Decided to ambitiously plan a day trip for sure at 6 pm on 1/19 to make my way out at 5:30 am to make it over there for a day trip (heck anything for a free lift ticket). The mountain was a bit more crowded than your typical Wednesday (as I've really only skied the mountain before on Wednesdays from taking the bus group running from Haverhill exclusively on that day). Still, all of the six packs were ski on for almost all of the day; maybe an occasional 5 or so chair wait at Ursa and Amex; and 5 to 10 minutes for the gondola for the most of the day (and of course they were packing in quite a few cabins with 7 people even when lines were short). I think there was a bigger lineup for tickets as I was headed out there was a line of 15 people served by 2 ticket sellers at the Sun Bowl.
It was a bit windy, but that didn't stop me. Frankly, I've seen more sway while going up in Stratton's gondolas and a regular was talking about how it can get so windy that she's seen a gondola hit a lift tower. The mountain is really setting up well and there were making snow on Upper Kidderbrook (with it being closed and my favorite trail) and the upper trail under the gondola. ROTD was Catch 22, which is a fairly new trail (maybe as of last year) over by the Sunrise Express (lower Sun Bowl lift). It was a blue square marked experts only, but I took it on and was rewarded with fresh powder about ankle high, despite thin cover, which was fairly easily navigable (and this was my last run after the lifts closed). That trail in and of itself was so unStrattonlike but positively so.
It was a bit ironic hearing some complaints about the lack of grooming. Of course, when you get fresh snow, there isn't going to be much if at all. Small bumps were forming on many blacks and some blues, which were soft and enjoyable. Some of the blues got skied off; probably due to how bumpy the blacks were. I was actually quite surprised see much of their crowd friendlier than usual (with the exception of the complaining about lack of grooming).
It was a bit windy, but that didn't stop me. Frankly, I've seen more sway while going up in Stratton's gondolas and a regular was talking about how it can get so windy that she's seen a gondola hit a lift tower. The mountain is really setting up well and there were making snow on Upper Kidderbrook (with it being closed and my favorite trail) and the upper trail under the gondola. ROTD was Catch 22, which is a fairly new trail (maybe as of last year) over by the Sunrise Express (lower Sun Bowl lift). It was a blue square marked experts only, but I took it on and was rewarded with fresh powder about ankle high, despite thin cover, which was fairly easily navigable (and this was my last run after the lifts closed). That trail in and of itself was so unStrattonlike but positively so.
It was a bit ironic hearing some complaints about the lack of grooming. Of course, when you get fresh snow, there isn't going to be much if at all. Small bumps were forming on many blacks and some blues, which were soft and enjoyable. Some of the blues got skied off; probably due to how bumpy the blacks were. I was actually quite surprised see much of their crowd friendlier than usual (with the exception of the complaining about lack of grooming).
