The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Newpylong]

To be fair, nobody really skis the part of FIS that they blow snow on. That typically becomes pure ice and everyone resorts to the skier's left side of the trail with natural snow. It's virtually impossible to create a good, non-icy surface on a natural trail with snowmaking unless it is groomed at some point. Sunday River really has the problem of making snow on their natural trials, then just leaving it. All of these trails were pure ice and virtually unskiable when I went in February last year. Honestly a better route would be to abandon snowmaking on Upper FIS just like they did on Exterminator about 10 years ago.

The pipe's are on skier's left, natural is skier's right. But what is a natural trail with snowmaking? Isn't that contradictory?

When snowmaking was first deployed on these trails, they were specifically chosen for a reason. Skier density, pitch, topology, etc and so on.

I keep bringing up ASC but, like with Exterminator, Upper FIS was opened on manmade (actually very early in the season) every single year and it just worked. If there were refreshes it was kept as is. If it locked up, they winched it. This is just the nature of the beast. As you can see from that picture, it takes a lot to get it covered au naturel. Sunday River is no different and they handle doing the same just fine. Sometimes when you catch things locked up it's best not to assume it's always that way.

We are talking about a manufactured problem. Snowmaking is paramount in New England to having a consistent product.

 

[Castlerockrisk]

Right! I have not been over there in a couple of weeks and was wondering how the wind affected things. The new snow should start heavey and get lighter hopefully. Probably what we need.

I skied BD yesterday, top is a mine field but bottom 80 percent is skiable. FIS is not skiable and a windblown rock garden- ugly. The skiers right of FIS relies on natural and blown in snow. The upper 10% middle of the run is always porcelain except for early and late season. From the 1970’s up until the past and current owners it was one of the best bump runs in America. Unfortunately the run has been neglected and I can only hope that management will once again return FIS to the king of bump runs. Black Diamond and FIS were the proving grounds for some of the best skiers in North America during the glory days of North.

 

[cdskier]

This storm is looking good from the perspective of what we need on the mountain. Not so good for driving up there from points south...

 

[tumbler]

Bring back the Turkey Tumble!

 

[KustyTheKlown]

This storm is looking good from the perspective of what we need on the mountain. Not so good for driving up there from points south...

its gonna come down to timing. i'm hoping its clear enough to take 95>91 late night friday/saturday morning. id prefer not to take 87>7>4>100 in the snow/slush. 100 kinda scares me in the no service dead zone after i had a near miss last month. otherwise may need to just scrap the Saturday ski and get up for a motel sat night and a ski sunday. either way so happy to see a storm coming in that will actually hit mountains.

 

[Smellytele]

87 way looks like a better option as the back edge clears that way out a lot sooner than 95/91 route.

 

[tumbler]

So after a few good years with lift performance we seem to have hit a bit of a rough patch with mechanical issues. Has there been turnover in the lift maint dept, budget issues?

 

[Hawk]

Why are you saying this? Were there more issues this week? I have my opinios but will get shouted down if I voice them.

 

[tumbler]

Just seems like more issues than usual especially on the weekends (when I'm mostly there). Bravo & VH being down for a while. GMX having issues, luckily Inverness for backup, NRX issues, stuck on it for 10+ minutes. Looking today Bravo and NL both down for mechanical issues. Not trying to stir the pot, just curious. Big strides were made after a rough patch several years ago and just hoping not a backslide happening.

 

[cdskier]

Just seems like more issues than usual especially on the weekends (when I'm mostly there). Bravo & VH being down for a while. GMX having issues, luckily Inverness for backup, NRX issues, stuck on it for 10+ minutes. Looking today Bravo and NL both down for mechanical issues. Not trying to stir the pot, just curious. Big strides were made after a rough patch several years ago and just hoping not a backslide happening.

Yea...I've been noticing as well that there seem to be more issues than usual this year so far. I've seen several days with GH going on mechanical holds or having delayed starts as well. Definitely numerous mornings with GMX delayed which has been annoying when trying to decide whether to go over to ME to start the day or not.

 

[Hawk]

Well there were those lightning strikes that Win mentioned. Also I know that a bunch of mechanics left but I was strongly corrected in the past that those positions were filled. Let's face it. Sh*#'s getting old. Altera has a long road ahead of them with lift and snowmaking projects. Let's hope nothing major goes wrong so we loose a lift for a year like Sunday River.

 

[cdskier]

Depends on the definition of "old". What's considered the life-span of a detachable chair these days? GMX is only 20 years old. SB, GH and several others are getting closer to 30 though. The other question though is what have the actual issues been? Is it things breaking down that are items that normally get replaced periodically as they wear out anyway? Or is it things breaking down that are more serious and more indicative of a lift being near the end of its life?

