The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Hawk]

My first weekend out this year; Stowe Saturday and Sugarbush Sunday. The amount of man made on some of the trails at SB was unbelievable! Huge whales on Murphys, middle & lower Organgrinder as well as Ripcord were some of the largest I've seen there in years. Snow was silky soft and the usual suspects such as Snowball, Upper Grinder, Jester etc all skied well with mostly mid winter typical conditions. Downspout and upper Steins were scratchy, but mid way down Steins, hard skiers left was sweet. Crowds were manageable and dropped of considerably after lunch. Win was out and about talking with folks in the lodge and in line which is always great to see the personal touch.

What was Stowe like? I heard they have a ton open. I skied sugarbush both Saturday and Sunday mornings. It was pretty good all things considered. Murphys and Lower OG opened and that was pretty fun. Guns swapped over to Pushover and Slow Poke on the GH side on Sunday. I would think they would be in good condition by the weekend.

 

[cdskier]

Lower og below murphys is done. From that point up to ds is under the guns now. Still a section of middle jester that hasn't had any snowmaking yet. Lower snowball/racers edge and bird land would be all that's left on the main mountain I think after that. The cold temps this week should help them make great progress on gatehouse to help spread out crowds a bit.


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Lower og is now open via the lower jester entrance off ds. Guns have moved to domino chute and the last section of middle jester. Gondolier is open with whales. Ropes were dropped again on spillsville as well as upper bird land. Birdland was pretty nice with the natural snow today. Seemed like it was snowing harder from top of bravo down than it was higher up heavens gate today. Just got back to my condo after my legs said enough for today. Still coming down pretty good outside.


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[SIKSKIER]

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Thanks for getting the temps on the website fixed too. I love being able to see the temps at 3 different elevations on the mountain.
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I know its not real close to the Bush but I use the Mt Washington Observatory current summit conditions page for diffferent elevation temps.For me its pretty close to Cannon and has 6 different elevation temps from 1600 to 6200 feet.On their Mesonet link it has a thermo on top of Cannon,Wildcat,BW,and Cranmore among others.
https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/current-summit-conditions.aspx

 

[Orca]

I just took a look at the snow reports for Stowe and Jay. Both have more terrain open, with Stowe having an astounding 77 of 115 trails open. The season snow totals tell the story: 57 and 84 inches of snow for Stowe and Jay, respectively. That is over two and three times the 25 inches Sugarbush has received. Luck of the weather pattern. Let's hope the storms shift south a bit for us!

 

[tumbler]

I just took a look at the snow reports for Stowe and Jay. Both have more terrain open, with Stowe having an astounding 77 of 115 trails open. The season snow totals tell the story: 57 and 84 inches of snow for Stowe and Jay, respectively. That is over two and three times the 25 inches Sugarbush has received. Luck of the weather pattern. Let's hope the storms shift south a bit for us!

Stowe is more aggressive with the snowmaking and not staying on a trail for a week. We need the upslope machine to kick in.

 

[benski]

Any one else having trouble with Sugarbush's webcams? Its seems when I try on my mac OS laptop with everything fully updated can't run it becouse of some Sugarbush.com specific issue that prevents flash from running. Happens with Chrome and Safari.

 

[mbedle]

Any one else having trouble with Sugarbush's webcams? Its seems when I try on my mac OS laptop with everything fully updated can't run it becouse of some Sugarbush.com specific issue that prevents flash from running. Happens with Chrome and Safari.

Benski, its doing the same thing for me and I already have flash enabled on their site. I check the site and it appears that the flash file is not loadings with a timeout error.

 

[Orca]

Any one else having trouble with Sugarbush's webcams? Its seems when I try on my mac OS laptop with everything fully updated can't run it becouse of some Sugarbush.com specific issue that prevents flash from running. Happens with Chrome and Safari.

Same problem for me. Looks like the problem is on the site side.

 

[benski]

Chrome is telling me its blocked next too the URL but it is in the settings its enameled.

 

[tumbler]

I have been using the app instead, works much better for the cameras.

 

[WinS]

I have been using the app instead, works much better for the cameras.

