were happy boys! After 2 Guinnesses and realizing our jackets were soaked through, we ended our day and just decided to put our feet up for a while.
Summary - not a bad day at all, considering the lack of snow and a good-sized holiday crowd. Heavy traffic on the beginner trails, but on the blue squares and diamonds we had the place to ourselves. Grooming was very good, and they were out again in the early afternoon trying to get some closed trails in shape. Piles of manmade were everywhere near the main lodge at the bottom, and the flat light made navigating them challenging. The new lodge and lift are really nice additions. I like Sunapee a lot!
Pics in the AZ photo gallery - http://forums.alpinezone.com/module...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
(Greg - forgot to name the gallery, maybe you can help out with a quick edit - thanks, CM)
Hey folks - finally got some turns in at Sunapee today. As I mentioned previously, it was a Dad's day on the slopes. Gray and cloudy ride to the hill (departed 6:40AM, arrived 8:30AM), just started to snow very lightly as my pal Rob P and I got to the access road. 9:00AM -Took the new quad up to the top, took less than 10 minutes, even with 2 stops. First run down Upper/Lower Wingding to the old quad (Sunbowl quad), mostly natural snow with some manmade at the bottom near the lifts. Not bad cover at all, considering recent rain and warm weather. Cruised Skyway and Wingding a couple times to get our feet underneath us in the new season.
Made a quick stop for hot chocolate when it started to snow harder around 11:00, more fog rolling in, getting harder to see the contours of the slopes. Made a couple runs down the Sunbowl quad liftline, which had some fun bumps and lots of good natural snow on the sides. Made one wrong turn and wound up all the way over on the other side of the hill on Lower Ridge, which was filled with beginners and covered with 6-10" of very granular, very mushy manmade. And, under the manmade was boilerplate which was quickly emerging, even in the morning.
Back up the new quad, down Upper Blast-off to avoid crowds, which had great cover and nice rolling terrain with a couple steeps. Problem is - the snow which had been dumping for over an hour had now changed to nasty freezing rain and sleet, and in a couple more runs we had a major glazed-doughnut effect going. Goggles and glasses became useless, and the whole crowd was skiing bare-eyed in the stinging rain. Weird. So about 1:30PM ol' buddy Rob suggested lunch (his knees and my quads were aching), so we made our way down through the crowds to the main lodge.
Note - the new lodge is nice (only 4 years old), but don't look for a beer there. It was so crowded for late lunch that people were standing because there were no seats to be found. Off to the old lodge, and upstairs at Goosefeathers Pub, the staff couldn't have been nicer, the burgers were quickly delivered and yummy, and there was Guinness on tap. We were happy boys! After 2 Guinnesses and realizing our jackets were soaked through, we ended our day and just decided to put our feet up for a while.
Summary - not a bad day at all, considering the lack of snow and a good-sized holiday crowd. Heavy traffic on the beginner trails, but on the blue squares and diamonds we had the place to ourselves. Grooming was very good, and they were out again in the early afternoon trying to get some closed trails in shape. Piles of manmade were everywhere near the main lodge at the bottom, and the flat light made navigating them challenging. The new lodge and lift are really nice additions. I like Sunapee a lot!
Pics in the AZ photo gallery - http://forums.alpinezone.com/module...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
(Greg - forgot to name the gallery, maybe you can help out with a quick edit - thanks, CM)
ChileMass
Active member
Greg - we first-time trip reporters are slow learners - if you want to cut this and put it in Trip Reports, be my guest......my bad
O
oldhippie
Guest
Great report!!
Nice technique!!
The other outdoor pics, that is!!
LOL!
Nice technique!!
The other outdoor pics, that is!!
LOL!
O
oldhippie
Guest
What I did
I just got sick of waiting for good snow and decided to pretend
it was fall and got my motorcycle back out.
I just got sick of waiting for good snow and decided to pretend
it was fall and got my motorcycle back out.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2001
- Messages
- 31,154
- Points
- 0
Re: Sunapee Report - 1/2/2004
I made the change for you. As an FYI, there's a "Properties" link where you can edit it. Great report and pics!ChileMass said:
Similar threads
