xlr8r
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2009
- Messages
- 974
- Points
- 43
1.1
15 runs
Sunny
Coming off of a cold that I had for about 10 days throughout the holidays, I knew my energy would be low so I decided to only make it a half day on the first of the year, so I arrived at 11:30 after driving up expecting scraped trails and big crowds. Parked at sunbowl (funny seeing all satellite lots completely full, but sunbowl lot not even half full, idiots) which currently only has 3 ways down to the base open right now and started off on those runs. Yes the trails ended up a bit scratchy, but there were no crowds on this side of the mountain. Big Ben was fun to carve up as it had fresh man made on it. Went down to the main base to get something for lunch (I like the new pizza place in the village, cheaper than the lodge cafeteria) and also to see where the crowds were, and found them. Amex had lines out of the corral and the gondola had just opened up after being on windhold all morning, which everyone else started gravitating towards.
After Lunch I did laps off of the Shooting Star which also had no lines, and found upper Bear Down to be the best run of the day. It had nice fresh ungroomed whales that were starting to get moguled up, so I did this run several times. Otherwise I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay on trails that had fresh snowmaking from at least the last 48hrs or so, and avoiding the main arteries of the mountain (like Black Bear which just looked like an icy overcrowded sh*t show from riding the Shooting Star). Upper Middlebrook, and surprisingly Grizzly were also pretty decent.
Not the best of days, and probably a day I would have passed up if I didn't have a pass. Made the best of it I guess, it was beautiful out with the sun, but cold and windy at the top.
1.2
22 runs
Snow shower in the morning, overcast with flurries in the afternoon
I wanted to wake up early and get to the mountain for first chair, but that didn't happen at all. I looked at my clock in bed and it was already 8:45, so I knew I F'd up the morning. Finally got on my skis (again at the sunbowl) at 9:45 and like the day before started on Sunrise Ex and the Shooting Star. Although it was lightly snowing, the runs on this side of the mountain were not as good as the day before, and the crowd was also noticeable larger. Then moved on to the snowbowl side to try Slalom Glade which is usually one of the least crowded run off the summit. It ended being very nice with the lower half full of ungroomed whales similar to Bear Down yesterday, only this had fewer people on it.
Crowds were big everywhere as expected, but the singles line moved fast enough. Only rode the gondola once right after lunch, and only got to URSA late in the day as its lines were very long earlier. Snowbowl was running and did a couple rides on it, but it was a very cold ride with the wind up top. Eventually the wind got bad enough for them to shutdown the Snowbowl and Gondola lifts before 3:00. The thing I didn't get was that they never bothered to open South American even though Amex was jammed with people all day. Maybe they kept it closed due to skier to trail density already being over the max with not all the trails open.
The best run was in plain sight secret Suntanner, as it was closed all morning with snowmaking taking place on it, but after lunch they dropped the ropes for only about 2hrs, before they closed it again as they started to groom it all out. It my have been man made, but it was untracked powder, so I did four consecutive runs on it, and no one else seemed to figure it out that it was open (idiots, its right there, you can see it from the line your waiting in), I had it practically all to myself for an hour it seemed. Upper Standard was also a good run with little ice, but it was getting windblown towards the end of the day. Again like the day before, the main arteries looked terrible, and I did my best to avoid them.
In summary both days were about as expected, crowded, lots of icy spots, long lines, but there were some good skiing if you looked hard enough, and there were a few lifts with short to no lines. A lot of people at Stratton just do not know how to read the mountain to find where the good trails are it seems. It is far from my ideal mountain, but the $300 season pass is too good of a deal. It was interesting to see that even though the mountain has more terrain open than when I was here 2 weeks ago, the conditions are much worse. The weather hit them hard like everywhere else, but I am very impressed with there snowmaking abilities as they seem to have revisited most of if not all the terrain since Monday. Yes, I knew what I was getting myself into as everyone here knows Stratton during vacation week is going to be a madhouse of people (a lot of them bad at skiing) but I had fun. I don't feel like I am missing out much on anything at other better mountains due to the conditions being about the same everywhere right now it seems. thats four days on my pass now, already down to $75 a day. Tomorrow I plan on using one of my VT ski 3 passes either at Bromley or Okemo expecting more of the same (2 days in a row at Stratton is enough). I originally hoped I would be able to go try Magic this week for a day, but I will save Magic for a day when they are fully open with good snow.
