GolfingOwl
Member
Family headed up to the Mad River Valley for our final ski trip of the season. Skied MRG on Friday and Sugarbush Saturday.
MRG (3/25) - Great day at MRG. Only our second time there and is now one of our favorite mountains though we really don't know our way around the mountain that well. Last spring it was our first time there in 70 degree weather skiing on corn, grass and slush. This spring was a different story. Mix of flurries, bright sun and slight wind. Mountain was great in many parts, firm in others. Some hardpack and icy bumps, especially up high. I will say, MRG has the most accurate snow reports out there and as they said, lower angle and groomed stuff skied really nice while the higher/steeper stuff was much harder and slicker. We stayed on mostly lower angle and "groomed" stuff being with the wife and two kids (Antelope/Catamount, Quacky, Greens off the double). Though my 9-year old son is really progressing and loving the bumps so we hit a lot of the ungroomed blues (like sections of Antelope and Quacky) and we did a few blacks (Lower Antelope, Upper Panther to Slalom Hill, and One Way). Our ROD was Antelope to Lower Antelope. Sure would have loved sunny skies, slightly warmer temps and softer snow but for late March, conditions and especially coverage were really nice.
Sugarbush (Lincoln Peak) (3/26) - Much colder and windier day with some flurries and a little sun, mostly at the base. We wanted to split the day between LP and Mt Ellen but we couldn't resist catching the pond skimming at Noon at LP (which was a blast with John Egan as the MC) so we stayed over there and never got over to ME. An inch or two overnight helped make the first couple runs enjoyable but Sugarbush was much firmer all around than MRG. The groomed stuff was listed as "hardpack" though that is generous as some of it was just plain icy. They groomed Steins, which we hit, and it was pretty firm, though skiable. Blues like Jester and Snowball got scraped off pretty quickly. Being that it was windy and cold from the top of Super Bravo on up, we found refuge off the Valley House Double. My son and I abandoned the girls and found some nice bumps on Moonshine. Nicer bumps continued on Lower Twist and the bottom of The Mall. My son, loving lower angle trees, loved Eden and Race Course Woods. They were tracked out but you could find some soft areas. I contemplated taking my son up to Castlerock for his first time up there but decided to pass considering some of the firm conditions we were finding elsewhere on the mountain.
Overall, a great weekend in the MRV, our favorite place in the east to ski.
MRG (3/25) - Great day at MRG. Only our second time there and is now one of our favorite mountains though we really don't know our way around the mountain that well. Last spring it was our first time there in 70 degree weather skiing on corn, grass and slush. This spring was a different story. Mix of flurries, bright sun and slight wind. Mountain was great in many parts, firm in others. Some hardpack and icy bumps, especially up high. I will say, MRG has the most accurate snow reports out there and as they said, lower angle and groomed stuff skied really nice while the higher/steeper stuff was much harder and slicker. We stayed on mostly lower angle and "groomed" stuff being with the wife and two kids (Antelope/Catamount, Quacky, Greens off the double). Though my 9-year old son is really progressing and loving the bumps so we hit a lot of the ungroomed blues (like sections of Antelope and Quacky) and we did a few blacks (Lower Antelope, Upper Panther to Slalom Hill, and One Way). Our ROD was Antelope to Lower Antelope. Sure would have loved sunny skies, slightly warmer temps and softer snow but for late March, conditions and especially coverage were really nice.
Sugarbush (Lincoln Peak) (3/26) - Much colder and windier day with some flurries and a little sun, mostly at the base. We wanted to split the day between LP and Mt Ellen but we couldn't resist catching the pond skimming at Noon at LP (which was a blast with John Egan as the MC) so we stayed over there and never got over to ME. An inch or two overnight helped make the first couple runs enjoyable but Sugarbush was much firmer all around than MRG. The groomed stuff was listed as "hardpack" though that is generous as some of it was just plain icy. They groomed Steins, which we hit, and it was pretty firm, though skiable. Blues like Jester and Snowball got scraped off pretty quickly. Being that it was windy and cold from the top of Super Bravo on up, we found refuge off the Valley House Double. My son and I abandoned the girls and found some nice bumps on Moonshine. Nicer bumps continued on Lower Twist and the bottom of The Mall. My son, loving lower angle trees, loved Eden and Race Course Woods. They were tracked out but you could find some soft areas. I contemplated taking my son up to Castlerock for his first time up there but decided to pass considering some of the firm conditions we were finding elsewhere on the mountain.
Overall, a great weekend in the MRV, our favorite place in the east to ski.
