Ski Sundown 3/4/06 (night)

[loafer89]

Date Skied: 3/4/06 5:30pm - 7:45pm

Surface conditions: hardpacked, packed powder, sheet ice.


After doing some house hunting in the Manchester area, my son and I took in some skiing
this evening at Ski Sundown. We arrived at the area at 5:30pm and started out with a run down Canyon Run, torward the bottom of the area on the Exhibition trail, Warren was hit from behind by an out of control snowboarder. Warren fell forward but was luckily not hurt, the girl apologized to Warren and I calling me "sir" so I now offically feel old.

The yellow summit double chair closed down just after our first run, and a short line developed for the summit triple chair. While we were waiting on line, Gunbarrel was closed off and being groomed for a race. We skied that trail next, and all the grooming did was to cover up large lengths of ice patches near the top of the run, which the winds did their best to uncover. Warren took a fall on one of the patches, but he skied the middle and lower part of the run without incident.

Temptor had also been groomed, and Warren skied Tom's Treat alone while I skied first tracks on Temptor after it reopened, and that was the best run of the night. There was a serious looking accident at the top of Noreaster and two people looked to have been in a bad collision, ski patrol had both people in sleds as we skied past the accident scene.

I skied one run in the bumps on lower Noreaster, but they are really firm and quite a different experience for me especially after skiing in all the powder yesterday at Plattekill. There is not much natural snowcover around Ski Sundown, maybe 2-3", we have more here at home on Long Island, which is depressing for early March.

Sorry for the poor images, but it is hard to get good shots at night. Here is a picture of all the ice at the top of Gunbarrel:

Lower Gunbarrel (much better):

Bumps on Noreaster:

 

[Greg]

Just an FYI - the yellow lift is also a triple. Yup - the top of Gunny looks prett typical. Love those bumps on Noreater! I really enjoy the mountain!

 

[loafer89]

I did not take a close enough look at the yellow chair to realize it was a triple, my mistake. Alot of people were upset when it stopped running and a line formed for the other triple chair. The skiing was okay and the mountain did there best to groom some trails during the evening, but there was plenty of ice out there and alot of people skiing way too fast on Exhibition.

There is alot more natural snow further south and I was almost tempted to ski at Powder Ridge again on our way to look at houses in Colchester, but I have the once bit twice shy syndrome from that place this season so we stayed away.

 

[2knees]

there is alot of ice at sundown right now. If it werent for Noreaster, i dont think it would be worth it. Actually, with the bumps being set up so solidly, it enables you to keep your speed which was a problem when they were much softer a few weeks ago. Given the lack of pitch on the trail, i'll take them on the icy side. Even with the 5" they got, the wind scoured it into oblivion and the place gets a ton of beginners who tend to scrape it down even worse. It can be good if you catch it after a night of resurfacing but a saturday night after the traffic they probably had during the day would be sketchy at best, as you found out. Its a fun hill, but it certainly has its limitations. For a 45 minute drive, i cant complain.

Colchester is a nice town. Rather rural yet not too far from hartford. I think you'll like the area.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Greg and I met there in the beginning of the season. I really liked it there. It's great for some lazy skiing and it's closer to me than I thought.

 

[loafer89]

I was less than impressed with the ski conditions at Sundown last night, but I like the mountain overall. It was a total reversal of conditions when compared to Plattekill, but my son deserved some skiing after being in the car all day yesterday looking at houses. Temptor was great right after they groomed it and before the masses decended on it.

By the way, thank you BeanoNYC for the advice on Mountain Creek, but we decided to hit Plattekill when we heard about the 14" of new snow they recieved this week.

 

[I_Bike_Alone]

What parts of Manchester were you looking at? Where would you be working?
Some busy parts of manchester, anything off of I-384 is good territory

 

[loafer89]

I would be working in Bloomfield just off route 218. We are looking in Manchester at the Meadowbrook Fields subdivision as well as in Vernon/Tolland and East Hampton/Colchester.

I would like a relatively new house, 2000 or newer with at least 1/4 to 1/2 of an acre of land.
Our budget is $300,000 to $350,000 as we do not want to have a mortgage again like we do here.

Thanks

 

[Paul]

I would be working in Bloomfield just off route 218. We are looking in Manchester at the Meadowbrook Fields subdivision as well as in Vernon/Tolland and East Hampton/Colchester.

I would like a relatively new house, 2000 or newer with at least 1/4 to 1/2 of an acre of land.
Our budget is $300,000 to $350,000 as we do not want to have a mortgage again like we do here.

Thanks

Loafer,
I live in East Hampton, and have a 5 yr old in the Elementary school there. PM me if you've got any ?s or anything.

The kid and I were at Sundown on Friday night. Pretty scratchy.

 

[I_Bike_Alone]

Basically the closer you are to the outside of Manchester the better, IE the corner near Bolton Vernon etc.

And as far as Manchester PD's concern over 'gangs" increasing in the areas, its BS just to get more fedral funding, not that you would have to worry about it in your area anyways. Good luck