gladerider
Active member
my buddy and i were tracking the storm all week last week. we narrowed it down to either hunter or sugarbush. we both agreed that we did not want to bother with mad crowd at hunter so we decided to drive up north to bush. after shoveling 16"of snow on my drivieway in nj, i picked up my buddy and headed up north. called KingM but i was out of luck. i wanted to stay at Golden Lion, but what can you do. King was nice enough to recommend another place so we went there. by the time we got to 87 thru way it was almost 7:30. it was snowing pretty hard in the catskills as we were passing the exits 19-21. by the time we got to the Wait Farm Motor Inn, it was 1am.
day 1 - 2/27
we got up the next morning at 7 so that we can hit the first chair at 8:30. got a quick breakfast at the convenience store and booted up. we then found out that the super bravo first chair was 8am. well it's been some time since i was there last. we quickly rode down to castlerock chair to line up for the first chair. we were told that castlerock was closed for a few days and it was opening up for the first time. sweet. the report was that they got another 6" overnite at the summit. we were the third chair in line and the line quickly built up. by the time it was 9, the line was already looping around. around 8:45, we saw some people poaching the fresh tracks. it was the snowcat people. they kept saying 'it's worth it' one guy started chating up with some people in the line. a gentleman in his 50's? maybe. it was not quite but almost 9, the gentleman said 'let them go Nathan !'. when i pulled up to be loaded, i asked Nathan if that was mr. winn smith, he said it was. cool. as we were riding up the chair, we saw one or two people coming down with face shots. great. we decided to hit the liftline first.
WOW! the powder was up to our knees and thighs and when making turns in some areas it came up to our waist. it was phenominal. the second run we came down on rumble. it was sweet too. the 3rd run we did the middle earth. we were lapping the castlerock all morning until 1. by the time it was 10, the line was 20-30min long. we grabbed some lunch. the whole mountain was pretty bumped up everywhere. was a bumpfest...just after lunch we headed to checked out eden's glade. not so good. the snow was crusty and sticky. did not like it. it was prolly elevation factor and rain. so, we headed over to heaven's gate. did a run on paradise. it was super bumped up. knee high bumps. then we went back to castlerock and did middle earth until the last chair. was a truly sweet day.
day 2 - 2/28
got up at 6:30 and headed over to catch the first chair at super bravo. all the usual groomers were all groomed nicely. my buddy and i lapped 3 groomers to warm up before heading over to the heavens gate. took a look at the peak for a moment and we both decided to head back to castlerock. the line wasn't too long. we started out hitting castlerock run. it was bumped up as usual. a lotta pow on the sides. then we decided to jump into the glades between the liftline and the castlerock run. we were lapping that all morning until 1 (see pix attached). we then headed to egan's woods. the top was fine but as we got to the bottom, the condition was sticky and crusty just like the eden glades. as the last run of the day, we decided to hit stein's woods. samething. the top 2/3 was great. the bottom 1/3 wasn't so good.
at 2pm we called it a day. quickly grabbed a sandwich for the road and by 2:30 we were on the road back to nj. got home at 8pm.
all in all, it was super dope 2 days of riding. we kept comparing it to our snowbird trip a month ago.
here are some pix in the glades in castlerock from sunday
day 1 - 2/27
we got up the next morning at 7 so that we can hit the first chair at 8:30. got a quick breakfast at the convenience store and booted up. we then found out that the super bravo first chair was 8am. well it's been some time since i was there last. we quickly rode down to castlerock chair to line up for the first chair. we were told that castlerock was closed for a few days and it was opening up for the first time. sweet. the report was that they got another 6" overnite at the summit. we were the third chair in line and the line quickly built up. by the time it was 9, the line was already looping around. around 8:45, we saw some people poaching the fresh tracks. it was the snowcat people. they kept saying 'it's worth it' one guy started chating up with some people in the line. a gentleman in his 50's? maybe. it was not quite but almost 9, the gentleman said 'let them go Nathan !'. when i pulled up to be loaded, i asked Nathan if that was mr. winn smith, he said it was. cool. as we were riding up the chair, we saw one or two people coming down with face shots. great. we decided to hit the liftline first.
WOW! the powder was up to our knees and thighs and when making turns in some areas it came up to our waist. it was phenominal. the second run we came down on rumble. it was sweet too. the 3rd run we did the middle earth. we were lapping the castlerock all morning until 1. by the time it was 10, the line was 20-30min long. we grabbed some lunch. the whole mountain was pretty bumped up everywhere. was a bumpfest...just after lunch we headed to checked out eden's glade. not so good. the snow was crusty and sticky. did not like it. it was prolly elevation factor and rain. so, we headed over to heaven's gate. did a run on paradise. it was super bumped up. knee high bumps. then we went back to castlerock and did middle earth until the last chair. was a truly sweet day.
day 2 - 2/28
got up at 6:30 and headed over to catch the first chair at super bravo. all the usual groomers were all groomed nicely. my buddy and i lapped 3 groomers to warm up before heading over to the heavens gate. took a look at the peak for a moment and we both decided to head back to castlerock. the line wasn't too long. we started out hitting castlerock run. it was bumped up as usual. a lotta pow on the sides. then we decided to jump into the glades between the liftline and the castlerock run. we were lapping that all morning until 1 (see pix attached). we then headed to egan's woods. the top was fine but as we got to the bottom, the condition was sticky and crusty just like the eden glades. as the last run of the day, we decided to hit stein's woods. samething. the top 2/3 was great. the bottom 1/3 wasn't so good.
at 2pm we called it a day. quickly grabbed a sandwich for the road and by 2:30 we were on the road back to nj. got home at 8pm.
all in all, it was super dope 2 days of riding. we kept comparing it to our snowbird trip a month ago.
here are some pix in the glades in castlerock from sunday
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