15 runs
Sunny
Coming off of a cold that I had for about 10 days throughout the holidays, I knew my energy would be low so I decided to only make it a half day on the first of the year, so I arrived at 11:30 after driving up expecting scraped trails and big crowds. Parked at sunbowl (funny seeing all satellite lots completely full, but sunbowl lot not even half full, idiots) which currently only has 3 ways down to the base open right now and started off on those runs. Yes the trails ended up a bit scratchy, but there were no crowds on this side of the mountain. Big Ben was fun to carve up as it had fresh man made on it. Went down to the main base to get something for lunch (I like the new pizza place in the village, cheaper than the lodge cafeteria) and also to see where the crowds were, and found them. Amex had lines out of the corral and the gondola had just opened up after being on windhold all morning, which everyone else started gravitating towards.
After Lunch I did laps off of the Shooting Star which also had no lines, and found upper Bear Down to be the best run of the day. It had nice fresh ungroomed whales that were starting to get moguled up, so I did this run several times. Otherwise I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay on trails that had fresh snowmaking from at least the last 48hrs or so, and avoiding the main arteries of the mountain (like Black Bear which just looked like an icy overcrowded sh*t show from riding the Shooting Star). Upper Middlebrook, and surprisingly Grizzly were also pretty decent.
Not the best of days, and probably a day I would have passed up if I didn't have a pass. Made the best of it I guess, it was beautiful out with the sun, but cold and windy at the top.
1.2
22 runs
Snow shower in the morning, overcast with flurries in the afternoon
I wanted to wake up early and get to the mountain for first chair, but that didn't happen at all. I looked at my clock in bed and it was already 8:45, so I knew I F'd up the morning. Finally got on my skis (again at the sunbowl) at 9:45 and like the day before started on Sunrise Ex and the Shooting Star. Although it was lightly snowing, the runs on this side of the mountain were not as good as the day before, and the crowd was also noticeable larger. Then moved on to the snowbowl side to try Slalom Glade which is usually one of the least crowded run off the summit. It ended being very nice with the lower half full of ungroomed whales similar to Bear Down yesterday, only this had fewer people on it.
Crowds were big everywhere as expected, but the singles line moved fast enough. Only rode the gondola once right after lunch, and only got to URSA late in the day as its lines were very long earlier. Snowbowl was running and did a couple rides on it, but it was a very cold ride with the wind up top. Eventually the wind got bad enough for them to shutdown the Snowbowl and Gondola lifts before 3:00. The thing I didn't get was that they never bothered to open South American even though Amex was jammed with people all day. Maybe they kept it closed due to skier to trail density already being over the max with not all the trails open.
The best run was in plain sight secret Suntanner, as it was closed all morning with snowmaking taking place on it, but after lunch they dropped the ropes for only about 2hrs, before they closed it again as they started to groom it all out. It my have been man made, but it was untracked powder, so I did four consecutive runs on it, and no one else seemed to figure it out that it was open (idiots, its right there, you can see it from the line your waiting in), I had it practically all to myself for an hour it seemed. Upper Standard was also a good run with little ice, but it was getting windblown towards the end of the day. Again like the day before, the main arteries looked terrible, and I did my best to avoid them.
In summary both days were about as expected, crowded, lots of icy spots, long lines, but there were some good skiing if you looked hard enough, and there were a few lifts with short to no lines. A lot of people at Stratton just do not know how to read the mountain to find where the good trails are it seems. It is far from my ideal mountain, but the $300 season pass is too good of a deal. It was interesting to see that even though the mountain has more terrain open than when I was here 2 weeks ago, the conditions are much worse. The weather hit them hard like everywhere else, but I am very impressed with there snowmaking abilities as they seem to have revisited most of if not all the terrain since Monday. Yes, I knew what I was getting myself into as everyone here knows Stratton during vacation week is going to be a madhouse of people (a lot of them bad at skiing) but I had fun. I don't feel like I am missing out much on anything at other better mountains due to the conditions being about the same everywhere right now it seems. thats four days on my pass now, already down to $75 a day. Tomorrow I plan on using one of my VT ski 3 passes either at Bromley or Okemo expecting more of the same (2 days in a row at Stratton is enough). I originally hoped I would be able to go try Magic this week for a day, but I will save Magic for a day when they are fully open with good snow.
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