Killington is going to open before Sunday River this season.

[thetrailboss]

Most of the lifts look much better than 5 years ago. Paint helps alot. Lol.

Jokes aside I agree that the facilities do look a lot better than when ASC had them. It is not appealing to be paying money for a "top" ski resort experience and then riding lifts that are rusting and look like crap and using shopworn facilities.

 

[lmgrnjeep]

when it's not on wind hold and when the whole hill isn't wind-scoured.

I only had 2 days all last season where it wasn't packed powder, and that was reggae festival. other then that I had powder, packed powder or spring corn. I used my Icelantic nomads all year if that tells you what the conditions were like at the loaf. floated all season long. in the trees, on the snow fields and in the bumps.

April 9th; the backside

TOKE ROAD mid Feb

 

[Riverskier]

Good for you, but clearly your just a little biased, given your name is Riverskier after all.

Lots of people ski midweek, myself included. Im not knocking you guys for opening first, but Killington, once they did open had a better early season product, and stayed that way until winter was in full swing and everyone was pretty much equal.

Cant comment on midseasons as I only ski the east these days early and late season once JHole closes.

Biased in some respects maybe, but not this one. I want to ski as early as possible, period. Like I said, if operating weekends only makes skiing earlier in the season feasible, then great! If they determined that Mondays and Tuesdays were the days to do it because the open terrain couldn't handle weekend demand, then I would take a day off and be there. This is just a perfect example of how you can NEVER please everyone.

 

[Glenn]

Thread

[X] Delivers
[ ] Dijourno

:lol:

 

[thetrailboss]

Yeah, the wind is a problem at Sugarloaf, as well as Jay and Sugarbush to be honest. But I think that Boyne is working on trying to make the lifts more wind resistant.

 

[Geoff]

Yeah, the wind is a problem at Sugarloaf, as well as Jay and Sugarbush to be honest. But I think that Boyne is working on trying to make the lifts more wind resistant.

It's an advantage sprawling places like Killington and Sunday River have. No matter how hard it's howling, you can usually find a place to ski that is out of the worst of the wind.

 

[thetrailboss]

It's an advantage sprawling places like Killington and Sunday River have. No matter how hard it's howling, you can usually find a place to ski that is out of the worst of the wind.

True indeed.

 

[lmgrnjeep]

Thats why they invented surface lifts sugarloaf used to have a bunch of them now they only have t#3 and the moosecalator lol they need one to get to the summit. and they should have t#3 extend to spillway cross cut so you can still access the east side without a hike.

 

[AdironRider]

a three hour drive from where? its an hour and 45 min from Sunday River to Sugarloaf... and its definitely worth the drive. You have the most acres of boundary to boundary skiing in the east and with burnt mountain opening this winter it will be epic. You have snowfields that opened in January and closed in late April.

Killington opened November 2nd and closed May 1st. Sugarloaf opened the weekend before thanksgiving November 21 and stayed open until May 9th but could have gone longer if they didn't have to start the construction on spillway.

Sugarloaf is the better mountain, might not have all the gondolas and big attractions like Killington but I'm glad they don't keeps the mountain spread out and skier traffic down on the trails. If you wanna have a full day of skiing and not do the human slalom down the trails make a trip up and see if you can handle it.

Relax bro, noones dissing the terrain. Boundary to boundary is a joke though in the East and everyone knows it. 90% of terrain within those boundaries that isnt already a trail is not skiable. Your spewing BS if you think you can, or youve hacked through the woods to make your own secret stash. Sugarloaf is not Jay Peak where that statement could apply, but theyve done lots of manual labor to make that statement true.

What I do take issue with is everyone claims Boyne is better but they have to lump the pros of two mountains together, and convieniently leave out the cons. Comparing two hills against one is an unfair comparison, period. Sunday river does not have sustained vert, Loaf is far from anywhere and the lifts are old. Still two great hills, but using them both as a comparison against Killington is a joke. I can drive from Killington to Sunday River in a shorter time frame than I could probably get from the Riv to the Loaf.

Sugarloaf is 4 hours from Boston? Talk about untrue, maybe if you drive 90 the whole way. Its 4.5 from my house in Exeter, but I do realize they have done some roadwork in the past couple years which probably cuts that down a bit, but still, its a trek, and you can concievably make it to Snowbird in the same amount of time from Boston. 1/2 in the airport, 3 hour flight, 1/2 hour to Snowbird.

