Date(s) Skied:
March 24, 2006
Resort or Ski Area:
Mt. Sunapee
Conditions:
Spring skiing. Soft snow, some loose granular on North Peak, mashed potatoes on the lower sections of the main mountain.
Trip Report:
I had a free ticket to Mt. Sunapee and was running short of time, so I decided to just take Friday off and go skiing. It was the perfect opportunity for a “mental health day” at a ski mountain I’d never visited before. Driving up I passed through several spitting bits of rain, and was concerned. It would turn out to not be an issue.
When I got there around 9:45 (they opened at 9:00), the main lot was around ½ full; by the midafternoon it would be completely full. Temperatures were in the 30’s to just over 40°. My first impression was that the new lodge is fantastic. It’s well laid-out with a lot of space, wide stairwells, and a ton of cubby and locker space downstairs. I geared up and my day began with overcast skies and … light snow!
My goal was to redline the mountain with the exception of any mogul fields, the terrain park, and the beginner area. Sunapee keeps their terrain park separate on the far left off the Spruce Triple, so I just ignored that part of the mountain. The beginner area is extensive and appeared to be very well laid-out on its own over on the South Peak with its own quad, the Clipper Ship, and so while I didn’t go over there, I imagine it to be an excellent place to bring a novice skier since it totally separates them from the main mountain while still providing a wide variety of terrain, green and blue, to learn and play on.
From the Sunapee Express to the summit I started on far skier’s left and began working my way over. Upper Ridge to Lower Ridge is a sweet cruiser, reminiscent of Lollapalooza (Sunday River) or Wandering Skis (Attitash) as it winds its way around. The snow was soft but only sticky in spots, and after running it again (this time down Portage) I had a feel for the conditions and went to the next trail, Blast-Off. This trail begins with a fantastic, steep, but short headwall, and then becomes another fantastic cruise. This was one of my favorite trails and must be a great ride in midwinter.
On all of these runs, it was sad to look into the woods and see bare ground; there are some beautiful glades that looked like they’d be a ton of fun; I heard later that they were closed all this year and last as well. So sad.
Time for the next run, Bonanza under the lift to Chipmunk. This was the second least enjoyable trail all day, as it was the softest, stickiest, and busiest. The large wide area just short of the split at Kickback was utter mush and all you could really do was point your skis and hope for the best.
I quickly made up for it by taking the narrow and tricky Old Goat cutoff to West Side with its spectacular views down the mountain. This route, down to Chase Ledges and Hansen-Chase, is a gem for style and for the gorgeous views out to Lake Sunapee. Later I would run this same route starting higher, on Skyway Ledges, and I agree that it’s the signature run of the mountain. The snow was bumpy, soft, and fun. There were great lines on the edges to follow, though I avoided them for the most part due to my paranoia given SherpaK's recent accident that has had him in the hospital over a week now with a mild concussion and numerous broken ribs. There were very few people on the trails, which was nice, and here on the blacks I often couldn’t even see anyone else, so while in many ways that’s the best way to ski, I was nervous about having any kind of issue that might take me off-trail, especially with the banked-up edges of snow which would easily launch any skier with a caught edge into the air and into a tree.
I’d exhausted the possibilities from the summit, and didn’t want to hit the Sunbowl yet, so I hopped on the North Peak Triple to try out the blacks. I again worked from skier’s left to right, taking my frist run on Lynx, which was a fantastic, firm ride. Yup, the trails in this area were holding their snow quite well, and had that “soft but not wet or mushy” feeling. There was about a 16’ wide path down Flying Goose on the edge of the mogul field, so I took it to practice my tight turns, then rode up to see what Goosebumps was like. It was, in fact, a sweet trip. Narrow in spots, nicely bumped, good grip, I arced down it twice, it was so much fun. My paranoia kept me from letting the brakes go, though, so it burned up my quads, especially slpping around the bottom of Eggbeater where they were setting up the “pond” for Saturday’s Slush Cup pond-skimming competition. I took one last ride up and came down Toboggan Chute and Beck Brook to complete my front side redlining* and cut back over to the main lodge for a lunch break. On the way, I was fascinated by Dare Ya, which was closed, but was just a narrow path cutting through the trees. I can’t wait to try that next year!
