Angus
Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 961
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- 16
First time to Smugglers Notch and was impressed by the terrain and vibe but not so much the lifts!
First off, drove up to the NH lakes region Friday night. It was nice to see snow on the ground. probably 2-3" of hardpack on the ground. Woke up to clear skis but an occasional snow flake in air. By the time, we got on 93 in New Hampton, it was snowing lightly. By the time we reached WV/Campton, there was snow on the highway blowing around. I remarked to my son, it was the first time I'd had to drive in snow since the October snowstorm!
Parked at the Madonna lift. Was on our first chair at approximately 10AM. First run, Drifter to Lower drifter and jumped into a woods/glade trail Shakedown. Coverage was reasonably good. We estimated there was a foot of natural snow at bottom of hill and 3 feet at upper reaches of summit. They'd received about 3" overnight and it continued to snow until 1 or 2PM. About mid-way down Shakedown, met ski patrol that was trying to shore up a water crossing with pine branches and snow. Did notice a lot of water bars on the mountain - just shows the effect of warm weather and the wet summer/fall.
Went in for lunch somewhere after 11:30 after 3 runs and was back out before noon. On the day, skied 12 runs finishing at 4PM but longest wait in line was 20 minutes which was painful but maybe good for snow preservation!
We skied FIS (multiple times) - my son liked. A little bumped up in places and they were making snow at end of day. I liked Doc Dempsey's, son didn't. It was bumped up but icy so we only skied once. We skied down to Red Fox Glade - little short run which had right pitch not to lose snow and expose roots and rocks and then to Three Mountain glade which I think had been overlooked and had pretty good snow but my son had to leap over a exposed boulder that obscured until he was almost on it.
We would ski Norwegian Glades lower on mountain which again was the right pitch to preserve the snow but you needed to be careful b/c I hit a cut sapling under the fresh snow as I initiated a turn which spun me around.
Went over to Sterling mountain and found some fun terrain. The top, middle of the mountain is steep and there was loose snow on the trails. Took maybe three runs off Sterling. Skied Pipeline from the top down to the Deer Run Glades which are steep. We'd seen them on the lift but once we got into them, we knew we'd made a mistake - lots of exposed rock, stumps, roots and ice - again not enough natural snow for the pitch. The clouds had dissipated at that point and we were able to see the Notch and Mansfield and Stowe, very pretty. My son remarked that skiing Upper Rumrunner provided a western ski mountain experience looking into the notch. We took a couple of runs off the Madonna II lift and trails off that were groomer types.
Anyway, I really liked the mountain. Some of the terrain not open is really steep and must be run when open. The customers seemed real relaxed and friendly and staff was very friendly and I was able to establish some banter with rotating lift line folks. Realistically, won't be back anytime soon b/c of driving distance - on the way out, it took about an hour from parking lot to the entrance of 89. Definitely a good long weekend family getaway - isn't that what they advertise themselves as! Snow depths reminded me of XMAS week in the Whites.
First off, drove up to the NH lakes region Friday night. It was nice to see snow on the ground. probably 2-3" of hardpack on the ground. Woke up to clear skis but an occasional snow flake in air. By the time, we got on 93 in New Hampton, it was snowing lightly. By the time we reached WV/Campton, there was snow on the highway blowing around. I remarked to my son, it was the first time I'd had to drive in snow since the October snowstorm!
Parked at the Madonna lift. Was on our first chair at approximately 10AM. First run, Drifter to Lower drifter and jumped into a woods/glade trail Shakedown. Coverage was reasonably good. We estimated there was a foot of natural snow at bottom of hill and 3 feet at upper reaches of summit. They'd received about 3" overnight and it continued to snow until 1 or 2PM. About mid-way down Shakedown, met ski patrol that was trying to shore up a water crossing with pine branches and snow. Did notice a lot of water bars on the mountain - just shows the effect of warm weather and the wet summer/fall.
Went in for lunch somewhere after 11:30 after 3 runs and was back out before noon. On the day, skied 12 runs finishing at 4PM but longest wait in line was 20 minutes which was painful but maybe good for snow preservation!
We skied FIS (multiple times) - my son liked. A little bumped up in places and they were making snow at end of day. I liked Doc Dempsey's, son didn't. It was bumped up but icy so we only skied once. We skied down to Red Fox Glade - little short run which had right pitch not to lose snow and expose roots and rocks and then to Three Mountain glade which I think had been overlooked and had pretty good snow but my son had to leap over a exposed boulder that obscured until he was almost on it.
We would ski Norwegian Glades lower on mountain which again was the right pitch to preserve the snow but you needed to be careful b/c I hit a cut sapling under the fresh snow as I initiated a turn which spun me around.
Went over to Sterling mountain and found some fun terrain. The top, middle of the mountain is steep and there was loose snow on the trails. Took maybe three runs off Sterling. Skied Pipeline from the top down to the Deer Run Glades which are steep. We'd seen them on the lift but once we got into them, we knew we'd made a mistake - lots of exposed rock, stumps, roots and ice - again not enough natural snow for the pitch. The clouds had dissipated at that point and we were able to see the Notch and Mansfield and Stowe, very pretty. My son remarked that skiing Upper Rumrunner provided a western ski mountain experience looking into the notch. We took a couple of runs off the Madonna II lift and trails off that were groomer types.
Anyway, I really liked the mountain. Some of the terrain not open is really steep and must be run when open. The customers seemed real relaxed and friendly and staff was very friendly and I was able to establish some banter with rotating lift line folks. Realistically, won't be back anytime soon b/c of driving distance - on the way out, it took about an hour from parking lot to the entrance of 89. Definitely a good long weekend family getaway - isn't that what they advertise themselves as! Snow depths reminded me of XMAS week in the Whites.