 

[deadheadskier]

I only had 2 days all last season where it wasn't packed powder, and that was reggae festival. other then that I had powder, packed powder or spring corn. I used my Icelantic nomads all year if that tells you what the conditions were like at the loaf. floated all season long. in the trees, on the snow fields and in the bumps.

April 9th; the backside

TOKE ROAD mid Feb

how many days did you have though where lifts were affected by wind?

I'd have to imagine there's at least 20 days a season where a good amount of the lifts are shut down because of wind.

Mind you, I'm not dissing the Loaf. I like it WAY better than Killington

 

[Riverskier]

I can drive from Killington to Sunday River in a shorter time frame than I could probably get from the Riv to the Loaf.

Again, just plain wrong. Killington would take at least twice as long. You opinions on other aspects of this discussion are just that- opinions, and by nature can't neither be right or wrong. However, your assertions about where Sugarloaf is geographically and how long it takes to get there from various places are factually inaccurate.

 

[Riverskier]

how many days did you have though where lifts were affected by wind?

I'd have to imagine there's at least 20 days a season where a good amount of the lifts are shut down because of wind.

Mind you, I'm not dissing the Loaf. I like it WAY better than Killington

I love the loaf too, but I suspect that number is actually even a lot higher than 20.

 

[AdironRider]

4 hours from Boston? 1.45 from the River. Ive made both those drives and those are not true figures either. Lets settle on something in the middle.

 

[lmgrnjeep]

your kidding about the boundary to boundary right? when have you skied Sugarloaf last. there are glades in between virtually every trail, Skidder and Hayburner, Hayburner and kings, kings and double bitter. and that's just off the Superquad. yes the lifts are old that's just because ASC dumped all its money in Killington and see where that got them.

ya it might take you 4 and a half hours but you must be driving like a grandpa. Mapquest says 3 hours and 45 min and that is going the speed limit but honestly who does that...... I'm not saying Killington isn't a good mountain I'm just saying.... Sugarloaf is a better mountain for a true skier. If you can ski everything at Sugarloaf (woods, moguls, ice, powder, groomers, corn) then you can ski out west with out any issues....

 

[Riverskier]

1:45 from the River is accurate. I will give you 4.5 hours from Boston going the speed limit the entire way.

 

[AdironRider]

your kidding about the boundary to boundary right? when have you skied Sugarloaf last. there are glades in between virtually every trail, Skidder and Hayburner, Hayburner and kings, kings and double bitter. and that's just off the Superquad. yes the lifts are old that's just because ASC dumped all its money in Killington and see where that got them.

ya it might take you 4 and a half hours but you must be driving like a grandpa. Mapquest says 3 hours and 45 min and that is going the speed limit but honestly who does that...... I'm not saying Killington isn't a good mountain I'm just saying.... Sugarloaf is a better mountain for a true skier. If you can ski everything at Sugarloaf (woods, moguls, ice, powder, groomers, corn) then you can ski out west with out any issues....

Last time I made it to the Loaf was 3 or so years ago. I know theyve done some road work since then, which Ive already conceeded earlier, which probably saves some time. But Ive still never made it to the loaf in under 4.5 hours (be realistic here, are you not stopping for gas or a piss break?) from Exeter, and Im maybe 15 minutes max off of 95.

Are those glades wall to wall, or a little shot through the woods? I still highly doubt the majority of that boundary to boundary figure (excluding marked runs/glades) is skiable. Nowhere on the east is like that without manual cutting and labor.

 

[thetrailboss]

And how does one drive from Killington to Sunday River in under 1:45?

 

[AdironRider]

1:45 from the River is accurate. I will give you 4.5 hours from Boston going the speed limit the entire way.

Fair enough, this is a trivial argument anyways. I must of just gotten a bad couple days when I made the jaunts up there from the River. Its not like I do that commute regularly.

 

[thetrailboss]

Wow...and a Killington thread gone viral but with Sunday River and Sugarloaf attached....interesting.

 

[lmgrnjeep]

yes those glades are wall to wall..... i skied them all in early april after a foot of snow... wide open treed as well as some small shoots. anything that you want can be had at sugarloaf.... and if you skied there 3 years ago jeez you have missed alot... I definately would recommend a trip this year. with the new quad and the new burnt expansion things are looking up and hopefully back to being the world class resort they once were....