billski
Active member
Date(s) Skied: Monday January 2, 2005
Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow, Vermont
Conditions: P/PP/FGR(under)
Trip Report:
Debating between Cannon and Mount Snow, settled on MS after the NOAA 24 accum map showed a nice sweetspot in So. Central VT of 4-5", which MS also reported.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/snowmaps/sf1_today.jpg
Overall conditions were much better than I anticipated. A solid FGR base was intact for almost the entire trail system. Atop the base was a pretty significant heavy powder mix, which tended to get pushed around from side, to middle, to side, as the day progressed. A few black few trails remained closed, particularly over on North Face, Plumer, Jaws for instance. Snow guns ran all day on these trails.
No boilerplate anywhere to be found. Exposed surfaces here and there were FGR, no dirt/rocks. If your edges were sharp, no problem; If not, scoot about 5 yards and you'd find plenty of powder to turn on.
Trails were fast thanks to the FGR.
Resort was busy but never crowded. No line extended more than about 5 mins, most averaged about 2 mins.
It was a warm day, with temps hovering in the low 30's to hi 20's. Sunny in the am, cloudy in the PM. No wind at all. Vistas were variable as the clouds passed by.
Went with another SkiDad and we each brought a teen daughter. If you're familiar with this scenario, you know it means "late start" by definition. Tip, if you arrive later, park at Sundance base (technically closed midweek, but building is open, lift running.) It's a great place to park, about a 1 minute walk to the base lodge from a 10:30am parking spot! Short lift hop to the larger lifts.
Started on some blues, Lodge, Ledge, Choke, Canyon. Lots of good snow, some bumps, good cruisers. Good stuff for intermediates.
Took time out for a couple of NASTAR runs, the four of us. The course was quite fast, and times were commensurate. It was a well-run course, but kinda expensive - $7/2runs, most places charge $5. While $10 was unlimited, we limited our time to 2 runs. I was suprised to see it open, since most areas considered Monday as technically non-holiday as did MS which had reduced lifts and services.
Base lodge is deceivingly large, since it's not one large space, but lots of nooks and crannies. One of the nicest food service areas I've seen, though we spent nearly $18 for lunch of burgers, soup, fries, drinks. I'm told that it's a mob scene on the weekends.
Glades were open, but only a few souls were in them. Cover looked good. All the glades are black diamonds. Wish they had some "Blue" rated glades; I believe there is a market here.
Wandered over to north face twice during the day. It's primarily a black trail system there. only about half the trails were opened (see earlier remark). Spent time on Freefall, challenger, Olmypic. The girls kept up pretty well, given they don't spend a lot of time in the blacks. They are pretty well designed trails. Coverage was excellent, scrapy spots only here and there, nothing to whine about. Freefall was the only bumped up trail. I assume last week's rain forced them to flatten them out. Other trails my skiDad bud indicated that usually had bumps were flat. Not much else to say other than those trails were great, fast cruisers, not a lot of folks on the trails, though slightly more croweded than I have come to expect during the week.
The girls were tiring by about 330, so we went for a green, Long John, at their request. We found out where all the beginners were! And boy, that trail was crowded with them. Most seemed to be doing fairly well, all though most skied as if they had nuclear ammunition in their pockets. We all agreed it was no place for us. We had to practice a great deal of restraint to keep from scaring the ying-and-yang out of them.
Back to the blues for a final run, suprised to find the surfaces not scraped off as I anticipated. They've got a very good base on the Mt. which will serve them well the next 3 months.
Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow, Vermont
Conditions: P/PP/FGR(under)
Trip Report:
Debating between Cannon and Mount Snow, settled on MS after the NOAA 24 accum map showed a nice sweetspot in So. Central VT of 4-5", which MS also reported.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/snowmaps/sf1_today.jpg
Overall conditions were much better than I anticipated. A solid FGR base was intact for almost the entire trail system. Atop the base was a pretty significant heavy powder mix, which tended to get pushed around from side, to middle, to side, as the day progressed. A few black few trails remained closed, particularly over on North Face, Plumer, Jaws for instance. Snow guns ran all day on these trails.
No boilerplate anywhere to be found. Exposed surfaces here and there were FGR, no dirt/rocks. If your edges were sharp, no problem; If not, scoot about 5 yards and you'd find plenty of powder to turn on.
Trails were fast thanks to the FGR.
Resort was busy but never crowded. No line extended more than about 5 mins, most averaged about 2 mins.
It was a warm day, with temps hovering in the low 30's to hi 20's. Sunny in the am, cloudy in the PM. No wind at all. Vistas were variable as the clouds passed by.
Went with another SkiDad and we each brought a teen daughter. If you're familiar with this scenario, you know it means "late start" by definition. Tip, if you arrive later, park at Sundance base (technically closed midweek, but building is open, lift running.) It's a great place to park, about a 1 minute walk to the base lodge from a 10:30am parking spot! Short lift hop to the larger lifts.
Started on some blues, Lodge, Ledge, Choke, Canyon. Lots of good snow, some bumps, good cruisers. Good stuff for intermediates.
Took time out for a couple of NASTAR runs, the four of us. The course was quite fast, and times were commensurate. It was a well-run course, but kinda expensive - $7/2runs, most places charge $5. While $10 was unlimited, we limited our time to 2 runs. I was suprised to see it open, since most areas considered Monday as technically non-holiday as did MS which had reduced lifts and services.
Base lodge is deceivingly large, since it's not one large space, but lots of nooks and crannies. One of the nicest food service areas I've seen, though we spent nearly $18 for lunch of burgers, soup, fries, drinks. I'm told that it's a mob scene on the weekends.
Glades were open, but only a few souls were in them. Cover looked good. All the glades are black diamonds. Wish they had some "Blue" rated glades; I believe there is a market here.
Wandered over to north face twice during the day. It's primarily a black trail system there. only about half the trails were opened (see earlier remark). Spent time on Freefall, challenger, Olmypic. The girls kept up pretty well, given they don't spend a lot of time in the blacks. They are pretty well designed trails. Coverage was excellent, scrapy spots only here and there, nothing to whine about. Freefall was the only bumped up trail. I assume last week's rain forced them to flatten them out. Other trails my skiDad bud indicated that usually had bumps were flat. Not much else to say other than those trails were great, fast cruisers, not a lot of folks on the trails, though slightly more croweded than I have come to expect during the week.
The girls were tiring by about 330, so we went for a green, Long John, at their request. We found out where all the beginners were! And boy, that trail was crowded with them. Most seemed to be doing fairly well, all though most skied as if they had nuclear ammunition in their pockets. We all agreed it was no place for us. We had to practice a great deal of restraint to keep from scaring the ying-and-yang out of them.
Back to the blues for a final run, suprised to find the surfaces not scraped off as I anticipated. They've got a very good base on the Mt. which will serve them well the next 3 months.
