Sugarbush 12/29/12

[C-Rex]

It was a day of firsts for me. After over 17 years of snowboarding in VT I finally got to experience Sugarbush, and I was NOT disappointed. The girlfriend and I left at zero-dark-thirty from Lanesboro, MA and were on the Gatehouse quad a little after 9:00. Steady snow throughout the day ensured that we never heard our edges scrape. They claimed around 4 feet of fresh in the previous 10 days and I think that was pretty accurate. This was the first time my first day of a season was a powder day on a 100% open mountain.

We spent our first few runs cruising blues to let my intermediate skier GF get comfortable before heading over to Mt. Ellen on the Slidebrook Express. The crowd was much more tolerable on this side, probably due to the increased average difficulty of Mt. Ellen. We took a few more exploratory runs before lunch and then stopped for a beer and a bite with some friends from Burlington. I had a Castlerock Ale, another first, which was great. We kept lunch short and sweet because I was dying to get back out and hit some glades. My friends took me to the Semi-Tough woods and they were amazing. I got stuck twice in waist deep snow, definitely a first for me in December. However, being my first day out this season I was in terrible shape. After a couple runs through the trees my legs were cooked. So I did a couple more cruisers with the GF before heading back over to North Lynx Peak. We did 2 more runs to ensure we were fully exhausted and then called it a day.

I could not be happier with day 1 of this year. If this is any indication of what the rest of the season holds then we have one for the books coming at us! And I will definitely be heading back up to the Bush soon and often!

 

[ALLSKIING]

Nice report...Next time ya gotta hit Castlerock....

 

[Cheese]

Great report, thanks!

 

[thetrailboss]

Good report. Glad that you liked 'Ellen. And yes, it is much less crowded over there, which is nice!

 

[ski_resort_observer]

:thumbs up:

 

[bdfreetuna]

Awesome you enjoyed it. But next time please ski Castlerock (Rumble and Middle Earth in particular) and Paradise off Heaven's Gate chair. Then once you ski paradise, next time ski upper Paradise again but keep going past the top of where it starts to go down the fall line, into the woods along the ridge. Trail in there leads you to all kinds of different chutes and lines and that area is possibly my favorite skiing anywhere.

 

[salsgang]

we had a blast at Sugarbush last year and got lucky with a 10" storm in early March. Glad you had a great day.

 

[billski]

I appreciate the quick report. Sounds like Riverc0il is calling them right. I hear MRG is good too.

 

[C-Rex]

Awesome you enjoyed it. But next time please ski Castlerock (Rumble and Middle Earth in particular) and Paradise off Heaven's Gate chair. Then once you ski paradise, next time ski upper Paradise again but keep going past the top of where it starts to go down the fall line, into the woods along the ridge. Trail in there leads you to all kinds of different chutes and lines and that area is possibly my favorite skiing anywhere.

Good advice. I'll definitely do that next time. I was a little limited having my GF with me. I didn't have anyone to pawn her off on so I could do my thing.

 

[billski]

Good advice. I'll definitely do that next time. I was a little limited having my GF with me. I didn't have anyone to pawn her off on so I could do my thing.

Just make sure you've got your legs in good strength,. A lot of burning on those natural bumps, which is to say, everything.

 

[billski]

Good advice. I'll definitely do that next time. I was a little limited having my GF with me. I didn't have anyone to pawn her off on so I could do my thing.

I'm happy to help out on the pawning.

 

[JFP]

Was at sugarbush also 12/28 -12/29.. 1st time. despite hefty crowds pretty much hit the jackpot in this decision a couple of weeks prior in weighing options for christmas week (before any snow fell in the east) with the 2 boys. The conditions were superb.We hit a whole lot of woods; only the steepest (Stein's, a couple others similar) had stumps/rocks exposed. Unfortunately, did not get to hit Castlerock (nor Heaven's Gate for that matter- due to wind on Thurs) because my 6 year old did not want to wait in the long line mid afternoon the 28th & were focused on getting to Mt Ellen the 29th.. cheers to those that can ditch their 6yo on a powder day. Slidebrook was closed Thurs (wind) and did not open till 11-12 on Fri (maintenance issue?) but Ellen was great the afternoon of the 29th and capped a fantastic couple of days- especially on the Inverness side (where semi-tough was). Slide brook must be one of the longest chairs in the east?- the slide brook valley looks very interesting & saw some intermittent tracks in the trees as well as down the lift lines. Kids wanted to take the trail off into the woods at the top of Lynx but forbade not knowing where it would go (I had visions of either finding a smokers lounge or getting lost and sleeping in a snow cave..) They quickly forgot about it after we found a beautiful glade off the blue run on that peak. The lower FIS trail runout @ Ellen was an adventure with many exposed/running water bars on the run out to jump over/work around.. Promised the boys I'd take them back up to ski MRG at some point- this was originally part of the plan but we were all gassed after two days of heavy crowds and snow. Can't wait to get back up there.

 

[C-Rex]

I'm happy to help out on the pawning.

LOL. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!

 

[WWF-VT]

I was at Sugarbush from 12/26 - 1/1 . Great snow and Mt Ellen was exceptional on 12/27 and 28.

Here's a pic from the woods I skied on Sunday, 12/30

url

[/url]

 

[billski]

WWF - I can't figure out what I'm looking at in the pic above. Is that a groomer in the clearing? The forest base doesn't look very inviting. How was the base in the woods?

 

[WWF-VT]

What you see is a clearing that was recently done - I think it could be a future cell tower location. I walk my dog in this area in the summer. The trees are thinned out and there is a flat spot. Downhill from here it was thigh deep and you come out on Lower FIS.

 

[gereddunne]

great report, thanks!

 

[sugarbushskier]

Was also at SB this past weekend. I normally try to avoid the holiday time periods and potential crowds, but the snow report and forecast kept calling me. Although first time out this season, I found myself on Castlerock lift for 2nd run and it was a good call. Got there before any crowds and essentially skied right on. Middle Earth (one of my favorites) was a tough 2nd run of the year, but well worth it. Lots of snow, bumps and good coverage throughout. Figured since I'd already beat myself up why not jump right into Slidebrook before lunch. Although a long line at the Gate House lift, the line for North Lynx and access to Slidebrook was quite short. Traversed under the lift and planned to hit Door #2, but since there was so much snow, missed the entrance and ended up skiing further down the cat access road than I wanted. Fortunately, we found a lower entrance and ended up skiing most of the area we originally intended. Great snow, great coverage and no open waterbars in this area so we got lucky. Skied out to GF, waited for the shuttle and rode back to South for a quick break. The following day I actually skied Slidebrook from North, which was a first for me. This side hadn't been skied much at all and 3 or 4 feet of pow made it really tough. Have to admit it wasn't my finest hour, but at least now I know the route. For the first weekend out for the year, I normally try to take it relatively easy, but conditions were so good that I found myself in the woods the majority of the time.

Let's hope the winter is a consistent one with few warmups. I'd like to ski though April for a change...>