The "Sugarbush Thread"

[cdskier]

Goes Mansfield (Stowe)>Killington>Ellen>Camels Hump

I thought Ellen and Camel's Hump were tied for 3rd. (Although the true summit of Ellen is actually a bit higher up in the woods to the left of the lift with absolutely no view at all).

One day I'll climb mansfield..

From the base? I've only hiked to the summit of Mansfield from the top parking lot of the Toll Rd. Fun rock scramble up there. Great views, although I think I like the views from the summit of Camel's Hump even better (that one I've hiked from the base of it and was quite a workout).

 

[Kingslug20]

I tried once..too much water coming down the trail when I hit the steep part...

 

[ThatGuy]

I thought Ellen and Camel's Hump were tied for 3rd. (Although the true summit of Ellen is actually a bit higher up in the woods to the left of the lift with absolutely no view at all).

I’ve seen 4083’, 4081’, and 4079’ for Camels Hump so its either tied or slightly shorter. Mansfield, Camels Hump, and Mount Abraham are the three VT mountains with alpine tundra biomes. Fun fact Lincoln Peak isn’t named after Abraham Lincoln but Mount Abraham is. Also I agree that Camels Hump has the best view in VT. 360 degree vista with Adirondack High Peaks West, Mansfield and Bolton North, the Whites East, and MRG+Sugarbush South…

 

[foofy]

Happy to hear I wasn't the only one that had fun yesterday.

Not sure what else to say to streetskier...some of us clearly had fun yesterday. Sorry he didn't.

As for today, I'm not going to say it was "good", but it was also far from "bad".

Same here, albeit at MRG. Unexpectedly great weekend.

 

[MadPadraic]

edit - based on avatar it appears new guy is a snowboarder, so fuck 'em

Rude!

 

[tumbler]

Why has CR been closed and hiking only? Is the bottom starting to melt out out?

 

[cdskier]

Why has CR been closed and hiking only? Is the bottom starting to melt out out?

Was wondering this as well. Thought some of their lift closure decisions this weekend were a bit odd. At least one person that I rode the lift with on Saturday was also questioning why CR was closed that day. Earlier in the season I understand closing natural terrain on warm/wet days to help preserve it...but once you're in April that reason doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[MadPadraic]

Was wondering this as well. Thought some of their lift closure decisions this weekend were a bit odd. At least one person that I rode the lift with on Saturday was also questioning why CR was closed that day. Earlier in the season I understand closing natural terrain on warm/wet days to help preserve it...but once you're in April that reason doesn't make a lot of sense.

I bet it is staffing. Reduced lift service corresponded with April 1st. Perhaps all seasonal workers were no longer available?

I found it very frustrating on Saturday that they didn't pivot to spinning up Inverness when it became clear that North Ridge wasn't going to run.

Also big FU to that guy who tailed my spouse down brambles and ultimately caused her to have a bad fall by skiing right on top of her.

 

[Hawk]

More likely it was a mechaincal issue. The guys that run that lift are regular employees and said they would be there until the snow runs out. It's not gone yet.

 

[hovercraft]

Bravo went down as I was leaving this afternoon. HG was running slower than normal if thats possible. Snow was soft, bird land bumps were nice!

 

[cdskier]

More likely it was a mechaincal issue. The guys that run that lift are regular employees and said they would be there until the snow runs out. It's not gone yet.

From the webcam it looked like I saw patrol load the CR lift this morning to get up there. So the lift seems to be capable of running. Unless there's some sort of scenario where a lift is ok to run for employees but not the general public? That seems unlikely though.

I bet it is staffing. Reduced lift service corresponded with April 1st. Perhaps all seasonal workers were no longer available?

I found it very frustrating on Saturday that they didn't pivot to spinning up Inverness when it became clear that North Ridge wasn't going to run.

Also big FU to that guy who tailed my spouse down brambles and ultimately caused her to have a bad fall by skiing right on top of her.

Ouch...that sucks about your spouse.

As for seasonal workers, I want to say many (or perhaps all?) were leaving "at the end of the week" but I don't know if that meant this past Friday or after the weekend. When I was at the mountain midweek, the girls at Bravo had a sign saying it was their last week. I don't recall seeing them at Bravo on Saturday either.

In terms of Inverness, I can kind of understand not spinning that up in place of NRX as other than being an extra lift, it isn't really serving the same terrain. But not a good weekend for NRX in general. It looked like it was down all day Saturday based on the report. Sunday it was down more than it ran while I was there. Actually looked like a bad day in general for ME closing on Sunday with issues. Seemed the winch cat also had issues as it was parked on Lower Crackerjack for a couple hours Sunday morning. Unless they have multiple winch cats at ME, I think they either free groomed Cliffs or at least finished the grooming on Cliffs without the winch cat as I saw a cat coming down Cliffs at 8am while waiting for GMX to open. This was the same time as the winch was already parked on Lower Crackerjack.

 

[WinS]

J-1s are all gone. As you saw, they made up the majority of lift operators. IMHO this year’s were the best so far. They are great but can only work 90 days on the J-1 visa. I do not see the industry’s dependence on J-1s and H2-B’s changing soon.

 

[Shredmonkey254]

J-1s are all gone. As you saw, they made up the majority of lift operators. IMHO this year’s were the best so far. They are great but can only work 90 days on the J-1 visa. I do not see the industry’s dependence on J-1s and H2-B’s changing soon.

I rode a lift with a young lady snowboarder liftie back in February - she was on break - and she told me that this was her fourth consecutive winter, as she works at an area in Chile when she goes back home. This was her second season working at Sugarbush. Pretty cool, she gets in more riding than any of us!

 

[WinS]

In case you have every wondered about windholds

WATCH: Skiers Hold On For Dear Life As Chairlift Sways In Strong Wind - NewsBreak

State of the art lift blows in wind at Big Sky Resort.

share.newsbreak.com

 

[cdskier]

In case you have every wondered about windholds

WATCH: Skiers Hold On For Dear Life As Chairlift Sways In Strong Wind - NewsBreak

State of the art lift blows in wind at Big Sky Resort.

share.newsbreak.com

I've been on a couple lifts at Sugarbush right before they went on windhold and they were bad enough. But even those were nothing like what was in that video!

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

^^A very rare instance where I would have been in favor of lowering the bubble!

 

[MadPadraic]

I wonder why they didn't groom Sunrise this year. I rarely see people on it, so I doubt it was a demand thing, but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[Hawk]

They groomed it a few times. It is a black diamond so in my opinion they should leave it bumps. This isn't Sunday River.

 

[MadPadraic]

They groomed it a few times. It is a black diamond so in my opinion they should leave it bumps. This isn't Sunday River.

Black Diamond doesn't automatically imply bumps, and SB certainly doesn't have a shortage of bump trails. I'm still curious why the managed that particular trail so differently this year compared to last.

 

[cdskier]

I wonder why they didn't groom Sunrise this year. I rarely see people on it, so I doubt it was a demand thing, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Black Diamond doesn't automatically imply bumps, and SB certainly doesn't have a shortage of bump trails. I'm still curious why the managed that particular trail so differently this year compared to last.

I didn't notice anything different with Sunrise this year. I thought they groomed it around the same amount of time as they usually do. A lot depends on conditions though. If it is icy bumps, they'll groom more often. If it is softer and more powdery. there's no reason to keep grooming it.

Also, I've seen people on Sunrise pretty regularly this year, so I don't really agree that there were rarely people on it.