After lunch, I had some time to kill before meeting up with Trailboss, so I went back up the triple to take Upper Cataract into the Sunbowl. This was the worst trail for me all day, being very soft but very “thick”. It was like skiing through, not over, oatmeal. I took one one, Porky’s to Wingding, which was a soft, bumpy, and really nice cruise, then went back up top and did the signature run top to bottom to meet up with Trailboss.
We went right back to the Sunbowl to finish up redlining; this time I avoided the mush by taking Fox Run to Sundance to Lower Cataract, which was a fine ride, although it was clear that I was the slower of the two skiers. We then ran the rest of the Sunbowl, except the mogul field: the beautiful Skyway, the funky Kartwheel, and Wingding again. Conditions were definitely soft, but over on this side of the mountain there were so few people that it was a good soft, and I found it a fun challenge to try to keep up with Trailboss, who screamed down the trails making short, tight turns right on the edge. Damn, can he ski!
We were running out of time, so we finished the day off back on the main side of the mountain with three runs: the spectacular Skyway Ledges—West Side—Chase Ledges—Hansen-Chase, the mushy lift line Bonanza—Chipmunk, and as they closed the lifts, a gentle cruise down Upper Ridge—Lower Ridge, where I made the mistake of trying to follow Trailboss’ tracks and sent myself right down on the ground. Oh, well, if you’re not falling down you’re not pushing yourself hard enough, right?
I should add that I got to hear from chairmates all about how Tuesday was the day to have been there. Apparently Sunapee made snow the previous weekend, and on Tuesday there were perfect packed powder conditions under crystal clear skies. Oh, well, I couldn’t take time off until my deadlines had been met, so I got grey skies, light snow, and soft trail conditions. It didn’t matter, I had fun anyway, I had a great time finally meeting and skiing with Trailboss, and if those were my last runs of the season, I’m plenty happy with the way it ended.
In retrospect with the trail map in front of me, I might not have hit Kickback or Byway, but hey, who's counting???
March 24, 2006
Resort or Ski Area:
Mt. Sunapee
Conditions:
Spring skiing. Soft snow, some loose granular on North Peak, mashed potatoes on the lower sections of the main mountain.
Trip Report:
I had a free ticket to Mt. Sunapee and was running short of time, so I decided to just take Friday off and go skiing. It was the perfect opportunity for a “mental health day” at a ski mountain I’d never visited before. Driving up I passed through several spitting bits of rain, and was concerned. It would turn out to not be an issue.
When I got there around 9:45 (they opened at 9:00), the main lot was around ½ full; by the midafternoon it would be completely full. Temperatures were in the 30’s to just over 40°. My first impression was that the new lodge is fantastic. It’s well laid-out with a lot of space, wide stairwells, and a ton of cubby and locker space downstairs. I geared up and my day began with overcast skies and … light snow!
My goal was to redline the mountain with the exception of any mogul fields, the terrain park, and the beginner area. Sunapee keeps their terrain park separate on the far left off the Spruce Triple, so I just ignored that part of the mountain. The beginner area is extensive and appeared to be very well laid-out on its own over on the South Peak with its own quad, the Clipper Ship, and so while I didn’t go over there, I imagine it to be an excellent place to bring a novice skier since it totally separates them from the main mountain while still providing a wide variety of terrain, green and blue, to learn and play on.
From the Sunapee Express to the summit I started on far skier’s left and began working my way over. Upper Ridge to Lower Ridge is a sweet cruiser, reminiscent of Lollapalooza (Sunday River) or Wandering Skis (Attitash) as it winds its way around. The snow was soft but only sticky in spots, and after running it again (this time down Portage) I had a feel for the conditions and went to the next trail, Blast-Off. This trail begins with a fantastic, steep, but short headwall, and then becomes another fantastic cruise. This was one of my favorite trails and must be a great ride in midwinter.
On all of these runs, it was sad to look into the woods and see bare ground; there are some beautiful glades that looked like they’d be a ton of fun; I heard later that they were closed all this year and last as well. So sad.
