Mountains that ski bigger or smaller than their vert suggests...

[AdironRider]

I dont know what part of Whiteface skis like Okemo personally. Maybe kids kampus perhaps but nothing else. From Skyward at the summit to lower valley at the bottom, there is a decent pitch throughout the entire mt, with absolutely no areas where you would need to skate.

 

[AHM]

Here's how they all ski pretty big..............................

Since there is often a great interest in here about backcountry skiing, one way to make all these hills ski pretty big is to skin up them. I think you'll find Pico has a full 2000 verts when you are going up.....................just ask the Monday night crew that goes up weekly. Give it a whirl, you'll be a much better skier for it.AHM

 

[Tin Woodsman]

LOL HPD!!! this thread was intended to be subjective! :lol:

not sure why haystack is being voted for feeling like it skis smaller than its vertical. haystack doesn't have much vertical to begin with only 1400. fairly comperable to magic without the runout in terms of vertical. to me, magic actually skis smaller than its vertical would indicate exactely because of that long run out at the bottom. pico also doesn't feel like 2k even though it is in that ball park due to (you guessed it) the run out. long run outs make ski areas seem less than their vertical would indicate. same with jay peak.

obviously, kmart gets top consideration for the smaller than vertical with sunday river running a close second.

Haystack has 1400' verts? Wow. I thought it skied small, but I didn't think it skied THAT small. That's about 150' less than the main face of Mt. Snow, which itself isn't known for twisty/woodsy runs like MRG, and yet I think Mt Snow runs last about 50% longer and are more interesting to boot. To me, the Stack is one big runout, with the exception of the Witches, which are over ain a heartbeat and poorly designed anyway.

 

[Zand]

Smaller:
Jiminy Peak
Killington
Waterville

Bigger:
MRG
Mount Snow
Cannon

About the same:
Wachusett
Berkshire East
Okemo
Loon
Sugarbush
Sunapee

 

[riverc0il]

Haystack has 1400' verts? Wow. I thought it skied small, but I didn't think it skied THAT small. That's about 150' less than the main face of Mt. Snow, which itself isn't known for twisty/woodsy runs like MRG, and yet I think Mt Snow runs last about 50% longer and are more interesting to boot. To me, the Stack is one big runout, with the exception of the Witches, which are over ain a heartbeat and poorly designed anyway.

i have had different experiences at the stack. there is a mid-mountain flat section, but there is certainly no run out. the trails that dump out at the lodge are steep blue squares. i don't think runs from the summit were that bad, they certainly lasted 1400 verts from my perspective. the witches had a slight run out feel due to the pitch of the witches themselves, which are nice for a chair serving a small amount of verts (which are some of the best chairs, look at zoomer @ cannon and jet @ jay for comparison to witches @ stack). i agree that the stack was poorly designed and has a quirky layout, though i didn't find the mountain skied shorter than its vert.

AHM brings up an interesting point in that any mountain you earn your turns at feels bigger than its actual vertical. pico still skis smaller than its actual vert and does indeed have a crappy run out. as a turn earner, nothing is worse than getting stuck on a long run out on a powder day. sustained pitch a must for pow turns!:grin:

 

[ALLSKIING]

Jiminy skis much bigger then the vert and as for smaller I would have to say Mt Snow skies smaller.

 

[marcski]

Jiminy skis much bigger then the vert and as for smaller I would have to say Mt Snow skies smaller.

I think both of these ski pretty equal to their real verts. Jiminy's trails are just straight down the fall line and get a bit boring IMO. It does have a good sustained pitch, (at least under the Q1...there is that runout from Q1 to base), but the trails are over pretty quick since they don't meander much.

Mt. Snow's front face has some nice long trails...pretty consistent with a 1600 vert.

 

[Zand]

Yeah, I was gonna say, I thought the opposite of what Dave said. I skied Jiminy's face runs in about 30 seconds and I wasn't even going that fast. Not to mention it's only 3 minutes up. On the contrary (hey... I'm actually gonna say something nice about Mt. Snow!) Snow's front face trails are pretty long.

