Any plans at Stratton?

[Smellytele]

^
Mount Snow-Stratton Interconnect!!!

As long as they don't have an interconnect to Magic

 

[Glenn]

Stratton has some nice terrain. The biggest issue seems to be the condos; they're everywhere. Where there should be a parking lot...condos. Where the ski trail should continue to the base...condos... Probably not a bad area to be a real-estate agent.

 

[spiderpig]

Just found out about the gondola cabin news from their tweet today: https://twitter.com/StrattonResort/status/417720502313320448/photo/1

Seems like relatively low price ($500) compared to other relics, especially a pair of seats from the old Shea and Yankee Stadiums, where there was more inventory.

And I have to add that Shooting Star is the worst. Putting that at Snow Bowl would have been the best choice, but I would have been worried about wind. Since they're looking into it now, I guess that wasn't the problem. Kidderbrook, though very long, would have been the second best choice.

 

[xlr8r]

Shooting Star is positioned to allow top to bottom laps on that side of the mountain by riding it in tandem with Sunrise Express. It is not a good lift to lap on its own, however it never seems to have a line which makes it an attractive lift for me to ride. It maybe would have made more sense just to replace Kidderbrook with the HS6 instead of building Shooting Star in the first place.

 

[deadheadskier]

The Shooting Star placement was a big mistake if they knew they were going to remove the Kidderbrook quad. They should have started the Shoorting Star at the bottom of the Vertigo Glades. Then you would be able to enjoy a few more interesting trails and not have to do the hard left turn to get to the Shooting Star when skiing Bear Down and Upper Middlebrook. That runout below the Vertigo Glades is horrible.

You may think the runout from the base of the Snow Bowl quad is just an "inconvenience", at 7/10ths of a mile I find it a boring waste of time and energy. Stratton's good stuff is up top. Upgrading the Snow Bowl quad is great news.

+1

Shooting Star is positioned to allow top to bottom laps on that side of the mountain by riding it in tandem with Sunrise Express. It is not a good lift to lap on its own, however it never seems to have a line which makes it an attractive lift for me to ride. It maybe would have made more sense just to replace Kidderbrook with the HS6 instead of building Shooting Star in the first place.

Definitely would make more sense to have just replaced Kidderbrook with the six in the first place. While it's nice that the line on Shooting Star is short, it just exasperates the lift line issues on Sunrise. It's really a waste of lift capacity.

For those who think Ursa is poorly placed, I'd like to hear of a better alternative. You can literally ski 90% of the Upper Mountain from that lift. Once the Snowbowl Express goes in, I'm sure that will take a huge amount of pressure off the Ursa liftline as well.

 

[steamboat1]

For those who think Ursa is poorly placed, I'd like to hear of a better alternative. You can literally ski 90% of the Upper Mountain from that lift. Once the Snowbowl Express goes in, I'm sure that will take a huge amount of pressure off the Ursa liftline as well.

Right up North American which was the original lift line. Drops you off on top in pretty much the same place as Ursa. No wiggly traverse to get to it like Ursa & they even have the mid mountain lodge right there. The mid mountain lodge was built before Ursa was put in because that's where the North American chair started.

 

[skiking4]

Right up North American which was the original lift line. Drops you off on top in pretty much the same place as Ursa. No wiggly traverse to get to it like Ursa & they even have the mid mountain lodge right there. The mid mountain lodge was built before Ursa was put in because that's where the North American chair started.

OK but then you have a huge crowd of people on weekends in this section on mid mountain. And then you can only reach this area from half the trails on the upper mountain instead of 90% of them (Polar Bear, Black Bear, Bear Down, Middlebrook, Upper Downeastern end at shooting star which can't get to the lodge). The mountain skis better being able to access nearly all of the trails on the mountain from this one lift.

 

[steamboat1]

OK but then you have a huge crowd of people on weekends in this section on mid mountain. And then you can only reach this area from half the trails on the upper mountain instead of 90% of them (Polar Bear, Black Bear, Bear Down, Middlebrook, Upper Downeastern end at shooting star which can't get to the lodge). The mountain skis better being able to access nearly all of the trails on the mountain from this one lift.

That area of the mountain already gets crowded (it's a real cluster F%*k at times). Everyone on that side of the mountain gets stuck on one narrow trail with a hairpin turn which most people have to tuck to get over to the Ursa lift since they seem to have permanently closed the lower Ursa traverse (I found out the hard way last year). When the North American chair was there it was the most popular lift on the mountain. Plenty of wide open flat space there instead of what is usually a icy death slide onto the Ursa lift line. There was an old double chair that ran up the same line that the Ursa chair now runs & was hardly used. But that's neither here nor there since I doubt they would move the chair to where it should've gone. Access to terrain would've been exactly the same.

 

[tnt]

Just got back from four holiday days at Stratton. Place was jammed. and the Gondi was on hold now and then, making things worse.

But almost impossibly, Shooting Star was virtually empty every day from about 11 to close after always being jammed until then. It was the strangest thing. Th mountain was only 70% open, and only a handful on that shooting star side, so I guess everyone got tired of those trails and would head branch out, then get stuck at Ursa or god forbid, back at the base. But man it was great to know that you could head back over to shooting star for a few laps and never have a line. monday after 6" over night, we waited in line at the base, then ursa for a few then we lapped kidderbrook to the sunrise base - no line there either. Two HS lifts up, no lines. three times, then one long run from the summit off the other side - spruce maybe? and then drove home....sure enough, back at the base, lines were 15-20 min. at least.

I don't really understand why they have it set up the way they do, but that shooting star lift being empty all the time was a god-send to us.

