Sugarbush or Sugarloaf

[hardline]

learning where the flats are by myself was pure hell at times .. SR has a few and the loaf a couple too but once I know where to keep my speed up usually I am ok. Some might consider a boarder going fast in the flats as a sign of disregard to others..

i got into a heated discussion with a lady and here husband and bellarye about this. she said i needed to go slower .to which i said that i needed to keep my speed up and that if she was going to take up the whole trail doing turns going 5MPH she was going to find that she was going to keep getting buzzed. by boarders on the traverse. she tried to tell me that she had every right. to use the whole trail. i replied the she absoulutly does but then informed her it was not the curtious or the safe thing to do on a traverse. i think the curtious thing got her because she calmed down. i really dislike people who can't use common sense and there entirely to many of the in the world.

 

[Greg]

Lots of flats at Sugarbush in between the good terrain and the lifts. Been a long time since I was at the Loaf but I remember it having better continuous pitch and fewer run outs. It bothers me as a skier, I can not even imagine how flat run outs feel for a snow boarder.

I never understand this complaint. Sure the runout from CR is flat, but I can usually keep speed up through there just fine and I only ski that when I'm leaving Castlerock. The last bit on Gondolier heading to Bravo can be a bit of a drag, but it's not that bad. No runout off Heaven's Gate or North Lynx. No real runout on the VH pod either, unless you consider Lower Mall a runout. Aside from the CR runout, I just don't see LP at least as having more runout than most other mountains I've been to.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Sugarbush is fun, and I would definetly call it an above average area. The views are so-so, and after a while I found it to be kind of boring with the exception of castlerock.

You ever looked over the backside 3500' down into the Champlain Valley and then across to the Dacks? That's pretty spectacular. And for me personally, looking at the spine of the Greens to the North and South standing out above everything close by is always a treat. As for boring, I think that has a lot to do with how well you know a mountain. Hard to imagine that anyone would find trails like Twist, Mall, Steins, Spillsville, Moonshine or Domino boring, and that's just the on-map trails at South. Hard to believe that Black Diamond, Hammerhead, Tumbler, Bravo, and Exterminator and Lower FIS would be considered boring for even the most advanced skiers.

Sugarloaf on the other had, is a much better mountain if you are an advanced/expert skier. They usually have plenty of snow to open the trails off the spillwayy x-cut after mid january-early feb and those trails are spectacular. The glades are great, because they are relatively unkown, and there is always planty of pow to be found in the right spots.

I think you just hit on something there. If you have to wait until Feb for the best terrain to open, you're talking about a two month season in the glades and maybe 2.5 months on the trails. The prime season in the Northern Greens is usually a full month longer, sometimes more, sometimes less.

And then there's Slidebrook....

Regardless, I can't say anything about one vs. the other b/c I havent' skied sugarloaf, though it's certainly on the list. From what I've read and heard, it deserves its rep as one of the toughest, best hills in the region.

 

[newenglandskier1]

You ever looked over the backside 3500' down into the Champlain Valley and then across to the Dacks? That's pretty spectacular. And for me personally, looking at the spine of the Greens to the North and South standing out above everything close by is always a treat. As for boring, I think that has a lot to do with how well you know a mountain. Hard to imagine that anyone would find trails like Twist, Mall, Steins, Spillsville, Moonshine or Domino boring, and that's just the on-map trails at South. Hard to believe that Black Diamond, Hammerhead, Tumbler, Bravo, and Exterminator and Lower FIS would be considered boring for even the most advanced skiers.

