riverc0il
New member
Met up with BackLoafRiver, from_the_NEK, WoodCore, and wa_loaf for a pre-Summit day at Saddleback. Saddleback did an absolutely outstanding job getting their product back into shape following a rain/freeze event the night before. I was not optimistic about good skiing conditions whatsoever and was completely blown away by the product Saddleback was offering. I had no designs on skiing anything but groomers but we were able to get into some bumps and even some trees due to some nice wind blow in places.
Unfortunately, only two routes (Tight Line and Supervisor) were available off the summit excepting America and Tri-Color. Both Tight Line and Supervisor offered up fast hard pack with the seeded bump line on Tight Line being a bit of a sucker punch (lines looked PERFECT). We ducked into the bottom of Dark Wizard (which has been SUBSTANTIALLY opened up since my last time skiing it) but snow was variable and not worthy of the effort.
The Kennebago Quad is a massive upgrade compared to the old T-bar. Honestly, I was not crying while riding the Quad up to the summit. It is fairly sheltered from the wind and easier on the legs. Sure, it is going to increase summit traffic, but they have expanded their terrain up there and that Quad will get more people to the mountain. Cool.
The Yurt at the Kennebago was simply a master stroke of genius. It means you can ski the Kennebago without going back down to the main lodge. While the Yurt is cozy and needs a little more seating, it covers the basics of a warm place to rest, use the bathroom, and get a bite to eat if desired. I was stunned by their great beer selection including two varieties of Tuckerman Ale and two varieties of Flying Dog ale. They also had a keg of BL on tap if you are into that sort of thing....
With the wind blowing fiercely and conditions better down lower, there was no reason to lap the Kennebago so most of our runs were had off the double. We pretty much hit everything that was open though Silver Doctor was unfortunately off line all day for race training.
While the other guys may disagree, I found incredible hard pack bumps with amazingly lines in Parmachee Belle. It was firm but very skiable and I had a lot of fun on that trail with its wonderful meandering pitches and narrow character and split personality ending. Very cool. Peachy's Peril was even better with really great wind slab blow on skier's left. I was dumbfounded that snow that good could be found, tres cool and skied three times including the last time leading to Thrombosis Glade which was very much hard pack like the Belle was but still very skiable.
So to find good ungroomed skiing at Saddleback on Friday was a huge surprise and very much to my delight. That said, the winding and moderately pitched blue square groomers off the double were an absolute joy to ski. Not having done much groomer skiing in recent years, I began to feel and remember that quickening of the pulse when you start laying down high speed arcs with near reckless abandon. Even a powder princess can have fun when the groomers setup that well. As far as snow conditions go, Saddleback was definitely the pick of the weekend for me.
Pics tomorrow, maybe?
Unfortunately, only two routes (Tight Line and Supervisor) were available off the summit excepting America and Tri-Color. Both Tight Line and Supervisor offered up fast hard pack with the seeded bump line on Tight Line being a bit of a sucker punch (lines looked PERFECT). We ducked into the bottom of Dark Wizard (which has been SUBSTANTIALLY opened up since my last time skiing it) but snow was variable and not worthy of the effort.
The Kennebago Quad is a massive upgrade compared to the old T-bar. Honestly, I was not crying while riding the Quad up to the summit. It is fairly sheltered from the wind and easier on the legs. Sure, it is going to increase summit traffic, but they have expanded their terrain up there and that Quad will get more people to the mountain. Cool.
The Yurt at the Kennebago was simply a master stroke of genius. It means you can ski the Kennebago without going back down to the main lodge. While the Yurt is cozy and needs a little more seating, it covers the basics of a warm place to rest, use the bathroom, and get a bite to eat if desired. I was stunned by their great beer selection including two varieties of Tuckerman Ale and two varieties of Flying Dog ale. They also had a keg of BL on tap if you are into that sort of thing....
With the wind blowing fiercely and conditions better down lower, there was no reason to lap the Kennebago so most of our runs were had off the double. We pretty much hit everything that was open though Silver Doctor was unfortunately off line all day for race training.
While the other guys may disagree, I found incredible hard pack bumps with amazingly lines in Parmachee Belle. It was firm but very skiable and I had a lot of fun on that trail with its wonderful meandering pitches and narrow character and split personality ending. Very cool. Peachy's Peril was even better with really great wind slab blow on skier's left. I was dumbfounded that snow that good could be found, tres cool and skied three times including the last time leading to Thrombosis Glade which was very much hard pack like the Belle was but still very skiable.
So to find good ungroomed skiing at Saddleback on Friday was a huge surprise and very much to my delight. That said, the winding and moderately pitched blue square groomers off the double were an absolute joy to ski. Not having done much groomer skiing in recent years, I began to feel and remember that quickening of the pulse when you start laying down high speed arcs with near reckless abandon. Even a powder princess can have fun when the groomers setup that well. As far as snow conditions go, Saddleback was definitely the pick of the weekend for me.
Pics tomorrow, maybe?
