Sunday River 2/24-2/26

[Cheese]

I'm planning a trip for next weekend and looking for deals. Discount tickets, vouchers, ski & stay bargains, abandoned condos/houses needing a house sitter, etc. Obviously if any AZ skiers will be around, I'd love to introduce myself and share some runs.

:beer:

 

[Cheese]

Didn't find much out there so went with the Snow Cap Inn ski and stay. Anybody else headed to Sunday River this coming weekend?

 

[St. Bear]

Probably a 50/50 chance I'll be there this weekend, although the rain event on Fri scares me a little.

 

[Cheese]

Probably a 50/50 chance I'll be there this weekend, although the rain event on Fri scares me a little.

I'm hoping it finishes as snow so they can churn it all in without harm.

 

[Nick]

Several SR skiers here who are there often, maybe they will chime in ...

 

[Vortex]

Best deal is find a pass holder and they can get you a $50 ticket if they have not used theirs yet.

Each pass holder gets 4, mine are gone.

I will be up Friday night for the following week. I need some deals for the following week. The deal is $5 night skiing this week.

 

[St. Bear]

I'm hoping it finishes as snow so they can churn it all in without harm.

Yeah, but even that may scare me away. I don't feel like driving almost 10 hours to ski groomers. Even if those groomers ski well, I'd like some variety.

 

[Tooth]

I'm planning a trip for next weekend and looking for deals. Discount tickets, vouchers, ski & stay bargains, abandoned condos/houses needing a house sitter, etc. Obviously if any AZ skiers will be around, I'd love to introduce myself and share some runs.

:beer:

I hear things are awesome there this week from many friends. Im hoping it will be all snow for the Maine mountains. We have a good chance it will.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Newry&state=ME&site=GYX&lat=44.4872&lon=-70.7875

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=45.03&lon=-70.31

 

[skiersleft]

Yeah, but even that may scare me away. I don't feel like driving almost 10 hours to ski groomers. Even if those groomers ski well, I'd like some variety.

I wouldn't drive ten hours to ski Sunday River even after 3' of snow. There are closer places you can go to from NJ that offer skiing that is as good or better. :flame:

 

[St. Bear]

I wouldn't drive ten hours to ski Sunday River even after 3' of snow. There are closer places you can go to from NJ that offer skiing that is as good or better. :flame:

Well, you caught me in a slight exaggeration. It's actually closer to 9, but the first 6 gets me to my parent's house in NH to drop off my son. Plus I have vouchers for SR that I need to burn, and I'm running out of time.

 

[Cheese]

Best deal is find a pass holder and they can get you a $50 ticket if they have not used theirs yet.

Snow Cap was $99 ski and stay so that's like $50 lift and $50 lodging or some sort of split like that. That was before taxes so maybe it's more like $60/$60.

 

[skiersleft]

Well, you caught me in a slight exaggeration. It's actually closer to 9, but the first 6 gets me to my parent's house in NH to drop off my son. Plus I have vouchers for SR that I need to burn, and I'm running out of time.

In light of your explanation, you're justified in driving 9.5 hours to Sunday River.

 

[SkiFanE]

Best deal is find a pass holder and they can get you a $50 ticket if they have not used theirs yet.

Each pass holder gets 4, mine are gone.

I will be up Friday night for the following week. I need some deals for the following week. The deal is $5 night skiing this week.

Don't know of any deals either, but someone on the lift was with a group in the ski dorm and was happy there.

SR has been awesome this week, have no idea what the weather will do, but it's not gonna hurt one bit.

 

[Vortex]

Snow Cap was $99 ski and stay so that's like $50 lift and $50 lodging or some sort of split like that. That was before taxes so maybe it's more like $60/$60.

Pretty good deal.

 

[Cheese]

Epic day for 2012! Although most of the mountain had a wind hold they opened up Barker mountain at 7:45 for those of us that made the hike. Agony, The Right Stuff and Top Gun were fresh tracks in 6" of fresh. Moved over to Spruce and skied uphill for Downdraft which was boot top to knee deep due to drifting. Stopped for food at 11 thinking the freshes were gone and find out they just opened Oz. Raced for the fresh there and caught fresh tracks all over again. More later ...

 

[WJenness]

Sounds awesome man. I got up here late last night... Didn't get out today for a variety of reasons, but looking forward to tomorrow.

If you see a 6'4" guy on Fischer Watea 84s, a black Giro helmet and a blue North Face jacket, say hi!

-w

 

[SkiFanE]

Epic day for 2012! Although most of the mountain so had a wind hold they opened up Barker mountain at 7:45 for those of us that made the hike. Agony, The Right Stuff and Top Gun were fresh tracks in 6" of fresh. Moved over to Spruce and skied uphill forDowndraft which was boot top to knee deep do to drifting. Stopped for food at 11the thinking the freshes were gone and find out they just opened Oz. Raced for the fresh there and caught fresh tracks all over again. More later ...

