Date(s) Skied: April 8, 2006
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush, Vermont
Conditions: VC
Trip Report: This weekend was my Sugarbush weekend. Was thinking either Saturday or Sunday, but got locked into Saturday due to scheduling :roll: Sunday does look like a better day...but it was now or never so we went for it. Free day anyway :beer:
Met my friend CB in Montpelier and drove to Lincoln Peak.
Whoa. Much different than last season. Kudos to the new inn and mini-village for beginners. The loonnnngggg hike up those stairs to Gatehouse was a pain in the a$$.
After getting geared up and getting our tickets (the place was a ghost town), we boarded Super Bravo. Given the rain and cold snap (with such bad timing :roll: ) we did not have high expectations, but our warm up runs down Upper Birdland and Murphy's were great. Soft grooming and snow. Anything at that elevation that was not groomed was deadly. CB was enjoying his first outing to SB. Riding up the lift with "The Mullet," we learned that the season had not been good and saw Win Smith in the flesh on Upper Birdland. Nice turns.
Next run was down Downspout to Heaven's Gate. Downspout was edgeable, but not great. Skied onto Heaven's Gate and rode up. Lower Paradise and Lower Ripcord were treacherous from the view of the lift--frozen ice and crud. So we opted for Jester down to the lift. Nice and smooth. Great views as always. Next run was the annual spin down Ripcord. Upper third was nice--FG with 2-3 inches of pow on top. Lower part was "dust on crust," so we bailed on Paradise Extension :blink: New trail designation I assume?
The summit wasn't too good so we headed back to Bravo and skied Snowball to Spring Fling which was in good shape. We closed out our tour of LP by hitting Lower Organgrinder and Lower Jester. Some good snow where they had groomed. It never got warm enough to thaw things out.
So we headed North to Ellen...my favorite side. We pulled in to see that the summit was in frost and snow like LP. After lunch we headed up GMX and then to the summit. Rim Run was in midwinter shape except for the sheet of ice on Lower Rim Run...pretty typical. CB hit a small wormhole between Looking Good and Rim Run to find some nice snow. We rode this out all the way back to the bottom via Cruiser and Straight Shot. Cruiser was getting interesting...some soft snow in spots.
Back up the top we decided to "try" Upper FIS. The run of the day in my book. Steep and deep as always. Some smaller ice bumps were covered by 6-10 inches of powder and crud that were edgeable and skiable. Lots of folks began flocking to it. Great stuff. We picked up Looking Good and headed back up to the summit.
Next run we took Rim Run to Elbow in search of a wormhole. CB found one and we hit it...a bit too narrow for me and the snow was not great. Not ice, not snow. Not good. We bailed onto the road between Elbow and Looking Good.
We headed back up top and hit Black Diamond Rush with the short sticks. Lots of fun, but not as good as FIS. We had too many folks charging down it at once...one guy almost ran me over.
From here, we took Cruiser down to North Ridge and hit Exterminator. The upper part was great--some pow, some ice bumps underneath, but then just above the Way Back cutoff it went to hell...frozen crud and ice everywhere. No soft snow...just frozen tracks CB wanted to ride it out...it was a mess from here down Northway. They need either a warm up or a groomer and I think they will wait for the former...but it will be a long time. Single worst run of the season. Upper bumps were nice on it, but not worth it.
So we hit North Ridge and did a spin down Elbow all the way. Did another quick number down a great Upper FIS down to the Looking Good wormhole (nice glade run!). We closed out on Rim Run down to Elbow and to the bottom.
Some nice folks....some odd ones (the guy on the last chair telling us about how big his daughter's b&*(s were and then talking about skiing snow up to his "titties" ..... too much info)...and some dumb ones (the guy standing in Ellen Parking Lot and urinating facing the entire parking lot....really classy). Good conditions here and there, but nasty overall on natural runs. FIS was great, but we wish that the snow was softer for trees. Skied on to the chairs every run.
Made me recall all the good times I had skiing SB. Ellen lived up to its rep overall. I miss Lower FIS.