The cam was down briefly but fixed and up. Be careful of trail counts. Acreage is more reflective and our plan is to complete trails rather than dust and run. Also remember we are full blast at ME so on 12/22 you will see a huge jump in trails and acreage open. We have already put out 60% of gallons we normally do in an entire season. And yes, the snow has been more at Stowe and Jay. We benefitted in December last year but we are all getting good December totals.

Completing snowmaking on Domino Chutes and upper part of lower Jester. Then just have Birdland, Lower Snowball and Race’s edge to complete on Bravo side. We are curtailed for a few hours tomorrow evening so when we shut down will assess where to turn back on. Gatehouse side is going really well. For the weekend will have at least groomed Pushover, Slowepoke, Sugar Bear Road, Lower Hot Shot and maybe more. Natural that opened today included Upper Birdland, Spillsville. Tomorrow may have Paradise (foot packed it today) and Domino. I said maybe because it depends on what we get overnight. I think if winds allow I will go up Ripcord first thing.

At ME we will next fill in Cruiser and touch up upper mountain and then go to terrain park which requires a lot of snow to build good features.

Weather pattern is looking good for next ten days.

��

 

[benski]

Win, Have you ever though of marking all the trails that you have finished making snow on at Mount Ellen as reserved for racing, or keeping a tally in the snow report of trails that are ready to open on the 22nd.

 

[nhskier1969]

Win, Have you ever though of marking all the trails that you have finished making snow on at Mount Ellen as reserved for racing, or keeping a tally in the snow report of trails that are ready to open on the 22nd.

I agree. With Ellen opening this weekend and with the new natural snow. Sugarbush should put on their website at the end of the day what they anticipate opening this weekend. My guess is 50+ trails 250 acres for the weekend.

 

[tumbler]

Mt Ellen doesnt open until next weekend, which from what I recall seems a week later than usual.

 

[Hawk]

Win, Have you ever though of marking all the trails that you have finished making snow on at Mount Ellen as reserved for racing, or keeping a tally in the snow report of trails that are ready to open on the 22nd.

Why would they do that? That would appear as false reporting to get the trail count and acreage up. The amount of trails open is what it is. Now one really cares that there are trails ready to go and not open and quite frankly the Mt. Ellen skier are already chomping at the bit. This will just aggravate them more.

 

[Hawk]

I agree. With Ellen opening this weekend and with the new natural snow. Sugarbush should put on their website at the end of the day what they anticipate opening this weekend. My guess is 50+ trails 250 acres for the weekend.

Mt Ellen is not opening this weekend. It is next weekend or Friday the 22nd.

 

[tumbler]

Why would they do that? That would appear as false reporting to get the trail count and acreage up. The amount of trails open is what it is. Now one really cares that there are trails ready to go and not open and quite frankly the Mt. Ellen skier are already chomping at the bit. This will just aggravate them more.

They have both Inverness trail and lift counting on the open terrain. Like I posted earlier, things seem to be a week later this year, Mt Ellen, VH Lodge, Wunderbar, Rumbles for lunch. I think this weekend is going to be very crowded but I guess you never know with people needing to do Xmas shopping.

 

[Hawk]

They have both Inverness trail and lift counting on the open terrain. Like I posted earlier, things seem to be a week later this year, Mt Ellen, VH Lodge, Wunderbar, Rumbles for lunch. I think this weekend is going to be very crowded but I guess you never know with people needing to do Xmas shopping.

That lift is open and they are skiing that trail. I do not have an issue with that one trail. But no one is supposed to be skiing the rest of the trails over there. With the opening of gate house this weekend and lessons starting, I think they will be fine. This weekend is typically light and for the reason you hinted on above. BTW - this is one of my favorite times to ski. Mostly just the same crew of pass holders that are committed to ski.

 

[slatham]

I am obviously not paying attention to the official communication.....but I too (in my gut based on previous years) assumed ME would open this weekend. I do not recall it ever opening for the first time on Christmas weekend? I have no skin in the game this weekend, but its a shame all that snow is not being skied this weekend.

 

[Hawk]

Oh, believe me it will be skied. Just not by lift access.