Time for the next run, Bonanza under the lift to Chipmunk. This was the second least enjoyable trail all day, as it was the softest, stickiest, and busiest. The large wide area just short of the split at Kickback was utter mush and all you could really do was point your skis and hope for the best.
I quickly made up for it by taking the narrow and tricky Old Goat cutoff to West Side with its spectacular views down the mountain. This route, down to Chase Ledges and Hansen-Chase, is a gem for style and for the gorgeous views out to Lake Sunapee. Later I would run this same route starting higher, on Skyway Ledges, and I agree that it’s the signature run of the mountain. The snow was bumpy, soft, and fun. There were great lines on the edges to follow, though I avoided them for the most part due to my paranoia given SherpaK's recent accident that has had him in the hospital over a week now with a mild concussion and numerous broken ribs. There were very few people on the trails, which was nice, and here on the blacks I often couldn’t even see anyone else, so while in many ways that’s the best way to ski, I was nervous about having any kind of issue that might take me off-trail, especially with the banked-up edges of snow which would easily launch any skier with a caught edge into the air and into a tree.
I’d exhausted the possibilities from the summit, and didn’t want to hit the Sunbowl yet, so I hopped on the North Peak Triple to try out the blacks. I again worked from skier’s left to right, taking my frist run on Lynx, which was a fantastic, firm ride. Yup, the trails in this area were holding their snow quite well, and had that “soft but not wet or mushy” feeling. There was about a 16’ wide path down Flying Goose on the edge of the mogul field, so I took it to practice my tight turns, then rode up to see what Goosebumps was like. It was, in fact, a sweet trip. Narrow in spots, nicely bumped, good grip, I arced down it twice, it was so much fun. My paranoia kept me from letting the brakes go, though, so it burned up my quads, especially slpping around the bottom of Eggbeater where they were setting up the “pond” for Saturday’s Slush Cup pond-skimming competition. I took one last ride up and came down Toboggan Chute and Beck Brook to complete my front side redlining* and cut back over to the main lodge for a lunch break. On the way, I was fascinated by Dare Ya, which was closed, but was just a narrow path cutting through the trees. I can’t wait to try that next year!
After lunch, I had some time to kill before meeting up with Trailboss, so I went back up the triple to take Upper Cataract into the Sunbowl. This was the worst trail for me all day, being very soft but very “thick”. It was like skiing through, not over, oatmeal. I took one one, Porky’s to Wingding, which was a soft, bumpy, and really nice cruise, then went back up top and did the signature run top to bottom to meet up with Trailboss.
We went right back to the Sunbowl to finish up redlining; this time I avoided the mush by taking Fox Run to Sundance to Lower Cataract, which was a fine ride, although it was clear that I was the slower of the two skiers. We then ran the rest of the Sunbowl, except the mogul field: the beautiful Skyway, the funky Kartwheel, and Wingding again. Conditions were definitely soft, but over on this side of the mountain there were so few people that it was a good soft, and I found it a fun challenge to try to keep up with Trailboss, who screamed down the trails making short, tight turns right on the edge. Damn, can he ski!
We were running out of time, so we finished the day off back on the main side of the mountain with three runs: the spectacular Skyway Ledges—West Side—Chase Ledges—Hansen-Chase, the mushy lift line Bonanza—Chipmunk, and as they closed the lifts, a gentle cruise down Upper Ridge—Lower Ridge, where I made the mistake of trying to follow Trailboss’ tracks and sent myself right down on the ground. Oh, well, if you’re not falling down you’re not pushing yourself hard enough, right?
I should add that I got to hear from chairmates all about how Tuesday was the day to have been there. Apparently Sunapee made snow the previous weekend, and on Tuesday there were perfect packed powder conditions under crystal clear skies. Oh, well, I couldn’t take time off until my deadlines had been met, so I got grey skies, light snow, and soft trail conditions. It didn’t matter, I had fun anyway, I had a great time finally meeting and skiing with Trailboss, and if those were my last runs of the season, I’m plenty happy with the way it ended.
In retrospect with the trail map in front of me, I might not have hit Kickback or Byway, but hey, who's counting???
