Mad River Glen day trip 1/18/20

[Tonyr]

When we head up to Stowe from our home in NYC our routine is to stop over in Manchester VT then the next morning we'll hit Killington or Sugarbush for the day to break up the long ride. This time we tried Mad River Glen for the first time on Saturday as the stop over, what a great place to ski!

As the week started I was really concerned about MLK weekend as it rained hard the weekend before and it pretty much closed down MRG for three days. Luckily it snowed 16 inches there on Thursday and by the time we arrived on Saturday the mountain was fully opened. As an "old man" I have learned to hit the best runs first while I have the most energy so with that line of thinking I went straight to Paradise, boy that run is a good one! Paradise is steep with mandatory air but what made it even more challenging that day was the layer of ice from the weekend before underneath the 16 inches of fresh now. You really had to be on your toes as you'd slid on pretty much every turn. The waterfall in the last picture below was nastier than usual. The guy in the picture hit it hard after me, flew about 20 feet off the waterfall and kept ripping down the trail, it was impressive.......



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[Tonyr]

I hit Fall Line next which was the run of the day. The snow for whatever reason seemed the most stable on that run, it was a fun trail which turned into another fun trail called Creamery.....

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[Tonyr]

Next I hit Chute which is the run right under the single chair. It's looks much worse coming up the lift, after skiing Paradise though those little airs off the rock bands were relatively easy to get by......

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[Tonyr]

I did also hit a number of the marked gladed runs while I was there but wasn't all that impressed and really it's the only negative that I could say about the place. Is it just me or are the glades at MRG very widely spaced? In any event on the last run of the day I went down Lower Antelope and wasn't expecting what I was about to hit. It is a narrow winding, bumped up, rocky, icy trail. I've really never been on anything like it. Then when your at the end of the trail (and exhausted) you have to skate up hill back to the lift, I wasn't ready for that! For me this was the hardest inbounds run on the mountain after Paradise. I hope you enjoyed the report.

Tony

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[jimk]

Wow. That looks like skiing that put a full thatch of hair on your chest Tony!
Love MRG.

 

[Tonyr]

Wow. That looks like skiing that put a full thatch of hair on your chest Tony!
Love MRG.

Yes it was hairy, the MRG experience definitely put a dent in my quads!

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[bdfreetuna]

A lot of MRG glades are widely spaced in the older style of glade cutting. But there's lots of not marked glades that are more like skiing through actual woods.

Usually Lower Antelope is pretty easy, that looked like pure rock face though. Frankly surprised it's open, even for MRG that's pushing it.

Thanks for the report I was thinking of hitting it Friday but I might hold off on that

 

[Tonyr]

That's interesting, I didn't realize that was the old style of cutting glade trails. I was guessing that there are tighter areas off the map.

Yes I would probably hold off on MRG until they get more snow. Lower Antelope was a sheet of bumped up ice and rock exposures all over the place. Even Stowe where they make alot of snow is pretty skied off at this point.

 

[bdfreetuna]

That's interesting, I didn't realize that was the old style of cutting glade trails. I was guessing that there are tighter areas off the map.

Yes I would probably hold off on MRG until they get more snow. Lower Antelope was a sheet of bumped up ice and rock exposures all over the place. Even Stowe where they make alot of snow is pretty skied off at this point.

Look at Doc Dempsy's at Smuggs that's a classic example of the old school glades

 

[prsboogie]

Definition of glade. : an open space surrounded by woods

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[Tonyr]

Definition of glade. : an open space surrounded by woods

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The inbounds glades next door at Sugarbush are much tighter than MRG's. I wasn't used to the very wide spacing there.

 

[bdfreetuna]

MRG is a bit different, the "glades" are more like trails with trees, and if you want to ski woods, pretty much everything you can access from either lift is in play to some degree.

They're sneaky that way I guess. They even have a double diamond hidden trail off the Double Chair. Follow tracks and see where they go.

It is very interesting how different it is right next door at Mt Ellen where woods like Tumbler and Exterminator are basically rabbit holes.

MRG has rabbit holes too but in most cases they are the traverses into more open zones.