Zand
Well-known member
Another somewhat quick hitter (not as quick as last week lol) as my wife had to be in Maine for the day so I figured I'd drive her to Gorham and then continue on. Wish I could've been in the northern Greens instead, but salvaged a decent day.
First ride up Barker, the liftline below looked kind of soft and powdery, so I figured I'd start with Top Gun and it was...bad. Looked like it was groomed a few days ago, then was allowed to freeze solid after bumping up a bit and, yeah. Not fun at all. Was happy just to get to the bottom.
Took the Chondola and came back down Grand Rapids, which was pretty good. Decided to poke into Enchanted Forest hoping the woods were a little softer and yikes. I knew it would be thin which was fine, but the snow was total frozen coral. Another run I was glad just to get to the bottom of.
Heard some intel that Jordan was in much better shape than the rest of the mountain, so started heading that way. Took Sensation into Aurora as I was absolutely not down for seeing what an ungroomed Quantum Leap looked like after the shitshow of the first couple runs. Headed down Cyclone and while looking up I noticed the trees on Jordan were coated with snow unlike the rest of the resort so I was optimistic.
First ride up I didn't see anyone on any of the naturals so I kind of just headed down Lollapalooza which was decent. A few slick spots but not bad. Intended on hopping into Blind Ambition but didn't see anyone else going in and once again I was timid after how the day started so ended up taking Lolla all the way down.
Next ride up I finally saw a skier come down Caramba and it actually sounded kind of soft. The entry didn't look all that good from the lift though, so I skied around into Wizard's Gulch. The coverage was actually better than last week by a little bit, and while there were plenty of crunchies and slick spots it was definitely skiable and fun. After being spit out onto the lower half of Caramba, that was a mix of soft areas and a few slick areas, but had a couple fun bump lines and enjoyed it until the bottom couple hundred feet where it got rock solid, but overall a fun run.
Next run I decided to head down Caramba from the top. While the entry didn't look great from above, it surprisingly skied very well. I figured it was all ice where it was untracked, but it was actually nice spongy soft snow. The soft stuff continued most of the way down where icy spots increasingly started mixing in, but overall what a treat after the other stuff I skied.
Lapped around there for quite a while, mixing Gulch, Caramba, and groomer romps and then finally started my way back around 3:15. Northern Lights back into Aurora actually skied really nice and was great for carving. Tried heading back to Barker when I kind of accidently started down upper Vortex. Common sense would've told you it would suck based on similar runs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a ton of soft snow right on the lip down skiers left. I "accidently" crossed onto the lower half and it continued being great all the way down. It was strange to find a gem amongst all the turds on that side of the mountain, but it was good enough to go for seconds until they roped it off at 3:30 and I headed back to Barker via an awful Downdraft.
Had time for a couple more runs, first was Right Stuff which was actually pretty good. Lots of loose snow down the right side. Final run was T2 to Cascades which was not so good. Was hoping it'd be pretty fresh after being closed for racing most of the day but pretty much all frozen granular and scraped off.
Thanks to Jordan and Vortex, a decent ending to a very forgettable January. May get out on Super Bowl Sunday, but that would be it between now and my arrival in Jackson on 2/9 as work will be busy for me until then. If the east isn't going to turn around this year, I'm glad I at least have that to look forward to (unless I find the courage to day trip Sugarbush on Sunday).
First ride up Barker, the liftline below looked kind of soft and powdery, so I figured I'd start with Top Gun and it was...bad. Looked like it was groomed a few days ago, then was allowed to freeze solid after bumping up a bit and, yeah. Not fun at all. Was happy just to get to the bottom.
Took the Chondola and came back down Grand Rapids, which was pretty good. Decided to poke into Enchanted Forest hoping the woods were a little softer and yikes. I knew it would be thin which was fine, but the snow was total frozen coral. Another run I was glad just to get to the bottom of.
Heard some intel that Jordan was in much better shape than the rest of the mountain, so started heading that way. Took Sensation into Aurora as I was absolutely not down for seeing what an ungroomed Quantum Leap looked like after the shitshow of the first couple runs. Headed down Cyclone and while looking up I noticed the trees on Jordan were coated with snow unlike the rest of the resort so I was optimistic.
First ride up I didn't see anyone on any of the naturals so I kind of just headed down Lollapalooza which was decent. A few slick spots but not bad. Intended on hopping into Blind Ambition but didn't see anyone else going in and once again I was timid after how the day started so ended up taking Lolla all the way down.
Next ride up I finally saw a skier come down Caramba and it actually sounded kind of soft. The entry didn't look all that good from the lift though, so I skied around into Wizard's Gulch. The coverage was actually better than last week by a little bit, and while there were plenty of crunchies and slick spots it was definitely skiable and fun. After being spit out onto the lower half of Caramba, that was a mix of soft areas and a few slick areas, but had a couple fun bump lines and enjoyed it until the bottom couple hundred feet where it got rock solid, but overall a fun run.
Next run I decided to head down Caramba from the top. While the entry didn't look great from above, it surprisingly skied very well. I figured it was all ice where it was untracked, but it was actually nice spongy soft snow. The soft stuff continued most of the way down where icy spots increasingly started mixing in, but overall what a treat after the other stuff I skied.
Lapped around there for quite a while, mixing Gulch, Caramba, and groomer romps and then finally started my way back around 3:15. Northern Lights back into Aurora actually skied really nice and was great for carving. Tried heading back to Barker when I kind of accidently started down upper Vortex. Common sense would've told you it would suck based on similar runs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a ton of soft snow right on the lip down skiers left. I "accidently" crossed onto the lower half and it continued being great all the way down. It was strange to find a gem amongst all the turds on that side of the mountain, but it was good enough to go for seconds until they roped it off at 3:30 and I headed back to Barker via an awful Downdraft.
Had time for a couple more runs, first was Right Stuff which was actually pretty good. Lots of loose snow down the right side. Final run was T2 to Cascades which was not so good. Was hoping it'd be pretty fresh after being closed for racing most of the day but pretty much all frozen granular and scraped off.
Thanks to Jordan and Vortex, a decent ending to a very forgettable January. May get out on Super Bowl Sunday, but that would be it between now and my arrival in Jackson on 2/9 as work will be busy for me until then. If the east isn't going to turn around this year, I'm glad I at least have that to look forward to (unless I find the courage to day trip Sugarbush on Sunday).