Well, I dont think i meant it like I said It. Sugarbush is a good mountain that has plenty of classic new england trails but none of them quite "do it" for me, although I always love skiing, and the variety at SB kept me happy. SL on the other hand just has a wilder feel to me, and i just prefer it. Regarding the comment about the season lengths I do prefer the prime 2 1/2 months at 3 1/2 SL to the prime season at SB. Also, since i'm just south of boston I try to make the most out of each trip, and usually when I'm in central to northern VT, I just will decide to go to hay, which has an undenabaly wildness to it.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Well, I dont think i meant it like I said It. Sugarbush is a good mountain that has plenty of classic new england trails but none of them quite "do it" for me, although I always love skiing, and the variety at SB kept me happy. SL on the other hand just has a wilder feel to me, and i just prefer it. Regarding the comment about the season lengths I do prefer the prime 2 1/2 months at 3 1/2 SL to the prime season at SB. Also, since i'm just south of boston I try to make the most out of each trip, and usually when I'm in central to northern VT, I just will decide to go to hay, which has an undenabaly wildness to it.

What is Hay? Haystack?? A better thread should be Stowe vs Sugarbush..We all know Stowe owns Sugarbush and IMHO it owns Sugarloaf as well.

 

[newenglandskier1]

What is Hay? Haystack?? A better thread should be Stowe vs Sugarbush..We all know Stowe owns Sugarbush and IMHO it owns Sugarloaf as well.

woops, i meant Jay

 

[Lostone]

We all know Stowe owns Sugarbush

No... we don't all know that. :roll:

 

[deadheadskier]

No... we don't all know that. :roll:

everyone has their preference, but until I start seeing trip reports that rival powderfreaks from Stowe, I'm going to have to side with steeze on this one

 

[hardline]

No... we don't all know that. :roll:

the only place lift serviced that comes close is jay but the extra hour is a killer. stowe is the tits!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I think Stowe is a much better mountain than Jay Peak..

 

[hardline]

I think Stowe is a much better mountain than Jay Peak..

duh i know that. i spent a third of my season driving up there

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm glad you two joined AZ, along with powderfreak. For a couple of years when I first joined, I was pretty much the only Stowe 'homer' on here. I bet if you were to conduct a poll on here regarding 'best ski area in the east' Sugarbush would win hands down. I doubt Stowe would come in second, maybe not even the top five.

The reality is that most people have this image of Stowe as a place only for the 'rich' and that it's culture is stuck up. I think that's very true if your only snapshot of the place is a day trip on a Saturday. Spend 10 mid-week days there and you know that stereotype is far from the truth. You really have to give the mountain twenty tries and preferably with a knowledgeable guide to truly grasp how vast the skiing options are there and that there isn't a mountain in the east that can deliver such a 'western' like experience if you know where to go.

What's not a coincidence is that all of us are UVM grads and were passionate skiers in that part of the world from 93 to 2001. We had the choice during school to make Sugarbush, Jay, MRG or Smuggs our home mountain. Stowe was an easy choice for me. I definitely gave the other areas a shot. I've skied Sugarbush a good 20 times and the other three a good 10-15 times each during school and beyond. While all very good mountains, none of them can deliver what Stowe does.

 

[hardline]

I'm glad you two joined AZ, along with powderfreak. For a couple of years when I first joined, I was pretty much the only Stowe 'homer' on here. I bet if you were to conduct a poll on here regarding 'best ski area in the east' Sugarbush would win hands down. I doubt Stowe would come in second, maybe not even the top five.

The reality is that most people have this image of Stowe as a place only for the 'rich' and that it's culture is stuck up. I think that's very true if your only snapshot of the place is a day trip on a Saturday. Spend 10 mid-week days there and you know that stereotype is far from the truth. You really have to give the mountain twenty tries and preferably with a knowledgeable guide to truly grasp how vast the skiing options are there and that there isn't a mountain in the east that can deliver such a 'western' like experience if you know where to go.

