Mount Snow - 12.30.2011

[gmcunni]

Date(s) Skied: 12.30.2011

Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow

Conditions: machine groomed man made

Trip Report: Day trip to Mt Snow today with the kids. arrived in Sundance parking lot just after 9:00 AM and got nice spot near the lodge. Inside the lodge was empty. Talked to ticket guy who said it was a transition day, people up for the week were heading home and the weekend crowds were just trickling in. Worked for me, i was expecting horrible crowds.

Conditions were good considering the lack of natural snow. As the day went by anything with pitch got scraped off. Crisscrossed the mountain all day, snow off the canyon lift was nice. Didn't hit the north face but rode up over it late in the day, hard packed for sure.

The only lift line to speak of was the blue bird bubble. with limited trails open the main slopes were pretty crowded. Nitro lift in carinthia was also long but we didnt' wait in it.


was both impressed and disappointed with the bubble lift.
PRO-

• fast
• quiet
• warm

CON-

• the bubble was coated with ice, we had no view. subsequent rides the lifties were trying to clear the glass but it wasn't working well.
• lift was stopping a lot today. there was no wind, not exactly sure what the issue was.
• offloading requires paying attention. the 2 high speed lifts drop you off at basically the same spot and the bubble turns 90 degrees and steers you right to the other lift's exit. plus the bubble and leg rest don't open until right before you get off. fine for anyone who's done it once but noobs beware.

in the bubble

with the holiday crowd you expect to see the unusual and i did spot more than 1 dude sportin' jeans tucked into boots but i was lucky to catch on film an even rarer spectacle, gray sweatpants guy:

 

[thetrailboss]

Wow. That's weird. I would have figured that the bubble itself would raise and lower regardless of the safety bar like the one at the Canyons:

 

[marcski]

with the holiday crowd you expect to see the unusual and i did spot more than 1 dude sportin' jeans tucked into boots but i was lucky to catch on film an even rarer spectacle, gray sweatpants guy:

Those are the flanel lined carhart sweats, no doubt.

Sounds like a pretty good day considering the lack of snow and holiday week double whammy.

You can ride the lift with the bubble up, can't you?

 

[Glenn]

Yes, you can opt to leave the bubble up.

I've noticed the lift seems to stop a lot as well. Last weekend, we opted to ride the Grand Summit. I think a lot of people are falling when unloading.

 

[gmcunni]

Last weekend, we opted to ride the Grand Summit. I think a lot of people are falling when unloading.

that's the smart move but the novelty of the bubble was a big draw. plus the comfort & warmth were nice

 

[drjeff]

Rumor today was that the snowmaking crew won't be hammering lodge with ground guns during the day with the bubbles running! Kind of weird riding up in the bubble with it coated with manmade wet, base snow -in you got to the top and just your boot area was frosted and you were dry! Bottomline -we need some natural snow!

 

[Newpylong]

The 6 Pack got 1 ride from me for novelty purposes and it's been Old Faithful Grand Summit Express ever since. If it's a frigid day it may be another story but the lines are always less on the Quad.

if you think about it, it is pretty awesome to have 2 High Speed options to the Summit. It really helps lapping the front which was pretty damn impossible on weekends before. I wasted half of my day riding the Sundance or Ego tripes to avoid the lines...

 

[riverc0il]

if you think about it, it is pretty awesome to have 2 High Speed options to the Summit.

Does any other mountain have two top to bottom high speed chairs servicing the same extract trails?

 

[steamboat1]

Does any other mountain have two top to bottom high speed chairs servicing the same extract trails?

If I remember right Keystone, CO has a 8 pass. gondola & a HSQ running side by side up the main mountain.

 

[carbonXshell]

A no brainer would've been to install one of these instead, LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4qhmnjktx0&t=6m54s

 

[Newpylong]

If I remember right Keystone, CO has a 8 pass. gondola & a HSQ running side by side up the main mountain.

You are right, I do remember that. Both are top to bottom next to each other.

http://cosnow.com/files/2010/11/photo-21.jpg

 

[Method9455]

Does any other mountain have two top to bottom high speed chairs servicing the same extract trails?

Blue Mountain PA.

 

[steamboat1]

Not high speed but back in the day Stowe had a single & double chair run side by side up Mt. Mansfield top to bottom so the concept is not exactly new.

edit: I'm not sure but that double could very well be the Lookout chair which is still in service today only relocated a bit to the left of the main line.

and you guys thought you were old...:razz:

 

[riverc0il]

Fixed grips running parallel and/or arriving at the same summit location is much more common. And there are even a few high speeds running next to fixed grips. Blue Mountain as noted by Method9455 may be one of the few in the east along with Mount Snow. I can't think of any others in New England.

 

[Newpylong]

Definitely many FG and HS/FG next to each other. Dual HS is a rarity though...

 

[steamboat1]

Le Massif has 3 high speed top to bottom lifts which although not right next to each other have all the terrain serviced off them accessible by any of them. Two HSQ's (one with a mid station that detaches the chairs, pretty cool) & a HS gondola. A little traversing involved, the top of the mountain is a wide flat ridge & you can get to any of them traversing at the bottom also. Does that count?

 

[mister moose]

Stage 2 of the Skyship gondola and the Needles high speed quad both run up each side of Needles Eye at Killington.

 

[oakapple]

Stage 2 of the Skyship gondola and the Needles high speed quad both run up each side of Needles Eye at Killington.

Right, but they don't service the identical terrain, the way the two Mount Snow lifts do. Needles terminates quite a bit lower than Skyeship. For comparison: Needles is 3,286 feet long with a 971-foot vertical rise. Sykeship 2 is 5,052 feet long with a 1,342-foot vertical rise.

At Mount Snow, both terminals of the HS Quad and the HS Sixpack are within a few feet of one another.

As others have noted, occurrences of two fixed-grip lifts on practically the same line, or a fixed-grip alongside a high-speed lift, are so common as to be unremarkable.