The "Sugarbush Thread"

[KustyTheKlown]

thanks, yea, just gonna bring them into a shop sometime next week while skiing on my fischers. i don't have the knowledge, tools, or space for at home ski repair

 

[jaybird]

Jay that's definitely the Jet pod in the background.

.. that lift used to be a t-bar. Worth doing but my quads still burning.

 

[thetrailboss]

View attachment 55426
Need help - Can anyone tell me what resort this was taken at? I believe the only options are Killington, Sugarbush, Stowe or Jay (if my memory serves me correctly). I am thinking Jay, but it was mixed in with pictures from Sugarbush and Stowe.

Definitely Jay. In the Stateside Parking lot.

 

[Blurski]

Ellen had a rough start on day 1 today. GMX went down on a mechanical a few minutes before it was supposed to open at 8am. You can't make this shit up, the mountain can't catch a break. They got it sorted out at about 8:55am and the wait was worth it.
I will chalk it up to bad luck.

 

[cdskier]

Ellen had a rough start on day 1 today. GMX went down on a mechanical a few minutes before it was supposed to open at 8am. You can't make this shit up, the mountain can't catch a break. They got it sorted out at about 8:55am and the wait was worth it.
I will chalk it up to bad luck.

I already heard of at least 1 other day this season that GMX had issues (GMVS I guess was using it at the time). I was going to go to ME this morning (was planning to get there around 9 and sure glad I didn't wake up early to be there at 8), but at 8:30 when I checked the webcam before leaving my condo and saw that GMX still wasn't loading, I changed my plans and decided to just stay at LP today. I didn't feel like taking a chance on driving to ME to have no lifts (NRX not being open already had me a bit disappointed even before the GMX issue).

I know there's a lot of concern about the HG lift at LP. Honestly I'm more concerned about the overall lift infrastructure health at ME than I am about HG. HG is one lift that serves only a handful of trails (granted they are good trails...but still at least there's a lot of other terrain to ski at LP without HG)...but ME seems to have had a bit too many issues with both GMX and NRX the past several years. To me those lifts are more critical than HG. I love ME and hope things run smoothly from here on out this season and like you said hope this was just bad luck today...

 

[Newpylong]

I will point out that no amount of preparation ensures for 100% smooth sailing under the type of environments that these lifts are operating in (despite being designed for). So you can hope and be concerned all you want, but sometimes a lift's day is just up... Sometimes it's multiple times.

 

[thetrailboss]

FWIW GMX is older than it may appear. I rode it as a new lift.....in 2002. That is 20 years ago.

The other lifts are now 32 years old, except for the new Sunny D.

 

[Lotso]

GMX and Summit had issues for the past week. Hopefully they have sorted them out. NRX on the other hand...

 

[cdskier]

FWIW GMX is older than it may appear. I rode it as a new lift.....in 2002. That is 20 years ago.

The other lifts are now 32 years old, except for the new Sunny D.

A 20 year lift should still have plenty of life left in theory. I don't know what kind of issues they've had this year so far but hopefully it is just simple random stuff.

NRX on the other hand is 32 years old, was relocated, and is now half Poma/half Dopp...at least when NRX is running that plus Inverness is all you need if GMX is down. But when both NRX and GMX is down, the majority of the mountain is basically down. I think at the moment my biggest issue is the lack of any communication. There haven't been any meaningful blog posts on Sugarbush's website about mountain ops since the one when they first opened explaining why they went with GH first. Is there an issue with NRX? Or is it fine and they just chose not to open it yet for some other reason?

 

[Kingslug20]

Friggin empty today..

 

[ducky]

From the Waitsfield Town Clerk:

Starting at approximately midnight on Friday, December 23, running into the day on Saturday, there will be an extreme weather event consisting of winds of over 60 miles an hour which will cause limb damage to trees and knocking out electrical service. Also, snow then rain will cause the Mad River and its tributaries to rise significantly, but flooding is not expected. Expect wild temperature swings and flash freezing of road surfaces. Interstates may be closed due to high-profile vehicles being blown over. Travel will be affected.

The National Weather Service's degree of confidence is high.

 

[WWF-VT]

Fun morning on the 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM shift at Mt Ellen today. Happy that I hit the natural snow trails ahead of the weather mess that's on the way.

 

[Kingslug20]

I had...a varied experience on the runs they blew on...Murphys was fine..lower organ grinder...well........

 

[HowieT2]

I had...a varied experience on the runs they blew on...Murphys was fine..lower organ grinder...well........

when were you on lower organ grinder?
I find the light in the afternoon to be funky there such that I have hard time making out the snow surface.

 

[cdskier]

I had...a varied experience on the runs they blew on...Murphys was fine..lower organ grinder...well........

when were you on lower organ grinder?
I find the light in the afternoon to be funky there such that I have hard time making out the snow surface.

I don't think it would matter what time of day it was at the moment. I pretty much skied the same route yesterday that slug mentioned (Murphy's to Lower OG). The whales on Lower OG needed ice skates to properly ski them. They were solid and I tried both sides of the trail to see if it mattered which side of the whale you skied. Murphy's on the other hand was great (although I stayed skier's right so mostly natural with a bit of blowover from the guns).

 

[Kingslug20]

At least the whales will protect the snow so they have something to roll out sunday..

 

[teleo]

Whales all over the place, easy rider, sleeper, lower snowball, murphys, lower grinder. Obviously intentional with the incoming storm. Best snow was north lynx if u were willing to hike. Snowing now. So sad what is about to happen.

 

[Kingslug20]

Its...HOWLING...outside...

 

[Lotso]

Shut it down, John. Preserve snow, keep people safe. Winds may make the decision for you but silly to even try today. Driving this evening will be interesting when the freezer door is opened...stay safe, folks

 

[cdskier]

Shut it down, John. Preserve snow, keep people safe. Winds may make the decision for you but silly to even try today. Driving this evening will be interesting when the freezer door is opened...stay safe, folks

Agreed. With the wind forecasts and sub-par conditions, why bother even trying today? Looks like at the moment all base lifts are on hold due to "power surges". I'd just make the decision to shut it completely down at this point. It isn't going to get better as the day goes on...