billski
Active member
Date(s) Skied: 1/16/2011
Resort or Ski Area: Middlebury Snow Bowl
Conditions: Powder-Packed powder, No Wind. Sunny, Temps in the teens.
Trip Report: See below
Vermont Ski Safari 2011
Magic - Day 1
Jay Peak - Day 2
Cochrans & Middlebury - Day 3
OMG. That's what I said when my boards set foot on the snow for the first time, and for the last time. Middlebury Ski Bowl is one rockin' hill, hidden away, kinda hard to get to (but not near as hard as Balsams!).
This was my first visit. I was expecting to see an Ascutney-style mountain, with fairly Bohemian infrastructure. I couldn't have been more wrong. Let's start by declaring that their web site does and absolutely lousy job of portraying the mountain and its resources. It looks diminutive, both in terms of terrain, challenge and facilities. Nope.
Gotta tell you though, the ride S on 100 through Granville Notch was drop-dead gorgeous with all the new snow.
Driving over the Middlebury gap, descending and seeing the Ski Bowl sign was shocking. Cars were parked out to the road, every which way. Uh-oh, trouble in River City. Turns out there was a Masters race. I thought I am getting old. Damn, these 70-somethings are out their in their racing skins burning up the steep course that seemed to go on forever.
I looked around outside for a few minutes, noticed the quad fairly full but no lift lines. The start building from the former ski jump remained. The main lifts were modern fixed grip quad and triple. Not that they needed the capacity! I went inside, it was an absolute mob scene. The lift tickets are funky old formats from the 70's, tiny with the date applied with a hand stamp. Kind of an upgrade from Cochrans earlier in the day. After skiing for a while, I made the comment that everyone was in the lodge and nobody was on the hill. "Yeah, that's because it's race day." We have a winner! Here I am, on MLK Sunday, skiing on and off, and finding nobody on some of the marked trails I hit.
On the lift, I met up with an instructor, Leslie, who offered to give me a tour. I must have had a million questions, and I learned a lot. We started on a blue/Fletcher on the backside, which turns into a black/Liftline (huh? I thought the areas fixed that problem years ago!) The trails were buttery packed and loose powder, getting fairly bumped up in the middle. Leslie informs me that bumps are not their forte. Bumps are mowed down nightly. Sundowners need not apply I suppose. The high base elevation protects it from some of the nasty weather seen elsewhere.
Leslie skied flawlessly. She indicated that Middlebury has perhaps the highest percentage of PSIA, fully certified instructors of any resort in the East. She said it became a sort of competition among the instructors to reach that level. She also made clear that Middlebury is not a beginner's mountain. They start instruction with Level 3's (maybe higher, I may have missed the number.) She primarily teaches skilled skiers. She also noted that racing is a big deal here, with a large number of skiers being racers.
Leslie also noted that it's customers are not collegiate as you might think. She said the overwhelming majority of the skiers/boarders are locals. Hey, the price is right. She indicated that there never is a lift line here, even on the highest of holiday days. In fact, the number of skiers here is consistently low, as she pointed to a blue trail and said "See that? (about 5 skiers on a trail), that's crowded!"
But above all, the trails skied impeccably delightfully. If you couldn't edge, you've got a problem. Scracthy-ness wall limed to a center line on one of of blacks. Every trail and glade was fully open. I saw zero ropes. There had been about 6" fresh from the night before. Ah, heaven. Leslie said greens ski like blues, blues like blacks and so on. "Like MRG?" I questioned. "No, it's different, and hard to explain." She's right, and I think it has to do with the grooming. There's nothing like Birdland here either. And while we're mentioning it, no parks or halfpipes.
The mountain skis bigger than it seems. I've heard this before about Middlebury, and I've said it before, but this is on a grander scale. It has the challenge of Burke, but only half the vertical. It has some flats at the top, but quickly turns steep. The Master's course was long and steep. Some of the greens can have runouts at the bottom that can even go uphill, so watch out.
Now for the woods. Leslie gave me a tour, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. After two days of bumps at Magic and trees and Jay, and then the rope and t-bar at Cochrans, my legs were hurtin', even when I arose in the morning. I got the skinny on all the entry points and the challenge of each and what to expect, but we didn't spend a lot of time. I went back to them for a little bit after we said adieu. But the most amazing thing is that nobody, I mean nobody has tracked them. There were some older tracks, probably Polski's but they were well covered under the 6" of fresh. Most of the stuff had been pruned to some extent, mostly medium-spaced trees. They seemed ready to go, but Leslie was not so sure. The sides of the groomers had tons of untracked all day.
It just goes to show how skier volume affects the sweet stuff.
I think all of those tracks are mine, and the others are covered in 6".
The acid test - would I go back again and would I recommend it? Yes and Yes. I would certainly recommend it to strong intermediates and higher who want an enjoyable day, and for developing intermediate who want to progress and be challenged.
It was another day where it was difficult to stop skiing, no matter how sore I was. Every run was delightful.
