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The "Sugarbush Thread"
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
Hawk
Well-known member
1Dog, I was there with you and the 250 or so locals and regulars early season. Those were the days but we will never see that again. The other thing that the ICON did was infested us with woods hounds from all over New England and New York that come and traverse and ski everything. It used to be that you could easily find powder days after a storm. Now it is still there but you have to go further and earlier. Hell the run back to my condo used to be a definite untracked run at the end of the day. Now I see people comming down at 9:00 in the morning.
Hawk
Well-known member
I am sure some of you were part of the Pre-Covid Era when Sugarbush hosted ski clinics and programs that featured pro skiers like John Egan, Chris Parkinson, Darian Boyle and Dean Decus. That was an era when Sugarbush and MRG were considered as one if the best eastern proving grounds for many freestyle skiers and a lauching point for some of the best big mountain skiers and compeditors. I had the pleasure of skiing and riding bikes with Dean on a few occasions and also ran into him in Chamonix one year. He is a great guy with lots of stories. He is sponsered by Black Crows and a while back I stumbled upon this video. I think it is pretty cool.
Tony and Dean - Ski Bums
Tony and Dean - Ski Bums
machski
Well-known member
That was a great early year and unlike many Snovember/Decembers that only stack up in the Greens due to upslope, that year got everyone deep. SR was absolutely off the hook. Only time I have ever seen Vortex in Aurora open on natural alone. Was awesome. Yeah, got packed down for Christmas but that season definitely came roaring back. By February, SR was putting PSA's about driving in and around town on the snow report as it felt like you were driving in Alta or Brighton, UT!
Preach it brother! Those were the days we will take to our graves.
Woods? Empty.
Unmarked.
Unskied
Upslope and lake effect are now common knowledge.
I hate sharing.
Even backside of Mt Washington is no longer empty.
What the phrase?
‘It’s so popular no one goes there anymore’
Would that it were. .
Tin Woodsman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2004
- Messages
- 1,146
- Points
- 63
Yes - as we all know, the problem with health care for decades now is that it costs too little.
SteezyRob
Active member
i can't help but feel guilty when the locals reminisce of the old days.. im certainly not one.. im basically the people you resent (?) at least i would if i were you.
Hawk
Well-known member
Rob, you can't resent people that come here and learn how great it is and stay. Because it truely is a great place. I can however hate what IKON has done to this place. But what happened is the history that we have to live with and I'm not going anywhere. Well at least for the next few years. We will see what retirement brings.
I remember spending that Thanksgiving holiday in Burlington with family and skiing SB...fond memories of skiing Moonshine and Twist in a loads of powder. Was cold that Thanksgiving day. Was just looking at pix of me with the kids and we were bundled up.
Yup, the good old days for sure but they are running a business and I don't begrudge them for that. More people came when Les purchased it and put in all the updated infrastructure and more with Win and building up the base area. We just know how to move around the crowds and still do our thing. It can be annoying at times especially at apres but we make the best of it.
Sugarbush, back in the day, was crowded as now! Late 70's, early 80's. Super long lines for the gondola. (Took me years to warm up to Ripcord. lol) Castlerock lines are the same as ever...might have even been a bit longer back then.
The challenge for most ski areas going forward is balancing the need for growth and preserving a quality experience for guests both on the mountain and inside the lodges and restaurant. The old adage was “you can’t build a church for Christmas.” When I purchased Sugarbush the number of skier visits was inadequate to generate sufficient profitability to have the cash needed for necessary capital improvements. One can only leverage so much as many have learned the hard way. We had a goal in mind and reached it. While I do not know specific numbers any more I do not belief the skier visits under Alterra’s ownership are not that much greater than in my final few years.
What has changed though is who comes and when they do. COVID was a factor in my opinion as well as the introduction of the Ikon Pass. There really seems to be more midweek skiers and more hon-Holiday weekend skiers when conditions are good. But the Holiday numbers seem less than under my years, and I think that it because more buy the base rather than the full Ikon Pass. Sugarbush has the potential have a larger number of visitors in the years ahead and still regain a good experience. There is trail expansion potential at Mount Ellen and an opportunity to expand the lodge capacity there as well. The great majority of people still start and stay at Lincoln Peak and getting more to ski ME is a big opportunity in my opinion (Sorry ME Only devotees). Slidebrook when it is able to run makes a big a big diffefence on a busy day
Anyway, someone else now has to figure this out. Getting out early and enjoying the first few hours is the way I do not get bothered with crowding. And the Early-ups opportunity on weekends and Hollidays means my day can end by 10am and be completely satisfied with the vertical.
With respect to the Woods, we began on open woods policy. For many years, the woods were out of bounds even though many skiers poached them. People even before Ikon found out about them and our ski programs also taught and encouraged people to ski them. However, when you retire like I have done or you or working remotely up here, midweek offers a lot of freshies on a powder day.
I probably have hit some nerves here but just some thoughts from an old ski bum who really enjoyed my turns this morning.
What has changed though is who comes and when they do. COVID was a factor in my opinion as well as the introduction of the Ikon Pass. There really seems to be more midweek skiers and more hon-Holiday weekend skiers when conditions are good. But the Holiday numbers seem less than under my years, and I think that it because more buy the base rather than the full Ikon Pass. Sugarbush has the potential have a larger number of visitors in the years ahead and still regain a good experience. There is trail expansion potential at Mount Ellen and an opportunity to expand the lodge capacity there as well. The great majority of people still start and stay at Lincoln Peak and getting more to ski ME is a big opportunity in my opinion (Sorry ME Only devotees). Slidebrook when it is able to run makes a big a big diffefence on a busy day
Anyway, someone else now has to figure this out. Getting out early and enjoying the first few hours is the way I do not get bothered with crowding. And the Early-ups opportunity on weekends and Hollidays means my day can end by 10am and be completely satisfied with the vertical.
With respect to the Woods, we began on open woods policy. For many years, the woods were out of bounds even though many skiers poached them. People even before Ikon found out about them and our ski programs also taught and encouraged people to ski them. However, when you retire like I have done or you or working remotely up here, midweek offers a lot of freshies on a powder day.
I probably have hit some nerves here but just some thoughts from an old ski bum who really enjoyed my turns this morning.
SteezyRob
Active member
i may be out of the loop but what are you referencing? is this real or just hypothetical? (either way i assume there's a very small chance of that happening)
Sugarbush is not a crowded mountain. Sure the parking lot gets crowded and the lodges are a bit "friendly" at times but lift lines are rarely an issue. The only exception is Gate House which can get up there, especially when ski school traffic is high. I have often been baffled by parking lots full to overflowing and getting up to the lift with hardly any line. I think since the pandemic we may not be as good with the carpooling. Go to Stowe or virtually anywhere south of here and you will almost always see longer lines than at Sugarbush.
As far as the woods goes, Sugarbush has always been a skier's mountain. If you've got the goods, the skiers will come. