Stratton 1/30/09

[sankaty]

Date(s) Skied:

30 January 2009

Resort or Ski Area:

Stratton

Conditions:

Tracked powder, packed powder

Trip Report:

Fantastic conditions today. I was worried that sleet on Wednesday may have compromised the snow, but there was no sign of it. In fact, the denser nature of the snow was great as it more durably covered the roots and rocks that were very prevalent in the troughs in the glades last week.

Stayed mostly in the glades, skiing Vertigo, Kidderbrook Ravine, Diamond in the Rough, Moon Dance, and Shredwood Forest. Also did several runs down Bear Down and World Cup. Glades were fantastic! ROTD was Kidderbrook Ravine, closely followed by Diamond in the Rough, but really all were great. I just love how isolated and beautiful the ravine is.

Bear Down was good with great snow, but the bumps were smaller than usual. World Cup was great, but Slalom Glade was not particularly bumped leading up to it, so it made for a short bump run. There is ample soft snow, so if they don't groom it, skier traffic over the weekend will bump it up quickly.

Didn't ski much on the groomers, but the ones we did ski were in great shape with lots of soft snow. Hard pack was very much the exception.

Should be great for the weekend, but please be gentle on the troughs in the woods :smile:.

 

[carbonXshell]

Nice report... glad to hear you had a great day:smile: Stratton is one of my favorites and i'm not even a tree skier or much for the moguls.

 

[marcski]

Yes, very nice report. You're a lurker in these parts too it appears. Welcome. As for me, I think you should chime in and speak up more often. You skied just the places I enjoy skiing when I'm at Stratton!!! Is the poma still there? Ever ski the poma line? If you can, it's a blast!

I just looked at Stratton's trailmap. I see another glade to the far side of Kidderbrook trail, called Test pilot? Have you skied that? Is it good? It looks nice and long.

 

[sankaty]

Thanks for the welcome. I find others' reports very helpful, and I always mean to write reports from my trips, but haven't as often as I'd like. I intend to be more consistent.

I don't think the poma is still there, though I'm not certain. I'll look for it next time.

I have skied Test Pilot a couple of times. It's long and is one of the least skied trails on the mountain, so it frequently has untracked powder relatively long after a storm. I don't particularly enjoy it, though, because the trees are *very* tight relative to the other glades. It's got several single-track, leap before you look segments where you need to shoot through a small clearing and hope it all works out on the other side, which freaks me out. It's not steep, though, so speed control isn't as bad as it could be. I've got a couple of friends who are more avid (insane?) tree skiers, and they love the trail. I'm more of a converted bump skier, so if I don't have a little more room to maneuver, I get claustrophobic. Also, there may be lines that I haven't discovered that are more open.

 

[billski]

Thanks for the report! This is good news that the niar didn't make it there. Xcellent day, big improvement from three weeks ago when it was crust city and the only goods were in the woods!
Welcome and welcome more reports!