 

[Greg]

I think Jiminy skis just about as big as its vert. While each of the "Front Three" runs (Jericho, Whitetail, Whirlaway) is rather short, you can put together some decently long runs on the West side of the mountain (North Glade/360 combo or the Foxes), or off Widow's. The Foxes also is a great run with more character but still good pitch. The "Front Three" definitely have legit pitch so if nice lines are on the sides, they can be fun runs. I'm a short, snappy turner so I try to soak as many out of each run as possible.

As for Snow and Haystack, I actually think Snow skis bigger than its vert. Haystack about the same. My perception may be a bit flawed though as Snow and Haystack were the first "big" mountains I skied while learning back in college. We skied there a lot.

 

[ALLSKIING]

I think I was comparing Jiminy to places like windham that have 1600 vert but feel the same as Jiminy at 1150. I Don't ski really ski the front face of Snow except to get back to the base. I usually head to the N face which to me feels just a bit bigger then Jiminy's vert. Maybe Snow was not a great example.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I think Jiminy skis just about as big as its vert.

Me too, it's all right there in front of you from the base. The front trails are bowling alleys, but fun ones. What might make it feel short to some people is you can fly down them and then get right back up on the Express in less then 5 minutes (depending on alleged crowd).

 

[ALLSKIING]

Bump

 

[Greg]

I Don't ski really ski the front face of Snow except to get back to the base. I usually head to the N face which to me feels just a bit bigger then Jiminy's vert. Maybe Snow was not a great example.

The TNF is actually a bit less than Jiminy's vert, believe or not. Still, I think even TNF skis a lot biggest than it's 950'. I was actually surprised to discover Hunter's West Side is about 300 more vertical feet than TNF at Snow. :-o

 

[kcyanks1]

Smaller: Killington, Gore (individual runs are short)
Bigger: MRG (each run is so tiring with top-to-bottom moguls)

 

[millerm277]

Smaller:

Blue Mtn-The 1k vert seems small when you can blaze down Challenge/Falls in 30-45 secs...and when the lift only takes 3 minutes to get back up, still a great mtn though.

Bigger:

Sno Mtn-It seems much bigger to me because of the way it's split up, and the fact that it has decently steep trails.

Neutral:

Killington-The individual runs tend to be short, and you can get around quickly (if you know where you're going), but with the amount of terrain there is, it still feels big.

Hunter-The West Side feels longer than the 1.25k vert it is, but most of the front makes for seemingly short runs.

 

[2knees]

For me, hands down killington skis tiny compared to its laughable vert.

Bigger then it seems. I'll say bromley only cause of the east side. It cant be much more then 700 vert or so but it keeps me occupied.

 

[tjf67]

I think Jay skiis the largest for the amount of vert. It is compared with mountains that have 20% to 30% more vert but you would not know it when you are on it.

 

[kingdom-tele]

its funny because i was sitting here thinking jay skied short of their advertised vert, the flat under the ridge really changes the flow, we ski longer sustained pitches at burke, but connecting all the woods lines at jay is the fun of it anyway, so vert shmert

 

[tjf67]

its funny because i was sitting here thinking jay skied short of their advertised vert, the flat under the ridge really changes the flow, we ski longer sustained pitches at burke, but connecting all the woods lines at jay is the fun of it anyway, so vert shmert

When you here Big mountains being compared in the east they usually inlcude. Jay, Stowe, Sugarbush, Killington, Sugarloaf, Whiteface. IMO the best in the East. I cant include NH cause I never skied there.

all of them have considerably more vert that jay but I never notice it when I am on the hills

 

[kcyanks1]

its funny because i was sitting here thinking jay skied short of their advertised vert, the flat under the ridge really changes the flow, we ski longer sustained pitches at burke, but connecting all the woods lines at jay is the fun of it anyway, so vert shmert

I was thinking of putting Jay in the smaller category too, but gladed runs don't feel small, and so much of my time there is spent in the glades. Skiing a trail from the top of the Tram or Flyer makes it seem smaller though. So maybe I'd put in the neutral category when all things are considered.