Mountain Creek Sojourn Double removed

[legalskier]

The new trail will be a mile and a quarter long and rated intermediate. It has not been named yet. Clearing and cutting has begun and management is hoping it will be ready for this season. It will be lighted and have 100 percent snowmaking by the 2011-12 season. Shuttle buses will be used to move guests between peaks until the trial is ready for prime time.

In the top trial map, the new trail connecting the the top of South Peak with the middle of Granite Peak is marked in green. In the undated trail map at the bottom. The red line connecting mid-section of South Peak to the top of Granite Peak was the location of the Sojourn Double Chair (R.I.P.).
http://blog.nj.com/skiing/2010/10/in_with_a_new_trail_out_with_a.html

Since mostly boarders will be using this trail to get back to VV I expect many of them to be annoyed at the amount of walking they will do on the trail. The uphill section on that trail was at least twice as much a pain as the flat section at the end of the "southern sojourn" trail.

If the new trail connects to Granite Peak below that section, no worries; but that's hard to tell from the illustration.

 

[bensonr2]

I still think its going to basically rejoin the granite view trail right by the uphill section. Obviously I'm just speculating based on the very few details they have provided. But I believe the old condos above the minerals spa resort come pretty far up the hill side and prevent the trail from going much lower. And in their new trail map the new trail intersects with the bottom of the pipeline trail just as granite view did.

Not to mention there is a pond along the southern sojourn trail that provides water for snow making. The new interconnecting trail will need to come in above that I believe.

 

[bensonr2]

Just a quick update to this thread. I noticed on the Mountain Creek website they have posted a new trail map. The only difference I noticed is they added a bubble "new lodge coming soon" at the Vernon Valley base area.

I was curious if anyone heard anything.

Oh also there was one other minor change. They changed the name of two trails back to the original name.

 

[bensonr2]

I was looking at the Mountain Creek site and I noticed the latest version of the trail map does not seem to include the connector trail back to granite.

I wonder if they gave up on the idea as soon as they discovered a little thing called gravity. Or if it turned out the state was going to give them a hard time clearing tree's for a new trail.

 

[Rob A]

They had originally announced the new trail to be put in this year for sure, with full lighting and snowmaking, with the possibly of it opening last year. And now it seems they have removed all word of it from their site. 2 separate resorts for another season?

 

[ERJ-145CA]

Just a quick update to this thread. I noticed on the Mountain Creek website they have posted a new trail map. The only difference I noticed is they added a bubble "new lodge coming soon" at the Vernon Valley base area.

I was curious if anyone heard anything.

Oh also there was one other minor change. They changed the name of two trails back to the original name.

I drive past MC whenever I go to the A & P or head towards Warwick, NY. The lodge is almost complete and looks pretty nice so far. As for the connector trail I have no idea what's going on with that.

 

[legalskier]

I drive past MC whenever I go to the A & P or head towards Warwick, NY. The lodge is almost complete and looks pretty nice so far.

Agreed-

http://photos.nj.com/the-times/2011/11/mountain_creek_thanksgiving_20_4.html (with slideshow)

55,000 square feet, scheduled to open Dec. 10, it's situated just below the half pipe. . "The new lodge is three stories tall. The first floor will hold a ski and snowboard shop, rentals, guest services and a Starbucks. The second floor is for food and beverage, including a food court and table service restaurant. The third floor is the bar....In addition to the terrain parks that take up about half the snowsliding real estate, the resort is building a snow tubing park which they claim will be the largest in the country with more than 30 lanes, and new mountain roller coaster, 2 inflatable bag jumps and 5 new bars and restaurants." -Martin Griff. Story: http://blog.nj.com/skiing/2011/11/mountain_creek_guests_can_be_t.html

However, I doubt I'll go until the new connector trail opens.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

If the new connector trail opens, I haven't seen or heard anything about it. The shuttle is terrible, it goes from the parking lot of South to the parking lot of Vernon. I don't know why they don't run it from in front of the South lodge to the base area of Vernon. I don't think people are using it as a parking shuttle.

 

[bensonr2]

From that pic it looks like there is going to be parking adjacent to the new lodge. That alone is a much welcome improvement.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I've never skied MC, but I got the BOGO from attending the Warren Miller film.

How does it compare to say, a Shawnee or a Blue Mountain?

 

[millerm277]

How does it compare to say, a Shawnee or a Blue Mountain?

Terrain isn't bad. South Peak and Bear Peaks are pretty well laid out, the trails have a decent amount of character to them. Bear Peak is short compared to the other peaks, but it has a little more challenge than South has.

