The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Lostone]

Agreed that they are only working the top. They have Elbow and are working FIS and Rim Run.

That said, if this snow hits, I would expect at least Northridge open by next weekend... :beer: and I couldn't help notice all the guns in place on Straight Shot. :wink:

 

[Lostone]

Snowing on the mountain, now.

We'll shortly know the answer to when they will open more terrain. :wink:

 

[Old Geezer]

Anything more to report?

 

[Treeskier]

Mad River Snow report

Mad River's email report: Happy Thanksgiving skiers. We are very thankful that it is currently dumping profusely! We are expecting a storm total of 4-6" or more and potentially much, much more on Turkey Day. Our plan is to open as soon as Mother Nature allows which could be as early as this weekend if some of these weather forecasts truly pan out. The snowline has been creeping down the mountain all day. We have received 2" at the base already today (at 5 PM) with between 4-5" up top. Snow is expected throughout the night tonight. The winds have picked up and visibility is limited. Another storm is expected on Thanksgiving Day which has the potential for snow measured in feet. We will need a fair amount of snow, and the right kind, to be able to open as the mountain is very wet and there is no base underneath . At this point the plan is to make a call on opening for the wee kend on Friday. Stay tuned for the latest.

Ski Basin's (killington) Email: About 2:00 today it started to snow hard, snow originally started first thing this morning. If you are heading this way, tomorrow will be a powder day. It may not be in inches it looks more like a foot or better tonight. Forecast are calling for 2 feet or better before it ends later in the week. See attached - natural snow trails are starting to be skiable. I would expect a few to open tomorrow. Rick

 

[Old Geezer]

Snowing on the mountain, now.
We'll shortly know the answer to when they will open more terrain. :wink:

Got the MRG and Killington report above, but any more details on Sugarbush opening up more runs?

 

[Lostone]

Sorry.... I was busily posting anddoing emails. Then, disappointed with the rain and spiting snow outside, I decided to call someone at the mountain. They said there was 5" at the top of the GMX and 9" at the summit. Typing time was declared over, and I headed for the mountain.

Certainly didn't think there was any 5" at the top of the GMX. As I got off Summit, there was no snow.

The wind was whipping. I was going over extreme hardpack and rock, saying that this was going to be a little rough.

After the first pitch, my skis hit something, and it felt a little like snow. That was the end of my complaining.

Still not sure about the 5" and 9", but there was a lot of snow on the trail and probably a ton more blowing in the woods. (Wasn't that a song? :roll: )

Really glad I went out! Tomorrow?

Site is saying that they are opening Lower Rim Run.


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[skibum1321]

The Bush is posting 18" from the storm, which I have a hard time buying, especially considering MRG's report of 2-5" last night. It also seems that they would have opened another trail or 2 today if that were the case. Anyone have a firsthand report?

 

[Tin Woodsman]

I've seen reports from MRG indicating perhaps 8-10" at the midstation and up to 18" at the top, but there was a lot of drifing so it's hard to know. Regardless, the trail count stuck at 3 is depressing.

Edit: I should note that Stowe is reporting only 6-8". ALong with the limited trail count, it leads me to believe that the SB employees who measured the snowfall sutck their rules in the nearest drift they could find.

 

[Lostone]

In their defense, I would say there was a ton of drifting.

That said, I didn't meet one person who agreed with the 18". :blink:

Lower Rim Run had mixed reports, running on the poor side. They'd made snow before the warmup, then there was the snow, and they opened it under snowguns. It had everything.

Elbow had mostly powder on a groomed surface.

Lot of smiling people on that one! :wink:

More tomorrow? :beer:

 

[Treeskier]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! It's snowing hard here in Metrowest MA with 1" new so far.

 

[Lostone]

Today's report.

Up here, it snowed most of the night and thru most of the day. Didn't look at the Sugarbush site to see how much snow they said was down.

I did go up on the mountain, where I found smiles on almost every face. The wind was still blowing everyone and everything around, but the snow was soft and silky.

Added FIS and Lower Rim Run. Talk of a few more, tomorrow. Bottom still needs a lot, but they had a few guns going alnong Straight Shot.

First hift skiers had a hard time pulling themselves off the mountain, while the second shift got there a little early. It was pretty crowded around 12:00Then, as the first shift headed out to their Thanxgiving dinner, there were less people on the trails, but still a lot of smiles.

I got a few pix. I’ll look at them and see if I have any that are worth posting, but first I have to make my Thanxgiving meal. I think you should all feel sorry for me… but then again… I went skiing.
:beer:


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[KingM]

Thanks for the update Lostone. As of 20:00 it looks like we totaled about 12" here on the valley floor. I got in the hot tub with the kids late this afternoon and it looked like it had completely stopped, but then a few lazy flakes started falling and here I am a few hours later and I need to shovel the decks again. I'm not complaining.

Can anyone wish away this warming trend we have coming for next week? I guess I've been tricked by this January-ish weather and have to remind myself it's still November.

 

[noski]

Top to Bottom

Sugarbush Mt. Ellen is top to bottom for those that want to know that. That should continue all weekend. Of course those that know the trails can simply read the trail report... :dunce:

 

[Lostone]

A slightly longer winded trail report?

( Posted both places. :wink:

This is the Friday after Thanxgiving. As we have had a couple days of widely advertised snow, I expected a crowd. I was not disappointed. I arrived early and was in the line for the GMX when it opened. We’d had a lot of snow overnight. I was expecting powder for the first run and maybe a touch left for the second. I was disappointed. Everything had been groomed this morning. The only powder was on FIS, and that is not a first run trail for me.

