Resorts you want to vist but haven't yet been?

[fixedgrip16]

That's right Mildcat. . . The Loaf rips and rocks. I realize it's a bit distant for many of you but you don't know what you're missing. Many say it's got the most bad ass terrain in the East. I'm pretty sure the only place that even comes close for directness and length of steep, continuous vertical might be Stowe. It'll kick your a*# no doubt-- especially runs like Bubblecuffer and Upper Winters Way.

 

[Geoff]

That's right Mildcat. . . The Loaf rips and rocks. I realize it's a bit distant for many of you but you don't know what you're missing. Many say it's got the most bad ass terrain in the East. I'm pretty sure the only place that even comes close for directness and length of steep, continuous vertical might be Stowe. It'll kick your a*# no doubt-- especially runs like Bubblecuffer and Upper Winters Way.

That's not how I view Stowe at all. The front face of the mountain is steep at the top and quickly becomes moderate pitch followed by a long runout. The cut-trail terrain at Stowe isn't particularly remarkable. It's the sidecountry that makes the mountain so compelling.

The single chair at Mad River is the best you can find in the east for sustained vertical. When the skiing is good, that's the best place to be midweek in the east.

The lift configuration at Sugarloaf is awful. You have to ride two lifts to get at the best of the terrain and your lift options are a really slow double or a pathetically long runout to the bottom. I like Sugarloaf and took a good hard look at the mountain as an option to relocate but the combination of wind holds, wind scouring, inadequate snowmaking, and the lousy lift configuration were too much to overlook.

 

[skiadikt]

don't know if i played along before but my current pix:

east
sugarloaf
smuggs
wildcat

west
silverton
whistler/blackcomb
jackson
big sky
kirkwood
mammoth

europe
argentina

 

[frozencorn]

Portillo, Jackson Hole, Taos, Squaw, Whistler, Silverton, Aspen, Telluride.

Whiteface in the east.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

in the east...Whiteface. Too many in the west, south america and europe to list.

 

[Grassi21]

There is one thing Warren Miller films are still great for, drooling over exotic ski destinations. For me, it would be Banff.

But here is a realistic list:

MRG
Sugar Bush and Loaf
Whistler
Mammoth
Anything in Utah

I can cross Sugar Bush off the list. There is a long shot I might make it out to Utah. Million to one...

 

[thetrailboss]

Whistler
Aspen
Vail
Steamboat

 

[kcyanks1]

Just looking at the east:
1-Sugarloaf
2-Smuggs
3-Tux

list hasn't changed

 

[Trekchick]

From the East Coast? MadRiverGlen..........I'll ski it if I can!

 

[gorgonzola]

east: mrg, whiteface

west: never been so utah, wyoming, colorado, bc, washington to start!

did ski kaprun in austria though....

 

[Dr Skimeister]

East....
'loaf....long trip, though
Magic....conditions permitting

West....
Whistler....been there off-season....hoping exchange rate gets better some day
Powder Mountain and Beaver Mountain, Utah....drove past both....The Beav is small with tons of snow...

 

[powderman]

Probably not this year, but ...

NH:

• Black
• Cannon
• Wildcat

ME:

• Saddleback
• Sugarloaf

VT:

• Burke
• Jay Peak
• MRG
• Smuggs

NY:

• Plattekill

And anything out west

 

[Beetlenut]

Loaf
Whiteface
MRG

 

[TT C6]

WHISTLER !!!!
Mammoth

 

[fixedgrip16]

That's not how I view Stowe at all. The front face of the mountain is steep at the top and quickly becomes moderate pitch followed by a long runout. The cut-trail terrain at Stowe isn't particularly remarkable. It's the sidecountry that makes the mountain so compelling.

The single chair at Mad River is the best you can find in the east for sustained vertical. When the skiing is good, that's the best place to be midweek in the east.

The lift configuration at Sugarloaf is awful. You have to ride two lifts to get at the best of the terrain and your lift options are a really slow double or a pathetically long runout to the bottom. I like Sugarloaf and took a good hard look at the mountain as an option to relocate but the combination of wind holds, wind scouring, inadequate snowmaking, and the lousy lift configuration were too much to overlook.

