Angus
Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 961
- Points
- 16
When: Saturday night at Crotched & Sunday at Stratton
Weather: Saturday night: windy, mid-20's & Sunday: windy, 25-30 degrees, snow heavy at times until mid-afternoon and then cloudy.
Angus and his son had big plans for the weekend that were disrupted due to the weather but things turned out just swell. Mid-day Saturday, we re-assessed our situation and decided to ski a few hours that night at Crotched and then go to Stratton the next morning.
Crotched: skied for a little less than three hours. Not much to report except that the earlier week's corn snow was frozen under about 12" of loose, new snow which made for excellent skiing. Once again kudos to the staff, I had a customer service issue and it was addressed and resolved without issue immediately. I asked about their plans this week and they told me that nothing (as of Saturday afternoon) was firm but they might stay open this week due to the new snow. They had planned to close and then re-open for the week-end. There is plenty of base - feet of it in fact so they could be easily open for at least two more weekends.
Stratton: It had been 27 years since Angus skied here and how things have changed in the village. First off though, I utilized one of those lottery tickets plus son of Angus skied free on his SkiVt coupon so that was very nice! We arrived about 8:15 and parked at the end of Parking Lot One. We walked up through the village. We were very impressed by the heated walk-ways, etc. - very, very nice. When asked, the consensus was that the day would be quiet given the partying that had gone on the night before in conjuncture with the US Open snowboarding events. We were on American Express at 8:47 and then took the Ursa lift to the summit. For the rest of the day we skied the Ursa, Shooting Star, and a slow lift on the upper mtn's right-side with the exception of 3 or 4 runs - gondola once, American Express once more and some lift from the base of the sun bowl area. Unfortunately, the right side slow lift services the best terrain on the mountain; but it is so slow and the wind and snow combination made it painful to ski there.
Saturday, Stratton received about 12" of snow and it misted for a good portion of the day according to people we spoke too. Skiing was tough. On Sunday morning, clear skies and stars greeted us in south central NH as we got in the car to make our way to the mountain. Sun-burn alert immediately came to mind so I ran back in and grabbed sun-screen! When we reached the entrance of the mountain, the weather was light flurries. At the parking lot moderate flurries; and on the top half of the mountain, heavy snow falling of the very light snow variety. The snow was boot deep and skiing was effortless. For the rest of the day we skied everything that was marked single or double black diamond and with the fresh snow, it was a blast. Bumps formed and got bigger throughout the day on groomed trails and the bump trails that had a frozen base from the earlier week's warm-up had plenty of fresh snow to make them a blast. As has been discussed earlier, nothing on this mountain makes you stop, look down the trail and assess your strategy on getting down. We skied some intermediate and advanced glades and again we didn't encounter anything that was particularly hairy.
Our longest wait in line was probably 3 minutes for summit lifts and maybe a 7 minute wait at the gondola between 1 or 2 PM. By 10:30, we had skied what felt like a full day of runs. Son of Angus remarked that "Stratton doesn't mess around with lifts!" Everything seemed to be a detachable quad or six-pack. We took an early lunch at the mid-mountain lodge and can confirm what others have previously written - good food and expensive. We took another break around 2ish and then skied until about 3:45 ending the day by skiing almost down to the parking lot via upper and lower Tamarack(?).
A couple of observations:
Best mid-winter ski conditions since I got back skiing a few years ago.
Skiing in powder is a total hoot.
Stratton is an intermediate skiers paradise.
The development on and around Stratton is amazing. We accidentally skied down the lower mountain, right side, on a trail that abutted homes - all of which had to be of the $2.0-$4mm variety. Wow - nice!
A none-scientific survey noted Vermont license plates in the Parking Lot One. When walking through the slope side condo/hotel parking lot on our way to the village, all the cars were from NJ and NY.
Staff was very friendly and courteous as were the skiers.
Personal Notes:
Given the ticket prices, I hope I win a free ticket again next year!
On our last run of the day, my thighs were throbbing as I chased son-of-Angus down the trail. I was laughing out loud as I tried to follow behind as we picked our way down making lots of turns and hitting as many bumps as possible. Oh, youth!
Son-of-Angus, unaccustomed to boot deep powder, took a high speed spill while trying to come to a quick stop in front of me. He slammed the back of his head onto the snow really hard. If there ever was an advertisement for wearing a helmet that was it - a guaranteed concussion without a helmet.
Son-of-Angus' skiing and confidence improved throughout the day which was great to watch.
Finally, you've got to love NE - Tuesday was skiing in 50+ degree weather, corn and sun-shine at Wachusett and five days later a mid-winter like snow storm with light, light snow!
Oh, and this morning I caught an early flight out of Logan - typing this somewhere over the mid-west. The views of the northern mountains especially the Presidentials, Mansfield, Franconia Notch and ADKs were spectacular!