I headed down Rim Run. Looked on the right. Small strip, but nothing. When the trail turned left, I saw a one person wide strip of powder on the lefts side. Quickly checking and finding that I was only one person, I decided to give it a try. There were a few places where I had to abandon it due to a snowgun or a few branches, but mostly it was great! I had my own personal powder run while everyone around me was making much better time back to the lift, cruising the packed powder. (The packed powder, by the way was a really nice surface. It was mostly soft and so carveable that I almost dumped a few times on the early part. I was setting a slight edge and it was taking quicker than I expected.)

I did one on Looking Good (with a detour onto the trail formerly known as Zip.) and one on Elbow. They were ok, but there were a lot of people at the lift. Second run the singles line worked, but the third, it was well beyond the regular line and I made better time pairing (quadding?) up with some other people.

On the third run I met up with the people that I was supposed to be meeting, so I figured I’d maybe head out after the fourth. As I approached Northridge, I saw the Thin Cover sign by Exterminator. Not one of my favorite trails, but I figured that if it was to be a four run day, I should at least run one down something tough.

I went past the sign and found that although there were rocks around (On Exterminator? Imagine that!) but that the snow was all soft, and what bumps there were, were powder puffs. It told me to come back and see it sometime. And I did so… twice more. Then I was getting ready to head out, but as I came across the traverse, toward that lift, there was an ambassador saying that they would be opening to the bottom in about an hour. There was also a line halfway across the flats to the downloading side of the lift. Hey, I can do Exterminator again.

By the time I got down to the bottom of Lower Elbow, they were pulling the rope off the way down to Cruiser. The line to the lift had been pretty long, and I was stopping to take a few pix along the way, but there was no way it was as much as a half hour. Still, I was there. What could I do?

I went around the rope, cut hard left and had a great untracked powder run for about 50 yards. Then I hit the area that had been covered by the snowgun. I bounced off the top.

The rest of the way down was very tricky. There was unbreakable crust, breakable crust and heavy powder. There were a few times I had great untracked powder on the right side, tight up by the woods and others when I was doing my best not to get killed.

Cruiser was tough. Straight Shot was ugly! There was a packed line, which had a lot of people crashing all over the place. The left side was where the guns were working, and that was more of the maybe, maybe not breakable crust. There were also a lot of moving rocks in the packed line. As I got to the bottom of Crackerjack and saw people coming down it, I realized I’d made a bad choice.

At the bottom, my friend headed and his wife headed in. I headed back to the lift. It was tough, but there was enough snow to justify another try. On the way up, I noticed people coming down Cliffs. Then I saw people coming down Encore. Then I realized they had thrown the mountain open.

There were lots of rocks around, but there was a lot of natural snow. If you went past a Thin Cover sign, don’t whine about the rocks. Enjoy the snow.

I went down Cliffs. By the time I got there a lot of people had found it, so there was no untracked powder. Still, all the snow was soft, and it was a true blast. At the bottom, I diverted to Crackerjack. There were lots more rocks around and the waterbars were… exciting. Still, there were large patches of semi and untracked snow. I went up, did the same, again.

Then I decided that there is a thin line between having a great run and having a sled ride to the bottom. I decided to leave the rest for others. I left the mountain with a very sore back, two very sore legs, and… a really big smile. :beer:

Pix to follow. :wink:

 

[Lostone]

Not a lot of pix, from yesterday worth much but I did get a few worthwhile. See some of them here.
There is a link on the top, right to view as a slideshow.


8)


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[thetrailboss]

Awesome report...I don't miss those 'moving rocks' in SB's preseason snow :roll: Sounds like a nice day...had a great one today at Sunapee, but I was thinking about 'Ellen, especially since their HSQ is similar to North Ridge.

 

[Lostone]

I don't miss those 'moving rocks' in SB's preseason snow :roll:

Well, you still had the option of downloading. And after they opened up to the bottom, the line to download disappeared, so it was easy to do. :wink:

They knew that the terrain was very sketchy for cover, down there, But there is a point where you just put up the Thin Cover sign and let them go.

A lot of people hit rocks an stones. A lot of people were smiling.

I ran into those rocks the first time down, but I took two more. And I really wanted to go back for more. But it was day 6 in a row, of my first six. I'd done 4 double diamond runs (Tho it was a very easy double diamond, due to all that soft snow.) and two single diamond runs (See above. :wink: ) and a blue box run which was much harder than any of the diamonds.

Yes, I hit a lot of rocks.

But it was a great day. :beer:


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[thetrailboss]

You're absolutely right, Lostone...the small 'groomer till' was a small price to pay...but it is funny the little things one remembers.

I look back fondly on my many days at SB and look forward to getting back there soon...

:beer:

 

[bullwheel12]

All i have to say is "Moonshine"!!! Super fluffy, deep, just enough underneith the pow to keep you off the ground... just pure pleasure sat and sunday!!! thank you snow god!

 

[Treeskier]

The Tables have turned!!!

As long as I can remember Mad River kept Sugarbush honest. They would open natural trails when they should even if it was rocky. But this weekend Sugarbush lead the way and opened natural trails a head of Mad River. (who should most definitly been OPEN) Shame on them!!!!!!

There was definelty fine fluff to be found!