billski
Active member
Date(s) Skied: Saturday 2/11/06
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: 1
acked Powder, 2:FGR, getting scratchy after noon.
Trip Report:
Yup. $teaux. It deserves this moniker. They have hit another new high in my book. The $6.50 cheeseburger.
Anyways, back to skiing. Bunked out at a ski bud's house 1 mile from the mt. after a great evening riding the Pisten-Bully over at the 'Bush. Headed out at 7:15 to make the first runs up the quad at 7:30. We were cranking blacks and double diamonds by 8. Like the 'bush, everything was fast. Real fast. Edgeable. We got 8 runs in by 10, I was already getting beat, after a nonstop day before.
Liftline was great, trackable, small bumps. Nosedive, Goat, Starr were brutally groomed courduroy: wicked fast. Nothing exposed. Top to bottom, the conditions were consistent. Low moisture made it perfect. Pretty awesome looking halfpipe. Lots of shredders earning their turns. Everyone looked good. The snowmakers and groomers were again the heros this year. National had some wicked bumps - sorry, not for this old man. By 10 the quad was getting busy, busloads of teens and collegians began arriving.
We moved onto the Gondola, no real line to speak of. 2 Nastar runs. Deceptively difficult course. More difficult to edge than usual. 3 runs down the gondi, the ba-voom, huge crowds: the quad lift had broken down with electrical problems. About this point, the surfaces were getting scratchy.
I was already pooped, but we headed over to Spruce to checkout the new trail. We hopped on the shuttle bus with the cranky driver (swear to goodness, they hire grouchy people to drive that thing. Glad I didn't have to ski with that dude
It's a 2 lift hop to get to the new terrain. The new Sunny spruce quad is wicked fast. Sensation quad, the second lift you take, is also just as fast. It has an unorthodox loading line - you queue up perpendicular to the lift, load behind the bullwheel rather than aside it. As we all predicted, it gets too many people on the mountain. I was getting a bit nerveous: so many people on the trails, not a lot of skiable options.
The whole back/top area of Spruce, serviced by the Sensation quad is a wicked cruiser. lots of dips and bumps and curves. Would love to cruise it with no one there. It looks a bit rushed to completion, with some pretty interesting new terrain roped off, looks unfinished. Regardless, it was a blast over there. They promote this area with trail signs saying that this is for the "slower paced". But ya know, everyone was hauling. It was only when you got to sunnyside that things did indeed slowdown.
Trees skiing looked a bit too marginal for me. Then again, I'm just a cub beginner when it comes to that stuff. I want to keep my knees, so I'll wait for a better day.
It felt warmer today than on Friday. It was about 2 below at 7:30. We quit about 2, I don't think it had reached double digits.
If you're gonna ski Stowe, it seems to me that earlier is better - not as scrachy and fewer people. Sorry no pics.
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: 1
acked Powder, 2:FGR, getting scratchy after noon.Trip Report:
Yup. $teaux. It deserves this moniker. They have hit another new high in my book. The $6.50 cheeseburger.
Anyways, back to skiing. Bunked out at a ski bud's house 1 mile from the mt. after a great evening riding the Pisten-Bully over at the 'Bush. Headed out at 7:15 to make the first runs up the quad at 7:30. We were cranking blacks and double diamonds by 8. Like the 'bush, everything was fast. Real fast. Edgeable. We got 8 runs in by 10, I was already getting beat, after a nonstop day before.
Liftline was great, trackable, small bumps. Nosedive, Goat, Starr were brutally groomed courduroy: wicked fast. Nothing exposed. Top to bottom, the conditions were consistent. Low moisture made it perfect. Pretty awesome looking halfpipe. Lots of shredders earning their turns. Everyone looked good. The snowmakers and groomers were again the heros this year. National had some wicked bumps - sorry, not for this old man. By 10 the quad was getting busy, busloads of teens and collegians began arriving.
We moved onto the Gondola, no real line to speak of. 2 Nastar runs. Deceptively difficult course. More difficult to edge than usual. 3 runs down the gondi, the ba-voom, huge crowds: the quad lift had broken down with electrical problems. About this point, the surfaces were getting scratchy.
I was already pooped, but we headed over to Spruce to checkout the new trail. We hopped on the shuttle bus with the cranky driver (swear to goodness, they hire grouchy people to drive that thing. Glad I didn't have to ski with that dude
It's a 2 lift hop to get to the new terrain. The new Sunny spruce quad is wicked fast. Sensation quad, the second lift you take, is also just as fast. It has an unorthodox loading line - you queue up perpendicular to the lift, load behind the bullwheel rather than aside it. As we all predicted, it gets too many people on the mountain. I was getting a bit nerveous: so many people on the trails, not a lot of skiable options.
The whole back/top area of Spruce, serviced by the Sensation quad is a wicked cruiser. lots of dips and bumps and curves. Would love to cruise it with no one there. It looks a bit rushed to completion, with some pretty interesting new terrain roped off, looks unfinished. Regardless, it was a blast over there. They promote this area with trail signs saying that this is for the "slower paced". But ya know, everyone was hauling. It was only when you got to sunnyside that things did indeed slowdown.
Trees skiing looked a bit too marginal for me. Then again, I'm just a cub beginner when it comes to that stuff. I want to keep my knees, so I'll wait for a better day.
It felt warmer today than on Friday. It was about 2 below at 7:30. We quit about 2, I don't think it had reached double digits.
If you're gonna ski Stowe, it seems to me that earlier is better - not as scrachy and fewer people. Sorry no pics.
