Gunstock 3/21/10

[speden]

Conditions: 40's - 50's, partly cloudy, mild wind

Gunstock's coverage is starting to show the effects of the warm weather. They still have a pretty good base on most of the trails, but there was a lot less snow than when I was there a couple weeks ago. It doesn't effect the trails, but I saw lots of water running through the streams, and south facing hillsides are pretty much melted away. The glades and halfpipe look done for the year, and some of the features in the park have melted out.

All the regular trails seemed to be open, except Hot Shot, which I could see from the lift had quite a few bare spots on it. Surprisingly the tubing hill was going today, but I think that's pretty much done too.

It was the smallest crowd I've seen there this season. The Panorama quad was ski on all day. My boys and I enjoyed the uncrowded trails, but I think the snow may outlast the skiers from here on out.

We got there for the opening at 8:30. The trails were nicely groomed, but they must have groomed them last night because the cord was pretty frozen at first, and for about the first hour skied very fast. We stuck to the blues until things softened up a little. Those early runs were high speed and we had a blast. The snow was at it's best from about 9:30 to 11, when it was still firm, but the surface was loose and a little softened. By 11:30 it was starting to get a little grabby and the skiing took more effort. We had bought half day tickets, so headed out around noon when we got tired.

So that's probably my last trip to Gunstock this season. It's a nice hill and I'll be curious to see if they do any upgrades this summer. I'd like to see them do some regrading on the trail called "The Flats", which is currently too flat! Having to cross that makes us avoid that side of the mountain, which otherwise has some nice terrain. I'd also like to see them do something with the Derringer traverse, like maybe widen it or just get rid of it. Whenever I've had to use it, I've always found it to be jammed with people and full of ruts.

The base area could also use some changes, like paving the main parking lot for starters. Then the lodge is built quite far from the lifts and the base area is kind of graded in flat plateau's, which makes it hard to keep your momentum to ski down to the lodge. Seems like they could grade it to make some gentle sloping trails back to the lodge.

Some pics from today:

Here's the tubing hill which has taken a beating from the sun

Looking up from the lodge the coverage on the trails is still good

Here's the in ground half pipe - out of action now

This is probably upper Recoil. It skied nicely.

I think this is looking back up the mountain from Middle Trigger. It also skied well today.

 

[mthebby]

Thanks for the TR and the pics! I'm thinking of getting one of their mid-week season passes next year, as it includes night skiing and is only about 90 minutes from my house. I know it's a small to mid-size place, but that's about my speed I'm afraid. ;-)

 

[marcski]

Lot of snow on those trails....Looks good for late march.

 

[speden]

Thanks for the TR and the pics! I'm thinking of getting one of their mid-week season passes next year, as it includes night skiing and is only about 90 minutes from my house. I know it's a small to mid-size place, but that's about my speed I'm afraid. ;-)

Yeah, I think Gunstock is a pretty good value for a season pass. In that area it's much bigger than Pat's Peak, and has about the same vertical as Ragged, but the summit trails seem longer than the trails at Ragged. The season passes at Mt. Sunapee cost a lot more, and even though Sunapee is a little bigger, I think the crowds are bigger too. I've been pretty impressed with the snowmaking at Gunstock this year. Hopefully they do as well next year. Seems like this season there was a long stretch of cold weather that allowed them to build up a deep snow base.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

Thanks for the TR and pics. Looks like there is still a good amount of skiing to be had there. I have been interested in checking it out for the past couple years but have never been able to get away. Grats on a nice day!!

 

[speden]

Thanks for the TR and pics. Looks like there is still a good amount of skiing to be had there. I have been interested in checking it out for the past couple years but have never been able to get away. Grats on a nice day!!

I've been wanting to get up to Maine this season to check out Saddleback and Sugarloaf. I'm pretty much a day trip skier and those are just about an hour too far away for me. I gotta get up there next season...

 

[57stevey]

Thanks for the report Speden! Sounds a lot less sketchy than I would have imagined, maybe we'll give them a try next Monday on 2fer day. Agree with you about the base area... I hate that slog from the lodge back up to the lifts! But otherwise it's a pretty good area, particularly with the recent upgrade on the summit lift.

 

[hammer]

Any thoughts on how it will be there this weekend?

 

[57stevey]

My guess is it will be a brick Saturday... I believe I will head up Sunday and ski off The Flats side early on, then hope for warming.

 

[speden]

Any thoughts on how it will be there this weekend?

Hard to predict. If they groom after the snow sets up Friday night, it could be fairly loose. They seem to have nice grinders on their groomers to shred up the icy snow. Saturday looks sunny with a high of 41, so things could soften a bit. If you go Saturday, I probably wouldn't go first thing in the morning.

Sunday might be a little softer since the temps on Saturday night won't be very cold, but it looks like it might be cloudy on Sunday so that will slow down the warm up.

