madskier6
Member
Went to Stratton today with 2 of my sons (Ages 13 & 8 ) and my friend Jim and his son (Age 13). It was CT Ski Council (CSC) Appreciation Day at Stratton where lift tickets were $32 for all CSC members. I'm not a big Stratton fan but we had a great day of skiing.
When you go to Stratton, you know you're going to get good, consistent snow (mostly man-made) on lots of steep groomers. You're going to ski fast doing a lot of carving. Today was no exception. It was a hell of a lotta fun!
We parked at Sun Bowl (to the left as you look up at the mountain from the base) & were taking our first run about 11:00. While we got a late start, we skied hard all day & got a full day of fun skiing in. We first did a run off Sun Bowl (Way Home to Big Ben), a run off URSA Express (Upper Tamarack) & then headed for the Main Base Area so our boys could hit the Terrain Park.
The conditions were nice groomed snow with very few patches of ice or hard pack (until later in the afternoon when the ice came out). Stratton definitely knows how to lay down some good groomed snow. They also have many high speed 6-person chairlifts. You can get a lot of skiing in off these high speed lifts.
Stratton's terrain parks are very well manicured and well thought-out. I'm not into terrain parks at all but my boys like to spend some time there during the day. They also like to ski other parts of the mountain. Before you're allowed to enter Stratton's terrain parks, you have to listen to a 5 minute Terrain Park Safety & Etiquette video & sign a waiver of liability. Parents have to sign for their children under 18 so Jim & I had to sit through the video. Once you've completed the "course" (video & waiver execution), you're given a pass that permits access to any of the Terrain Parks. Stratton actually has lifties at the entrance to each park checking for these passes.
Once we'd finished with that nonsense, it was time to get back to skiing. We skied 3 more runs off the American Express lift at the Base & then headed back to Sun Bowl for lunch. After lunch Jim & I let our sons ski by themselves so that they could hit the Terrain Parks while he and I got some serious skiing it.
We headed for the Snow Bowl area and got some great runs in. We hit (i) Get My Drift to Upper Drifter to Lower Drifter, (ii) Mike's Way to Upper West Meadow to Drifter Link, and (iii) Upper Spruce to Lower Spruce. Some great runs with good snow along the sides of the trail. As the afternoon wore on, certain parts of the runs got icy (as you'd expect) but for the most part the snow held up very well. We were carving high speed GS arcs & having a ball!
Along the way, I hit Stevek & World Cup in the Snow Bowl area to get my fix of mogul skiing in. Stratton grooms most of their runs so there are only a few runs with bumps on them. World Cup was a great run, very steep with large bumps & good quality snow.
While there were quite a few people at Stratton, the runs we went on were not too crowded. Jim & I were able to hit some runs that were off the beaten track that had good snow & not a lot of skiers on them.
We met up with our boys at 3:30 after skiing off the Gondola (Standard). Then we headed back over to Sun Bowl to end the day. On the way, we did a great run on Black Bear to Upper Middlebrook to Sunriser Supertrail. Stratton was blowing snow like crazy most of the day but even more so at the end of the day. When we skied Upper Middlebrook, many snow guns were blazing on our way down. The snow quality was very good (at least for man-made).
We did a total of about 13 fairly long runs all day. The weather was cold but the skies were relatively sunny. It was a great winter day to be outside enjoying the mountains. The runs of the day for me were (i) Upper Spruce to Lower Spruce, (ii) Standard, right under the Gondola, and (iii) Upper Middlebrook.
As I said before, I'm not a huge Stratton fan since I normally prefer natural snow, some moguls & woods skiing (which you don't get a lot of at Stratton). But I skied very fast today on some steep groomers and it was a lotta fun. Carving long GS-type arcs on good snow is very enjoyable from time-to-time. Did I mention that I had fun today?
When you go to Stratton, you know you're going to get good, consistent snow (mostly man-made) on lots of steep groomers. You're going to ski fast doing a lot of carving. Today was no exception. It was a hell of a lotta fun!
We parked at Sun Bowl (to the left as you look up at the mountain from the base) & were taking our first run about 11:00. While we got a late start, we skied hard all day & got a full day of fun skiing in. We first did a run off Sun Bowl (Way Home to Big Ben), a run off URSA Express (Upper Tamarack) & then headed for the Main Base Area so our boys could hit the Terrain Park.
The conditions were nice groomed snow with very few patches of ice or hard pack (until later in the afternoon when the ice came out). Stratton definitely knows how to lay down some good groomed snow. They also have many high speed 6-person chairlifts. You can get a lot of skiing in off these high speed lifts.
Stratton's terrain parks are very well manicured and well thought-out. I'm not into terrain parks at all but my boys like to spend some time there during the day. They also like to ski other parts of the mountain. Before you're allowed to enter Stratton's terrain parks, you have to listen to a 5 minute Terrain Park Safety & Etiquette video & sign a waiver of liability. Parents have to sign for their children under 18 so Jim & I had to sit through the video. Once you've completed the "course" (video & waiver execution), you're given a pass that permits access to any of the Terrain Parks. Stratton actually has lifties at the entrance to each park checking for these passes.
Once we'd finished with that nonsense, it was time to get back to skiing. We skied 3 more runs off the American Express lift at the Base & then headed back to Sun Bowl for lunch. After lunch Jim & I let our sons ski by themselves so that they could hit the Terrain Parks while he and I got some serious skiing it.
We headed for the Snow Bowl area and got some great runs in. We hit (i) Get My Drift to Upper Drifter to Lower Drifter, (ii) Mike's Way to Upper West Meadow to Drifter Link, and (iii) Upper Spruce to Lower Spruce. Some great runs with good snow along the sides of the trail. As the afternoon wore on, certain parts of the runs got icy (as you'd expect) but for the most part the snow held up very well. We were carving high speed GS arcs & having a ball!
Along the way, I hit Stevek & World Cup in the Snow Bowl area to get my fix of mogul skiing in. Stratton grooms most of their runs so there are only a few runs with bumps on them. World Cup was a great run, very steep with large bumps & good quality snow.
While there were quite a few people at Stratton, the runs we went on were not too crowded. Jim & I were able to hit some runs that were off the beaten track that had good snow & not a lot of skiers on them.
We met up with our boys at 3:30 after skiing off the Gondola (Standard). Then we headed back over to Sun Bowl to end the day. On the way, we did a great run on Black Bear to Upper Middlebrook to Sunriser Supertrail. Stratton was blowing snow like crazy most of the day but even more so at the end of the day. When we skied Upper Middlebrook, many snow guns were blazing on our way down. The snow quality was very good (at least for man-made).
We did a total of about 13 fairly long runs all day. The weather was cold but the skies were relatively sunny. It was a great winter day to be outside enjoying the mountains. The runs of the day for me were (i) Upper Spruce to Lower Spruce, (ii) Standard, right under the Gondola, and (iii) Upper Middlebrook.
As I said before, I'm not a huge Stratton fan since I normally prefer natural snow, some moguls & woods skiing (which you don't get a lot of at Stratton). But I skied very fast today on some steep groomers and it was a lotta fun. Carving long GS-type arcs on good snow is very enjoyable from time-to-time. Did I mention that I had fun today?