 

[canobie#1]

Just got back from four holiday days at Stratton. Place was jammed. and the Gondi was on hold now and then, making things worse.

But almost impossibly, Shooting Star was virtually empty every day from about 11 to close after always being jammed until then. It was the strangest thing. Th mountain was only 70% open, and only a handful on that shooting star side, so I guess everyone got tired of those trails and would head branch out, then get stuck at Ursa or god forbid, back at the base. But man it was great to know that you could head back over to shooting star for a few laps and never have a line. monday after 6" over night, we waited in line at the base, then ursa for a few then we lapped kidderbrook to the sunrise base - no line there either. Two HS lifts up, no lines. three times, then one long run from the summit off the other side - spruce maybe? and then drove home....sure enough, back at the base, lines were 15-20 min. at least.

I don't really understand why they have it set up the way they do, but that shooting star lift being empty all the time was a god-send to us.

Actually, other than free fall and the trees, everything over there is open. I was there friday and I lapped bear down several times because of it's awesome conditions.
I like the location of URSA, without it, you would have to go all the way down to the sunbowl area or to the stupid Tamarack triple. If there was no URSA but a high speed on frank's then it wouldn't give too much access to the left and the shooting star would surely be much busier.

 

[tnt]

Actually, other than free fall and the trees, everything over there is open. I was there friday and I lapped bear down several times because of it's awesome conditions.
I like the location of URSA, without it, you would have to go all the way down to the sunbowl area or to the stupid Tamarack triple. If there was no URSA but a high speed on frank's then it wouldn't give too much access to the left and the shooting star would surely be much busier.

Oh, that's right re: what was open.

And that test pilot glade rope was down, but it probably shouldn't have been. Pushed in, followed someone's tracks, pushed out 25 yards later. Not enough snow.

With fresh snow, I think that's a fun mountain. the days before the storm, we were getting a little bored. Props to their snow making and groomers though - given the terrible rain they just had, what they gave us was pretty good.

i think making the snow bowl a HSQ would really take some pressure off the base lifts as well.

 

[xlr8r]

Right up North American which was the original lift line. Drops you off on top in pretty much the same place as Ursa. No wiggly traverse to get to it like Ursa & they even have the mid mountain lodge right there. The mid mountain lodge was built before Ursa was put in because that's where the North American chair started.

The problem with having a lift up North American instead of where URSA currently is, is that Black Bear (the only intermediate rated trail off the summit on that side of the mountain) does not reach the bottom of North American. So intermidate skiers would have to return to the main base or the Sunbowl if they wanted to ski that side of the mountain. The other problem is that the Tamarack chair ends too low to reach the base of North American without going uphill, but skiers can reach URSA by traversing over.

 

[x10003q]

There was an old double chair that ran up the same line that the Ursa chair now runs & was hardly used. But that's neither here nor there since I doubt they would move the chair to where it should've gone. Access to terrain would've been exactly the same.

The Grizzly double was always open on weekends and quite often quite crowded. The Ursa 6 location is more useful than a NA location.

 

[canobie#1]

Oh, that's right re: what was open.

And that test pilot glade rope was down, but it probably shouldn't have been. Pushed in, followed someone's tracks, pushed out 25 yards later. Not enough snow.

With fresh snow, I think that's a fun mountain. the days before the storm, we were getting a little bored. Props to their snow making and groomers though - given the terrible rain they just had, what they gave us was pretty good.

i think making the snow bowl a HSQ would really take some pressure off the base lifts as well.

For some reason Stratton doesn't rope of their trees.

 

[spiderpig]

For some reason Stratton doesn't rope of their trees.

I think they don't consider them trails in their count.

 

[steamboat1]

The other problem is that the Tamarack chair ends too low to reach the base of North American without going uphill, but skiers can reach URSA by traversing over.

The lower traverse close to the top of the Tamarack chair, I think it's called Ursa Access, has been permanently closed since last season so this is no longer true. You can't get to Ursa from the Tamarack chair without having to climb uphill.

I believe the reason it's permanently closed is because skiers traversing back over towards the Tamarack chair & the main base area from the base of Ursa are going in the opposite direction of those bombing down Ursa Access towards the Ursa chair. KA-BOOM!!

 

[Powderhound]

The lower traverse close to the top of the Tamarack chair, I think it's called Ursa Access, has been permanently closed since last season so this is no longer true. You can't get to Ursa from the Tamarack chair without having to climb uphill.

I believe the reason it's permanently closed is because skiers traversing back over towards the Tamarack chair & the main base area from the base of Ursa are going in the opposite direction of those bombing down Ursa Access towards the Ursa chair. KA-BOOM!!

Isn't that near where you hurt yourself last year?

 

[canobie#1]

Although the URSA access wasn't open, we still got to the chair by using the Tamarack. The is a little piece of trail that connects you to the detour trail that everybody was using once they got off the Tamarack.
Plus they still have the URSA access on the map and on the signs.

 

[steamboat1]

Isn't that near where you hurt yourself last year?

Exactly where I hurt myself. That's why I know so much about it. I certainly hope they closed it off better than just a little rope because it was a popular trail to use to get to Ursa.

 

[steamboat1]

Although the URSA access wasn't open, we still got to the chair by using the Tamarack. The is a little piece of trail that connects you to the detour trail that everybody was using once they got off the Tamarack.
Plus they still have the URSA access on the map and on the signs.

Ursa Access may still be on the map but I can assure you it hasn't opened since last year. If there was a little piece of connecting trail from that point over to Ursa I would have used it. I highly doubt it exists.