 

[deadheadskier]

I need to put a day in at Gunstock next season. It's about 15 minutes closer to me than Ragged. I've never been, but have heard it can get crowded on Saturdays, which is part of the reason I've chosen Ragged. What's the pass price at Gunstock? What were your impression of the bumps this season? That's one area where Ragged was rather poor and might lead me to seek alternatives in the future.

 

[hammer]

I need to put a day in at Gunstock next season. It's about 15 minutes closer to me than Ragged. I've never been, but have heard it can get crowded on Saturdays, which is part of the reason I've chosen Ragged. What's the pass price at Gunstock? What were your impression of the bumps this season? That's one area where Ragged was rather poor and might lead me to seek alternatives in the future.

Minor thread hijack...

From a beginner bump skiers perspective, I really enjoyed Raggae Glades. It has a nice mellow pitch, it's reasonably short, and there's no bail out.

I would agree that Ragged needs to have more options for experienced bump skiers though. It looked like they tried to get a bump field going on Showboat but it didn't really get skied in enough.

 

[speden]

If you've never been to Gunstock, you should give it a shot next season. It's kind of in between Ragged and Sunapee in terms of crowds, price, and features. Sunapee would win on bumps, but I'd guess Gunstock has more bumps than Ragged. I don't think I saw any bumps at Ragged, but I have seen some at Gunstock.

I've avoided Gunstock on Saturdays, but found Sundays to be tolerable. Fridays were busier than I expected. For snowmaking and grooming I feel like Gunstock is ahead of Ragged. Some of the trails at Gunstock ski a little longer and with more twists and turns than the trails at Ragged. For glades Ragged has way more, but seems to need a lot of snow to open them.

Looks like a Gunstock prime time adult pass is 359. Too much for me since I only go there a few times a year. I'm curious to see what Ragged does this summer with Spear mountain and if they do some snowmaking upgrades. If they pull that off it could really improve the product there.

 

[speden]

From a beginner bump skiers perspective, I really enjoyed Raggae Glades. It has a nice mellow pitch, it's reasonably short, and there's no bail out.

Yeah, those are fun. Gunstock has something similar called the Parallax Glades. It starts out fairly shallow, then has a short section that's a little steeper near the end, but you can bail out to "Out of Sight" before the steep part if you get in over your head. It's marked as a black diamond, but it's definitely on the easy side for glades.

 

[deadheadskier]

Minor thread hijack...

From a beginner bump skiers perspective, I really enjoyed Raggae Glades. It has a nice mellow pitch, it's reasonably short, and there's no bail out.

I would agree that Ragged needs to have more options for experienced bump skiers though. It looked like they tried to get a bump field going on Showboat but it didn't really get skied in enough.

Yes. Tried to let bumps form on Showboat, Birches, Sweepstakes and Raggae. Raggea were the best because that side of the hill sees the most traffic.

The mountain lacks both the natural snowfall and skier traffic to ever have really good bumps form naturally. Only option is cat made bumps, which Showboat is absolutely perfect for.

If you've never been to Gunstock, you should give it a shot next season. It's kind of in between Ragged and Sunapee in terms of crowds, price, and features. Sunapee would win on bumps, but I'd guess Gunstock has more bumps than Ragged. I don't think I saw any bumps at Ragged, but I have seen some at Gunstock.

I've avoided Gunstock on Saturdays, but found Sundays to be tolerable. Fridays were busier than I expected. For snowmaking and grooming I feel like Gunstock is ahead of Ragged. Some of the trails at Gunstock ski a little longer and with more twists and turns than the trails at Ragged. For glades Ragged has way more, but seems to need a lot of snow to open them.

Looks like a Gunstock prime time adult pass is 359. Too much for me since I only go there a few times a year. I'm curious to see what Ragged does this summer with Spear mountain and if they do some snowmaking upgrades. If they pull that off it could really improve the product there.

I'll definitely check it out next season. $359 is a great deal. My Ragged pass cost me $329. Most people I talked to on the mountain said that the goal was a HSQ for Spear next season. I've also heard that they're applying for an increased allotment for water they can draw out of the bog to fill their pond. They do need more stationary guns as well though. My observation is that their snowmaking operations are very labor intensive as they need to move guns around from trail to trail whenever making snow.

That said, I thought the surfaces on the groomers this season was absolutely fantastic. In my 13 days there this season I rarely found things skied off.

 

[mikestaple]

I skied all three this season (Ragged twice, Sunapee and Gunstock once). Sunapee had the best bumps. I went to Gunstock on New Year's Day when it was mobbed and scratchy. Ragged was great both days - but it was early season before Reggae Glades opened up.

That said - I thought Gunstock had the longer runs and better steeps (or at least steeps with more twists that Sunapee).

Ragged had the least bumps but the vibe was best and we loved the lodge etc. I saw them humping the guns around underneath the 6 pack (yes, Evelyn was there) on Exhibition and they definitely need to upgrade the snow making. (I was there twice at the end of Dec, 10 days apart, and they were still running those guns up and down Exhibition to get a decent base down). This led to the rest of the mt. being snow starved. So while that Spear lift is slow, a little more snow making might make Ragged a really special place.