Def. epic for 2012. We didn't make it to Oz until 2, Ruby Palace was in great shape. Hiked to White Cap in the morning - more awesomeness.

 

[Cheese]

Will try for Jordan this morning and will still be riding the Rossi S7s. Red Spyder coat and black pants. I answer to Cheese if you yell or dial/text 603dash320dash3575.

 

[Cheese]

What an incredible day on Saturday! I got to the South Ridge lodge area early but there were rumors of wind holds floating around. Hiked up to Barker as they said that lift would open on time. Turned out they decided to reward hikers by opening Barker at 7:45. Skied a quick run down Agony before everyone got there. Next run up I meet a ski patroller who is putting his employee jacket in his pack so that he can go play. He invited me along and I couldn't resist. Lapped the groomers that had 6" of fresh on them quickly then moved over to Locke line as the crowds began to track out the obvious trails. Somewhere between Locke Line and TightWire we run into 2 more patrollers standing by a rope across the trail. We ask if they're about to drop the rope and they answer, "no, but we were instructed to be lenient this morning. One of the patrollers lifts the rope and says, "after you" then follows us in. Thanks for that guys!

Moved over to Spruce to beat the crowds as areas were slowing opening up. American Express and Risky Business were still covered so lapped them quickly.

The lower skiers right side of Risky Business was bumped up. I ski the competition bumps in the valleys but there's a different way of skiing the bigger soft bumps after a fresh snow that is an alternate style but no less rewarding. You can charge them, taking a path more across the peaks, often stiffening up the knees to launch and air out a few at a time. The bumps are like pillows and you just drop down the slope nailing each one. Hopefully other bumpers know what I'm referring to.

Hit Down Draft and then Vortex. First run on Vortex I knew it wasn't my last. Really deep on skiers left and a total riot. Hit that easily 3 more times since it was the best snow I'd found all morning.

Stopped at the North Peak lodge at around 11:00am. Didn't pack a snack and muscles were starting to feel like they needed water and food. While recharging I noticed the Oz chair was turning. Couldn't get out of the lodge fast enough to rush to Oz. First run down was Ruby Palace. Good coverage other than a couple tiny hucks over waterfalls. As more skied it some things started getting exposed so moved over to Tin Woodsman for a couple then out to Flying Monkey to sample the trees. Plenty of fresh lines down through the woods. On the way back from Oz I noticed a red jacket coming down Eureka/Emerald City which was roped. 50' above the cat track where I was watching from he hits windpack and face plants. I cheered so he skied up to me to chat. I used a line that was used on me a few years back, "You WERE looking good." He laughed and we skied down to the Oz lift together. I asked him how his run was and he said it was fine as long as you ski it slowly and cautiously. I asked if that was a permission slip and he said, "absolutely!" So up I went and then down through the powder and wind pack for a few runs. It started getting late so I bailed on ribbon cutting solo and went back to Tin Woodsman and Flying Monkey for some runs. Ran into a group of 4 (3 guys, 1 girl) staring down Eureka/Emerald City. We discussed going in and I said I wasn't going in alone. The guy on tele-boards dropped in with one other guy in tow and I followed. Thanks for that end of the day run guys!

 

[Cheese]

Sunday wind holds were worse than Saturday. Maybe because it wasn't a fresh powder day they thought they should be cautious. Started at the White Peak lift on some groomers and moved across the mountain from there as things opened up. Dropped into the trees a bunch as that was the only area left that had any kind of fresh snow. As soon as Jordan Bowl opened I headed there as it never opened on Saturday. Didn't get fresh tracks there as hikers had already dropped plenty of turns in the snow the day prior. Still an occasional turn in the fresh, but nothing like Saturday. Second run up the Jordan chair the lift stops and I hear a snowmobile. That's never a good sign and sure enough 2 more sleds arrive at the bottom of the lift and out comes the ladder. ~20 minutes later the diesel fires up and they evacuate us under diesel power instead of by rope. Took Wizards Gulch and headed back to Oz. Left Oz and skied Aurora peak for a few runs. This was some of the best "on trail" snow I had found all day. Honest packed powder that was deep and soft. Celestial was just okay and I got fresh tracks in the woods skiers left of Black Hole.

Headed for White Heat as we hadn't been there all weekend. Stopped for lunch at Shipyard (?) in the White Peak lodge. When we came out (2:00) the White Heat lift wasn't spinning. I don't know if it opened at all on Sunday but I for one missed it. Decided to finish the day skiing Locke Mountain in and out of the trees and then drove home with a smile.