The "Sugarbush Thread"

[benski]

I regularly read snow/weather reports every day. Mainly I look at Sugarbush and MRG, although I sometimes like to glance at our neighbors to the north and south to see what is going on there to try to get a better overall picture when weather gets "challenging". I noticed that Stowe seems to no longer have a narrative at all this year (unless it is just well hidden). I'm guessing that is the "Vail" model as I just went to Vail's website for comparison and don't see an actual narrative there either.

I think this is a shame. The narrative makes a good venue for PSA's like the one about skinning, and the note that natural snow trails are closed to preserve snow pack during the rain in Sugarbush's trail report.

 

[Hawk]

I regularly read snow/weather reports every day. Mainly I look at Sugarbush and MRG, although I sometimes like to glance at our neighbors to the north and south to see what is going on there to try to get a better overall picture when weather gets "challenging". I noticed that Stowe seems to no longer have a narrative at all this year (unless it is just well hidden). I'm guessing that is the "Vail" model as I just went to Vail's website for comparison and don't see an actual narrative there either.

Scott Braaten used to do those write ups. He was really good and I miss his reports on some of the other sites he visited. Those corporate bastards over their must of gave him the gate. Too bad, like you said, he was really good.

 

[tumbler]

I remember being a kid and sitting and watching the trail report on tv (can’t remember what channel). I like the app much better although there’s certainly some nostalgia feeling for the old days.


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Channel 44. Doug Lewis hosting a morning show. Classic. Also back when the snow phone was a necessity.

 

[cdskier]

Also back when the snow phone was a necessity.

My dad still calls the snow phone all the time. Considering the snow phone is usually word for word what is on the website, I don't know why my dad doesn't just look at the website from his smart phone.

 

[WinS]

You will not see John Egan on the slopes this weekend. He is on the way to The Sundance Film Festival In Sundance for the premier of the film honoring Warren Miller. He and brother Dan are featured prominently in the film. We are so lucky to have John on the team here at Sugarbush.

 

[rtjcbrown]

Speaking of old time snow reports and snow phones without mentioning Roxy Rothafel would be a sin.

As a kid, hearing his ski reports on the radio was a treat

 

[ducky]

Did a couple runs this morning and it was remarkably good for a day after rain. Groomers were clean and carvable, not many lumps and really no ice.

 

[Jully]

Did a couple runs this morning and it was remarkably good for a day after rain. Groomers were clean and carvable, not many lumps and really no ice.

Ski anything ungroomed? It was all open today, right?

 

[ducky]

Ski anything ungroomed? It was all open today, right?

Just had time for a couple of groomers today on Hotshot.

Did a snowshoe hike at 1200' this afternoon and the snow is soft and barely crusted over in the woods at my place. I was post-holing deeply with 22" snowshoes and still 12-18" at my place in Waitsfield. We have the Ole's XC trails across our field and the groomed XC trail was frozen firm on The Folsom Brook/Bundy Loop, Old #10. Off-trail was soft, almost quiet. Not sure what that says for the woods at Sugarbush but can't be all bad. I bet the moguls are a challenge.

 

[Jully]

Just had time for a couple of groomers today on Hotshot.

Did a snowshoe hike at 1200' this afternoon and the snow is soft and barely crusted over in the woods at my place. I was post-holing deeply with 22" snowshoes and still 12-18" at my place in Waitsfield. We have the Ole's XC trails across our field and the groomed XC trail was frozen firm on The Folsom Brook/Bundy Loop, Old #10. Off-trail was soft, almost quiet. Not sure what that says for the woods at Sugarbush but can't be all bad. I bet the moguls are a challenge.

Good intel! Sounds like the woods might be able to recover with just a few inches and a bunch of skier traffic. Moguls I agree are probably dead for a bit.

 

[nhskier1969]

Ski anything ungroomed? It was all open today, right?

Made a few runs in the afternoon and skied over at Castlerock. I thought it skied decent. Liftline was worth it.

 

[Julius]

Ripcord/Spills was a nice surprise and had more pow coverage than expected. Welcome rebound from yesterday.. My gloves are still wet inside.

