Saddleback - 4-5-2009

[salsgang]

Date(s) Skied: April 5, 2009

Resort or Ski Area: Saddleback

Conditions: LG | FG to Spring

Trip Report: A nice spring like day at Saddleback. The mountain stayed in the clouds with a very light snow all day although the sun broke out lower mountain from time to time. Windy - upper Quad was on wind hold all day but plenty of good skiing off the Rangeley double chair.

It was just me and Boy #2 today. We stuck to groomers first thing. They skied pretty well, but it was kinda clumpy after it got skied up a bit as there was various death cookies to watch out for. But overall skied good. Once it warmed up things turned to "buttah" for a while resulting in a killer run down Gray Ghost.. then it got kind of mushy down low as the temps rose in the afternoon. Good cover on the groomers.. just had to be careful of a few obstacles and water / ice spots.

After lunch the ungroomed trails were very good and the trees were passable too. We had a couple nice runs down the lower Thrombosis glade. They still got quite a bit of snow on the natural trails. A good three feet pole measurement when we traversed the NW Pass.

ROTD was Peachy's Peril. MAN SIZED moguls that skied extremely well after lunch. For some reason I could pick my line beautifully on this run. We did it 3 or 4 times. Parmacheenee Bell was nice and soft too, but I couldn't quite get my line on the bumps. I was probably getting Tired. Golden Smelt and Jane Craig skied very well also.

So overall, a very fun day. Kinda sad to see the dearth of snow this March / April, but Saddleback is still offering some very good skiing. I think they close up shop Easter Sunday.

Some pics:

Sweet Sunny Run down Gray Ghost

Boy #2 ripping Red Devil

Old Man on Blue Devil

Golden Smelt Fun

Intimidator Glade from NW Pass

Peachy's Peril Fun - A+++

More Peachy's Goodness

 

[Edd]

Nice pics. Golden Smelt is a sweet little trail.

 

[billski]

Looks like PRIMO spring skiing.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

nice pictures,,it looks like winter up there..

 

[jerseyrob]

Nice salsgang!! We were up there the past couple of days as well. Thought it was forecasted to rain all day but it didn't turn out to be too bad! Here are a few more pics from the same day...........

No more snowbanks on the access road but the mountain still looks good!! (Don't mind the chip on the window.)

Base area is getting kind of thin but still looking pretty good considering the weather lately.......

The Pass to Lower Professors skied well......

The sun came out so we decided to hit up the pass holders/facebook friends BBQ. Free burgers and hotdogs with all the fixings. They also had a whole bucket of two dollar beers we took advantage of!!!

For anyone who has been thinking about checking out Saddleback, now is the time!!! I'd say they have some of the best conditions left in the northeast. Easter(or as we call it at our house,Skister) is their last day. Send a PM if anyone wants to meet for a beer!! (Damn....I should work for them.)

 

[salsgang]

Awesome! We took advantage of our "Facebook status" and had a burger on the house. Nice of them to include the on-line friends in the Season Pass BBQ. Hopefully the niar won't wash too much away.

Checking weather underground, a Rangeley station is reporting 35 degrees and the radar is indicating snow... Checked the Sugarloaf Superquad web cam and it seemed frozen precip... I wonder....?

 

[snoseek]

It's nice to see some Saddleback regulars on here. Thanks for all the TR's this year, I really do miss Saddleback the most back East-even if I skied it less than a dozen times each year.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

looks like a nice deck

 

[RootDKJ]

looks like a nice deck

Hate to bring down the class level of this TR...but self-control is not one of my strong traits