speden
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I wrapped up my season yesterday at the Loaf, so this will be my last trip report for this season. It's been great reading everyone's reports this year and I'm already looking forward to next season.
They've lost quite a bit of snow on the lower mountain since I was there last weekend. This was only my second time at Sugarloaf, so I was hoping for some hero snow so I could explore some of the steeper terrain, but a cold snap froze everything pretty hard. It warmed up a little during the day, but not enough to turn it to spring snow. Conditions were pretty variable with lots of scraped off areas, some loose, some sugar piles, windblown, chunky junk, etc. I guess I would call it a technical day. It was pretty windy too, especially up in the air on the lifts. Timberline was closed all day, but fortunately pretty much everything else was running.
Reggae fest was fun. It brought out a pretty good crowd, and not all of them were skiers. I guess usually this would be an occasion for the girls to show some skin, but it was a little too cold for that yesterday. Milling around the crowd I was thinking this is what a penguin colony would be like if penguins had beer, cigarettes, and loud music.
Inside the crowd it was warm, but out on the edges up above the beach it was a little breezy. The music wasn't spectacular, with the bass sometimes distorted, but it was decent, and strangely enough sounded better the more beers I had.
Some pics:
The Whiffletree area lost a lot of snow during the past week. Some of the trails are done for the season with lots of bare ground. But there are still a few with good coverage.
One nice trail I tried off Whiffletree is called Buckboard. It's narrow and winding, and there aren't very many trails like that at Sugarloaf.
Coverage was better over in the King Pine area, but some trails are getting thin. I think this is Choker with some bare patches popping up.
Here's the King Pine base area. I tried Haul Back off this lift, which runs down the lift line. It's a straight, overly wide trail, but has good consistent pitch. Would be good for some high speed runs in softer conditions.
Here's Bulwinkle's lodge over on the other side of the mountain. Seems to be short on ski racks since everyone parked their skis on the snow.
Around mid-day the Superquad got annoyingly busy. Over on the far right is the singles line. This lift seems to be the worst bottleneck on the hill since most of the intermediates need to use it.
Here's a farewell shot of Spillway. I think they are going to start taking Spillway west apart after this weekend, so I was glad I got to ride it before then. I took the Sluice trail off of it, and it was mostly windblown and scraped off icy hardpack. There was enough loose stuff collected here and there to check my speed, but I had to be careful.
The half pipe is still in action.
The calm before the storm as they were setting up for Reggae Fest.
The crowd started build as the ski day wound down.
I went out for a few last runs, and when I came back the crowd had really grown.
The mountain makes a nice backdrop for a party! See you next year Sugarloaf.
They've lost quite a bit of snow on the lower mountain since I was there last weekend. This was only my second time at Sugarloaf, so I was hoping for some hero snow so I could explore some of the steeper terrain, but a cold snap froze everything pretty hard. It warmed up a little during the day, but not enough to turn it to spring snow. Conditions were pretty variable with lots of scraped off areas, some loose, some sugar piles, windblown, chunky junk, etc. I guess I would call it a technical day. It was pretty windy too, especially up in the air on the lifts. Timberline was closed all day, but fortunately pretty much everything else was running.
Reggae fest was fun. It brought out a pretty good crowd, and not all of them were skiers. I guess usually this would be an occasion for the girls to show some skin, but it was a little too cold for that yesterday. Milling around the crowd I was thinking this is what a penguin colony would be like if penguins had beer, cigarettes, and loud music.
Inside the crowd it was warm, but out on the edges up above the beach it was a little breezy. The music wasn't spectacular, with the bass sometimes distorted, but it was decent, and strangely enough sounded better the more beers I had.Some pics:
The Whiffletree area lost a lot of snow during the past week. Some of the trails are done for the season with lots of bare ground. But there are still a few with good coverage.
One nice trail I tried off Whiffletree is called Buckboard. It's narrow and winding, and there aren't very many trails like that at Sugarloaf.
Coverage was better over in the King Pine area, but some trails are getting thin. I think this is Choker with some bare patches popping up.
Here's the King Pine base area. I tried Haul Back off this lift, which runs down the lift line. It's a straight, overly wide trail, but has good consistent pitch. Would be good for some high speed runs in softer conditions.
Here's Bulwinkle's lodge over on the other side of the mountain. Seems to be short on ski racks since everyone parked their skis on the snow.
Around mid-day the Superquad got annoyingly busy. Over on the far right is the singles line. This lift seems to be the worst bottleneck on the hill since most of the intermediates need to use it.
Here's a farewell shot of Spillway. I think they are going to start taking Spillway west apart after this weekend, so I was glad I got to ride it before then. I took the Sluice trail off of it, and it was mostly windblown and scraped off icy hardpack. There was enough loose stuff collected here and there to check my speed, but I had to be careful.
The half pipe is still in action.
The calm before the storm as they were setting up for Reggae Fest.
The crowd started build as the ski day wound down.
I went out for a few last runs, and when I came back the crowd had really grown.
The mountain makes a nice backdrop for a party! See you next year Sugarloaf.
