Sugarbush 3/20: EPIC POWDER DAY plus some extra adventure

[ceo]

Date(s) Skied: 3/20/2013
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush (Lincoln Peak)
Conditions: EPICALLY AWESOME POWDER DAY
Trip Report:
My friend John and I figured the day after a big snowstorm was a fine day to cash in our Warren Miller freebies at Sugarbush. A fine plan indeed; they had 15" of fresh and more came down all day. Got a late start from Somerville and didn't get on the mountain until after 10, but such is life. We started with a run off North Lynx and down Sleeper and Sleeper Road, then up Super Bravo and down towards Castlerock. Everything was soft tracked-up powder, which I actually found kind of tricky to ski.

A biographical note here: We did a family ski vacation to Sugarbush when I was 6, and needless to say I wasn't going to ski Castlerock then. My sisters, 12 and 13 at the time, were forbidden to ski it, did so anyway, and raved about it. So it got impressed into my 6-year-old mind as this Mythical Forbidden Territory. Both times I'd been back to Sugarbush as an adult, it had been closed, which didn't help. So, especially on a day like this, skiing Castlerock was high on my priority list.

And rightly so. Middle Earth was a lot of fun, and then we clanked and scraped our way down the rather skied-off and rocky top bit of Liftline to Rumble. I've heard that trail described as "like skiing down a fire escape with no railing" and I could tell why. Partway down we ducked off into the woods to skier's left, where we had no trouble finding large stashes of untracked fluff. As a lifelong Eastern skier I kind of suck at skiing powder, but somehow managed all the same. We got a bit off into the weeds and found ourselves in dense woods, and made our way down toward a trail that turned out to be Troll Road; had to take our skis off and clamber through dense brush to get there. Time for lunch.

After lunch we did a couple runs on Heaven's Gate. Paradise was, well, paradisiacal, and Jester was just as I remembered it from when I was 6 and it was the one run I could do from the gondola. Back over to Castlerock and we did Castlerock Run and tried to do all of Rumble this time, but it had been closed, so we consoled ourselves with Liftline.

Lift was closed by the time we got down and we were pretty washed up anyway, so it was time to head home. That's where the real adventure started. Pro tip: AWD does you not a bit of good on summer tires, particularly on the downhill side of Roxbury Gap with a couple of inches of snow over mud. Nose first into the ditch we went. After hiking up the hill to get cell reception and waiting quite a while, we got it extricated, only to find the radiator had gotten cracked and it was losing coolant. John's car is AWD and can't be towed, so we were going to need a flatbed, which these guys didn't have.

So now we were into some real adventure. We carefully and slowly drove it the rest of the way down the mountain, and fetched up at a general store in Roxbury VT with not a whole lot of good options in evidence. A lot of phone calls (on the store's phone, as Roxbury has neither cell reception nor pay phones), tricky decisions and more waiting ensued, ending with us and the Subie being driven home to Boston in a crew-cab flatbed by this nice young couple and their puppy, finally getting home around 1am.

 

[Cornhead]

Thanks for the TR, sorry about your car, I skied SB for the first time last January, it was firm and fast with limited terrain. I returned a month later, they had just received two feet, what a difference. I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, can't wait. Get yourself some snows next year, or at least all seasons. My subie, WRX hatch, came with Summer shoes, kinda weird having to buy new tires for a brand new car, I have Blizzaks mounted on 16" steel rims. The only thing holding me back is ground clearance, lift kit?

 

[ceo]

Fortunately (for me), it wasn't my car, and I wasn't driving.

 

[billski]

Oh man, what a rotten end to a great day. And an empty wallet too. Well, I'm glad you had a great day. Thanks for the TR.

 

[mrvpilgrim]

I found myself in almost the same situation last Friday heading up the gap from the Roxbury side. AWD Rav 4 with 6"-8" of snow . on frozen mud. Made it about 2/3 way up and came to a standstill. with my foot on the brake the car started sliding backwards. eventually made it back down but did 2 uncontrolled 180 spins with my foot on the brake and the anti locks chattering away. did a fair amount of backwards and sideways sliding in between the 180's. The dog was spooked by the anti locks and was shaking like leaf kept trying to climb in my lap with the look of impeding doom on his face. AWD with all season tires are no match for mother nature.

 

[billski]

AWD with all season tires are no match for mother nature.

Snow tires are

 

[steamboat1]

Glad you had a good day. Next time tell your friend to use a lower gear when going downhill on a snow covered road. Works even better with AWD. Let your gears slow the car down instead of having to brake. I drove my Subie for two years with all season tires without incident in some pretty good snowstorms. Needed new tires this year & put Blizzaks on & haven't noticed much of a difference. Now I have to buy all seasons again for the summer & figure out a good place to store the winter tires. Not to mention the cost of mounting & re-mounting twice a year.

 

[C-Rex]

Thanks for the TR, sorry about your car, I skied SB for the first time last January, it was firm and fast with limited terrain. I returned a month later, they had just received two feet, what a difference. I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, can't wait. Get yourself some snows next year, or at least all seasons. My subie, WRX hatch, came with Summer shoes, kinda weird having to buy new tires for a brand new car, I have Blizzaks mounted on 16" steel rims. The only thing holding me back is ground clearance, lift kit?

