Best Run Ski Resort

[Talisman]

Best Run: Sunday River
Worst Run: Cannon

:blink: Yikes, Worst Run: Cannon, our boy Oil ain't gonna like reading that.

There was a time in the late '80's and early '90's when I would agree that Sunday River was one of the best run ski areas, but other areas have closed the gap and several moved ahead.

Cannon while not among the best run, isn't the worst. Worst run that is still open, and this is painful to say: Magic Mtn. I really like skiing at Magic, but the operation is ripe for optimization.

 

[deadheadskier]

I 'grew' up skiing Okemo - probably skied there an average of 60 days a year between 85 and 94 and watched the transformation from unknown to one of the most popular areas in the east.

Its by no means my favorite area, not even top 5, but seeing the ease in which they doubled that mountain in size, the quality of snow product they put out there, and the way they've made this development with a keen eye towards the wants of the clientele, I would consider it to be the best run ski resort in the East.

Tim and Diane Meuller certainly know what they're doing.

 

[Bkroon9175]

Here is resort most people never consider, The Balsam's in Dixville Notch. Impeccable grooming, great accommodations, superb food, helpful staff, lots of other great activities with miles and miles of cross country trails. The area has extremely reasonable lift ticket prices and accurate snow reports. It is a mellow mountain but well run.

 

[thetrailboss]

Here is resort most people never consider, The Balsam's in Dixville Notch. Impeccable grooming, great accommodations, superb food, helpful staff, lots of other great activities with miles and miles of cross country trails. The area has extremely reasonable lift ticket prices and accurate snow reports. It is a mellow mountain but well run.

I really want to get up there and try the skiing...

 

[Bkroon9175]

For more accessible areas, I couldn't agree more that Pat's Peak is well run.

 

[Starter Jackets Rule!]

High peaks what do you want 2 hear white face?
I too like MRG...HP where the hell is "Stinky" i meam Ghostrider?

He was posting on the RSN Sugarbush forum until it closed. He use to raid all the RSN forums in his quest to antagonize people, but I've never seen him post in any other ski forums. I wish he would post here, although he'd probably have to tone down his act a little.

hey he was not alone messing up the RSN MB.
He had many partners in crime...including me.....death 2 scottyP

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

hey he was not alone messing up the RSN MB.
He had many partners in crime...including me.....death 2 scottyP

I remember that Scotty P thing u2 had going. If memory serves me right didn't u ax him to meet u where u were working to slug it out? I don't remember all the details, but I think he backed off after that.

 

[riverc0il]

Best Run: Sunday River
Worst Run: Cannon

:blink: Yikes, Worst Run: Cannon, our boy Oil ain't gonna like reading that.

hey, everybody is entitled to their opinions and i ain't gonna poop on that, but i am quite curious why "GloryHole" thinks that.

also, just because a particular area is someone's favorite doesn't mean they think the area can't use improvement or agrees with management all the time. i wrote cannon a fairly upset email a few years back regarding excessive grooming, especially on the front five. i doubt i was the only one to voice concern as the following year, zoomer was being 1/3 groomed, avalanche half groomed, and gary's and rocket had bumps skier's right side... so essentially bumps on the entire front five with paulie's being completely natural. just one example of where i disagreed with management and some change was made based on some regulars making comments.

can't think of any overwhelming short comings with cannon's management. i think they do a great job over all. of course, i completely disagree with any future expansion plans and always would like to see more natural snow and bumps. but for the most part, they do an alright job with what they have to work with. not the best, but can't even put them near the worst in my book.

we all know how bobR feels about going negative though!!! :lol: :wink:

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Oil wrote="i wrote cannon a fairly upset email a few years back regarding excessive grooming, especially on the front five."

How does Cannon's front five compare to Stowe's front four?

 

[awf170]

HPD here is a pic

from left to right Avalance, paulies, and zoomer. The other 2 front 5 are just blues, but still pretty steep.

 

[riverc0il]

haven't skied stowe so i can't compare directly. gary's is a blue square where they hold slalom races and rocket is another blue they have GS races. fairly steep for blue squares and they launch you pretty well. avalanche, paulie's, and zoomer are all pictured above and are great trails, relatively steep compared to other blacks in new england. paulie's is especially sweet skiers' left and avalanche really gives way skiers' right below the cutoff. austin's pic above doesn't really do their pitch justice. most skiers slide sideways down the groomed sections of avalanche and zoomer making those sections especially scraped and nasty, so i think you're average skier would consider them steep and challenging.

 

[awf170]

austin's pic above doesn't really do their pitch justice.

ya, i couldnt find a pic that did them any justice...

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

HPD here is a pic from left to right Avalance, paulies, and zoomer. The other 2 front 5 are just blues, but still pretty steep.

Nice Bumps :lol:

 

[awf170]

HPD here is a pic from left to right Avalance, paulies, and zoomer. The other 2 front 5 are just blues, but still pretty steep.

Nice Bumps :lol:

pretty good for cannon, no brown or shiney spots. And those moguls look pretty small for cannon stanards(Steve Im tryin to keep people away from the place :wink: )

 

[deadheadskier]

Haven't skied Cannon in years, but from that picture those bumps look far better than those of the front four at Stowe. The trails themselves don't appear to be as difficult, but the bumps sure look better.

Starr and Goat have good bumps as for the most part only true experts ski those trails, so the zipper lines tend to be very good. Because these trails cannot be groomed at all - its rare to see an inexperienced skier on these trails. Outside of powder days and the late spring, the bumps on Liftline and National are usually ROCK hard and the zipper lines very inconsistent due to the plethora of beginners who will themselves down the trails to lay claim to having skied them / scraped all the snow off them.

If you want to ski bumps at Stowe though, your best bet is Chin Clip though. Its over a mile long and bumped the whole way down except for about a quarter mile run out at the botton. I have yet to find a longer bump run in the east.

 

[riverc0il]

cannon is pretty good at mowing them down when they get too big. sometimes too good if you know what i mean. :-?

 

[awf170]

cannon is pretty good at mowing them down when they get too big. sometimes too good if you know what i mean. :-?

i hate grooming :angry: I love how they do it out west... blacks do not get groomed no matter what(maybe a few, but 90% of them arent) I understand you have to groom a few blacks in the east, and groom trails every once in a while, but besides that lay off the gromming! Man i gotta get to MRG

 

[deadheadskier]

Grooming would be another reason that I give Okemo my vote for best run. Not only do they do a fantastic job at laying down the corteroy on cruisers, they also do a great job at 'grooming' bumps. I haven't skied there in about eight years, but I do remember at the time they had hired a guy who groomed the trails in a way that a lawn mover would cut grass on a golf course or baseball field. The result was the foundation for perfect bump lines. Not sure if they still do it, but for everything their bump runs lacked in pitch, they made up for in PERFECT zipper lines.

I love how the terrain at MRG is left 'au natural'. Its effective because of the great skiers who ride there and hence the bumps are ussually outstanding. For areas that attract skiers who are not as advanced, grooming the expert terrain in the way that Okemo does is actually a bonus.

I wish Stowe used the same practice on Liftline and National. Then again, Upper National is hopeless. I doubt it would be possible to 'groom' bumps with a winch cat - its just far too steep and without sunshine to ever have decent bumps.

 

[Vortex]

Steve... You made me laugh again. Ya I try the good side. Well thought out informed opinions are welcomed. I just don't spend much time being negitive about skiing.

 

[St. Jerry]

As much as I loke skiing there, Gore might be the worst run area. But I give them a lot of slack because it's run by the state and it's still a lot less expensive than most areas.