Mount Southington January 2nd 2006

[loafer89]

Date Skied: 1/02/2006

Area Skied: Mount Southington

Surface Conditions: Spring Like

It only took my family 20 minutes to drive here from Powder Ridge, and while I hate to waste money, the conditions and crowds were MUCH better.

Lift tickets were $31 dollars for me and $8 for my son. The snowcover was much deeper that at Powder Ridge with 14 out of 15 trails open. Crowds were not bad, and we never waited more than 5 minutes for any lift.

We skied every trail except for the begginer one from the top. My son took his first T-bar lift ride with me, and he did it twice without falling :beer:

The snow surface was spring like with lots of soft snow on the trail edges. We ended the day at 4:30 having done 7 runs from the top.

We left just before the rain hit, as we encountered rain that started in Waterbury and was mixed with snow as we went south on route 8.

 

[Greg]

Ah yes...the mighty Mount Southington - first place I've ever skied. Thanks for the report. Glad it was better than the Powder Pimple experience...

 

[loafer89]

Powder Ridge looks like it is self destructing, it is really worn down. I am curious what is wrong with the summit triple chair? All of the chairs were removed and piled up at the top of the lift, but they were running the lift? it almost looks like it was being tested, perhaps it failed some inspection, what a suprise that would be :roll:

I liked Mount Southington, it was better than Powder Ridge and it was the last place in Connecticut my son has not been to. He likes Sundown best in C.T while I like Mohawk better.

Next weekend we are of to Mount Snow.

 

[Greg]

He likes Sundown best in C.T while I like Mohawk better.

I agree with your son here. Sundown is a bit steeper than Mohawk while Mohawk has more trails. Off to Sundown tomorrow night hopefully. Looking like up to a foot!

 

[loafer89]

I only like Mohawk because they almost always have moguls on Wildwood, which it fairly challenging for Connectcut. Woodbury has some on the main face of the "hill" but they have $$$$$ lift tickets for 300' of vertical.

Have fun at Sundown, it's pouring rain here at home and 37F, we expect 50+ mph winds tomorrow, fun :roll:

 

[Vortex]

Informative. Glad you got out.

 

[Paul]

Powder Ridge looks like it is self destructing, it is really worn down. I am curious what is wrong with the summit triple chair? All of the chairs were removed and piled up at the top of the lift, but they were running the lift? it almost looks like it was being tested, perhaps it failed some inspection, what a suprise that would be :roll:

I liked Mount Southington, it was better than Powder Ridge and it was the last place in Connecticut my son has not been to. He likes Sundown best in C.T while I like Mohawk better.

Next weekend we are of to Mount Snow.

I was told on Sun. that there is an electrical problem with the triple, they are working on it and hope to have it corrected by the end of the week. Unfortunately, I'm a season pass holder there only because the wife and 5 yr. old are still learning, its close to home and work, and with the purchace of one pass, the kid got one for free. So it cost the three of us $400 for the season. Still not sure it was worth it though. The nice thing is, we can be there in a half-hour. Next year I'm sure we'll go bigger and better, but for now, its more important for me to have the kiddo out more often on a crappy hill than less often on a good one.

 

[loafer89]

I agree with you that some turns are better than none. We only went there because it was A)cheap and B)close to home.

Why would they have removed the chairs from the lift to fix an electrical problem? Call me a sceptic, but I do not see that chair operating anytime soon.

 

[Paul]

I agree with you that some turns are better than none. We only went there because it was A)cheap and B)close to home.

Why would they have removed the chairs from the lift to fix an electrical problem? Call me a sceptic, but I do not see that chair operating anytime soon.

We (the Wife and I) think it may be to reduce the load on the motor. They may want to add chairs one, or a few, at a time to see at what point the threshold is exceeded in order to locate the problem.

Of course, this is just two engineers getting geeky about the problem... :dunce:

 

[bvibert]

I don't think its too un-common to remove all the chairs in the off season for maintenance/testing. They probably never made it back on yet this year...

 

[Paul]

I don't think its too un-common to remove all the chairs in the off season for maintenance/testing. They probably never made it back on yet this year...

True....however it was running 2 weeks ago.

 

[loafer89]

I have only been to Powder Ridge 3 times in 13 years. The first time I was there in January 1993, they had the whole place open. Last January 1st, and this January 2nd, they only had two trails open from the top.

Do they open the rest of the mountain with snowmaking, or just leave it up to mother nature? I only ask because some of the trails looked a bit overgrown with weeds/brush.

 

[Greg]

I only like Mohawk because they almost always have moguls on Wildwood, which it fairly challenging for Connectcut.

Look for Gunbarrel at Sundown to return to its former claim to fame as CT's best bump run. I recall some really great spring bumps there back maybe 10 years ago. The terrain park is now on Stinger so Gunbarrel (which is a far more consistent and steeper pitch than that section of Wildwood) should see some bumps. I'll report back after tonight. Looking forward to skiing the crud.

 

[bvibert]

I don't think its too un-common to remove all the chairs in the off season for maintenance/testing. They probably never made it back on yet this year...

True....however it was running 2 weeks ago.

Ah... In that case... I have no idea...