Can't say as I've skied Stowe. . . just heard from many sources how steep the Front Four are and they do look quite steep from pics I've seen. Didn't think about the runouts. As far as that's concerned most if not all big new england ski mountains have runouts to deal with. Killington has probably the most traverses and run-outs anywhere except S.R. The Spillway chair accesses Spillway X-Cut and from there you can get some of the best little chutes and tree runs that go for 1200 ft. at 30 -40 degrees before you see a runout. King Pine's almost as long. You're right about there being no way to get to Spillway, KP, Timberline w/o a ride up a bottom lift or Superquad but I never thought it was that big of a deal. It's only the difference of 10 minutes. The lower half of most big New England mounatins are flat. Total ride time bottom to top is around 17-18 minutes. Just curious how long is MRG's single chair? Skied there once. . . did Chute, Fall Line-- pretty challenging, fun.

As to the wind holds. . . there's no lift in the world able to safely withstand the hurricane force winds the Loaf often gets. What damn fool's going to be able to stand up in such wind let alone ski in it? To say nothing of people being pinned in the chair with a south wind or blown into towers with a northwest wind. We get it all-- straight from the Presidentials along a northeasterly flow striking the Loaf-- Maine's second tallest peak at 4237'

The Loaf makes a ton of snow so I don't know what you're talking about on this one. There are base depths of 20 feet on trails like Sluice, Tote rd, Hayburner, and Kings Landing by March even in a lean year--- as long as we've got the temps. East side probably half that but over there the winds carry alot of snow from points west. Average natural snowfall is 200." Snow's been real good last couple years.

It would definately be nice though to have another top to bottom gondi like in the old days. Technology's changed a lot since then and while no lift can take 60+ winds sustained, there are double- cabled funitels in Europe that would work real well up here. It would run alot more than the old gondi used to despite the wind because the cars are secured in between the cables on each side. Problem. . . 15 million$ --- Someday hpoefully.

 

[hardline]

Can't say as I've skied Stowe. . . just heard from many sources how steep the Front Four are and they do look quite steep from pics I've seen. Didn't think about the runouts. As far as that's concerned most if not all big new england ski mountains have runouts to deal with. Killington has probably the most traverses and run-outs anywhere except S.R. The Spillway chair accesses Spillway X-Cut and from there you can get some of the best little chutes and tree runs that go for 1200 ft. at 30 -40 degrees before you see a runout. King Pine's almost as long. You're right about there being no way to get to Spillway, KP, Timberline w/o a ride up a bottom lift or Superquad but I never thought it was that big of a deal. It's only the difference of 10 minutes. The lower half of most big New England mounatins are flat. Total ride time bottom to top is around 17-18 minutes. Just curious how long is MRG's single chair? Skied there once. . . did Chute, Fall Line-- pretty challenging, fun.

As to the wind holds. . . there's no lift in the world able to safely withstand the hurricane force winds the Loaf often gets. What damn fool's going to be able to stand up in such wind let alone ski in it? To say nothing of people being pinned in the chair with a south wind or blown into towers with a northwest wind. We get it all-- straight from the Presidentials along a northeasterly flow striking the Loaf-- Maine's second tallest peak at 4237'

The Loaf makes a ton of snow so I don't know what you're talking about on this one. There are base depths of 20 feet on trails like Sluice, Tote rd, Hayburner, and Kings Landing by March even in a lean year--- as long as we've got the temps. East side probably half that but over there the winds carry alot of snow from points west. Average natural snowfall is 200." Snow's been real good last couple years.

It would definately be nice though to have another top to bottom gondi like in the old days. Technology's changed a lot since then and while no lift can take 60+ winds sustained, there are double- cabled funitels in Europe that would work real well up here. It would run alot more than the old gondi used to despite the wind because the cars are secured in between the cables on each side. Problem. . . 15 million$ --- Someday hpoefully.

with place like stowe or even jay if you can get up the mountain even when the winds are 60mph at the lift line once you are in the woods there is almost no wind. so funitels would be awsome. i just dont see it happening anytime to soon. even a surface lift like a poma would be great. i will skin when i have to but machine power is o so much better.

