Sugarbush Lincoln Peak - 01-09-2016

[bdfreetuna]

Sugarbush did a great job in two aspects.

1. Snowmaking trails skied beautifully. Not a scratch or ice patch to be found.
2. Natural trails were open. Some of them some other mountains would have opened, others pretty much only Sugarbush would have open. Thin cover, some raspberry bushes, a little dirt here and there, you had to keep an eye out for rocks and waterbars, but mostly lower on the mountain. Higher up the natural trails were really nice. Nice bumps on a lot of the trails. Stein's was kind of thin and the size of the moguls reflected that. Paradise had some nice bumps and plenty of snow.

* My opinion of "plenty of snow" is generally less snow than some people's.

Reason we chose Sugarbush Lincoln Peak was 1) most open terrain, 2) they seemed to have the most snow lately, 3) their woods skiing policy is basically go for it. As opposed to Killington which ropes off woods.

Woke up at 4:30am, left the house at 5:15am and was on the lift just barely after 8:00am. Crowds never got too bad the whole day. Maybe the least crowded I've been to Lincoln Peak in years. I figured the word was out that they had the goods, but I guess after New Years and with rain coming the next day (Sunday) it was enough to keep the lift lines short. Plus I would imagine a lot of casual skiers have basically given up on this season or are waiting for a 2 foot storm in their back yard.

The snow in the woods was adequate cover but there were more obstacles present than there would be with more cover. Snow snakes, rocks, stumps, brush. And the snow was a little heavy, sucking up the moisture in the air. That said they were also basically untracked (or rarely-tracked) which made for some fun long arcing turns in Stein's Woods, Gangster's Grotto, and others.

We wanted to head over to Mt Ellen but the 2-way lift was closed (and we checked at lunch time). Don't see the reason for this, and we really wanted to head over and do Exterminator Woods, Bravo Woods and a few of the other nice ones over there (and Mt Ellen we suspected had slightly more snow and their woods, for the most part, are a bit higher elevation).

Anyway good day. Really wore me out. Here's some photos:

Long Trail past Paradise (closed)


On of the chutes between Paradise and Church (closed)


Ganster's Grotto


Stein's Woods

 

[steamboat1]

We wanted to head over to Mt Ellen but the 2-way lift was closed (and we checked at lunch time). Don't see the reason for this

They can't run the chair unless they have sufficient snow in case they have to do a evacuation.

Glad you had a good day. Skied there Thurs. myself.

 

[gostan]

They can't run the chair unless they have sufficient snow in case they have to do a evacuation.

Glad you had a good day. Skied there Thurs. myself.

The bus runs between Lincoln & Mt. Ellen every 1/2 hour. I have used it 3 times already this season to catch the great co ditions at both peaks.

 

[rocks860]

I'm headed up on the 23rd for a week, glad to see things are looking good. Hopefully this rain doesn't affect things too much, looks a good several days of snow before then too.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i was there too and i agree with everything you said. hats off to sugarbush patrol for being so liberal about the ropes. i found the skiing exactly as you found it. the only thing i regretted was stein's woods, which i accessed from the true entrance at reverse traverse. too low tide and tight for my comfort. but paradise skied wonderfully, as did castlerock run and castlerock liftline, and eden, gangsters grotto, lew's line, and whatever other woods i poked my head in. much better than i expected. my girlfriend took a beginner lesson and was star of her class, complained that it was too slow and easy, and said she wants a blue square level lesson next time. major progress.

 

[tumbler]

As liberal as the trail opening policy is I would not take that as the woods being ready. Many more obstacles in the woods than on the trails. Be careful.

 

[dlague]

Ripcord got pretty icy by 1 when we were on it. Some sections on Dowspout got draped off down the middle but was good on the sides.

At Mt Ellen FIS off Lower Rim Run was lightly tracked and wide open and we got our fist powder turns. There was more snow there than the Lincoln Peak side. We also took South Bound to FIS. It looks like a brook trail. There were only to tracks from earlier skiers - that was very fun and interesting. We took the shuttle to Mt Ellen first thing in the AM and skied until 11. Skiing on groomers was super fast and a lot of fun and coverage was great. The woods between Lower Rim Run and Looking Good skied well but we followed a tracked path. I get nervous in the woods too early in the season (wife broke thumb last year skiing untracked in the woods in light cover). There were no lift lines at all.

When we returned to Lincoln Peak side we met our first lift lines of the day and did a few runs off Gate House lift where the lines were minimal. Sleeper Cute was mostly grass but skied ok with the thin cover. We then worked our way towards the Summit off Heavens Gate and skied Rip Cord which was icy. Next run was down Organgrinder with thin cover and felt scratchy on our bases. Lastly we went down Jester which is always fun. The inside corners were scraped off but on the outside corners had plenty of snow. Lower Organgrinder off Lower Jester skied really well. Closer to the bottom there were Water bars surrounded by bumps and too many people but manageable. We did a run off Valley House Lift and skied Steins which had this cover. We close the day with one last run off Gate House on Slow Poke where we just hauled ass - actually lots of fun. Lines at Bravo and Valley Lifts were a little long but not terrible. Snow was getting sticky higher up later in the day. And scraped of areas started to soften.

For us it was the best day of skiing this season.

FIS - great natural cover and no people


Sleeper Chute


Lower Organgrinder


Top of Rip Cord


Mt Ellen - The Cliffs (crickets)




Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[bdfreetuna]

As liberal as the trail opening policy is I would not take that as the woods being ready. Many more obstacles in the woods than on the trails. Be careful.

Yeah it was a bit slower going with eyes peeled than we hope for. Still the only thing that keeps me out of woods is glare ice.