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Saddleback March 7, 2009

salsgang

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
823
Points
18
Location
Southern Coastal Maine
Date(s) Skied: March 7, 2009

Resort or Ski Area: Saddleback

Conditions: Frozen Hard Pack AM / LG | Spring PM

Trip Report: A good day at Saddleback. It was blowing a gale coming up Route 4 at around 7:30AM but it calmed down a bit by the time we got to the hill. Only upper Quad was on hold and that opened up pretty quickly.

According to temp graphs from weather underground Rangeley... it got into the 40's overnight then down under freezing. So the morning was "firm" to say the least. Unfortunately the glades while open and with good cover, were pretty tough to ski... at least for someone of my ability. So we stuck to the trails most of the day. Most of the runs in the AM were pretty slick with a bit of LG over hardpack. The sun teased us most of the morning and finally came out after lunch to soften things up. The afternoon was bright sunshine and temps around 40.

One bump run that was decent was parmancheenee bell. It softened up nicely. We hit blue devil once just as the sun softened up the trial. Very sweet run. Since we were not in the trees much we actually skied America a couple of times from the top. A gentle greenie from the top but a very pretty trial. Great views and winds along for a relaxing ride. Supervisor was pretty good... while Tight Line headwall was a mess. Glare ice. Surprised it was open. Skied OK from the cross cut down.

And it was packed! Even more mobbed then our February school vacation trip. We avoided the crowds with our patented ski early, eat lunch early strategy.. and utilizing the lower T Bar during busy times. Although we have been spoiled of practically having the mountain to ourselves in past years... it is very cool to see them doing so well with increased visits. Looking forward to what the future holds there.

No pics - no batteries in the camera... but not a whole lot to show anyway. Still good cover and they are one major snowstorm from stellar skiing again.
 

tipsdown

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
263
Points
18
Thanks for the report Salsang. I was there both days this weekend. It's too bad you didn't ski Sunday, it was a huge difference. We woke up to 5 inches of snow on the mountain that turned everything into nice soft powder. It's amazing how quckly ski conditions can change in the East (for better or worse). The glades were in great shape and they did a good job grooming out the headwalls on the upper mountain blacks..
 

tipsdown

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
263
Points
18
That's cool. I had a feeling Sunday was a lot better but had things going on Sunday on the home front. How were the crowds Sunday?

Hey it happens! The crowds were definitely smaller. I'm guessing the weather played into it a lot. I think it was raining almost everywhere else as this seemed to be a very isolated snow storm..But you're right, Saturday was definitely packed...scary packed when you think about the fact that they really haven't even added many beds up there yet…Most of them were day-trippers..

It'a amazing how far this place has come in such a short period of time. I haven't decided it that's a good thing or a bad thing :)
 

Terry

Well-known member
Joined
May 9, 2004
Messages
2,217
Points
48
Location
Fryeburg Maine
We skied there today. We had the place to ourselves and the skiing was awesome. The headwall on tightline was shear ice but it skied ok from the crosscut down. Wardens worry was all glare ice so had to ski it very carefully. Supervisor was awesome and skied lower tightline down for lunch at 12:30 and there were only 2 tracks down it. Peachys peril, golden smelt, and parmachenee belle bumps were all very good. Had a lot of fun and much better than the skiing at Sugarloaf on sat and sun.
 
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