Okemo, Feb 5-6 weekend

[legalskier]

Spent the weekend with a couple of buddies at the Big O. I know, I know- Magic’s right down the road but they wouldn’t budge. I hadn’t been to O in at least 10 years so I figured why not. Well, I was astonished at how much the place had changed since then. With the addition of Jackson/Gore and Solitude, it seemed twice as big as before (119 trails, 19 lifts, 2200’ of vert). Also, it’s gone upscale, very upscale- lift tix are $81 and I’ve never seen so many Bogner outfits on lift lines, like a fashion show. An employee told me that the slopeside homes being built at Solitude are in the $3 mil range. The Solitude lodge is gorgeous with its stone walls and civilized restaurant; it even has an elevator if you don’t feel like walking the stairs to the rest rooms, nice. The Jackson/Gore Inn can been seen further down in the flats below the J/G trails, which I suppose is O's answer to Mt Snow's Grand Summit. The mountain was 100% open with great powder, pp and groomed conditions (only encountered hardpack on Sunday afternoon). Saturday and Sunday a.m. were crowded but the lifties had everything under control and music was pumped in at lift entries which made the lines not so bad. Sunday afternoon seemed like a weekday as most by then were heading home for the Superbowl. O has a very impressive super pipe just above the bunny hill/entry lifts on the original mountain (I stayed away from the competition event and blaring music there). Most of the original trails at O are blue cruisers with these undulating steps and flats. If you like to open up the throttle, sink your edges in and carve, this is your place. My favorite terrain was the glades off the South Face HSQ and the long bump runs and glades over at Jackson Gore, some of which were peppered with exposed rocks and branches. The bumps softened up nicely in the sun on Saturday. We did laps on a deserted bump trail at Solitude called “Plunge,” which is easy as it’s serviced by a HSQ. This terrain makes O much more interesting than the last time I went. There aren’t any exciting steeps here but the mountain kept us occupied. All of the staff I encountered were very friendly and helpful. Cafeteria prices were standard and the turkey chili served at the Summit Lodge was awesome. On the ride home we saw Bromley’s new HSQ alongside Rt 11 and it got me thinking that we should have done one day each at O, Magic and Bromley...well, maybe next time. Still, it was a good weekend.

 

[billski]

Excellent report, Thanks! Gives me a better sense of what I'm missing. How long were the lines? Were there many glades? I don't mean what they market, I'm more interested in what you saw.

 

[xwhaler]

Nice report. Am heading up that way last wknd in Feb w/ the wife and am going for 2 of these 3 (Okemo, Pico, Magic)
I personally would love to hit Pico and Magic and skip Okemo but Okemo is the closest to where we are staying and I think my wife would like the high speed lifts and upscale nature of it. Not that she is pampered by any means, we ski Saddleback every wknd but occasionally it is nice to do a day at one of the resorts.

 

[gmcunni]

i'd consider myself an okemo fan, i used to ski there lots but less so over the past few years. i think you hit the nail on the head with

Also, it’s gone upscale, very upscale- lift tix are $81 and I’ve never seen so many Bogner outfits on lift lines, like a fashion show.

i'd always thought of Okemo as a family mountain, it still is but now the families are very well off. it is approaching a Stratton-like atmosphere. it's not a bad thing, it's just a thing.

i hope to get up there later this season.

 

[legalskier]

Excellent report, Thanks! Gives me a better sense of what I'm missing. How long were the lines? Were there many glades? I don't mean what they market, I'm more interested in what you saw.

I didn't watch the clock but the longest line went about 5 songs on the sound system, so I'll guess 15 minutes tops. "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is about 13 minutes long but I didn't get to hear the whole thing as it was our turn to go. :-( Anyway, if the lines got long at one lift we simply skied over to the next where there was minimal traffic, just rolling with it.
There is plenty of glade terrain. The glade/mogul areas are like bookends at either side of Okemo, with lots of cruisers in between. On Okemo Peak "Double Diamond" and "Outrage" were lots of fun; both are double black glades with trees spaced out nicely and bumped up pretty well. Below them there's "Forrest Bump," where we saw tracks going off into the woods for some off-piste poaching exiting onto "Catnap." Jackson/Gore Peak has many more mogul runs in addition to glades. "Big Bang" and "Rolling Thunder" are very long bump runs with some nice drops here and there. "Supernova" is a glade run that winds its way next to "Rolling Thunder." The toughest glade was "Black Hole" which is narrow, steep, dark and bumped among tight trees and various and sundry rocks. We negotiated our way carefully. I worked up quite a sweat on J/G Peak, then headed over to Solitude lodge for some refreshment.
The cruisers between these bookend areas tend to have a uniform feel to them; my fave was "Sapphire" which had more pitch and character.
Keep in mind that in order to access the upper mountain, one first has to take the bunny hill lifts, then transfer to an upper mountain lift (both at the original Clock Tower lodge and at J/G), sort of like going through a gateway. So if you pack food for lunch you ought to bring it with you or else you'll use up precious time going all the way back down to get it. The upper mountains have 3 lodges where you can have lunch. Once we got into the upper areas, we stayed there all day and got plenty of skiing done.
Hope that helps.