Just back from a nice quick three day ski safari in the North Country that really exceeded my expectations given the poor start to the season. I'll post up some crappy pics (I'm a horrid photographer) when I upload them to my computer. Observations:
Sugarbush 1/9 Conditions of the groomers over on Mt. Ellen were fantastic. I was also happy to see patrol dropping the ropes on Exterminator, Bravo, Black Diamond and Upper FIS as I don't believe the report online indicated those trails were all open. They were boney, but a lot of fun with a few decent bump lines, but mainly just a lot of rock dodging, which I enjoy. Elbow actually probably had the best bumps at North. South didn't have very good conditions on the main center of the mountain cruisers, but they were hammering away on Ripcord and Organgrinder with the guns, which were both a ton of fun to ski. Organgrinder more so due to the lack of ground guns that produce wet snow and glazed you over. Lots of bumps in other places too. In general, Sugarbush will have some really good bump skiing once they get a bit of snow. Great to see them not mowing down the icy bumps and just holding them on reserve. Best bumps on the hill were actually on Spring Fling. They were really nice and soft.
Stowe 1/10 Stowe clearly has received/retained more natural snow than the Bush. Pretty much twice the base in the woods. I peaked into the woods a bit and they were pretty much 6 inches away from being good to go in all but the real nasty areas. One foot base done to the base. Bumps at Stowe were pretty much limited to Chin Clip, National and Gulch and weren't nearly as good as Sugarbush. Their groomed terrain was absolutely stellar. I don't think I found an ice spot anywhere over the whole mountain. Perfect packed powder, not loose granular.
Cannon 1/11 First thing in the morning the groomers all skied great, but unless there was snow made recently on a trail, they got pretty scratchy by noon. I was surprised by the number of people at Cannon. Not as much as Stowe, but appreciably more than Sugarbush. Maybe it was a lot of my fellow NH residents taking advantage of the $36 Wednesdays. Natural / ungroomed stuff down low at Cannon was pretty well crusted over garbage, which is too bad as Rocket has some really nice bump lines skiers right. Best trails were definitely Vista Way and Taft Slalom, which were all natural and ungroomed. Irregular bumps, but plenty soft enough and great fun. Upper Hardscrabble didn't have as many bumps to make it as fun as the other two. They were trying to make snow on Cannonball. I say "trying" because they only had about a dozen guns going over the whole length of the trail and that trail might have more hydrants per acre than any other trail in the east. If they utilized it all, that one trail could have 60 plus guns blasting from both sides. Maybe it's an air capacity issue. I did notice the Mittersill chair running briefly, so perhaps they are optimistic for the upcoming storm. Cannon actually had as much natural in the woods at the summit as Sugarbush, but was pretty much bare down at the base where as Sugarbush had a least a few inches. I believe I had read about the $6 beers on here. I had one at lunch. Kind of surprising as Steaux the most uber expensive place in the east only charges $5.
A great three days overall.
Sugarbush 1/9 Conditions of the groomers over on Mt. Ellen were fantastic. I was also happy to see patrol dropping the ropes on Exterminator, Bravo, Black Diamond and Upper FIS as I don't believe the report online indicated those trails were all open. They were boney, but a lot of fun with a few decent bump lines, but mainly just a lot of rock dodging, which I enjoy. Elbow actually probably had the best bumps at North. South didn't have very good conditions on the main center of the mountain cruisers, but they were hammering away on Ripcord and Organgrinder with the guns, which were both a ton of fun to ski. Organgrinder more so due to the lack of ground guns that produce wet snow and glazed you over. Lots of bumps in other places too. In general, Sugarbush will have some really good bump skiing once they get a bit of snow. Great to see them not mowing down the icy bumps and just holding them on reserve. Best bumps on the hill were actually on Spring Fling. They were really nice and soft.
Stowe 1/10 Stowe clearly has received/retained more natural snow than the Bush. Pretty much twice the base in the woods. I peaked into the woods a bit and they were pretty much 6 inches away from being good to go in all but the real nasty areas. One foot base done to the base. Bumps at Stowe were pretty much limited to Chin Clip, National and Gulch and weren't nearly as good as Sugarbush. Their groomed terrain was absolutely stellar. I don't think I found an ice spot anywhere over the whole mountain. Perfect packed powder, not loose granular.
Cannon 1/11 First thing in the morning the groomers all skied great, but unless there was snow made recently on a trail, they got pretty scratchy by noon. I was surprised by the number of people at Cannon. Not as much as Stowe, but appreciably more than Sugarbush. Maybe it was a lot of my fellow NH residents taking advantage of the $36 Wednesdays. Natural / ungroomed stuff down low at Cannon was pretty well crusted over garbage, which is too bad as Rocket has some really nice bump lines skiers right. Best trails were definitely Vista Way and Taft Slalom, which were all natural and ungroomed. Irregular bumps, but plenty soft enough and great fun. Upper Hardscrabble didn't have as many bumps to make it as fun as the other two. They were trying to make snow on Cannonball. I say "trying" because they only had about a dozen guns going over the whole length of the trail and that trail might have more hydrants per acre than any other trail in the east. If they utilized it all, that one trail could have 60 plus guns blasting from both sides. Maybe it's an air capacity issue. I did notice the Mittersill chair running briefly, so perhaps they are optimistic for the upcoming storm. Cannon actually had as much natural in the woods at the summit as Sugarbush, but was pretty much bare down at the base where as Sugarbush had a least a few inches. I believe I had read about the $6 beers on here. I had one at lunch. Kind of surprising as Steaux the most uber expensive place in the east only charges $5.
A great three days overall.