I drove my STi on unplowed roads with 10+ inches of snow. Wet, heavy snow would have been a problem but this stuff was fairly light. I had snow coming up over the hood, sideways around corners and passing 4WD trucks up hills. I didn't have a lift kit but I had height adjustable coilovers so I could drop it in the summer and jack it back up in the winter. Man, I miss that car. Point is, you should be fine unless it gets REALLY deep.

 

[polski]

Next time tell your friend to use a lower gear when going downhill on a snow covered road. Works even better with AWD.

Yeah, downhill from any of the gaps or Bolton access road etc when roads are snow-covered are mostly first-gear territory for me, and that's with 4WD (and all-season tires). Basically you do not want to have to use your brakes, except to pump them lightly to further check speed on the steepest grades or when approaching a sharp curve. Don't count on ABS to help you; even if it does slow you down, on snow it'll keep you on a straight trajectory, which might not be optimal ...

Going uphill the key is to maintain enough momentum (without gunning it and spinning the tires, which is counterproductive) and not come to a stop. Of course the big problem uphill or downhill is what vehicles in front of you may be doing.

ceo, I passed by you the other day; I chose the gap route in part to talk through snow-driving technique with my son, who'll be of driving age before too long. Sorry not to stop but I judged it to be too dangerous to try (not least because there was another vehicle following me a little too closely for my comfort), saw you guys weren't injured (you were walking uphill trying to make a cell call) and I couldn't have helped with extrication anyway. In retrospect it didn't occur to me you might have no signal up there; in a similar situation in the future I'd be sure to call 911 once I get down into cell range.

 

[ceo]

Sorry not to stop but I judged it to be too dangerous to try (not least because there was another vehicle following me a little too closely for my comfort), saw you guys weren't injured (you were walking uphill trying to make a cell call) and I couldn't have helped with extrication anyway. In retrospect it didn't occur to me you might have no signal up there; in a similar situation in the future I'd be sure to call 911 once I get down into cell range.

That's really amusing. This scene, right?

Quite OK you didn't stop. Very nearly everyone who came by stopped to ask if we were OK, until I finally started waving them past. First person who stopped, the first words out of his mouth were "Welcome to Vermont!" Two separate guys with trucks offered to pull us out, but didn't have enough traction even to get into position; one had nearly gone off the road himself trying to stop. Cell coverage was to be had uphill, not down; had none whatsoever down in Roxbury, and didn't have enough to call my wife and tell her we were on our way until we got on I-89.

 

[billski]

Can't get to your attachment.

 

[ceo]

Huh, don't know what happened there. Can you see it now?

 

[LasersInTheTaiga]

So when I was growing up in California everyone who needed to go up into the mountains kept a set of chains or cables in their car (and their use was sometimes compulsory). When I moved out here in 2000, I noticed that this seems not to happen in the East (including me, I originally bought a pair but used them twice, maybe, before I lost them somehow), and I never figured out why. They certainly would have saved me from a ditch or two. Do people just mostly have snow tires? Are they illegal? Is it just a cultural difference?

 

[ScottySkis]

So when I was growing up in California everyone who needed to go up into the mountains kept a set of chains or cables in their car (and their use was sometimes compulsory). When I moved out here in 2000, I noticed that this seems not to happen in the East (including me, I originally bought a pair but used them twice, maybe, before I lost them somehow), and I never figured out why. They certainly would have saved me from a ditch or two. Do people just mostly have snow tires? Are they illegal? Is it just a cultural difference?

I think it damages the car with highway driving.

 

[El Bishop]

Intersting discussion. I am hoping to be driving with my family from Boston up to SB a lot next year. Currently have a front WD VW Passat wagon but we are considering getting rid of it and moving to an AWD vehicle of some sort. While it seems that AWD with snow tires is the optimal solution, do people think that the 2 WD with snow tires (and going around Roxbury gap when it's bad) is good enough or if we plan to go every weekend, should we swtich to an AWD vehicle? I know it's really a weather-dependent question but let's assume that the weather is like it was this year. Thanks.

 

[WWF-VT]

Intersting discussion. I am hoping to be driving with my family from Boston up to SB a lot next year. Currently have a front WD VW Passat wagon but we are considering getting rid of it and moving to an AWD vehicle of some sort. While it seems that AWD with snow tires is the optimal solution, do people think that the 2 WD with snow tires (and going around Roxbury gap when it's bad) is good enough or if we plan to go every weekend, should we swtich to an AWD vehicle? I know it's really a weather-dependent question but let's assume that the weather is like it was this year. Thanks.

I do the drive most every weekend from the Boston area and both of our cars are AWD. 2 WD with snows is also a fine option. Roxbury / Warren Gap road might save you 5-10 minutes of drive time so it's hardly worth it most of the year. If it's snowing it's a challenge and once we hit mud season you don't want to even attempt it.