 

[Kingslug20]

Not a lift expert at all..just a former chief of maintenance...20 years is getting old for most mechanical things. Metal fatigue sets in...

 

[mikec142]

It's looking like I'm driving up to Gore tonight to ski and hang with friends. Skiing Gore on Thursday/Friday. Gore tix sold out for Sat/Sun so thinking of driving from Gore to SB on Friday after skiing and skiing SB on Saturday. All that depends on how I feel after skiing on Friday and what I think the roads will be like. I could always drive Gore to Burlington, stay in Burlington on Friday night and head to the mountain on Saturday AM. That might be the play.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

It's looking like I'm driving up to Gore tonight to ski and hang with friends. Skiing Gore on Thursday/Friday. Gore tix sold out for Sat/Sun so thinking of driving from Gore to SB on Friday after skiing and skiing SB on Saturday. All that depends on how I feel after skiing on Friday and what I think the roads will be like. I could always drive Gore to Burlington, stay in Burlington on Friday night and head to the mountain on Saturday AM. That might be the play.

i'm having similar frets about road conditions and am just hoping that by late night friday/early morning saturday things have calmed to a point of safety. i love sugarbush, but the fastest and most direct routes for me all take me down some roads that sketch me out in the wrong conditions. I'm either going to middlebury/bristol and then taking 17 up and over which is short but dangerous and stressful, Brandon gap which can be fucked in snow, or taking 7>4>100 and driving route 100 for like 40 miles in pitch black with no cell service. I've opted to take the long way up 95>91 to just avoid these roads sometimes. spinning out on 100 a few weeks ago was really frightening and could have ended so much worse.

 

[mikec142]

i'm having similar frets about road conditions and am just hoping that by late night friday/early morning saturday things have calmed to a point of safety. i love sugarbush, but the fastest and most direct routes for me all take me down some roads that sketch me out in the wrong conditions. I'm either going to middlebury/bristol and then taking 17 up and over which is short but dangerous and stressful, Brandon gap which can be fucked in snow, or taking 7>4>100 and driving route 100 for like 40 miles in pitch black with no cell service. I've opted to take the long way up 95>91 to just avoid these roads sometimes. spinning out on 100 a few weeks ago was really frightening and could have ended so much worse.

Yeah...I completely get it. I detailed my experience on Christmas Day on 89S from Burlington that could have ended really badly and that's stressed me out a bit. Most of the time I'm driving to Burlington via 87N. The last 2.5 hours are on single lane roads...the most nervewracking being 22A for 42 miles. If I go directly to SB it's usually over the Brandon Gap and often on Friday as it's getting dark. Later in the season I can usually do the vast majority if not all of the ride in the daylight. But my most recent trip over MLK weekend was in the dark with no cell service. Luckily the roads were fine. But I definitely understand your stress and sympathize.

If I decide to head to SB or Burlington on Friday after skiing, it's 2-2.5 hours on mostly single lane roads after a lot of snow.

 

[STREETSKIER]

Thursday will be interesting no point in going early , snow really won’t start until late day
Friday will be the day if But I think very crowded
Don’t know if winds will be an issue
6-12 sweet going out for some warm windy runs today
Two thoughts on getting fresh runs
Bolton Thursday night , could be horrible roads though
Sno bowl Friday no big mountain shitshiw and a backside to explore been a while since I have gone there I haven’t been anywhere this season

 

[rocks860]

Do we think the roads will be cleared up by Saturday? Driving up Saturday and staying for the week. We usually take 100 up from Brattleboro as the scenic route but if the roads will be a mess maybe that’s not the best idea

 

[tumbler]

Do we think the roads will be cleared up by Saturday? Driving up Saturday and staying for the week. We usually take 100 up from Brattleboro as the scenic route but if the roads will be a mess maybe that’s not the best idea

100 from Brattleboro, that's a long drive.

 

[Slidebrook87]

I have no clue why and this was my only time ever seeing it, but during January/February of the 19/20 ski season, the skier's right had what seemed to be man made snow covered in a sheet of ice. Nobody was skiing that side due to it being practically unskiable. Instead, people were skiing the skier's left closer to the tower guns where there was relatively thin cover.

I typically use "natural", especially when referring to Sunday River to describe an ungroomed trail (eg. Tin Woodsman or South Paw). Both of those trails are rarely ever groomed from what I understand but still have snowmaking. I'd consider FIS to be a natural trail since it is almost never groomed even though it does still have snowmaking.