Sugarbush 2/7/2009

[andyzee]

Arrived at Mt Ellen about 8am Saturday Morning. Nice sunny day, warm temps, couldn't ask for more. Went to the lodge, got my tickets, ran into Ski Resort Observer, always a pleasure and went downt to the Green Mountain Express. We get to the lift and it was closed. I ask what was going on and was informed it was on windhold. Hmm... couldn't feel any wind, but was informed that there was wind at the top. Ok, walked towrds Inverness, met up with the thetrailboss, he went to boot up and we took the lift up. Well we get to the top and guess what, it was windy as all hell, unbelievable. We took a run down, with all the wind, I was suprised what kind of shape the snow was in, not bad at all. Not pow, but very edgeable. We got down and Green Mountain Expresswas open.

We ski over there, TB was waiting for us and took the lift to the top. My wife is still a bit scared to do more difficult stuff so we kept it simple. Rim Run to Elbow, Rim Run all the way down, and couple other cruisers. With all the wind, I was suprised that everything was still pretty good. At one point TB and I split off from the group and did Upper FIS, it looked very windblown, but had to try it. Nope, was sweet. Few more blues and then I left my wife with her freind and me, TB, and one of my friends took a run down Lower FIS, not the best shape it's ever been in,but not bad. After awhile the women went to get lunch, my friend joined them and TB and I kept on skiing. We hit FIS again, nice, did a couple other runs down, not sure of the trails but hit some nice bump runs. Then after awhile the rest of the group radioed me and said they wanted to go over to Lincoln. Slidebrook was closed due to wind so we drove over.

Did a couple of runs off North Lynx, wind started picking up. Cool sights, clouds were passing by at high speeds. A few times they stopped North Lynx due to high winds and eventually closed it. We skied down, by now it was 2pm, conditions were getting worst wind wise and we decided to call it a day.

Any time I go to Sugarbush, I say the same thing, have to get up the more. All things considered conditions were really good and had a great time. Can blame the mountain for the wind Always a pleasure running into and chatting with SRO and ofcourse skiing with TB.

 

[thetrailboss]

Andy--

As always nice to run into you. I'd have to say that FIS was the run of the weekend. I'm glad you pushed me to ski it...it was worth both runs. As I said last night, Sunday was nothing special...wind was blowing from a different direction, things were flash freezing, and it was cold. I did manage a few hours of skiing and covered a lot of terrain.

I look forward to your next visit! Hope your friends had a good time!

 

[andyzee]

Andy--

As always nice to run into you. I'd have to say that FIS was the run of the weekend. I'm glad you pushed me to ski it...it was worth both runs. As I said last night, Sunday was nothing special...wind was blowing from a different direction, things were flash freezing, and it was cold. I did manage a few hours of skiing and covered a lot of terrain.

I look forward to your next visit! Hope your friends had a good time!

Definately want to make it back up there again, (maybe the AZ gathering if it ever comes to be), but plan on Whiteface as well. Oh and friends had a great time, were happy to meet you and appreciated you skiing with us.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

was at SB Sat and Sunday as well (MRG on Friday)...arrived LP about 830a took a few runs, by 930 LP was a S#!& Show and crazy so we took the shuttle (honeslty, on a weekend and without SB running, they need more shuttles..it was standing room only, people were falling in the bus onto other people, was insane) Finally arrived ME and had a great day, low key, laid back classic New England skiing, great trees and bumps....we skiied LP yestereday, very scratchy, stayed low on the mtn where it was a bit softer, then worked our way up to Paradise, Castlerock..great soft big bumps and the mts was quiet, not many folks around...all in all we prefered ME, we dont need the fluff of new base lodges that attract the masses....SB has friendly staff, good on mtn food and nice terrain

 

[andyzee]

You got it it, ME is the place to be :lol: We've been learning the same thing. Always used to start at Lincoln and then take a trip to ME. Now we do it the other way around.

 

[KevinF]

I was over at the Mt. Lincoln side on Saturday as well. Like you said, the bottom was dead calm in the morning. The top of the HSQ was fairly windy, but not that bad.

I made the mistake of riding the Heaven's Gate Triple; I figured it would be windy, but hey, they wouldn't run it if there was a safety issue, right? "Windy" took on new meaning on that ride. I was honestly frightened to raise the safety bar as that chair neared the top; the wind was just unreal. I got off and I was just shaking... There were a couple other people up top who had that "shell shocked" look on their faces as well.

The top of Ripcord was wind-blasted ice, so I went down Organgrinder and then ducked over back to Ripcord just above Spillsville. Ripcord had awesome snow, but by the time I had reached the bottom they had shut the lift down due to wind hold issues, which makes me think that the wind had gotten even worse. :blink:

I did a few runs off of Castlerock; Middle Earth had some really nice snow for the most part. Liftline was way too rocky for my tastes. Castlerock eventually developed some mechanical issue (thankfully I wasn't on it at the time), so I went back to the base. Both HSQs at the bottom had huge lines (I guess because everything was on wind hold?), so I gave up shortly after noon and called it a day.

 

[thetrailboss]

Shhhhh.....don't say too much about Mount Ellen now. She is a hidden gem. The view from the top is unreal. I am pretty much convinced that I will do the Ellen Plus pass next season. It just has a nice vibe.

 

[andyzee]

Shhhhh.....don't say too much about Mount Ellen now. She is a hidden gem. The view from the top is unreal. I am pretty much convinced that I will do the Ellen Plus pass next season. It just has a nice vibe.

Fer sure!

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

i couldnt imagine LP on a holiday weekend...esp the bag rack area on the first level, that was nuts...did they actually test run that area before they built it??? narrow, tight, large ski bags, that area was a disaster....and one more thing....those wooden steps leading to the parking lot up to the base area...can anyone say "SLICK???" wet, worn down wood in ski boots is not a combination, I counted 5 wipe outs (1 inculding my wife) ... bad design there....we had a good time overall but we are not itching to get back...if we do, we'll be at ME, hopefully they leave it alone and dont upgrade it (that'll only attract the masses)