• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

pico today was all time

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
so so good. and so so happy i made the decision to pass on killington and see what pico had on offer. summit chair debuted today and most of the upper mountain was open, with the seasons cumulative snowfall sitting untouched. what wasn't open had the ropes being liberally ducked all day with no consequence. upper pike was skiing so nicely, with deep powder and untouched lines on each of my 3 trips down the trail. upper ka was gorgeous, summit glades were great, giant killer was thin but fun. hiked to the outpost double for a run down sidewinder and one down pipeline, basically untracked on both. steep trees no bueno (ka glade, upper pike glade bad). low angle trees, had to be wary for snow snakes, but ski-able (poma woods, birch woods good). first time to pico since childhood and it did not disappoint.

yesterday went to okemo and skied groomers with the girlfriend all day to get her ski legs back. she had a great time. she was content enough today skiing lower pike over and over while i did my thing

too lazy to upload pics to imgur, but sjs.ski.nyc is me on insta and AZ reposted a pow shot earlier.

all time east coast day.

next weekend jay saturday, hotel in stowe sat night, and either pico k or sugarbush on sunday on the way home

off to washington state 12/21, tremblant 12/28

life is good. work still sucks.
 
Last edited:

thetrailboss

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
32,331
Points
113
Location
NEK by Birth
Miss Pico. Love Summit Glades, Upper KA, Sunset, Outpost, and all the nooks and crannies.
 

rocks860

Active member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
1,085
Points
38
Location
Connecticut
I'll have to try to get back there this year. Went a couple years ago for the first time and it was fantastic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Savemeasammy

New member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
2,538
Points
0
Location
S. NH
I was there yesterday as well with my 9 year old. First time since high school in then mid/late 80's! It was really great by early season standards. We weren't as adventurous as Kusty, but we skied everything off the summit that had snow on it. 😉

KA and Summit Glades were the best of the "open" trails. Upper Pike, Birch Glades (trail - not the woods), and Middle KA were very good considering the rather low-tide conditions. Lower Summit Glades was a waste of a run. Very flat. We pretty much followed the traverse track to get through.

All things considered, I had high hopes for today, and Pico didn't disappoint!

ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1481545844.445902.jpg
It was socked-in in the morning

ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1481545887.732652.jpg
Looking down Giant Killer

ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1481545940.503379.jpg
Looking up Giant Killer

ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1481545992.840793.jpg
My ski buddy standing still long enough for a pic!

ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1481546038.791789.jpg
Lower Summit Glades


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 

Savemeasammy

New member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
2,538
Points
0
Location
S. NH
David was bugging me to look at Poma Line. Judging by Giant Killer, I said no...!


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
331
Points
18
Location
Northern CT
Poma Glades, one of my favorite east coast runs. Not too technical, but nicely spaced trees and usually good snow. Can't wait to get back there....
 

Jcb890

Active member
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
1,741
Points
38
Location
Central MA
We've got 5 tickets to Pico (M.A.X. Pass), maybe we'll get out there at least once this season. Would you say the fresh snow stays around longer there compared to a much busier place like their neighbor Killington? Say if it snows Saturday, will there be anything untouched Sunday?

I see you guys talking good about the glades, are they nice and open/evenly spaced compared to most of the tight brush-like stuff at most places we see in New England? I've never been, but heard good things about Pico.

How about trail width? Trying to get my wife to progress up to blue trails, but she still gets nervous on tighter trails and prefers something more wide open. Does Pico offer a good amount of this? Sorry for the n00b questions :lol:.
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
pico has some wide blue cruisers on the lower mountain. the only blue route from the peak may spook her (49er - top section narrow with trees on either side, middle a wide open somewhat steep groomer, and the run out a groomed with less pitch but was icy under the guns yesterday).

