Favorite Ski Trail

[ChileMass]

OK - can't resist after seeing the Sugarbush pics in another thread here -

What's your favorite ski trail in the East? West? Other? Here's my list:

East -

1 - Nosedive (Stowe). Yes, Josh, Nosedive is my favorite trail on the East Coast due to the steep pitch and the fact that usually it is smashed flat for excellent high speed cruising. The fact that you have to access it from the catwalk above and you get to look over the precipice of Goat is also kinda cool. When it's bumped up, it's almost as tough as any of the other famous black trails, but for some reason when I have been at Stowe (and it's been a while, I'll admit), it's just fantastic.

2 - Narrow Gauge (Sugarloaf) - a favorite from when I was a kid. Used to watch the USESSA ski events there in early 70s. Great bumps, great twisting terrain. Just try to stay on the fall line, baby.

3 - Cloudspin (Whiteface) - busted my shoulder there in 1984, took 2 years to get it back to 100%. Tried too hard to be Leonard Stock winning the 1980 Olympic downhill, I guess. A great trail when there's lots of snow. Watch out in the wind and fog, trust me.

West -

1 - Rosi's Run (Copper, CO) - Nosedive on steroids. The lower half is the best steep, flat pitch I have ever been on. Get out over your tips and let 'em run.

2 - Women's Downhill trail (Snowbasin UT) - Tougher than the men's run at the bottom. After coming out of the trees it falls off to the left across the fall line for about 500 yards straight down. 2nd time on this I was a little overconfident and fell all the way to the bottom (not a scratch on me, thank you).

3 - East Wall (Arapahoe Basin, CO). On a sunny day it has the best powder on Earth.

Honorable Mention: Master Magician (Magic); The Face (Ascutney); Showcase (Gore); Regulator Johnson (Snowbird)

 

[Joshua B]

Great topic CM. Nosedive at Stowe is awesome. I think I've only skied it groomed once. The part I don't like is the upper part where the turns were taken out years ago. Although I never skied it in its original state back in the day, from what I hear it was better. Now it's just a scratchy, narrow straightaway until you come to the main, wide-open part of the trail that faces straight down the mountain. But from there it's the best!

I will choose Minnie Dole at Berkshire East. It's an expert run that most people don't take top to bottom, but if you do, and you take it aggressively, it's a wild ride! It starts at the top with a great right turn, then you have to dig in and make a hard left as you're dumped onto Competition for a few seconds. You can really get low to the snow and dig your edges in as you finish your right turn taking you back to Minnie Dole for a nice, short, soft mogul run before it turns into an intermediate cruiser with plenty of time for speed.

 

[Greg]

Great thread idea. Probably one of my favorites is Triple Trouble at Loon, although I have yet to ski it in really good conditions, i.e. powder. It's just a steep, ungroomed, gnarley twsting trail. I really enjoy the whole East Basin area. I'll post others as I think of them...

 

[jlangdale]

#1 fav is Superstar, then Ovation & Cascade, Cruise Control, Needles, Vertigo, North Star, and Bunny Buster at Killington (really too many to mention).

Then I have some favorites at Sugarbush like Organgrinder, Paradise, Inverness, Jester & Spring Fling

 

[riverc0il]

tough question. i'm usually partial to steep bumpy liftline trails such as the old gondi line at wildcat, zoomer liftline at cannon, red line at magic, fox's folly at burke, etc. anything narrow trail with bumps and an audience works for me!

my top choice would be taft slalom to the old taft trail on mittersill. a narrow bumpy wild ride dumping you out in a kingdom of awesome lines and natural snow. avalanche on cannon has always been a favorite. and lynx top to bottom at wildcat can't be beat for a 2000'+ groomer.

 

[IndyJones]

Encore- Black Diamond- Perfect North Slopes- Trees at the top and then a wide open area at the middle then more trees at the bottom with a chance of airtime.

 

[Max]

Paradise at Sugarbush. Honorable mentions to Stein's Run at Sugarbush and Outer Limits at Killington.

 

[jimme]

East
Upper Antelope at MRG (Long and twisting)

Wild Turkey at Jiminy Peak (Steep with a dog-leg)

Whiteout at Magic (Tight)

West
Three Bears at Alta (Bumps I can actually ski)

Little Cloud Chair area at Snowbird (Holy $hit! Can there be a more roomier bowl?)


