Zand
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: Monday 1/21/08 (MLK)
Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow, VT
Conditions: Great just about all around... mostly cloudy with temps in the single digits
Trip Report:
Hoping the cold would scare people off, I departed at 7:30 and arrived at a dead Carinthia base just before 10. Got right on the lift and took a warmup run down Nitro and jumped in the pipe as well. Nitro was very nice in the morning with plenty of corduroy still left to the sides. The pipe (IMO... I'm used to Wachusett's pipe so my definition of good may be off) was excellent.
Skied back on the quad and took Milky Way into Sunbrook and checked outn Beartrap for a run. Lots of widely spaced bumps and frozen granular in between. Very little scraped, just lots of frozen granular. Just excellent shape. If you want big bumps, hit skiers right. Smaller bumps are down the middle, and they ran a groomer down the left side.
Took the slow Sunbrook quad to the top and headed over to Fallen Timbers. The snow report wasn't lying, beautiful bumps wall-to-wall top-to-bottom. Snow was a dense manmade that grooved deeply and was perfect for turning in.
Next run was Upper Challenger to Freefall. Upper Challenger was a scraped off and dirty mess that probably shouldn't really be open. As for Freefall, they also left this ungroomed after last night's snowmaking assult and the result was just about a carbon copy of Chute on November 12, just not quite as bumpy. It had the same dense snow as Fallen Timbers, but was flat at 10:45 which meant lots of short snappy turns the whole way down.
Next up was Freefall to PDF to Plummet. PDF was a bit like Challenger, except just a bit better. Plummet was groomed and was actually scraped quite a bit when I went down it.
Me, being the adventurous type, decided to check out Ripcord next run. I quickly figured out why no one else was going down it. Just about the entire headwall was an ice base with a powder mogul here and there on the left side. About halfway down I messed up a turn and shot across to the right side which was rocks and ice. The next powder mogul was about 75 feet down from where I was because there was so little snow on that side so after looking at my options for 10 minutes I sat down and slowly slid on my edges. It was a bit scary... if I caught an edge I would've slid the entire headwall. Lucky, I made it to the small powder spot I was eyeing and was able to ski down from there. Rough run.
It was about noon and I was hungry and cold, so I took the triple and was ready to push through the masses at the summit. As I approached the Summit Quad, I see empty chairs, chairs with single riders, and at the same time the Summit triple was closed. The summit was deserted. This is a holiday? And at Mount Snow for that matter? Wow. I took Deer Run down to Mine Shaft to Stuggers Chute to the Superpipe. All were in good shape.
After walking-in to the cafeteria instead of waiting 15 minutes like last time (and the cheeseburger was actually good this time), I headed back out at 12:30. Took Milky Way from the Quad. I took a dumb wipeout right at the flat part at the top for everyone at the unload area to see. After a little humiliation, I headed down and took 4 or so runs on Beartrap.
Took Deer Run all the way down to the deserted Main Base and skied right on the Summit Quad (holiday?). Came right back down on Exhibition which was nicely groomed the entire way with nice packed snow. Took Yardsale at the bottom which was very scraped off.
Back up to the summit for a run down South Bowl to Ego Alley. South Bowl was scraped much of the way but Ego Alley was almost untouched corduroy. Awesome.
Next run was Upper Canyon to Snowdance. Canyon was a little scraped, but not bad. Snowdance was reported ungroomed so I checked it out. Most of it was in fact groomed with a few ungroomed spots on the right that sported the most dense snow I've ever skied. I felt like my boots were going to separate from my skis in there so I just took the groomed part down.
Took one more ride to the top and warmed up in the summit for a little while, then went to the North Face at 2:15. I took 3 runs down Freefall and 2 down Fallen Timbers. Freefall was getting a little scratchy in places, but the snow was still excellent for the most part with some bumps starting to form. Over on Fallen Timbers, the snow was still great and the bumps were bigger than in the morning. If anyone is heading up there in the next few days, you won't be disappointed. Unfortunately, during all this fun, my goggles decided to fog up and froze. I did my best to clear a window with my hand warmers, but had to do it every run as they kept fogging.
At 3:35, I headed down Long John with hopes of getting a couple more runs on Beartrap. Somewhere I took a wrong turn and ended up on Deer Run and missed Beartrap. It would take too long to get back around, so I decided to cruise around Carinthia for the last half hour. I took Mine Shaft to Iron Run to Superpipe twice. Iron Run had thin cover but was decent. Pipe was still good.
Last run, I poached the top part of Claim Jumper. It had very crusty snow which if they gave it a chance to be skied in, it would be great. The cover was pretty good. I then took Tunnel Vision to Prospector, which was groomed and nice. I took Lower Iron Run off of Nitro which had more grass and dirt than snow, yet it was open and Claim Jumper wasn't. Odd. Took one last run in the pipe to close out the day.
It was a great day with the amazing lack of crowds. My next Snow appearance will probably be sometime next month. I'll be at Wachusett Friday night. I'm also considering Beast for Super Bowl Sunday if they get some natural as that would still leave me with time to get home and see the whole game.
Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow, VT
Conditions: Great just about all around... mostly cloudy with temps in the single digits
Trip Report:
Hoping the cold would scare people off, I departed at 7:30 and arrived at a dead Carinthia base just before 10. Got right on the lift and took a warmup run down Nitro and jumped in the pipe as well. Nitro was very nice in the morning with plenty of corduroy still left to the sides. The pipe (IMO... I'm used to Wachusett's pipe so my definition of good may be off) was excellent.
Skied back on the quad and took Milky Way into Sunbrook and checked outn Beartrap for a run. Lots of widely spaced bumps and frozen granular in between. Very little scraped, just lots of frozen granular. Just excellent shape. If you want big bumps, hit skiers right. Smaller bumps are down the middle, and they ran a groomer down the left side.
Took the slow Sunbrook quad to the top and headed over to Fallen Timbers. The snow report wasn't lying, beautiful bumps wall-to-wall top-to-bottom. Snow was a dense manmade that grooved deeply and was perfect for turning in.
Next run was Upper Challenger to Freefall. Upper Challenger was a scraped off and dirty mess that probably shouldn't really be open. As for Freefall, they also left this ungroomed after last night's snowmaking assult and the result was just about a carbon copy of Chute on November 12, just not quite as bumpy. It had the same dense snow as Fallen Timbers, but was flat at 10:45 which meant lots of short snappy turns the whole way down.
Next up was Freefall to PDF to Plummet. PDF was a bit like Challenger, except just a bit better. Plummet was groomed and was actually scraped quite a bit when I went down it.
Me, being the adventurous type, decided to check out Ripcord next run. I quickly figured out why no one else was going down it. Just about the entire headwall was an ice base with a powder mogul here and there on the left side. About halfway down I messed up a turn and shot across to the right side which was rocks and ice. The next powder mogul was about 75 feet down from where I was because there was so little snow on that side so after looking at my options for 10 minutes I sat down and slowly slid on my edges. It was a bit scary... if I caught an edge I would've slid the entire headwall. Lucky, I made it to the small powder spot I was eyeing and was able to ski down from there. Rough run.
It was about noon and I was hungry and cold, so I took the triple and was ready to push through the masses at the summit. As I approached the Summit Quad, I see empty chairs, chairs with single riders, and at the same time the Summit triple was closed. The summit was deserted. This is a holiday? And at Mount Snow for that matter? Wow. I took Deer Run down to Mine Shaft to Stuggers Chute to the Superpipe. All were in good shape.
After walking-in to the cafeteria instead of waiting 15 minutes like last time (and the cheeseburger was actually good this time), I headed back out at 12:30. Took Milky Way from the Quad. I took a dumb wipeout right at the flat part at the top for everyone at the unload area to see. After a little humiliation, I headed down and took 4 or so runs on Beartrap.
Took Deer Run all the way down to the deserted Main Base and skied right on the Summit Quad (holiday?). Came right back down on Exhibition which was nicely groomed the entire way with nice packed snow. Took Yardsale at the bottom which was very scraped off.
Back up to the summit for a run down South Bowl to Ego Alley. South Bowl was scraped much of the way but Ego Alley was almost untouched corduroy. Awesome.
Next run was Upper Canyon to Snowdance. Canyon was a little scraped, but not bad. Snowdance was reported ungroomed so I checked it out. Most of it was in fact groomed with a few ungroomed spots on the right that sported the most dense snow I've ever skied. I felt like my boots were going to separate from my skis in there so I just took the groomed part down.
Took one more ride to the top and warmed up in the summit for a little while, then went to the North Face at 2:15. I took 3 runs down Freefall and 2 down Fallen Timbers. Freefall was getting a little scratchy in places, but the snow was still excellent for the most part with some bumps starting to form. Over on Fallen Timbers, the snow was still great and the bumps were bigger than in the morning. If anyone is heading up there in the next few days, you won't be disappointed. Unfortunately, during all this fun, my goggles decided to fog up and froze. I did my best to clear a window with my hand warmers, but had to do it every run as they kept fogging.
At 3:35, I headed down Long John with hopes of getting a couple more runs on Beartrap. Somewhere I took a wrong turn and ended up on Deer Run and missed Beartrap. It would take too long to get back around, so I decided to cruise around Carinthia for the last half hour. I took Mine Shaft to Iron Run to Superpipe twice. Iron Run had thin cover but was decent. Pipe was still good.
Last run, I poached the top part of Claim Jumper. It had very crusty snow which if they gave it a chance to be skied in, it would be great. The cover was pretty good. I then took Tunnel Vision to Prospector, which was groomed and nice. I took Lower Iron Run off of Nitro which had more grass and dirt than snow, yet it was open and Claim Jumper wasn't. Odd. Took one last run in the pipe to close out the day.
It was a great day with the amazing lack of crowds. My next Snow appearance will probably be sometime next month. I'll be at Wachusett Friday night. I'm also considering Beast for Super Bowl Sunday if they get some natural as that would still leave me with time to get home and see the whole game.