Pico easily preserves more snow than Killington. There is so much less skier traffic there, and they are closed midweek. I don't know about "untouched" but I can say with confidence that the powder I skied til last run yesterday would have been skied off by 11 am at K

The upper mountain glades are steeper and tighter, the lower mountain glades are easier and two are even rated blue

With the max pass my plan is to ski pico mid season and save k for April/may. And/or go to pico Saturday's to avoid the crowd and hit k on Sunday when it's less hectic
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
LOL. Just the fact he knows about it is awesome.

is Poma line the narrow straight line next to giant killer that you can see on the sat image but isn't on the trail map? did a poma really use to serve that high 4K peak? I noticed the old infrastructure near poma woods. I was eyeing the high narrow "trail" all day but didn't poke over there.
 

Jcb890

Active member
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
1,741
Points
38
Location
Central MA
pico has some wide blue cruisers on the lower mountain. the only blue route from the peak may spook her (49er - top section narrow with trees on either side, middle a wide open somewhat steep groomer, and the run out a groomed with less pitch but was icy under the guns yesterday).

Pico easily preserves more snow than Killington. There is so much less skier traffic there, and they are closed midweek. I don't know about "untouched" but I can say with confidence that the powder I skied til last run yesterday would have been skied off by 11 am at K

The upper mountain glades are steeper and tighter, the lower mountain glades are easier and two are even rated blue

With the max pass my plan is to ski pico mid season and save k for April/may. And/or go to pico Saturday's to avoid the crowd and hit k on Sunday when it's less hectic

Awesome info, thank you. I'm hoping she's graduated to blue trails soon. Maybe until that happens we'll stick to Stratton or Killington this weekend for some nice long green runs and then I'll go do my thing when she gets tired. I think she's almost to the point where she's ready to regularly ride on blue trails (not just snow-plow down them, that doesn't count), but she's still not confident enough in herself and gets scared/nervous if it is at all steep.
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
my girlfriend started skiing when we started dating. this is her third season. she has progressed from day 1 total noob to a competent blue groomer skier. on saturday we went to okemo and she crushed it. skiing blues all day. the fact that okemo blues are basically greens at other places is good for her confidence. on sunday i showed her the few routes at pico i knew would be safe for her, and then she let me loose to go have fun. she was totally fine on the lower mountain blues and your wife should be too.

my girlfriends only freak out this weekend came on our very last run. we were on the lower mountain quad and there was an easy blue underneath us (expressway) that was closed due to a few waterbars and one sketchy section where you had to use a switchbacking catwalk to get down because there was exposed water and rock all over the main part of the trail. but it was clearly skied a ton of times yesterday, it was way tracked up.

i had been telling her that i was ducking ropes and skiing closed stuff all day. she asked me if i could take her down expressway so that she could try skiing something that resembled powder, as the groomer was skied off and she wasn't enjoying the icy sounds and slickness, and she's never skied soft snow before.

so we duck the rope, she does great on the top section, then she starts getting a bit tossed around by the powder. starts freaking out. saying her equipment isnt built for this snow (to myself, i'm thinking "this is 3" of skier packed powder, your skis are fine, calm down"). then we get to the aforementioned switchback catwalk section and she takes a little spill. then she gets back up and doesnt fall but sort of skis into the side of the trail and got flustered. then a patroller came by and scolded us for being on the closed trail. i told him i just wanted to show my girlfriend what powder felt like and he was fine with it and told us not to duck again and then he said have fun and rode off. then she freaked out. i say 'calm down, he didn't pull your ticket and even if he did this is our last run. relax' and she's freaking out about "getting in trouble" and "why can you duck ropes all day and nothing happens but the minute i do it i get yelled at", to which i say "its because i know how to ski and he wouldn't waste his time reprimanding me, but you were clearly struggling so he stopped to have a chat." and she freaked out. she was not cool again until about an hour into the drive home when i bought us mcdonalds.
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
We've got 5 tickets to Pico (M.A.X. Pass), maybe we'll get out there at least once this season. Would you say the fresh snow stays around longer there compared to a much busier place like their neighbor Killington? Say if it snows Saturday, will there be anything untouched Sunday?

I see you guys talking good about the glades, are they nice and open/evenly spaced compared to most of the tight brush-like stuff at most places we see in New England? I've never been, but heard good things about Pico.

