Smuggler's Notch

[JD]

Did some solo notch shredding yesterday. It was a great day. Untracked top to bottom and plenty left.
One of the view on the way up.
One looking down at the line.
One looking back at my tracks.
One looking back up at a nice steep birch glade I wrapped under.
Stage is set for some rediculousness by week's end.
Enjoy.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

headed back up to smuggs jan 11-16 (yearly trip) Cant wait....Madonna and Sterling is 100% open, glades, everything....sick.....so stoked...

 

[campgottagopee]

The notch is bangin' for sure--have plans to get up there to see some old pals in feb---save some, would ya!!!!

 

[kingslug]

Want to hit it up there soon, gnarly place it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Marc]

Now just so everyone's clear.... I'm assuming you mean Smugglers' Notch, and not Smugglers' Notch Ski Area?

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

I would like to find some of the secret spots this year...maybe i can bribe a local with a few rounds of LTA's afterwards!!!

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

just hope Robins Run stays open, one of my fav trails of all time

 

[JD]

Sketchy place to go hunting for runs. Lots of big cliffs Ice Flows. One minute you think you're skiing a stream bed, and the next minute you're on blue Iie going over a horizon line on your ass. Not fun. And lots of natural avi activity. Know before you go IMO.

 

[campgottagopee]

Sketchy place to go hunting for runs. Lots of big cliffs Ice Flows. One minute you think you're skiing a stream bed, and the next minute you're on blue Iie going over a horizon line on your ass. Not fun. And lots of natural avi activity. Know before you go IMO.

That is sooooo true. When I taught at Smuggs we had to pull a few people out of there not because they weren't good skiers, but because they had no clue where they were going.

Quattro---you should be able to hook up w/someone for sure---jut hang around top of the lift for a while and you'll know who to ask.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

would never dump into out-of-bounds alone, its a cold, lonley place up there in the Notch......just saying i'd appreciate following a local in if they'd be willing to barter for some beverages!!

 

[180]

Did some solo notch shredding yesterday. It was a great day. Untracked top to bottom and plenty left.
One of the view on the way up.
One looking down at the line.
One looking back at my tracks.
One looking back up at a nice steep birch glade I wrapped under.
Stage is set for some rediculousness by week's end.
Enjoy.

I'm so jealous. Do you ever work?

 

[JD]

I work nights.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I work nights.

That's right! Sleep is for when the snow melts in the spring :razz:

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

You can sleep when you're dead!

 

[Brettski]

Well, if you want to talk to locals up there...go to the brewski

 

[Mullen]

My first post here. I ride smuggs a lot a good friend of mine is on patrol there so I'm very familiar with the back bowls and a few other areas. But deff. don't go out there if you don't know where you are going. You could be cliffed out and hiking back up...or worse. I'm heading up the 4th,5th,6th,7th of Jan for some turns at smuggs.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

I'll be up there 11-16...would love the opportunity to follow a local around the BC for a run or 2...beers on me!!

 

[campgottagopee]

If you, your wife or your kids take any lessons ask your instuctor. Unless things have changed (i doubt it) they will be glad to take you back in there. When I was teaching there if I had anyone I thought could handle it I would offer simply because alot of peeps don't get that kind of experience that often.

 

[JD]

Agro scene up there. Yesterday was one of the most glorious runs I can remember. The skin up to the chin was through the clouds. I get to the summit and we are floating on an island. The cloud layer was about 4000 feet and above that was bright sunshine and blueburd skys. Snow glistening, lightly blown in pow waiting for destruction, and the next closest group was a good 30 minutes behind us. Walking accross the ridgeline was like a dream. The chin, the nose, Madonna, and the top of spruce ridge were the only land masses visable and were an archapeligo in a sea of gently undulating foggy white. Pixie dust was blowing all around and everywhere you looked was twinkling. I got to a good vantage point and hung our for a good half hour. I watch the first coupla dudes drop in to Hourglass, and they slayed it. 2 more thru the chute that sloughed out allready a little less pretty. Hoots and echos bouncing around in the pass. Epic. I put together a really good run, getting into completely virgin snow on STEEP terrain and was totally tripping on endorphine, adrenaline, and visual over-stimulation. As I approach the resort I run into a bunch of guys who I know from around town. 1 guy, in particular, I know more then the others, and some of them have done extensive cutting in the immediate area. I am so stoked that I roll up with a big "Howdy Boys!"
The response from the big, Fred Flintstone guy is, "Who's line did you just ski?" They all break out into belly laughs, and I immediately feel my mellow being harshed out so I quickly break out my skins and make ready for my next trip. I reply, knowing where he's going, "Yours....mine....George Bush's."
I try and change the subject by asking him how his run was the day before. I had heard he skiied a particularly gnar line and figured, since it's never hard to get him to talk about himself, he could blather on until I was ready to go. Instead he pulls the..."I have no Idea what you're talking about." Like it's a big secret all of the sudden when the day before he told so many people he was in there that I knew about it before I went to sleep that night. Again the frat-house-brothers break into chuckles so I figure, OK, I'm outta here. Then he starts grilling me....where you going now...I tell him and he says, I was gonna go there. I told him since he was riding the lift, he would prolly get there before me. Then he informs me that HE cut that line, so I thanked him. Then he throws out this back handed threat....."we could keep going down this road, but it's gonna end Badly!" He says over his shoulder as he starts to walk away.
Now, all memories of the religous experience that I had just had on my skis was push out by this guys negativity. I just turned 180 and went completely the other way. I mean, who TF am I. I get 2-3 runs a day. I am so low impact as compared to all the other folks lapping the hill day after day. He goes around all fall cutting lines while the rest of us have to work, AT THE AREA, then tries to lay claim to them and threat and intimidate people who he thinks might go ski them. W T F !
To me, if you want a stash, you can't cut it at the hill. Only a matter of time until your tracks get followed. 90 percent of the stuff I ski I've been shown by the cutter, or, as is the case with this particular line, I just stumbled into it last season while skiing with a friend from Northfield.
So, I'd be happy show anyone around this guy's "private stash". Make sure we really ski it in well for him so it's doesn't slide like it did last year.
Can you "own" a line you cut illegally on public land?