Resort or Ski Area: Middlebury Snow Bowl
Conditions: Powder-Packed powder, No Wind. Sunny, Temps in the teens.
Trip Report: See below
Vermont Ski Safari 2011
Magic - Day 1
Jay Peak - Day 2
Cochrans & Middlebury - Day 3
OMG. That's what I said when my boards set foot on the snow for the first time, and for the last time. Middlebury Ski Bowl is one rockin' hill, hidden away, kinda hard to get to (but not near as hard as Balsams!).
This was my first visit. I was expecting to see an Ascutney-style mountain, with fairly Bohemian infrastructure. I couldn't have been more wrong. Let's start by declaring that their web site does and absolutely lousy job of portraying the mountain and its resources. It looks diminutive, both in terms of terrain, challenge and facilities. Nope.
Gotta tell you though, the ride S on 100 through Granville Notch was drop-dead gorgeous with all the new snow.
Driving over the Middlebury gap, descending and seeing the Ski Bowl sign was shocking. Cars were parked out to the road, every which way. Uh-oh, trouble in River City. Turns out there was a Masters race. I thought I am getting old. Damn, these 70-somethings are out their in their racing skins burning up the steep course that seemed to go on forever.
I looked around outside for a few minutes, noticed the quad fairly full but no lift lines. The start building from the former ski jump remained. The main lifts were modern fixed grip quad and triple. Not that they needed the capacity! I went inside, it was an absolute mob scene. The lift tickets are funky old formats from the 70's, tiny with the date applied with a hand stamp. Kind of an upgrade from Cochrans earlier in the day. After skiing for a while, I made the comment that everyone was in the lodge and nobody was on the hill. "Yeah, that's because it's race day." We have a winner! Here I am, on MLK Sunday, skiing on and off, and finding nobody on some of the marked trails I hit.
On the lift, I met up with an instructor, Leslie, who offered to give me a tour. I must have had a million questions, and I learned a lot. We started on a blue/Fletcher on the backside, which turns into a black/Liftline (huh? I thought the areas fixed that problem years ago!) The trails were buttery packed and loose powder, getting fairly bumped up in the middle. Leslie informs me that bumps are not their forte. Bumps are mowed down nightly. Sundowners need not apply I suppose. The high base elevation protects it from some of the nasty weather seen elsewhere.
Leslie skied flawlessly. She indicated that Middlebury has perhaps the highest percentage of PSIA, fully certified instructors of any resort in the East. She said it became a sort of competition among the instructors to reach that level. She also made clear that Middlebury is not a beginner's mountain. They start instruction with Level 3's (maybe higher, I may have missed the number.) She primarily teaches skilled skiers. She also noted that racing is a big deal here, with a large number of skiers being racers.
Leslie also noted that it's customers are not collegiate as you might think. She said the overwhelming majority of the skiers/boarders are locals. Hey, the price is right. She indicated that there never is a lift line here, even on the highest of holiday days. In fact, the number of skiers here is consistently low, as she pointed to a blue trail and said "See that? (about 5 skiers on a trail), that's crowded!"
But above all, the trails skied impeccably delightfully. If you couldn't edge, you've got a problem. Scracthy-ness wall limed to a center line on one of of blacks. Every trail and glade was fully open. I saw zero ropes. There had been about 6" fresh from the night before. Ah, heaven. Leslie said greens ski like blues, blues like blacks and so on. "Like MRG?" I questioned. "No, it's different, and hard to explain." She's right, and I think it has to do with the grooming. There's nothing like Birdland here either. And while we're mentioning it, no parks or halfpipes.
The mountain skis bigger than it seems. I've heard this before about Middlebury, and I've said it before, but this is on a grander scale. It has the challenge of Burke, but only half the vertical. It has some flats at the top, but quickly turns steep. The Master's course was long and steep. Some of the greens can have runouts at the bottom that can even go uphill, so watch out.
Now for the woods. Leslie gave me a tour, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. After two days of bumps at Magic and trees and Jay, and then the rope and t-bar at Cochrans, my legs were hurtin', even when I arose in the morning. I got the skinny on all the entry points and the challenge of each and what to expect, but we didn't spend a lot of time. I went back to them for a little bit after we said adieu. But the most amazing thing is that nobody, I mean nobody has tracked them. There were some older tracks, probably Polski's but they were well covered under the 6" of fresh. Most of the stuff had been pruned to some extent, mostly medium-spaced trees. They seemed ready to go, but Leslie was not so sure. The sides of the groomers had tons of untracked all day.
It just goes to show how skier volume affects the sweet stuff.
I think all of those tracks are mine, and the others are covered in 6".
The acid test - would I go back again and would I recommend it? Yes and Yes. I would certainly recommend it to strong intermediates and higher who want an enjoyable day, and for developing intermediate who want to progress and be challenged.
It was another day where it was difficult to stop skiing, no matter how sore I was. Every run was delightful.
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