How about trail width? Trying to get my wife to progress up to blue trails, but she still gets nervous on tighter trails and prefers something more wide open. Does Pico offer a good amount of this? Sorry for the n00b questions :lol:.
A bit of advice, take it or leave it. When I wanted to get my wife to ski black diamond runs, I took her to a smaller mountain where the blacks are more like blues at bigger resorts. Once she did those she seemed to think that it was universal, so I took her on easier black diamond trails to keep it up and progressively got steeper and bumped.

But looking at Pico Golden Express seems like the way to go. Green path all the way down to start the after a couple runs try one of the blue trails. Maybe you ski it first so there are no surprises.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app
 

Jcb890

Active member
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
1,741
Points
38
Location
Central MA
my girlfriend started skiing when we started dating. this is her third season. she has progressed from day 1 total noob to a competent blue groomer skier. on saturday we went to okemo and she crushed it. skiing blues all day. the fact that okemo blues are basically greens at other places is good for her confidence. on sunday i showed her the few routes at pico i knew would be safe for her, and then she let me loose to go have fun. she was totally fine on the lower mountain blues and your wife should be too.

my girlfriends only freak out this weekend came on our very last run. we were on the lower mountain quad and there was an easy blue underneath us (expressway) that was closed due to a few waterbars and one sketchy section where you had to use a switchbacking catwalk to get down because there was exposed water and rock all over the main part of the trail. but it was clearly skied a ton of times yesterday, it was way tracked up.

i had been telling her that i was ducking ropes and skiing closed stuff all day. she asked me if i could take her down expressway so that she could try skiing something that resembled powder, as the groomer was skied off and she wasn't enjoying the icy sounds and slickness, and she's never skied soft snow before.

so we duck the rope, she does great on the top section, then she starts getting a bit tossed around by the powder. starts freaking out. saying her equipment isnt built for this snow (to myself, i'm thinking "this is 3" of skier packed powder, your skis are fine, calm down"). then we get to the aforementioned switchback catwalk section and she takes a little spill. then she gets back up and doesnt fall but sort of skis into the side of the trail and got flustered. then a patroller came by and scolded us for being on the closed trail. i told him i just wanted to show my girlfriend what powder felt like and he was fine with it and told us not to duck again and then he said have fun and rode off. then she freaked out. i say 'calm down, he didn't pull your ticket and even if he did this is our last run. relax' and she's freaking out about "getting in trouble" and "why can you duck ropes all day and nothing happens but the minute i do it i get yelled at", to which i say "its because i know how to ski and he wouldn't waste his time reprimanding me, but you were clearly struggling so he stopped to have a chat." and she freaked out. she was not cool again until about an hour into the drive home when i bought us mcdonalds.

Not gonna lie, I lol'd. Thanks for that post, great stuff.

It sounds like my wife. Last year I took her on her 1st blue trail which was a connecting trail at Killington to get to Great Eastern from Snowshed. That didn't go over so well. Lots of yelling at me, but she got over it eventually. This is my wife's 3rd year also, learning from never skiing or riding before.

We got 1 powder day last year at our local mountain (Wachusett) and she's been searching for it since! Hopefully we'll get some more of those days soon.

Generally I try to stick with her because she enjoys it and I like to be there in case something happens. She realizes that it isn't challenging or all that fun for me and pushes me to go do my own thing a lot of times. We'll do what you guys did and she'll stick to a trail or 2 she's comfortable with while I go off on my own for an hour or 2, then we'll meet back up. Sometimes we'll do a late lunch and by then she's tired and done for the day so I'll get back out myself and go where I want.

A bit of advice, take it or leave it. When I wanted to get my wife to ski black diamond runs, I took her to a smaller mountain where the blacks are more like blues at bigger resorts. Once she did those she seemed to think that it was universal, so I took her on easier black diamond trails to keep it up and progressively got steeper and bumped.

