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Sunday River 22-23

2Planker

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Whoa. No shit. Really fun times. I have a picture of me and Dan Boutet at the Pro Bump grilling and Dan Egan and ESPN intervied us. Wayne Wong crashed at the pro bump that year. Someone yelled out " What's wong Wayne" LOL

They did in on Tempest one year. I did pretty good that year.
There were some really good skier back then. The Langleys, Ben Wheeler, Nate Kimbal Kick ass legacy for Freestyle at SR
We still have the classic circa 1991 Poster of Nate Kimball's huge Back Scratcher off of Skiers R near the top of Obsession.
It has been hanging over our bar for 30+ years, and Nate autographed it at one of our New Years bashes.

Tons of great times skiing & partying w/ those guys.
Have known Ben Wheeler since he was in diapers :)
 

Hawk

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I hung with Nate, Donny Olsen, Mike Pearse, Steve Moraski and Doug Willet. Man those guys back then could all ski.
 

2Planker

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Man, we have skied together. Must have. We know all the same people.
I was always stationed at White Cap. Usually chillin' on the tiny deck in Spring.
Got reprimanded a few times for Big Air (under the lift in a patrol jacket) while skiing w/ those guys....
 

Riverveteran

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Nope, went out to Mammoth on this year's Ikon. But did hear that, big miss IMHO.
There was ZERO vibe closing weekend out in Jordan, not the best weather. If I recall Sliders was closed, just some blue tent with beers and burgers on the deck. The usual folks, you would see at Barker. I think Sunday River is struggling late year finding an identity. I don't know if its lack of crowds, so they don't invest, they make a 1/2 a$$ attempt.... but I do think SR has really become a family mountain and so many kids start Spring sports the 3rd week of March and its dead from there out.
 

drjeff

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There was ZERO vibe closing weekend out in Jordan, not the best weather. If I recall Sliders was closed, just some blue tent with beers and burgers on the deck. The usual folks, you would see at Barker. I think Sunday River is struggling late year finding an identity. I don't know if its lack of crowds, so they don't invest, they make a 1/2 a$$ attempt.... but I do think SR has really become a family mountain and so many kids start Spring sports the 3rd week of March and its dead from there out.
The reality is that when the folks, which becomes a much smaller number of people once the last week of Macrh rolls around, think late season lift served players, it's going to be Killington, Sugarbush, Jay, and Sugarloaf in New England. And many of those folks, often people who have 2nd homes or seasonal shares, position themselves around one of those areas, so they're not really going to travel. That simple reality, makes it a tough call to make from an operations expenses side to fully commit to spending the extra, not insignificant amount of snowmaking budget especially, and do so for probably a 3 to 5 years window to show commitment and build the buzz around their Spring scene to do so, since that pool of potential customers showing up in April and beyond is much smaller than that pool of customers showing up at the beginning of the season, especially since in October, the reality is that they snow one is making is going to stick around for months
 

machski

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There was ZERO vibe closing weekend out in Jordan, not the best weather. If I recall Sliders was closed, just some blue tent with beers and burgers on the deck. The usual folks, you would see at Barker. I think Sunday River is struggling late year finding an identity. I don't know if its lack of crowds, so they don't invest, they make a 1/2 a$$ attempt.... but I do think SR has really become a family mountain and so many kids start Spring sports the 3rd week of March and its dead from there out.
Last year was first year to close in Jordan and had to happen due to Barker closing for lift disassembly. The loop trail did not have snowmaking so required walking from lot to Lola and back. This season if the go Jordan late, they should have snow from and back to the lot so that problem gets eliminated. They should have more terrain available assuming with the snowmaking rebuild out west they make both Oz trails to decent depths. That will be your spring bump trails. If all that is in play, I would expect better food/beverage options for closing weekend. Regardless, if out west is great late April, I may not be at closing weekend again.
 

Riverveteran

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Last year was first year to close in Jordan and had to happen due to Barker closing for lift disassembly. The loop trail did not have snowmaking so required walking from lot to Lola and back. This season if the go Jordan late, they should have snow from and back to the lot so that problem gets eliminated. They should have more terrain available assuming with the snowmaking rebuild out west they make both Oz trails to decent depths. That will be your spring bump trails. If all that is in play, I would expect better food/beverage options for closing weekend. Regardless, if out west is great late April, I may not be at closing weekend again.
You only had to walk back to parking, you could ski out to Lola.
 

machski

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For the record, I have no idea what they are actually doing this fall. For all I know, the new Jordan feed failed when they fired that up yesterday and had to pivot. This is pure speculation on my part, I truly haven't a clue this year.
Correction, the mountain report page admits they fired up in Jordan AND Locke but still advertising first runs in Jordan. Perhaps they are going to allow Gould and other programs access to upper Locke? Otherwise, it makes no sense to fire up there right now.
 
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thebigo

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For the record, I have no idea what they are actually doing this fall. For all I know, the new Jordan feed failed when they fired that up yesterday and had to pivot. This is pure speculation on my part, I truly haven't a clue this year.
Correction, the mountain report page admits they fired up in Jordan AND Locke but still advertising first runs in Jordan. Perhaps they are going to allow Gould and other programs access to upper Locke? Otherwise, it makes no sense to fire up there right now.
my daughter is attending a gould camp weekend after next. That is my guess, camp on locke, general public on jordan.
 

snoseek

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my daughter is attending a gould camp weekend after next. That is my guess, camp on locke, general public on jordan.
This makes so much sense and keeping the racers completely separate will make for a.better opening. Early season with racers and public sharing space is pure chaos.
 

machski

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This makes so much sense and keeping the racers completely separate will make for a.better opening. Early season with racers and public sharing space is pure chaos.
It does with the exception that T2 is much better equipped/gunned for rapid early season opens. It will all be fine UNLESS the racers are training and the public has to wait a week + after they are on snow. Won't go over well with the NEP's being the highest priced passes in the East.
 

Hawk

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The racers never bothered me on T2. I don't think that is a big deal. Yup if the racers are skiing and the rest are not, that will be a problem.
 

Newpylong

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All these trails are going to need snow eventually, I would just do T2 (download) and then Monday Mourning or Cascades for the public until Jordan is ready. They aren't going to get those trails covered quickly over there even with increased pumping capacity.
 

Hawk

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If you look at the Skiesta web cam, they haven't even started on Jordan. I assume they are going to blow Rogue or Excalibur. T2 is completely covered already. My bet is that they open for evenybody on T2 first. They always try to do the surprise thing.
 
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