 

[Phillycore]

Utah - Snowbird / Solitude / Brighton
Tahoe - Squaw / Kirkwood / Heavenly
New Mexico - Taos
Whistler / Blackcombe
Montana - Whitefish Mt. (Big Mt.)
NY - Hunter / Whiteface
Vt - Stowe / MRG
Maine - Sunday River

Yeah.... that's my short list....lol

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Can't say as I've skied Stowe. . . just heard from many sources how steep the Front Four are and they do look quite steep from pics I've seen. Didn't think about the runouts. As far as that's concerned most if not all big new england ski mountains have runouts to deal with. Killington has probably the most traverses and run-outs anywhere except S.R. The Spillway chair accesses Spillway X-Cut and from there you can get some of the best little chutes and tree runs that go for 1200 ft. at 30 -40 degrees before you see a runout. King Pine's almost as long. You're right about there being no way to get to Spillway, KP, Timberline w/o a ride up a bottom lift or Superquad but I never thought it was that big of a deal. It's only the difference of 10 minutes. The lower half of most big New England mounatins are flat. Total ride time bottom to top is around 17-18 minutes. Just curious how long is MRG's single chair? Skied there once. . . did Chute, Fall Line-- pretty challenging, fun.

As to the wind holds. . . there's no lift in the world able to safely withstand the hurricane force winds the Loaf often gets. What damn fool's going to be able to stand up in such wind let alone ski in it? To say nothing of people being pinned in the chair with a south wind or blown into towers with a northwest wind. We get it all-- straight from the Presidentials along a northeasterly flow striking the Loaf-- Maine's second tallest peak at 4237'

The Loaf makes a ton of snow so I don't know what you're talking about on this one. There are base depths of 20 feet on trails like Sluice, Tote rd, Hayburner, and Kings Landing by March even in a lean year--- as long as we've got the temps. East side probably half that but over there the winds carry alot of snow from points west. Average natural snowfall is 200." Snow's been real good last couple years.

It would definately be nice though to have another top to bottom gondi like in the old days. Technology's changed a lot since then and while no lift can take 60+ winds sustained, there are double- cabled funitels in Europe that would work real well up here. It would run alot more than the old gondi used to despite the wind because the cars are secured in between the cables on each side. Problem. . . 15 million$ --- Someday hpoefully.

Stowe has a runout at the bottom of perhaps 200 vert but so does Sugarbush and Jay Peak has more of a runout. Jackson Hole has a runout as well..but Stowe's top 1700-1800 vert is legit and the forerunner quad takes a scant 7 minutes to access almost all of the terrain. I remember the single at MRG being about 12 minutes...MRG is steep on the top half and pretty much stairstep on the bottom half..with a little runout as well..I don't mind a runout..better than making a quick Hockey Stop at the lift like at the Heavens Gate at Sugarbush..I like to use my gained energy/speed and coast. Stowe is one of those mountains that can be really good or really bad. In high winds the two main high speed lifts are off-line..and sweet runs like Goat and Starr are usually closed in less optimal conditions..but when it dumps..the place comes alive..lots of sweet hidden routes in the woods..and lots of histoty make Stowe not only one the best place to ski in New England..but a world class skiing destination..

 

[hardline]

Stowe has a runout at the bottom of perhaps 200 vert but so does Sugarbush and Jay Peak has more of a runout. Jackson Hole has a runout as well..but Stowe's top 1700-1800 vert is legit and the forerunner quad takes a scant 7 minutes to access almost all of the terrain. I remember the single at MRG being about 12 minutes...MRG is steep on the top half and pretty much stairstep on the bottom half..with a little runout as well..I don't mind a runout..better than making a quick Hockey Stop at the lift like at the Heavens Gate at Sugarbush..I like to use my gained energy/speed and coast. Stowe is one of those mountains that can be really good or really bad. In high winds the two main high speed lifts are off-line..and sweet runs like Goat and Starr are usually closed in less optimal conditions..but when it dumps..the place comes alive..lots of sweet hidden routes in the woods..and lots of histoty make Stowe not only one the best place to ski in New England..but a world class skiing destination..

they should just build a covered lift system. no more wind holds.

 

[bvibert]

I'll keep mine within the realm of possibility for the next several years. In no particular order:

• Sugarbush (Technically I've been there, but only the Inverness chair on Mt. Ellen so I don't count that)
• Jay
• Smuggs
• Whiteface
• Wildcat
• Tux (Not a resort, but I still want to go )
• The Loaf

There's more that I haven't been to that I'd like to try, but I wanted to keep the list short. I didn't include anything outside of the NE because I don't see that as being a possibility anytime soon.

My list remains the same, with the exception of SB. I skied there a couple of times last year finally.