Sugarbush

[therobertcollins]

Sometime during February break, I will be using a voucher with my friend at sugarbush. What are some good strategies to avoid liftlines and other mass exoduses? Also what are some good trails to hit up? We are strong skiers who enjoy woods and mediumish drops. Which parking area should we stay at? Thank you

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[dlague]

Depends when you get there. The main parking lot at Sugarbush is a great place to park if there early - before 8:30. However, just notice February break - that can be tough. Super Bravo will be busy all the time as well as Gatehouse. If you can manage to stay on higher lifts the better off you will be IMO Mt Ellen early might be a good call as well. We used to hit MT Ellen early since it seems like people migrate over to get away from crowds. Then later in the AM we head back over to LP side.

 

[benski]

I would just add that at Sugarbush that unless you are looking to ride Slidebrook for the view(its a cool lift to ride), you should stay at Lp or Mt. Ellen for the entire day and save the other for another day. Just consider Mt. Ellen only tickets are much cheeper and Mt. Ellen is less effected by crowds. There is also a bus that goes between the base areas. The bus is pretty nice.

 

[dlague]

There is a shuttle between the two which does not take much time. If slide brook is open, which it wasn't the last few times I was there, that is a more entertaining path.

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[cdskier]

For where to park my answer would be wherever there is a spot when you get there. On weekends and during holiday periods they have a shuttle running through the parking lots to bring you to the mountain. There's really not much "choice" of where to park other than the choice of Lincoln Peak vs Mt Ellen. The determination of which to choose should be based on where you plan to ski. Yes, you can get from one mountain to the other via a shuttle or the lift if it is running, but ideally you want to try to stay at one mountain. The exception to that would be if you're at LP and it gets crowded you could jump over to ME where it is usually not crowded.

Lift lines...it varies greatly. At Lincoln Peak Gate House will be the most crowded, but it serves mostly beginner and intermediate terrain. If you wan to ski that part of the mountain, ski it at 9am when it opens. Super Bravo can be crowded at times, although usually the line moves faster than you think. The new Valley House Quad is a good alternative out of the base area if Bravo is too crowded. Heaven's Gate is hit or miss with crowds. At times I've seen the line get really long and at other times it is short. Castlerock is the one chair that if conditions are good can have a VERY long line (30+ minutes isn't unusual if there was fresh snow). The lift is a double chair with long spacing between the chairs to intentionally limit uphill traffic on this pod. If you want great all-natural terrain though, it might be worth it to you to take a run or two up there. Be aware that this pod has absolutely no snowmaking and extremely limited grooming (by that I mean they may groom a couple of the trails once or twice a year...or during some years not at all depending on conditions).

As for what trails to ski...entirely depends on conditions. Hard to predict a month in advance what will be skiing well at the time. Sugarbush has a good variety of terrain with each trail being "unique". Explore and see what you like best. Most of the natural trails are rarely if ever groomed, so if you're looking for un-groomed terrain, find a trail without snow-making capability.

 

[dlague]

Basically, my wife and I were at the bar at Sugarbush Inn a couple years ago and a local was talking about his strategy as well as a few other tidbits. Basically, I got turned on to skiing Mt Ellen first thing to capture some really good conditions and ski it all morning. Eat around 11 am, then ski LP side as the lunch crowd goes in and lift lines at GH and Bravo become a little shorter. Then ski Heavens Gate, North Lynx or Castle Rock and if your still up to it ski from GH or Bravo.

We have done this for the past two years (4 separate visits) and it has never failed us! In fact we often got first tracks on FIS.

 

[therobertcollins]

Basically, my wife and I were at the bar at Sugarbush Inn a couple years ago and a local was talking about his strategy as well as a few other tidbits. Basically, I got turned on to skiing Mt Ellen first thing to capture some really good conditions and ski it all morning. Eat around 11 am, then ski LP side as the lunch crowd goes in and lift lines at GH and Bravo become a little shorter. Then ski Heavens Gate, North Lynx or Castle Rock and if your still up to it ski from GH or Bravo.

We have done this for the past two years (4 separate visits) and it has never failed us! In fact we often got first tracks on FIS.

So as far as terrain, which is better? I'm aware of the burliness of Casterock, but does ME offer any gnarly terrain?

 

[slatham]

So as far as terrain, which is better? I'm aware of the burliness of Casterock, but does ME offer any gnarly terrain?

If fully open yes. FIS, Lower FIS, Hammerhead, Tumbler, Exterminator, Bravo, Black Diamond. Plenty of solid expert+ options. Mt Ellen has great expert terrain. Which is better is a near biblical arguement. As far as I'm concerned it's the one you happen to be skiing!

