ducky
Active member
Spur marked.
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
The "Sugarbush Thread"
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
Spur marked.
ducky
Active member
Was designed before GMVS was there.
ducky
Active member
The two middle pins I dropped are way out, staying high and hard left from Extermintaor Woods, one might be at Hole in the Wall from the LT. I used this Topo Maps app often about 8-10 years ago and haven't really opened it since. The black dot is the Glen Ellen house lodge and not advisable to drop in from there as it is a hard, dense, bushwhacking slog below. The top pin was my attempt to find the old ski lift trail, but again too dense and pulling your way through thick undergrowth. If I recall, the lowest pins were marking a line between the Mother and BD back to Rim Run, or maybe the entry to which. Lines do change yearly with knockdowns and it seems different each year. As far as I know, the land is not GMNF and could be thinned. The LT is there now and runs all the way to and past MRG, so why make it official? Just be subtle (less is more re cutting, ..like a folding hand saw only) and be respectful to the forest, environment, and land owners if you do. I, personally, have never cut but have seen trimmed lines.
Be nice if Google/Apple Maps offered a "winter view" showing snow cover so you could find what was brush and what was more open.
Be nice if Google/Apple Maps offered a "winter view" showing snow cover so you could find what was brush and what was more open.
kingslug
Well-known member
Might be there this week..hoping for..something.
Slidebrook87
Active member
I’d love to see something similar to that, but the old Poma is in very rough shape. It derived multiple times last year. It’s already been relocated, and I think it’s just too far past the end of its service life. GMVS May remove the current T-Bar as it will become redundant. I could see that being used as the side country lift.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Newpylong
Well-known member
Even if the club/school decided to sell, you're not going to see a 1400/300' back country lift.
STREETSKIER
Active member
The "Sugarbush Thread"
1 southern exposure terrain not ideal
2 to close to mrg
3 in the way of gmvs
4 north is only open 90 days
5 money spent elsewhere like the lodge would be better
Reality is slide brook would-be where expansion should happen but we know why it won’t happen they gave the top of Lincoln peak and. Slide brook for slidebrook express lift also the best skiing on that exposure is there already brambles woods up above. Is Fine for exploration with your buddy’s
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
1 southern exposure terrain not ideal
2 to close to mrg
3 in the way of gmvs
4 north is only open 90 days
5 money spent elsewhere like the lodge would be better
Reality is slide brook would-be where expansion should happen but we know why it won’t happen they gave the top of Lincoln peak and. Slide brook for slidebrook express lift also the best skiing on that exposure is there already brambles woods up above. Is Fine for exploration with your buddy’s
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited:
AbominableSnowman
New member
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2017
- Messages
- 26
- Points
- 1
Plus, adding yet another "used" lift to the equation - when they are already ordering parts from where, Wakanda?, to keep their primary base lifts such as GMX running - seems like a very questionable business move.
While it is a credit to the outgoing management that they did make investments in Sugarbush over the years (e.g. the Valley House Quad), it does seem as though an infusion of capital is necessary in order to bring the existing infrastructure (including GMX, NRX and Heaven's Gate lifts) fully back up to the level of "sustainable and reliable".
After that is done would likely be the more appropriate and responsible time to start investing in any possible expansion alternatives....
P.S. Those are beautiful photos above, cdskier - nicely done! If you are not already a professional photographer, you may have discovered a second career....
Slidebrook87
Active member
A Slide Brook Basin expansion is very unlikely. Alterra would have to invest a ton of money into trails and lifts that would connect both peaks. Although it would be cool, things like that never happen. Look how the Killington/Pico interconnect turned out. They got rid of a large trail pod for a "land swap" and never completed the interconnect. All that remains today is a dirt road between mountains. Unless they have superpowers like Otten had in 1995 completing 6 lift related projects not to mention snowmaking in one year, it's impossible to remove Slide Brook, connect the mountains with trails, and install lifts to connect.
Hawk
Well-known member
A slidebrook expansions are not very unlikely, they can NEVER be done by Altura or anybody else for that matter. Les Otten gave away any rights or any expansion possibility in that whole area between North and Lincoln peak areas so that they could put in your beloved lift. Actually, that was a blessing for people like me and my friends who prefer no lifts or listed trails out there. It keeps the population low.
As for North, I think that the area above inverness is the only place that could possibly make it through act 250 but that would take quite some time and lots of money. They already have an approved master plan for the new building at the bottom of lincoln peak and Win has mentioned the possibility of another lodge at the top of gate house, snow making expansions and possibly work to the Glen house. Alterra has not even said a word about what they will do so I have to look at the hints that Win has mentioned.
As for North, I think that the area above inverness is the only place that could possibly make it through act 250 but that would take quite some time and lots of money. They already have an approved master plan for the new building at the bottom of lincoln peak and Win has mentioned the possibility of another lodge at the top of gate house, snow making expansions and possibly work to the Glen house. Alterra has not even said a word about what they will do so I have to look at the hints that Win has mentioned.
Slidebrook87
Active member
It's hard for any operator of Sugarbush to justify spending all that money on connecting both peaks with trails. Ever since Glen Ellen was acquired, there were ambitions of a connector lift. In 1995, Otten purchased the mountains and had a vision for them that included SLide Brook. He wasn't going to connect the peaks with trails, so he settled on Slide Brook. Like it or not, Slide Brook (the lift) was an important component of Otten's vision. Every owner of Sugarbush has had a vision and this was his. I really liked his vision of Sugarbush unlike others, but that's just personal preference. I don't want to speak for Win, but I think he had the vision of developing a Village at Lincoln and creating a more unique kind of vibe.
Hawk
Well-known member
No you are wrong. He wanted to connect the two with lifts and trails but due to push back from the national forest service and local outcry he settled on the lift. It was never his original intent, just an afterthought.
Thanks! Just a hobby that I've started to have a lot of fun with the past few years (although I'd love to one day figure out how to make some side money off it lol).
Protecting Bear habitat too if I recall
Otten also had designs on "modernizing" Castle Rock with a higher capacity lift and snowmaking. Probably would've turned into Vermont's version of OZ if he had his way.
IMO Sugarbush is better off today for people pushing back on his plans. He was a McSkiarea designer
Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app
Slidebrook87
Active member
The Castlerock plan was the one thing that he wanted to do that I do not agree with. Other than that though, I think he had some pretty cool plans for Sugarbush, if only ASC hadn’t ended up failing.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
machski
Well-known member
Yes on the CR modernization, part of which Otten wanted because his original connector lift proposal was from top of CR to Ellen (shortest distance). Of course, that was shot down not just due to CR being hosed but the visual ruined from the valley. The visual beauty preservation is also why Slidebrook is a chair and not a Gondola today and why it is so low to the ridge lines at times (so as to minimize it's profile when view from the valley).
Sent from my Pixel 3 using AlpineZone mobile app
Count me as another person that is quite happy that much of Otten's plans never happened. His "vision" was to turn it into a mega resort so he could make a lot of money. He didn't care about respecting the community. He didn't care about the things that made SB unique and special (like CR being an all natural area with limited capacity). So I'm ultimately quite happy ASC failed.
I also don't understand why we're crediting Otten with the "vision" for connecting North and South in the first place. That was part of the plan over 10 years before Otten bought SB. He may have been the one that finally managed to do it with the installation of the SB chair, which as Hawk pointed out was ultimately a blessing since it prevented any further development in that area.
Glad they failed to be honest.
I suppose if lots of slopeside real estate development and wide trails with tons of grooming is your thing, then I could see their appeal.
To me they were just a McSkiarea company.
Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app
Similar threads