 

[cbcbd]

Agro scene up there. Yesterday was one of the most glorious runs I can remember. The skin up to the chin was through the clouds. I get to the summit and we are floating on an island. The cloud layer was about 4000 feet and above that was bright sunshine and blueburd skys. Snow glistening, lightly blown in pow waiting for destruction, and the next closest group was a good 30 minutes behind us. Walking accross the ridgeline was like a dream. The chin, the nose, Madonna, and the top of spruce ridge were the only land masses visable and were an archapeligo in a sea of gently undulating foggy white. Pixie dust was blowing all around and everywhere you looked was twinkling. I got to a good vantage point and hung our for a good half hour. I watch the first coupla dudes drop in to Hourglass, and they slayed it. 2 more thru the chute that sloughed out allready a little less pretty. Hoots and echos bouncing around in the pass. Epic. I put together a really good run, getting into completely virgin snow on STEEP terrain and was totally tripping on endorphine, adrenaline, and visual over-stimulation. As I approach the resort I run into a
bunch of guys who I know from around town. 1 guy, in particular, I know more then the others, and some of them have done extensive cutting in the immediate area. I am so stoked that I roll up with a big "Howdy Boys!"
The response from the big, Fred Flintstone guy is, "Who's line did you just ski?" They all break out into belly laughs, and I immediately feel my mellow being harshed out so I quickly break out my skins and make ready for my next trip. I reply, knowing where he's going, "Yours....mine....George Bush's."
I try and change the subject by asking him how his run was the day before. I had heard he skiied a particularly gnar line and figured, since it's never hard to get him to talk about himself, he could blather on until I was ready to go. Instead he pulls the..."I have no Idea what you're talking about." Like it's a big secret all of the sudden when the day before he told so many people he was in there that I knew about it before I went to sleep that night. Again the frat-house-brothers break into chuckles so I figure, OK, I'm outta here. Then he starts grilling me....where you going now...I tell him and he says, I was gonna go there. I told him since he was riding the lift, he would prolly get there before me. Then he informs me that HE cut that line, so I thanked him. Then he throws out this back handed threat....."we could keep going down this road, but it's gonna end Badly!" He says over his shoulder as he starts to walk away.
Now, all memories of the religous experience that I had just had on my skis was push out by this guys negativity. I just turned 180 and went completely the other way. I mean, who TF am I. I get 2-3 runs a day. I am so low impact as compared to all the other folks lapping the hill day after day. He goes around all fall cutting lines while the rest of us have to work, AT THE AREA, then tries to lay claim to them and threat and intimidate people who he thinks might go ski them. W T F !
To me, if you want a stash, you can't cut it at the hill. Only a matter of time until your tracks get followed. 90 percent of the stuff I ski I've been shown by the cutter, or, as is the case with this particular line, I just stumbled into it last season while skiing with a friend from Northfield.
So, I'd be happy show anyone around this guy's "private stash". Make sure we really ski it in well for him so it's doesn't slide like it did last year.
Can you "own" a line you cut illegally on public land?

Man, really sucks you had to experience all that negativity...
IMO, bc skiing is only going to grow in the NE...these "private" lines right next to ski resorts built for slack-country will be found by other folks and it's just the nature of it. If you cut it and don't make the effort to be at the top of "your" line in the AM after a dump... tough luck, work harder next time and don't bitch at someone who made the effort.