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush, Vermont
Conditions: VC
Trip Report: This weekend was my Sugarbush weekend. Was thinking either Saturday or Sunday, but got locked into Saturday due to scheduling :roll: Sunday does look like a better day...but it was now or never so we went for it. Free day anyway :beer:
Met my friend CB in Montpelier and drove to Lincoln Peak.
Whoa. Much different than last season. Kudos to the new inn and mini-village for beginners. The loonnnngggg hike up those stairs to Gatehouse was a pain in the a$$. After getting geared up and getting our tickets (the place was a ghost town), we boarded Super Bravo. Given the rain and cold snap (with such bad timing :roll: ) we did not have high expectations, but our warm up runs down Upper Birdland and Murphy's were great. Soft grooming and snow. Anything at that elevation that was not groomed was deadly. CB was enjoying his first outing to SB. Riding up the lift with "The Mullet," we learned that the season had not been good and saw Win Smith in the flesh on Upper Birdland.
Nice turns. Next run was down Downspout to Heaven's Gate. Downspout was edgeable, but not great. Skied onto Heaven's Gate and rode up. Lower Paradise and Lower Ripcord were treacherous from the view of the lift--frozen ice and crud. So we opted for Jester down to the lift. Nice and smooth. Great views as always. Next run was the annual spin down Ripcord. Upper third was nice--FG with 2-3 inches of pow on top. Lower part was "dust on crust," so we bailed on Paradise Extension :blink: New trail designation I assume?
The summit wasn't too good so we headed back to Bravo and skied Snowball to Spring Fling which was in good shape. We closed out our tour of LP by hitting Lower Organgrinder and Lower Jester. Some good snow where they had groomed. It never got warm enough to thaw things out.
So we headed North to Ellen...my favorite side. We pulled in to see that the summit was in frost and snow like LP. After lunch we headed up GMX and then to the summit. Rim Run was in midwinter shape except for the sheet of ice on Lower Rim Run...pretty typical. CB hit a small wormhole between Looking Good and Rim Run to find some nice snow. We rode this out all the way back to the bottom via Cruiser and Straight Shot. Cruiser was getting interesting...some soft snow in spots.
Back up the top we decided to "try" Upper FIS. The run of the day in my book. Steep and deep as always. Some smaller ice bumps were covered by 6-10 inches of powder and crud that were edgeable and skiable. Lots of folks began flocking to it. Great stuff. We picked up Looking Good and headed back up to the summit.
Next run we took Rim Run to Elbow in search of a wormhole. CB found one and we hit it...a bit too narrow for me and the snow was not great. Not ice, not snow. Not good. We bailed onto the road between Elbow and Looking Good.
We headed back up top and hit Black Diamond Rush with the short sticks. Lots of fun, but not as good as FIS. We had too many folks charging down it at once...one guy almost ran me over.
From here, we took Cruiser down to North Ridge and hit Exterminator. The upper part was great--some pow, some ice bumps underneath, but then just above the Way Back cutoff it went to hell...frozen crud and ice everywhere. No soft snow...just frozen tracks
CB wanted to ride it out...it was a mess from here down Northway. They need either a warm up or a groomer and I think they will wait for the former...but it will be a long time. Single worst run of the season. Upper bumps were nice on it, but not worth it. So we hit North Ridge and did a spin down Elbow all the way. Did another quick number down a great Upper FIS down to the Looking Good wormhole (nice glade run!). We closed out on Rim Run down to Elbow and to the bottom.
Some nice folks....some odd ones (the guy on the last chair telling us about how big his daughter's b&*(s were and then talking about skiing snow up to his "titties" ..... too much info)...and some dumb ones (the guy standing in Ellen Parking Lot and urinating facing the entire parking lot....really classy). Good conditions here and there, but nasty overall on natural runs. FIS was great, but we wish that the snow was softer for trees. Skied on to the chairs every run.
Made me recall all the good times I had skiing SB. Ellen lived up to its rep overall. I miss Lower FIS.
