• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Mad River Valley Triage 3/21, 3/22, 3/23

reefer

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
1,282
Points
48
Location
Somewhere Outside
Based on Nicks planning and great late season skiing conditions, DoubleEject and myself headed to the Mad River Valley for few days. Arrived at Mad River Glenn approximately 9:30 Thursday, on the hill by 10:00. Decent mid-week crowd but no lift lines, thought it would be busier considering the snow they just received. Mostly sunny, very little to no wind, don’t think it hit 30 degrees. Skied all over in packed powder conditions. Great, great hill. Kicked our ass. Spent a lot more time than usual exploring the double - trying to pace ourselves…. yeah right. Some tough skiing over there! Just a fantastic day at MRG! Had lunch in the classic General Starks Pub! Great Ham & Apple sandwich! Didn’t expect that quality. Now gets my vote for best on mountain food! Nice!
Checked into the Golden Lion, located on route 100, right at the Sugarbush access road. Great low key place, reasonable rates, hot breakfast included, clean rooms, and great hot tub which we utilized (needed) both nights.
Went to the Den for Burgers. Always a good choice.

Friday after our hearty breakfast, headed up to Lincoln Peak. Met up with Sugarbushskier at 9:00 and the games began! Again mostly sunny, little to no wind, never hit 30. Skied all over the place just following our guide. Mountain was in great shape 100% open. Packed Powder and powder stashes! Finally did Slidebrook. Skied til closing. Amen………………..
Had lunch in the Castlerock Pub. The food and brew got six thumbsup there also.

After discovering we were still alive, we wandered over to the Sugarbush Inn. Met Cornhead and Vinnyv11 for a while. Was hoping to meet the infamous Skotee, but he hadn’t arrived yet. Had dinner there at The Grille. Awesome. This Butternut Squash Lasagna was to die for. Shout out to our bartender MK!
Snowed overnight Friday. Woke up to an inch or two on the vehicle. Leisurely had breakfast, packed up, and headed over to Mt. Ellen to meet WWF-VT for 9:00. Well, well, well, unexpected powder day! I gotta say 4 –8” fell on Mt. Ellen overnight depending on where you were. It was cold, wind howling in places, snow blowing, WOW! Couple times it was surreal and you couldn’t see five feet in front of you. Never fear however. WWF-VT gave us the tour of a lifetime. I did not realize how expansive Ellen is, and the great terrain! Never really waited for a chair all day, on a Saturday! No wind holds that I know of unless the summit went down? Very fortunate! We never thought we would spend the whole day at Ellen, but it was so good. Many trails we skied we had to ourselves. My word of the day was “unbelievable”. I never looked at a trail map and skied pretty much the whole mountain! Big thank you to WWF-VT. Look him up if you’re heading up on a weekend. Mt. Ellen has a new place in my heart. Great option to Lincoln on a Saturday. Food and brews were great there also. Waitstaff was friendly and efficient!
Love the MRV.................






















Our Friday tour guide Sugarbushskier with DoubleEject in Paradise:
















WWF-VT Mt. Ellen expert, surveying some nice pow!






 
Last edited:

xwhaler

Active member
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
Messages
2,943
Points
38
Location
Seacoast NH
Nice!!!!! I was at MRG on Friday with Cornhead....great guy and good skiier. My 1st time to MRG and I loved it---really amazing terraain and vibe....true skier's mtn
I think we got abt 9 runs in before lunch and I had to get going to watch my 7 wk old son :)
Awesome coverage for late March on all natural terrain----little icy in the troughs but no complaints. Hit some nice tight off map woods off Chute that dumped out onto Catamount

I was at Smuggs on Saturday....similar conditions up there as you guys....windy and cold but 6" of fresh and I was getting some untracked lines at 2:30 in the afternoon
I think we all picked a great wknd to be up in Northern VT!
 

Cornhead

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
2,836
Points
48
Great TR reefer, sorry we didn't hook up for some turns, at least we met up where it counts...in the bar. I'm typing this from the infamous Snowshoe Lodge, Warren Center VT. I don't know whether to be happy, or sad, I have a TV that actually works! And WiFi too! Lap o luxury, all for $45 per night! Still got the mirrors over the bed, didn't find anyone in the bar to take advantage of that perk. Hitting Jay tomorrow, got good reports from an employee of Jay at the bar. Not sure where day 5 will be. If Jay is real good, I may stay here, I have vouchers for Burke, and Smuggs too. Maybe Smuggs would be the smartest choice, as it would get me closer to home. We'll see.

