Sunday River - 3/4/07

[salsgang]

Date(s) Skied: March 4, 2007

Resort or Ski Area: Sunday River

Conditions: Packed Powder

Trip Report: This is a green / blue report, someone else should chime in on the blacks

Great day at Sunday River with the family. Parked at Barker and on the slopes by 9 AM. Hit the blues off Barker & Locke then skied down to White Cap lodge for a couple of runs over there. The boys hit a black - Upper Tempest and did a nice job.

By that time it was time for an early lunch so skied down Wild Fire back to Barker. The snow all morning was great. Good coverage and getting bumped up in the steeper sections.

We did Sunday River the first trip of the year and we stuck to the South Branch area. Now with the kids doing a whole lot better we decided to see more of the mountain. So after lunch we started the trek to Jordan. Up Baker. Skied down Lazy River to the North Peak Chair. Hit Escapade and Dreammaker a couple of times. Took Sensation down the the bottom of Aurora. And took the Chair over to Jordan. We had a lot of fun on Lollapalooza. Lots of little side jumps to mess around on. The top of 'lolly' was a bit bare, the only place on the mountain we found with ice / exposed ground. Other than that we had excellent coverage all day. The kids then did a great run on Rouge Angel then we did the long run back across via Kansas / Lights Out / Downdraft / Tourist Trap back to Barker for a break.

For the last couple of hours we messed around on Barker and Spruce peaks. Risky Business was really getting carved off, but we had a nice run down American Express in a pretty good Snow Squall. Got a quick inch in 15 minutes. We pretty much had the last Barker Quad chair for our last run down Lazy River - one of our fav's for the day.

Overall conditions were very good. Snow was soft, it was warm but not too warm. It wasn't a cruising day, as the steeper sections of trails quickly formed bumps with all the skiers and snow, but it was very good conditions. We liked the Barker lodge a whole lot better than South Ridge lodge. Not as crowded and easier to get around we thought.

 

[Skier75]

Sounds much like the day we had at Sugarbush. SR is great. A lot of places you mentioned is pretty much where we play too.

 

[snowmonster]

Great report, salsgang. I was at Sunday River too the whole weekend. We should have met up for a few runs. Would be great to see a fellow AZer at the River.

My base of operations for the 2 days was White Cap -- less crowded than South Ridge or Barker. In fact, I never made it past Barker during the weekend because of my fear of crowds (and because the conditions at White Cap, Barker and Locke kept me content). At White Cap, the crowd was thinned out and you could go up and down any lift you wanted without waiting too long in line (if there were 6 people ahead of you, that was crowded already). White Cap has some good green and great blue runs to keep your family happy. There's also a small ice rink where some kids had a pick-up game of hockey going and a bonfire outside the Shipyard bar where older kids were getting happier!

One thing I'll add to your report is that they kept the lifts spinning until 4:30 on Saturday. Don't know if they did the same on Sunday but that was great. Gives you hope that they might keep the lifts running until 5 pm after daylight saving kicks in.

Here's to skiing the River again next week!

 

[snowmonster]

Chiming in on some black diamond runs (limited to trails on White Cap, Locke and Barker only):

White Cap -

Tempest was groomed both days on skiers left. Skiers left was bumped up with baby bumps. Groomed portion in the center was getting icy as the day wore on. Obsession was the best run on White Cap. On Sunday, soft bumps at the first part of the run then gentler as you got to the middle of the trail. Bottom part of the run had bigger and more regularly spaced bumps but nothing too scary. Combined with great sunlight and blue skies, it was the best trail on White Cap. White Heat was bumpy on skiers left and groomed in the center and right. I hit it before lunch and the show was packed powder. It was getting skied off in portions and I had to avoid an exposed rock smack in the middle of the trail. Bumps at the bottom were good for a training run. Shock Wave was the king of ungroomed and steep. Made it may last run on Sunday -- big mistake. Big bumps and steep were a recipe for disaster for this mogul newbie. Respected the mountain more after that. Hit the woods at Off-Ramp. Snow was waist deep in some parts and nobody had been there. If you wanted gentle woods and lots of untracked stuff, this was it.

Locke Mt.-

Skied T2 at about 1:30 on Sunday. Someone told me that the course had been closed earlier for race training and we got there just after they opened it. Great conditions. Powder and packed powder. Great for high-speed runs. Trail of the day at Locke. Crossbow and Tightwire were bumped up nicely.

Barker Mt. -

Right Stuff really had the right stuff on both days. Powder for the most part but parts under the bigger bumps were getting skied off. Bumpy but not aggresively so. This intermediate bumper had a comfortable time trying the bumps on skiers right.

Never got to Spruce, Aurora, Oz or Jordan. If someone did, please chime in.