The School They Love But Never Attended

[madskier6]

Call it "McMountain" all you want, but with the weather patterns we have here in New England I'm more than happy to have snowmaking all over the place...looking through some pics of this past winter, there wasn't any natural snow in my yard, on Shawnee Peak or Sunday River on Jan 13th...fast forward to April 13th and everything was covered in a deep blanket of white. Personally, I'd rather not wait for mother nature to give us love from above before I can get on the hill.

I did not say I don't want snowmaking. We have to have snowmaking in New England to be able to ski as much as we're able. I merely said that a mountain is not "old school" if it has wide, characterless trails with snowmaking everywhere. I still ski at those places but they are just not "old school". I never said (or implied) that I only ski at "old school" mountains. I do like them better, however.

 

[kcyanks1]

A large majority of the trails...most of my days are at Sunday River and they can do some skier visit volume for sure...so the more trails they can have open (typically requiring snowmaking...we get less nat snow here than in VT) the better they are able to spread the crowds and the more terrain avail to ski. Sunday River makes great snow...almost as good as the real stuff...I'll check the trail report in the am and we'll usually make more laps on trails with fresh man made than those without. There are very few trails at the River (other than glades) that don't have access to snowmaking. When mother nature does give us the love we'll spend more time in the woods anyway....but I wouldn't have wanted to wait until 2-14 this year to ski most of the mountain. If I spent most of my days at S-bush, Stowe, or Jay, I'd be less inclined to want more snowmaking...or if the snowmakers at the River weren't as skilled as they are...but they usually make some seriously sweet snow.

Then we don't really disagree too much. Perhaps I'd leave a few more trails without snowmaking, but we seem to have similar thoughts. Of course as you pointed out, areas that get more snow like northern VT can survive better without snowmaking.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

I did not say I don't want snowmaking. We have to have snowmaking in New England to be able to ski as much as we're able. I merely said that a mountain is not "old school" if it has wide, characterless trails with snowmaking everywhere. I still ski at those places but they are just not "old school". I never said (or implied) that I only ski at "old school" mountains. I do like them better, however.

I was just jumping on the McMountain comment...if McMountain means McSnow when the "old school" hill is only blanketed in nice organic dirt, I'd rather McSki than go hungry...metaphorically speaking. Based on what we have here in Maine, more snowmaking = more skiing, early, late, mid season, etc...so I say supersize my McSnow please...and if mother nature shows up with some organic snow then I'll slide into the all natural woods and get back to nature. I don't even have an issue with wide trails...out west almost everything is big, wide and open...gives you more room to haul a$$.

 

[kcyanks1]

I was just jumping on the McMountain comment...if McMountain means McSnow when the "old school" hill is only blanketed in nice organic dirt, I'd rather McSki than go hungry...metaphorically speaking. Based on what we have here in Maine, more snowmaking = more skiing, early, late, mid season, etc...so I say supersize my McSnow please...and if mother nature shows up with some organic snow then I'll slide into the all natural woods and get back to nature. I don't even have an issue with wide trails...out west almost everything is big, wide and open...gives you more room to haul a$$.

Now we disagree I definitely prefer narrow trails. Even when I'm out west, I feel like I gravitate toward chutes and narrow lines, rather than the wide-open stuff. It has to be sufficiently narrow though. If it's a wide trail, it might as well just be completely wide open.

 

[YardSaleDad]

The extreme skiing that goes on today could not have been done on yesteryears equipment is what I meant

This is the gear that took Amundsen across the Ross Ice Shelf, over the Trans-Antarctic Mountains via the Axel Heiberg Glacier,and to the South Pole in 1911. Round trip time of 99 days. Sounds pretty extreme to me.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

Now we disagree I definitely prefer narrow trails. Even when I'm out west, I feel like I gravitate toward chutes and narrow lines, rather than the wide-open stuff. It has to be sufficiently narrow though. If it's a wide trail, it might as well just be completely wide open.

Not really, just the semantics drove us apart...with the out west comment I was thinking more the actual trails and bowls...chutes live in a diff place in my mind. Ideally, a nice, steep, tight chute that opens up into a big bowl...best of both.

 

[lloyd braun]

Now we disagree I definitely prefer narrow trails. Even when I'm out west, I feel like I gravitate toward chutes and narrow lines, rather than the wide-open stuff. It has to be sufficiently narrow though. If it's a wide trail, it might as well just be completely wide open.

the skier chooses the "line" with in the trail/chute/bowl. The terrain does not.

You can ski a big bowl tight. If skiing in a chute you still have to stick your line. Granted the crux could only be 3 feet wide but mostly you still have to choose where to turn, etc......

The skier works the mountain.

 

[kcyanks1]

the skier chooses the "line" with in the trail/chute/bowl. The terrain does not.

You can ski a big bowl tight. If skiing in a chute you still have to stick your line. Granted the crux could only be 3 feet wide but mostly you still have to choose where to turn, etc......

The skier works the mountain.

I have fun on open terrain too and having variation is always fun. I also can try to be more aggressive when there is more room for error. On the whole, I just like narrower stuff better. Personal preference. While it's possible to ski a big bowl tight, I really don't see it as the same at all.