The Saddleback Thread

[deadheadskier]

Yeah I think unless there is a race that warrant the entire length of Ghost I don't get why SD wouldn't be a better choice for just training. They also can get quick laps on the T-Bar. But we all know how much sway the racing community has so...

From what I saw, many of the racers still use the T cutting over from Ghost on Muddler. So, they aren't contributing to lines at the chair, but they are taking up the mountains most expansive cruising trail.

The other benefit to Silver Doctor is it's completely segregated. When they cut off ghost, you lose the lower entrances to Governor and Parmachee

 

[kbroderick]

Yeah I think unless there is a race that warrant the entire length of Ghost I don't get why SD wouldn't be a better choice for just training. They also can get quick laps on the T-Bar. But we all know how much sway the racing community has so...

From a practical standpoint, maintaining one trail for races and another for training doubles your B-net needs, which in turn doubles the staffing needed to maintain that net (the stuff needs to be adjusted every time the weather changes, more or less, which in New England is effectively all the time). Grey Ghost is the only homologated trail, so I'd expect races to happen there (even if it's not USSS-sanctioned racing, using the homologated race trail would be fairly normal practice).

Also, is SD as wide as Grey Ghost? Current standards for GS recommend a minimum trail width of 40m for both slalom and GS, which is 131 feet. I think SD was the race trail back when I raced GS there, but that was about three decades ago, and a lot of things have changed since then with respect to risk management, course setting, and speed of travel.

 

[deadheadskier]

While not as wide as Ghost, I'd bet SD is 40M wide if not more. Second widest upper level trail on the mountain. It's certainly much wider than either Cannonball or Tiger at Gunstock, which both host official races.

Good point on the dual netting

 

[Newpylong]

SD is 10-20 feet shy of that the entire length, so you could be onto something.

Yes, SD was the race trail I remember. There is still a timing shack bottom left. I just checked with my contact there and they only use it for training, no races.

 

[So Inclined]

How's Saddleback skiing currently? Is it "drive two and a half hours each way" good after the weekend snow? I'm in the North Conway area this week, and thinking about a day sortie there on Wednesday; I've been interested in skiing there since the re-opening, but it's a long long way from my home base (downstate NY) so I'm unlikely to get there unless I'm already here, if that makes sense.

 

[soposkier]

How's Saddleback skiing currently? Is it "drive two and a half hours each way" good after the weekend snow? I'm in the North Conway area this week, and thinking about a day sortie there on Wednesday; I've been interested in skiing there since the re-opening, but it's a long long way from my home base (downstate NY) so I'm unlikely to get there unless I'm already here, if that makes sense.

Cannot comment on current live conditions, but if the report reads that most everything is open and the weather is good go for it. Midweek will be dead.

 

[LoafSkier19]

Was there today. Felt like skiing 2 different mountains. Everything off the Kennebago was open and skied amazing, but everything off the Rangeley was wind blown and hardpack. One of the windiest days I can remember skiing with it blowing straight up the mountain.

 

[soposkier]

Was there today. Felt like skiing 2 different mountains. Everything off the Kennebago was open and skied amazing, but everything off the Rangeley was wind blown and hardpack. One of the windiest days I can remember skiing with it blowing straight up the mountain.

The lower woods off the Rangelely look to have good cover or still thin?

 

[LoafSkier19]

The lower woods off the Rangelely look to have good cover or still thin?

Just about everything still has good cover off Rangeley and is open from what I saw and skied, just needs to soften up a bit. Upper Professor and Upper Jane Craig were the only ones I found a bit thin but still manageable