Weather: Saturday night: windy, mid-20's & Sunday: windy, 25-30 degrees, snow heavy at times until mid-afternoon and then cloudy.
Angus and his son had big plans for the weekend that were disrupted due to the weather but things turned out just swell. Mid-day Saturday, we re-assessed our situation and decided to ski a few hours that night at Crotched and then go to Stratton the next morning.
Crotched: skied for a little less than three hours. Not much to report except that the earlier week's corn snow was frozen under about 12" of loose, new snow which made for excellent skiing. Once again kudos to the staff, I had a customer service issue and it was addressed and resolved without issue immediately. I asked about their plans this week and they told me that nothing (as of Saturday afternoon) was firm but they might stay open this week due to the new snow. They had planned to close and then re-open for the week-end. There is plenty of base - feet of it in fact so they could be easily open for at least two more weekends.
Stratton: It had been 27 years since Angus skied here and how things have changed in the village. First off though, I utilized one of those lottery tickets plus son of Angus skied free on his SkiVt coupon so that was very nice! We arrived about 8:15 and parked at the end of Parking Lot One. We walked up through the village. We were very impressed by the heated walk-ways, etc. - very, very nice. When asked, the consensus was that the day would be quiet given the partying that had gone on the night before in conjuncture with the US Open snowboarding events. We were on American Express at 8:47 and then took the Ursa lift to the summit. For the rest of the day we skied the Ursa, Shooting Star, and a slow lift on the upper mtn's right-side with the exception of 3 or 4 runs - gondola once, American Express once more and some lift from the base of the sun bowl area. Unfortunately, the right side slow lift services the best terrain on the mountain; but it is so slow and the wind and snow combination made it painful to ski there.
Saturday, Stratton received about 12" of snow and it misted for a good portion of the day according to people we spoke too. Skiing was tough. On Sunday morning, clear skies and stars greeted us in south central NH as we got in the car to make our way to the mountain. Sun-burn alert immediately came to mind so I ran back in and grabbed sun-screen! When we reached the entrance of the mountain, the weather was light flurries. At the parking lot moderate flurries; and on the top half of the mountain, heavy snow falling of the very light snow variety. The snow was boot deep and skiing was effortless. For the rest of the day we skied everything that was marked single or double black diamond and with the fresh snow, it was a blast. Bumps formed and got bigger throughout the day on groomed trails and the bump trails that had a frozen base from the earlier week's warm-up had plenty of fresh snow to make them a blast. As has been discussed earlier, nothing on this mountain makes you stop, look down the trail and assess your strategy on getting down. We skied some intermediate and advanced glades and again we didn't encounter anything that was particularly hairy.
Our longest wait in line was probably 3 minutes for summit lifts and maybe a 7 minute wait at the gondola between 1 or 2 PM. By 10:30, we had skied what felt like a full day of runs. Son of Angus remarked that "Stratton doesn't mess around with lifts!" Everything seemed to be a detachable quad or six-pack. We took an early lunch at the mid-mountain lodge and can confirm what others have previously written - good food and expensive. We took another break around 2ish and then skied until about 3:45 ending the day by skiing almost down to the parking lot via upper and lower Tamarack(?).
A couple of observations:
Best mid-winter ski conditions since I got back skiing a few years ago.
Skiing in powder is a total hoot.
Stratton is an intermediate skiers paradise.
The development on and around Stratton is amazing. We accidentally skied down the lower mountain, right side, on a trail that abutted homes - all of which had to be of the $2.0-$4mm variety. Wow - nice!
A none-scientific survey noted Vermont license plates in the Parking Lot One. When walking through the slope side condo/hotel parking lot on our way to the village, all the cars were from NJ and NY.
Staff was very friendly and courteous as were the skiers.
Personal Notes:
Given the ticket prices, I hope I win a free ticket again next year!
On our last run of the day, my thighs were throbbing as I chased son-of-Angus down the trail. I was laughing out loud as I tried to follow behind as we picked our way down making lots of turns and hitting as many bumps as possible. Oh, youth!
Son-of-Angus, unaccustomed to boot deep powder, took a high speed spill while trying to come to a quick stop in front of me. He slammed the back of his head onto the snow really hard. If there ever was an advertisement for wearing a helmet that was it - a guaranteed concussion without a helmet.
Son-of-Angus' skiing and confidence improved throughout the day which was great to watch.
Finally, you've got to love NE - Tuesday was skiing in 50+ degree weather, corn and sun-shine at Wachusett and five days later a mid-winter like snow storm with light, light snow!
Oh, and this morning I caught an early flight out of Logan - typing this somewhere over the mid-west. The views of the northern mountains especially the Presidentials, Mansfield, Franconia Notch and ADKs were spectacular!
