steamboat1
New member
Left my house at 5am Wed. morning (1/8) & headed to K. Arrived at K about 10am & was on the slopes shortly after. Parking at the Skyeship base is awesome. Got a spot right near the base of the stairs leading to the lodge even at 10am. Skiing was pretty good with the great job they did grooming after the rain/freeze a couple of days earlier. Everything they had groomed was in pretty good shape & edgeable with a minimum amount of ice. The majority of terrain was groomed with a couple of noticeable exceptions. OL, Vertigo, Downdraft were closed because they hadn't been groomed & were a sheet of ice. They still had plenty of cover on them. Didn't look like they refreshed any trails with snowmaking with the exception of Snowshed which had guns going top to bottom as they are still in expansion mode. Guns were going on Dream Maker headwall, lower Ovation & a couple of other assorted spots around the mountain. Stopped in the new Peak Lodge to check it out & have lunch. They did a beautiful job on the lodge (it took long enough). Lunch was surprisingly good & very affordable. They had a deal for a 1/2 sandwich & cup of soup for only $10.50. Had a fish/corn chowder soup that was delicious & filling. For a sandwich I ordered turkey which came on an everything bagel with whole leaf lettuce, tomato, & sliced avacado, pretty damn good. Cape Cod style potato chips were also included. Everything in the deli was about the same price, soup was a little cheaper. The special for the day was broiled swordfish,I didn't notice the price but it looked good. Several members of K-Zone were at the bar & the boss, Mike Solimano, was also around talking with people in the lodge. Overall a good day & I was glad I came.
Thurs. morning (1/9) I drove to Mt. Ellen for their special $6.50 anniversary pricing. I was surprised to see that they had picked up about 2-3 inches of light dry fluffy powder on the mountain overnight. The first 4 runs were delightful in the fresh untracked snow off the summit. I expected the mountain to be crowded but it was empty, especially in the morning, didn't expect to get that many fresh runs in. They had groomed most of the open terrain & it was in about the same shape as K but the few inches of fresh snow made it that much better. They had the guns going all day on the Cliff trail on the lower mountain which offered delightful fresh manmade powder skiing all day. One of the other cruising trails on the lower mountain had whales top to bottom but hadn't been groomed yet, it was a little scratchy. All the other trails were nice seeing they had a fresh groom. Once again the snow was very edgeable & the only issue with ice was coming off the Summit chair, if you went around the outside on Panorama ice was not an issue. Once again it was a very good day skiing despite all the negativity I read on hear after the rain/freeze. Glad I came.
Fri. morning (1/10) I headed to Stowe to take advantage of their special pricing for ski club members. What can I say, there is only one Stowe. It looked like just about every trail on the Mansfield side had received a fresh coat of snowmaking since the rain/freeze & had been groomed out. This included the majority trails off the Fore Runner quad as well as the Mansfield gondola. Started the day taking the Over Easy gondola to the Mansfield gondola. Gondolier & Perry Merrill skied beautifully & I made two runs on each to warm up. I then headed to the quad & made a couple of runs on the outside trails. Standard, North Slope & others skied really well. I then decided to go down Nose Dive & oh my god. The trail had huge 10ft. plus size whales on it top to bottom & hadn't been groomed yet. Unlike the whales at Sugarbush these whales skied really well & weren't scratchy at all. Liftline also had fresh whales on it & skied well but the whales weren't as big as those on Nose Dive. The run of the day for me was Hayride (did that 4 times). It had also received fresh snow making but was groomed out & skied delightful. As good as the skiing was at K & Sugarbush Stowe blew them away. Made a few runs over at Spruce after a late lunch in the Great Room & found that it hadn't received the love that the Mansfield side had. Everything off the Little Spruce chair was groomed & skied about the same as the snow I found the previous two days. Not bad but not as good as the Mansfield side. Made one run off the Big Spruce chair where they had a big UVM race going on off Main Street. The only other trail off that lift was a sheet of ice & wasn't worth a repeat. Overall Stowe provided what was my best day skiing so far this year. Was hoping to ski Stowe again today but it was pouring rain this morning. Glad I decided to buy only a one day pass because of the forecast for today. Now back home in Brooklyn, it poured for most of my drive home.
Sorry no pictures, don't own a camera or a cell phone.
Thurs. morning (1/9) I drove to Mt. Ellen for their special $6.50 anniversary pricing. I was surprised to see that they had picked up about 2-3 inches of light dry fluffy powder on the mountain overnight. The first 4 runs were delightful in the fresh untracked snow off the summit. I expected the mountain to be crowded but it was empty, especially in the morning, didn't expect to get that many fresh runs in. They had groomed most of the open terrain & it was in about the same shape as K but the few inches of fresh snow made it that much better. They had the guns going all day on the Cliff trail on the lower mountain which offered delightful fresh manmade powder skiing all day. One of the other cruising trails on the lower mountain had whales top to bottom but hadn't been groomed yet, it was a little scratchy. All the other trails were nice seeing they had a fresh groom. Once again the snow was very edgeable & the only issue with ice was coming off the Summit chair, if you went around the outside on Panorama ice was not an issue. Once again it was a very good day skiing despite all the negativity I read on hear after the rain/freeze. Glad I came.
Fri. morning (1/10) I headed to Stowe to take advantage of their special pricing for ski club members. What can I say, there is only one Stowe. It looked like just about every trail on the Mansfield side had received a fresh coat of snowmaking since the rain/freeze & had been groomed out. This included the majority trails off the Fore Runner quad as well as the Mansfield gondola. Started the day taking the Over Easy gondola to the Mansfield gondola. Gondolier & Perry Merrill skied beautifully & I made two runs on each to warm up. I then headed to the quad & made a couple of runs on the outside trails. Standard, North Slope & others skied really well. I then decided to go down Nose Dive & oh my god. The trail had huge 10ft. plus size whales on it top to bottom & hadn't been groomed yet. Unlike the whales at Sugarbush these whales skied really well & weren't scratchy at all. Liftline also had fresh whales on it & skied well but the whales weren't as big as those on Nose Dive. The run of the day for me was Hayride (did that 4 times). It had also received fresh snow making but was groomed out & skied delightful. As good as the skiing was at K & Sugarbush Stowe blew them away. Made a few runs over at Spruce after a late lunch in the Great Room & found that it hadn't received the love that the Mansfield side had. Everything off the Little Spruce chair was groomed & skied about the same as the snow I found the previous two days. Not bad but not as good as the Mansfield side. Made one run off the Big Spruce chair where they had a big UVM race going on off Main Street. The only other trail off that lift was a sheet of ice & wasn't worth a repeat. Overall Stowe provided what was my best day skiing so far this year. Was hoping to ski Stowe again today but it was pouring rain this morning. Glad I decided to buy only a one day pass because of the forecast for today. Now back home in Brooklyn, it poured for most of my drive home.
Sorry no pictures, don't own a camera or a cell phone.
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