Jimme

 

[Greg]

Wild Turkey at Jiminy Peak (Steep with a dog-leg)

Forgot about that one. One of Jiminy's best, IMO. They always seem to blow snow piles 12 feet high on that one. Great run!

 

[Greg]

A few more favorites since this thread originally started:

Misery Whip at Sugarloaf/USA
Middle Earth at Sugarbush
Castlerock Run at Sugarbush
Jug at Berkshire East

 

[skibum1321]

Liftline at Castlerock
Rumble at Castlerock
The Mall at the Bush
Goat at Stowe
Liftline at Smuggs
Freefall at Smuggs
Chute at MRG
Paradise at MRG and the Bush

Other than that it's mostly BC

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

My Top Five
1. Killington - Downdraft
2. Sugarloaf - Misery Wip
3. Loon Mountain - Triple Trouble
4. Sunday River - Shock Wave
5. Jackson Hole - Expert Chutes

 

[ChileMass]

OK - a couple new additions from me -

Avalanche at Cannon - wow did we have an epic sunny day last March and the groomed avenue down the center was fabulous. And I had it all to myself, too.

Big Chief at the Beast - a fun run to do over and over and over and over....

 

[Greg]

Big Chief at the Beast - a fun run to do over and over and over and over....

Chief is great. We all have to get up there again after a big dump. There are so many good trails there that we didn't get to sample that day...

 

[Treeliner]

Little Cloud Chair area at Snowbird (Holy $hit! Can there be a more roomier bowl?)


Jimme

Haha! YES! I loved that area. Best/most memorable run of my life thus far was coming down through there. It was like nothing else - started at the top of the SB tram, went down through the little cloud chair area, ended up (in one run) back down at the bottom of the tram. It was such a multi-faceted run, with so many elements. It went from wide open steep bowl, to fast and smooth groomer, to bumps, to powder in the trees.

Writing this actually reminded me of a funny little anecdote from my trip to Snowbird. Me and friend (snowboarders, 17y/o) where at snowbird, and it was getting to be late in the day. So we're traversing along kind of, and we stop in front of this gate that says something along the lines of, "Danger - trail contains unmarked hazards, etc" double black. So we're standing there debating about whether to drop in on this double black or (as our legs are telling us to) just take the mellower trail down. A rather old skier pulls up and sees our dilema. With a glance down the trail, he casually remarks, "you're only young once..." We both laugh and immediatly push off down the doubel black, inspired by the wisdom of our elders.

 

[Zand]

My top 10 in NE:

1. Quantum Leap- Okemo's Jackson Gore
2. Castlerock Run- Sugarbush's Castlerock
3. Hardscrabble- Cannon
4. Rocket- Cannon
5. Flume- Loon
6. Blast Off- Sunapee
7. Ravine- Cannon
8. Wild Turkey- Jiminy Peak
9. Big Chief- Berkshire East
10. 10th Mountain Trail- Wachusett

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

3 - Cloudspin (Whiteface) - busted my shoulder there in 1984, took 2 years to get it back to 100%. Tried too hard to be Leonard Stock winning the 1980 Olympic downhill, I guess. A great trail when there's lots of snow. Watch out in the wind and fog, trust me.

3 - East Wall (Arapahoe Basin, CO). On a sunny day it has the best powder on Earth.

Cloudspin is one of my favorites too, but I believe the downhill was on Skyward.

East Wall - Was closed the other times I was there, but I was lucky enough to have it open when I was there in Feb. What a rush.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Liftline at Castlerock
Rumble at Castlerock
The Mall at the Bush
Goat at Stowe
Liftline at Smuggs
Freefall at Smuggs
Chute at MRG
Paradise at MRG and the Bush

Other than that it's mostly BC

Nice List.

 

[thetrailboss]

Been here. Done it. East Bowl at Burke.

 

[riverc0il]

2003 bump, nice :beer:

whatever happened to jimme and jlangdale? they have been AWOL for a long time.

since 03 i have still kept the old taft in my favorite trail top ten. i have added several more since though. antelope and fall line at MRG are spectacular. tramline at cannon is a hoot. tucks to the sherbie is a special experience. of course, i still love those lift lines! can't really disclose my favorite gladed terrain though