Skiing with my a brother and sister-in-law who are locals, we start at LP and then between 10-11 head to "club Ellen". With all lifts running we've never had an issue with lines. Then back over to LP to finish the day ( or not, depending - we like the bar at Mt Ellen). I could see the reverse working, but the "lunch" window is short. If you hit LP at 8 you can get a lot of pretty empty skiing until 10 or so. IMHO.

 

[therobertcollins]

What are the woods like? On the website, there is nothing about rankings, they are all just "Trees". Can someone give a difficulty ranking for the trees?

 

[WWF-VT]

They are all just trees or woods - some are easy and some aren't and a lot depends on your ability and recent snowfall

 

[cdskier]

Skiing with my a brother and sister-in-law who are locals, we start at LP and then between 10-11 head to "club Ellen". With all lifts running we've never had an issue with lines. Then back over to LP to finish the day ( or not, depending - we like the bar at Mt Ellen). I could see the reverse working, but the "lunch" window is short. If you hit LP at 8 you can get a lot of pretty empty skiing until 10 or so. IMHO.

That's what I do on Saturdays mid-season. LP sees more traffic so the terrain can definitely get skied off quicker than ME. You can get a lot of skiing in from 8-10 at LP then hop on Slidebrook if it is running to go over to ME. While you wouldn't have first tracks at ME with that plan, you'll still (usually) have better conditions at ME at this point then you would if you head over to LP at lunch time.

They are all just trees or woods - some are easy and some aren't and a lot depends on your ability and recent snowfall

+1 to what WWF said. The trees are never open or closed officially (as long as you enter from an open trail and exit onto an open trail). And as I said earlier with trying to recommend trails, it is way too early to know where conditions will be best a month from now so can't really recommend which trees would be best.

Where do you usually ski so we have something to compare to? Might help us better recommend where to ski at Sugarbush and where to stay away from.

And just to add one more comment to slatham's comment on ME terrain...the diamonds and double-diamonds at ME are very rarely groomed, so if you love bumps, you'll find lots of them. ME definitely has some great expert terrain. No doubt about that.

 

[therobertcollins]

Where do you usually ski so we have something to compare to? Might help us better recommend where to ski at Sugarbush and where to stay away from.

I usually ski Jay. I ski pretty much everything there in the woods or groomers. I prefer woods and ungroomed terrain

 

[Tin]

Go to Paradise, hike towards Mount Ellen for about 5-6 minutes, stop at the first big opening. Hike another 30' up the trail to get a ton of speed, then send it off the rock out cropping. Make sure you have a GoPro capturing the footage and report back.

 

[therobertcollins]

How big is said outcropping?

 

[Tin]

How big is said outcropping?

If I told you it would ruin the surprise!

 

[dlague]

If I told you it would ruin the surprise!

Which translates to - make a first pass and then possibly hit it the second time around.

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[bdfreetuna]

What are the woods like? On the website, there is nothing about rankings, they are all just "Trees". Can someone give a difficulty ranking for the trees?

Sugarbush has more wide/open woods, Mt Ellen has more narrow steep woods. And they each have some of the other kind.

Mt Ellen you get right down to skiing less time and hassle plus it opens an hour earlier. I'd say start at Mt Ellen and go hard.. do not waste time on Lower FIS it has a run out usually not worth it. Then take Slide Brook over to Sugarbush side and get to the business of skiing Paradise and one or two Castlerock runs... Rumble is the best IMO. There is also woods/chutes/lines if you take the Long Trail instead of going straight down Paradise (this is easy to see and figure out just look for the obvious trail on the left before Paradise gets steep).

That is also how you get to the outcropping Tin mentioned except you keep on truckin. If you wuss out on sending it off the Church you can always blame it on less than ideal conditions and go back closer to where Paradise is and find easier ways down.

Then get back before Slide Brook closes, eat your sammy on the lift cause you just had a busy day, and take it from there.

Exterminator Woods and Bravo woods are fun and tight on Mt Ellen. The stuff that looks hard on the map is pretty much the stuff that is actually hard.

 

[cdskier]

Mt Ellen you get right down to skiing less time and hassle plus it opens an hour earlier.

ME only opens earlier on mid-week, non-holiday days. On weekends and holidays, they both open at 8am. The 8am lift at ME is the Green Mountain Express. The 8am lifts on weekends/holidays at LP are both Super Bravo and Heaven's Gate.