What's not a coincidence is that all of us are UVM grads and were passionate skiers in that part of the world from 93 to 2001. We had the choice during school to make Sugarbush, Jay, MRG or Smuggs our home mountain. Stowe was an easy choice for me. I definitely gave the other areas a shot. I've skied Sugarbush a good 20 times and the other three a good 10-15 times each during school and beyond. While all very good mountains, none of them can deliver what Stowe does.

your spot on. Stowe is not some place that you can go once and expect to figure it out. you need to have someone give you a tour so you can get the lay off the land. as im sure all of us had our first or second year there. this whole season i wasn't there once on a weekend. the only reason we would go to sugerbush was to go to the park they had, stowe didn't even have one nor did anyone think it needed one. so we never hit sugerbush on a prime day. we just make a right when we got off the highway when the weather was shit.
if i lived within 3.5 hours of stowe vs 3 of bush. i would be at stowe.

 

[hardline]

I'm glad you two joined AZ, along with powderfreak. For a couple of years when I first joined, I was pretty much the only Stowe 'homer' on here. I bet if you were to conduct a poll on here regarding 'best ski area in the east' Sugarbush would win hands down. I doubt Stowe would come in second, maybe not even the top five.

The reality is that most people have this image of Stowe as a place only for the 'rich' and that it's culture is stuck up. I think that's very true if your only snapshot of the place is a day trip on a Saturday. Spend 10 mid-week days there and you know that stereotype is far from the truth. You really have to give the mountain twenty tries and preferably with a knowledgeable guide to truly grasp how vast the skiing options are there and that there isn't a mountain in the east that can deliver such a 'western' like experience if you know where to go.

What's not a coincidence is that all of us are UVM grads and were passionate skiers in that part of the world from 93 to 2001. We had the choice during school to make Sugarbush, Jay, MRG or Smuggs our home mountain. Stowe was an easy choice for me. I definitely gave the other areas a shot. I've skied Sugarbush a good 20 times and the other three a good 10-15 times each during school and beyond. While all very good mountains, none of them can deliver what Stowe does.

shit i just noticed you called me a skier. im not sure if that is a good or a bad thing:wink:

 

[Greg]

For a couple of years when I first joined, I was pretty much the only Stowe 'homer' on here. I bet if you were to conduct a poll on here regarding 'best ski area in the east' Sugarbush would win hands down. I doubt Stowe would come in second, maybe not even the top five.

Not really: http://forums.alpinezone.com/17564-stowe-vs-sugarbush-9.html

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

I haven't skied either of 'em. But, since Sugarloaf is way too far for me, I'll vote Whiteface.

 

[deadheadskier]

Not really: http://forums.alpinezone.com/17564-stowe-vs-sugarbush-9.html

That is from this fall when steeze was on board and his 10 to 1 post count average over the typical Azer started to dominate threads :lol:


I'm talking a few years back. Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but I always seem to recall much more vocal supporters of da bush than Stowe. All I was saying is that with this years additions of hardline, steeze and powderfreak to the forum, the appreciation and recognition for Stowe as people's favorite mountain has been on the upswing.

 

[tjf67]

If you are buying a pass I would flip a coin and go with it. You cant go wrong with either mountain.

 

[Greg]

I'm talking a few years back. Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but I always seem to recall much more vocal supporters of da bush than Stowe. All I was saying is that with this years additions of hardline, steeze and powderfreak to the forum, the appreciation and recognition for Stowe as people's favorite mountain has been on the upswing.

Maybe. But I don't think there were any Stowe bashers per se. As this forum grows, the contingents for many mountains will increase. Nobody talked about Sundown before 2006 either.

 

[skiadikt]

The reality is that most people have this image of Stowe as a place only for the 'rich' and that it's culture is stuck up. I think that's very true if your only snapshot of the place is a day trip on a Saturday. Spend 10 mid-week days there and you know that stereotype is far from the truth. You really have to give the mountain twenty tries and preferably with a knowledgeable guide to truly grasp how vast the skiing options are there and that there isn't a mountain in the east that can deliver such a 'western' like experience if you know where to go.

interesting i've always felt sugarloaf was the most 'western' like mtn in the east. stowe is definitely up there but at stowe it's more about the backcountry. like you said, you have to know where to go. at sugarloaf it's right in your face.