Granite's biggest problem is a lack of trails. The 2 trails are usually pretty crowded (moreso the Intermediate) because there's an entire Quad serving 2 runs. They're nice runs, just there are only two of them The 3rd run is Pipeline, but while it is legitimate pitch, it is pretty short, usually a solid sheet of ice, and followed by a hard right turn to a flat runout. Doesn't draw much traffic off the other runs.

Vernon.....I hate. The layout is horrible. The beginner off the top is flat, and then curves back across ALL of the decent expert runs, making you not be able to ski those expert runs for more than 300 vertical feet without having to run a gauntlet of skiers. Most of the runs here are perfectly straight cuts down the mountain. The Gondola thing will make you want to murder people when you have to click your skis off after 2 minutes of skiing, and then STAND with 5 other people. If it's running, take the triple instead.

The intermediate's on the far left of the map are not particularly interesting, although they do avoid the beginner trail problem.

However, the biggest problem, made even worse since they removed the other trail going to the triple (there used to be a trail running from the bottom of Zero G straight to the bottom of the triple), is the bottom of the hill. Take a good look at the map. What do you see as an issue? If you answered "The funneling of 70%+ of the skier traffic from a 6 passenger gondola and a triple chair into one narrow run at the bottom", then congratulations, you win. What do you win? You get to navigate an incredibly dangerous crush of skiers of all levels into one ribbon of death.

 

[BenedictGomez]

^ This pretty much confirms all I've heard over the years, and one of the reasons I've never been. That, and the fact that it's not like the Catskills are 28 more hours of a drive. Also, the only thing you've left out, is that I've been told to not even bother with the place on weekends. Maybe I'll try it on a Wednesday this season just to check it out, I imagine it must be empty midweek.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

I live 10 minutes away and I'll only go mid-week, it's a much better experience. Once in a while I'll go at night on a weekend.

 

[bensonr2]

I would say its not a bad experience midweek. But don't even think about weekends.

I think one positive that gets left out in comparison to the pocono resorts at least. ls that it feels a lot bigger then it is with the way the 3 "peaks" are spread out. Though with the required shuttle ride right now to get back to the Vernon Valley side from Great Gorge that is diminished a little.

 

[ScottySkis]

^ This pretty much confirms all I've heard over the years, and one of the reasons I've never been. That, and the fact that it's not like the Catskills are 28 more hours of a drive. Also, the only thing you've left out, is that I've been told to not even bother with the place on weekends. Maybe I'll try it on a Wednesday this season just to check it out, I imagine it must be empty midweek.

Put it this way my dad had a great town house on the middle hill their, and even with free tickets his girlfriend at the time got the hook up his place was their most last 4 years of the 90s or so and i still only skiied thier a few nights mid week its great for that if you live near by, but for vertical is just flat i think i grew up skiing their as a kid. I have been to Blue in PA once on a 6 inch power day but i think Blue is a better hill i think.

 

[watchoutbelow]

If you go right when it opens on Saturday and Sunday you can get in a good amount of skiing before the crowds show up. But get the hell out of there before noon or else you are looking at skiing in between some very dangerous beginners and lots of ice.

Also, I've noticed that when it's snowing on the weekend the crowds tend to be smaller because people are afraid of driving. So jump in your 4x4 and get there early.

 

[ZYDECORICH]

The last 3 years I have gone from being a been a season midweek pass holder, to buying 3 triple play cards, to this year not buying any. The place has become boring and over priced for what it is. The amount of idiot skiers and boarders has made me save my bucks and go upstate. Maybe i'll go once or twice if we get a dump since i'm only 15 minutes away but other than that...going north, enough.

 

[legalskier]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are no plans to replace the lift. The new management seems to be continuing the policy of segregating the parks and pipes boarding crowd from the skiers.

New Sojourn fixed grip double reportedly under construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Creek#Lifts

I thought the plan was to cut a new trail from South Peak to Granite Peak that would eliminate the need for a Sojourn chair, no? Is the new trail still being built?

 

[x10003q]

New Sojourn fixed grip double reportedly under construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Creek#Lifts

I thought the plan was to cut a new trail from South Peak to Granite Peak that would eliminate the need for a Sojourn chair, no? Is the new trail still being built?

Nice find. However, why wouldn't MC have this important news on their site? To me, the Sojurn Chair remains a dream, just like the connector trail that was supposed to be built with snowmaking and lights for last season.

 

[WoodCore]

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2012/07/26/new-chairlift-to-connect-mountain-creek-once-again/