The "Sugarbush Thread"

[nelsapbm]

If I had to guess...the recent snow has been super heavy and there have been a lot of power outages. The school district on the back side of Sugarbush (Starksboro, Lincoln, Bristol, etc) was off yesterday because of power outages. Lots of trees and wires down etc. GMP has been out straight for the past 3 or so days. So, maybe that's why? Just a possible explanation.

 

[urungus]

Heading to Sugarbush for the first time this afternoon, planning on hitting Steins and Paradise, can anyone one recommend some other open signature trails I shouldn’t miss? Don’t care if it’s a green blue or black. Also how long does the hike to Castle Rock take, and how strenuous is it?

 

[skimagic]

All the runs off superbravo from spring fling to birdland are decent. I favor the old school runs- Twist, and Moonshine. Up top, Organgrinder is fun. Enjoy!

 

[cdskier]

Heading to Sugarbush for the first time this afternoon, planning on hitting Steins and Paradise, can anyone one recommend some other open signature trails I shouldn’t miss? Don’t care if it’s a green blue or black. Also how long does the hike to Castle Rock take, and how strenuous is it?

The hike is about 15-20 minutes. Some great views along the way that are nice to look at (specifically from "The Church" about halfway on the hike).

As someone else mentioned, Twist and Moonshine are great natural trails if cover looks good. I also love Domino and Lower Domino. Spillsville is another great natural trail up top.

Personally I think Murphy's Glade (not actually a glade as it is a regular trail with a couple trees here and there) is a ton of fun on all natural snow before they make snow on it.

 

[Smellytele]

Who had paradise first? MRG or the bush? Also Birdland?

 

[BenedictGomez]

Personally I think Murphy's Glade (not actually a glade as it is a regular trail with a couple trees here and there) is a ton of fun on all natural snow before they make snow on it.

I agree, but it would be more fun were it actually a glade. I wonder if there's a story there, like, did it used to be a glade and they cleared to to add a trail.

 

[cdskier]

Who had paradise first? MRG or the bush? Also Birdland?

Bush had Paradise first from what I found. Not sure if it was one of the original summit trails or not, but it was there as of at least 1963's trail map. At MRG, Paradise was cut in 1968 and 1969 it seems.

(Edit: found a trail map from 1958 showing Paradise at Sugarbush as well, so it was an original trail)

Birdland was also one of the early trails at Sugarbush, but I'm not sure if the modern day Birdland is the same as the original one. For some reason I seem to recall reading/hearing that it was relocated at some point and was originally more in the area of either Egan's Woods or Stein's Woods before they moved it and allowed that area to grow back in more with trees.

 

[tumbler]

I agree, but it would be more fun were it actually a glade. I wonder if there's a story there, like, did it used to be a glade and they cleared to to add a trail.

Snowmaking took care of the trees

 

[tumbler]

Bush had Paradise first from what I found. Not sure if it was one of the original summit trails or not, but it was there as of at least 1963's trail map. At MRG, Paradise was cut in 1968 and 1969 it seems.

Birdland was also one of the early trails at Sugarbush, but I'm not sure if the modern day Birdland is the same as the original one. For some reason I seem to recall reading/hearing that it was relocated at some point and was originally more in the area of either Egan's Woods or Stein's Woods before they moved it and allowed that area to grow back in more with trees.

I'm pretty sure Paradise is original. Yes the original Birdland was over by Steins. You can see there are trees that are much smaller than the surrounding forest where the trail used to be.

 

[HowieT2]

Snowmaking took care of the trees

This. There were more trees years ago.

 

[cdskier]

I'm pretty sure Paradise is original. Yes the original Birdland was over by Steins. You can see there are trees that are much smaller than the surrounding forest where the trail used to be.

Yea, I actually found an original 1958 trail map showing Paradise and went back and edited my post (probably right around the same time as you were replying)

 

[nhskier1969]

The hike is about 15-20 minutes. Some great views along the way that are nice to look at (specifically from "The Church" about halfway on the hike).

The hike is worth it, photo taken this morning

 

[cdskier]

The hike is worth it, photo taken this morning

View attachment 24222

Damn that looks incredible. Of course by the time I get up there things could be changed a bit with the weather forecast for this weekend.

 

[Rothski]

I grew up skiing at Sugarbush starting in the late 70’s. The existing Birdland was cut in 1984 or so to accomodate the liftline for Sugar Bravo, originally a triple, which along with Heavens Gate replaced the Gondola. Murphy’s Glade, was previously just called the The Glades, and it had a significant amout of trees through the middle of thr trail. What is really cool is that Moonshine used to be heavily gladed from edge to edge. It was by far the most fun on the mountain. The trees were cut sometime in the 80’s I think. We were so disappointed. Also, sleeper had way more trees as well.

 

[urungus]

Thanks for the advice everybody, hit most of the trails mentioned and had a great time today during my first visit. It was pretty foggy at the top, but conditions were awesome! Paradise my was run of the day. After climbing the lengthy staircase from the parking lot, I was not able to summon the energy for the walk to Castle Rock, but after seeing the photo above I wish I had been able to rally. Does the Castle Rock chair only run on weekends? (Although once the chair is running you wouldn’t get the splendid isolation of the photo.)

 

[urungus]

Couple pix

 

[cdskier]

Does the Castle Rock chair only run on weekends? (Although once the chair is running you wouldn’t get the splendid isolation of the photo.)

No, once it starts running it will run all week. At times it won't run but they allow hiking if there's enough snow to support some traffic, but not as much traffic as the lift running would bring (a common scenario early season while the base builds up). Could also be early season staffing challenges right now though keeping it from running. There's a part of me that actually would not mind if the CR chair never ran and it was always hiking only. There's something pretty special about hiking over and being able to ski trails with only a handful of other people around. (Of course there's also a lazier part of me that very much enjoys riding that lift and not having to hike).

 

[BenedictGomez]

Snowmaking took care of the trees

Can you explain that, I'm not getting it.

 

[deadheadskier]

Can you explain that, I'm not getting it.

Snowmaking kills trees.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[ss20]

Can you explain that, I'm not getting it.

The heavy ice/water shit thrown out by the guns cakes themselves onto tree limbs and brings them down.

The last tree on Upper East Fall at Killington fell a few years ago after snowmaking. Big Dipper glade gets thinner by the year.