But looking at Pico Golden Express seems like the way to go. Green path all the way down to start the after a couple runs try one of the blue trails. Maybe you ski it first so there are no surprises.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

This is great advice and something I'm trying to do at our local mountain - Wachusett. There's a couple of blues there that are closer to regular green trails and then a blue that is more equivalent to a "real" blue. She's graduated to the easier blues and her first run Friday was down the steeper of the easy ones. She did great and I was sure to tell her so, but she still didn't feel confident. The plan is to continue down that path. Once she's graduated to being able to do the blue from the summit at Wachusett, she'll be able to handle regular blue trails at most resorts because its got a couple of somewhat-steep sections like most blue trails.
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Not gonna lie, I lol'd. Thanks for that post, great stuff.

It sounds like my wife. Last year I took her on her 1st blue trail which was a connecting trail at Killington to get to Great Eastern from Snowshed. That didn't go over so well. Lots of yelling at me, but she got over it eventually. This is my wife's 3rd year also, learning from never skiing or riding before.

We got 1 powder day last year at our local mountain (Wachusett) and she's been searching for it since! Hopefully we'll get some more of those days soon.

Generally I try to stick with her because she enjoys it and I like to be there in case something happens. She realizes that it isn't challenging or all that fun for me and pushes me to go do my own thing a lot of times. We'll do what you guys did and she'll stick to a trail or 2 she's comfortable with while I go off on my own for an hour or 2, then we'll meet back up. Sometimes we'll do a late lunch and by then she's tired and done for the day so I'll get back out myself and go where I want.



This is great advice and something I'm trying to do at our local mountain - Wachusett. There's a couple of blues there that are closer to regular green trails and then a blue that is more equivalent to a "real" blue. She's graduated to the easier blues and her first run Friday was down the steeper of the easy ones. She did great and I was sure to tell her so, but she still didn't feel confident. The plan is to continue down that path. Once she's graduated to being able to do the blue from the summit at Wachusett, she'll be able to handle regular blue trails at most resorts because its got a couple of somewhat-steep sections like most blue trails.
Teach her to cross the fall line and turn a blue into a green. :)

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
its a double edged sword. i love that she has embraced my expensive and time consuming hobby, and i am so happy when i see her do well. but i get so damn bored, and it kills me to waste time that could be spent skiing fun stuff. her general slowness about everything also drives me nuts. we had a room in killington. we were up at 7 AM. why did we not get on a lift til 9:45? because, women.

generally i will ski with her from 9-10:30 or so, split up from 10:30-2, then ski with her from 2-3, then leave. on saturday at okemo i gave her the whole day and only skied the limited black terrain when she stopped for hot cocoa and a snack. her first day of the season, so i gave her my time. she won't get that much of it again :lol:
 

bdfreetuna

New member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
4,300
Points
0
Location
keep the faith
is Poma line the narrow straight line next to giant killer that you can see on the sat image but isn't on the trail map? did a poma really use to serve that high 4K peak? I noticed the old infrastructure near poma woods. I was eyeing the high narrow "trail" all day but didn't poke over there.

yeah. there's some woods beyond it too. Poma line you gotta watch out as there's a section of pipe or something in the middle where it's steep, pretty common place to slip an edge and end up taking a long tumble. Pico would probably put it back on the map as a <><> if it wasn't for that dangerous debris.
 

KustyTheKlown

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
5,362
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn
yeah. there's some woods beyond it too. Poma line you gotta watch out as there's a section of pipe or something in the middle where it's steep, pretty common place to slip an edge and end up taking a long tumble. Pico would probably put it back on the map as a <><> if it wasn't for that dangerous debris.

yea i figured there was probably some foundations from the poma towers hiding on there. i'll hit it later this season tho for sure.
 

Savemeasammy

New member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
2,538
Points
0
Location
S. NH
LOL. Just the fact he knows about it is awesome.

I was pointing out Giant Killer from the lower lift - and of course Poma Line is impossible to miss! Believe me, I had to hear for the rest of the day that he wanted to ski it!

I'd like to get back there when it's at 100% to ski Poma Line and some of the other cool looking stuff that wasn't open today.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 
Top