speden
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2008
- Messages
- 913
- Points
- 28
Conditions: low to mid 30's, sunny, no wind, loose packed powder
Ventured into the teeth of the holiday week for a very crowded family ski day at Gunstock. We pulled in at 8:45 and I was stunned to see the entire main lot already full before the lifts were even open.
Other than the crowds, the snow conditions and weather were very good, with a pretty soft snow surface. I was there with my wife and two kids, so didn't expect to get in very many runs. With the big crowd there was a usually a good wait for each ride up. Usually when it's busy I can escape the crowds by going over to the Pistol Triple, but even that was slammed with people.
But we still got our runs in and bailed about 1:30 to pick up lunch on the road home. The lodge at that time was a total zoo, so eating there didn't seem like a good option. Overall we had a fun time despite the crowd.
Some pics:
Here's Upper Gunsmoke. The trials would get bursts of skiers like this, so I'd usually let them go by and ski when there was a lull. I'd say the uphill lift capacity is pretty well matched to the trails, so while the trails were busy, they weren't super crowded.
There was some snowmaking going on in the morning, despite the weather being on the warm side for it. I was wondering why they didn't have all their trails open yet and a patroller on the lift told me it is because they get a lot of humidity off the lake, and that can kill the snowmaking on some nights even when the temps are down into the 20's. During some of the really cold snaps they were limited by pump capacity and can only blow so many trails at once. The water supply however seems to be ample.
Part of the lodge area.
This is the Pistol trail. It was pretty deserted most of the time and skied nicely.
I think this is upper Trigger. It skied okay, but was a little firmer than other trails.
Middle Trigger was a little more skied off as I was wrapping up for the day.
Heading into lower Trigger the snow was a little better.
Ventured into the teeth of the holiday week for a very crowded family ski day at Gunstock. We pulled in at 8:45 and I was stunned to see the entire main lot already full before the lifts were even open.
Other than the crowds, the snow conditions and weather were very good, with a pretty soft snow surface. I was there with my wife and two kids, so didn't expect to get in very many runs. With the big crowd there was a usually a good wait for each ride up. Usually when it's busy I can escape the crowds by going over to the Pistol Triple, but even that was slammed with people.
But we still got our runs in and bailed about 1:30 to pick up lunch on the road home. The lodge at that time was a total zoo, so eating there didn't seem like a good option. Overall we had a fun time despite the crowd.
Some pics:
Here's Upper Gunsmoke. The trials would get bursts of skiers like this, so I'd usually let them go by and ski when there was a lull. I'd say the uphill lift capacity is pretty well matched to the trails, so while the trails were busy, they weren't super crowded.
There was some snowmaking going on in the morning, despite the weather being on the warm side for it. I was wondering why they didn't have all their trails open yet and a patroller on the lift told me it is because they get a lot of humidity off the lake, and that can kill the snowmaking on some nights even when the temps are down into the 20's. During some of the really cold snaps they were limited by pump capacity and can only blow so many trails at once. The water supply however seems to be ample.
Part of the lodge area.
This is the Pistol trail. It was pretty deserted most of the time and skied nicely.
I think this is upper Trigger. It skied okay, but was a little firmer than other trails.
Middle Trigger was a little more skied off as I was wrapping up for the day.
Heading into lower Trigger the snow was a little better.