What an incredible week of skiing in VT, especially for late March, I'm going to need to get back to work for some R&R! Great skiing with all, xwhaler, vinnyv11, Scott, and of course Scotty. Anyone planning on skiing Jay tomorrow, PM me to hook up for some turns.
 

WWF-VT

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 23, 2005
Messages
2,598
Points
48
Location
MA & Fayston, VT
Awesome day on Saturday at Mt Ellen. It was a pleasure to show you around my home mountain on a powder day.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
331
Points
18
Location
Northern CT
Got to say that Thurs/Fri in the Valley couldn't have been better! Skied solo on Thurs, but met up with Reefer and Double Eject on Friday and skied from open to close. It's been awhile since I did that and it brings back the memories of trying to time it so that we can get that last run in before the lifts close...>:). Slidebrook was great, Paradise Woods, Twist, Eden, Murphys Glades and a few fast groomers at times was a nice mix to the day. Can't believe we never got to Castlerock, but too little time. Weather was perfect, with bluebird skies and comfortable temps.

These guys skied hard all day and I was beat by the end, but loved every minute of it. Hated to head back home Friday night as I would've loved to meet up with other Azers and ski Saturday, but had other commitments.

Keep in touch guys and let me know the next time you're headed to the Valley!
 

reefer

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
1,282
Points
48
Location
Somewhere Outside
Got to say that Thurs/Fri in the Valley couldn't have been better! Skied solo on Thurs, but met up with Reefer and Double Eject on Friday and skied from open to close. It's been awhile since I did that and it brings back the memories of trying to time it so that we can get that last run in before the lifts close...>:). Slidebrook was great, Paradise Woods, Twist, Eden, Murphys Glades and a few fast groomers at times was a nice mix to the day. Can't believe we never got to Castlerock, but too little time. Weather was perfect, with bluebird skies and comfortable temps.

These guys skied hard all day and I was beat by the end, but loved every minute of it. Hated to head back home Friday night as I would've loved to meet up with other Azers and ski Saturday, but had other commitments.

Keep in touch guys and let me know the next time you're headed to the Valley!

Great meeting and skiing with you. Definitely let you know when we come back.
 

Nick

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
13,176
Points
48
Location
Bradenton, FL
Website
www.alpinezone.com
Got to say that Thurs/Fri in the Valley couldn't have been better! Skied solo on Thurs, but met up with Reefer and Double Eject on Friday and skied from open to close. It's been awhile since I did that and it brings back the memories of trying to time it so that we can get that last run in before the lifts close...>:). Slidebrook was great, Paradise Woods, Twist, Eden, Murphys Glades and a few fast groomers at times was a nice mix to the day. Can't believe we never got to Castlerock, but too little time. Weather was perfect, with bluebird skies and comfortable temps.

These guys skied hard all day and I was beat by the end, but loved every minute of it. Hated to head back home Friday night as I would've loved to meet up with other Azers and ski Saturday, but had other commitments.

Keep in touch guys and let me know the next time you're headed to the Valley!

I skied down Castlerock once- went to skier's left of Middle Earth (looking at the map now, not sure if I should have been there) but it was EXCELLENT, I ended up popping out onto Castlerock Connection right near the bridge. Completely untracked, lots of spots where I was able to get a good seven, eight turns in before I ended up in a shrubbery :lol:
 

Cornhead

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
2,836
Points
48
Nick, sorry, didn't mean to ditch you, powder lust, I hit Stein's and it was pretty rough for me, it was windblown, and slick beneath the fresh snow. I had to stop a few times on the way down. Thanks for arranging this get together, it was spectacular, so much for the "AZ Summit Curse", again. I told myself I was nuts joining these AZ events with all the vouchers I've accumulated, again, thanks. The weekend at da Loaf, and this Saturday at da Bush, were my two best days of the season by far, and MRG was great too. I just finished a day at Jay, again spectacular. I will be returning tomorrow, can't imagine anyone else having more snow at this point.
 

WWF-VT

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 23, 2005
Messages
2,598
Points
48
Location
MA & Fayston, VT
I had a lot of fun skiing with reefer and DoubleEject at Mt Ellen on Saturday. On Sunday I took the Slidebrook chair to Lincoln Peak. I took a quick lap on Birch Run then went up Heaven’s Gate chair. I had not skied Paradise in a long time but this weekend the snow was prime so I had to go. Here are a couple of pics:

Paradise_324-1.jpg



Paradise_324-2.jpg



Paradise_324-3.jpg



After Paradise I hustled back to Mt Ellen and skied with gmcunni for a few hours. Great guy to ski with and I was impressed that he drove 4+ hours from CT to ski for the day on Sunday. I took him on his maiden voyage down Hammerhead which is one of many hidden gems at Mt Ellen.
 
Top