 

[Skrn]

I skied this weekend at Sugarbush. The groomers were good in the morning but got skied off by mid-afternoon. The natural trails were much better than expected. There were enough snow in mogul to make them skiable. High elevation trees were good. Low elevation trees have too many rocks. Will only get better with the snow this week.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Skied Lincoln peak Saturday - awful. Crowded. Icy. The gate house line was a shitshow at 10 am. RFID problems and a huge line with many chairs going up empty.

Skied Mount Ellen Sunday - excellent. Groomers skied top notch. High elevation and even lower (semi tough) woods skied awesome. Steady snow beginning at 11 am helped a lot. North ridge quad broke down. Was stuck on chair for 15 min or so. They got us all off and then closed it down. But that got me skiing top to bottom 2350 vert runs until summit went down for wind. At that point I started skiing Inverness and semi tough woods

 

[Hawk]

Ya, the gatehouse is a beginner lift mostly. It is always that way. I stay clear. Got to the hill late at 10am and the lines were manageable. I skied about 6 castlerocks with no longer than a 10 minute wait. Heavens gate was not bad either. All in all not that bad all things considered. Any of the natural trails were much more edgeable than the snow making/groomed trails. Especially on the edges. Wish they were blowing snow on something other then downspout and sleeper. Oh well.

 

[rocks860]

Skied lincoln peak today, much better than I was expecting. Morningstar first thing was great. Ripcords was pretty scratchy but organ grinder was great. I’ve got 3 more days this week so didn’t want to kill myself today. Will likely hit up castle rock on Wednesday after the storm


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[WinS]

Skied Lincoln peak Saturday - awful. Crowded. Icy. The gate house line was a shitshow at 10 am. RFID problems and a huge line with many chairs going up empty.

Skied Mount Ellen Sunday - excellent. Groomers skied top notch. High elevation and even lower (semi tough) woods skied awesome. Steady snow beginning at 11 am helped a lot. North ridge quad broke down. Was stuck on chair for 15 min or so. They got us all off and then closed it down. But that got me skiing top to bottom 2350 vert runs until summit went down for wind. At that point I started skiing Inverness and semi tough woods

As Hawk said, that is where the most beginner and intermediate terrain is and a lot of first time visitors. The line looks worse than it is. I timed it at 10:30 and was 9 minutes, but that was the longest line. The problem with the RFID Gates is when someone has not put their card in correctly ( something else in the pocket like a piece of paper, keys or a pass from another mountain.) After learning they do not have a problem the second trip but most people are arriving for the first time between 9:30 and 10:30 am so that will always be the most congested.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

As Hawk said, that is where the most beginner and intermediate terrain is and a lot of first time visitors. The line looks worse than it is. I timed it at 10:30 and was 9 minutes, but that was the longest line. The problem with the RFID Gates is when someone has not put their card in correctly ( something else in the pocket like a piece of paper, keys or a pass from another mountain.) After learning they do not have a problem the second trip but most people are arriving for the first time between 9:30 and 10:30 am so that will always be the most congested.

yep, was trying to take a few laps with my beginner girlfriend before striking off on my own for the rest of the day. it was clear that a bunch of gaper types had no clue how RFID worked. but it was still frustrating to see empty chair after empty chair going up. i get that you need to police for theft of services, but with a backlog like that, and annoyed people yelling out at every empty chair leaving the station, i'd think the customer service perogative is to move the line, not check for passes.

your lift ops manager was there and i asked him 'whats up with the empty and underloaded chairs' and his response was that people dont know how to use the rfid.

a totally separate aside - this is my girlfriends first season on skis. she had a major hip surgery 13 months ago. she's been relatively spoiled so far this season, skiing only on very nice packed powder groomers in vermont and colorado. saturday was her first exposure to ice. i've never seen someone so afraid of the pushover trail off of gate house. what a wildly dramatic hour+ of getting her top to bottom. there were tears. there were screams. there was a breakup that lasted 10 minutes. ive had good luck teaching her to ski, but woah, that was my first "leave it to the pros" moment with her.

eventually we got her down, and i plied her with whiskey in castlerock pub til she loved me again.

 

[rocks860]

I had that exact experience with my ex when she was first learning to snowboard, complete breakdown screaming how much she hated me for taking her down a green at mount Ellen, it’s super rough. At least most of the people around you probably understood what was going on


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[tumbler]

Actually had a nice day Saturday on the natural and Sunday got better as the snow fell. Low expectations were exceeded.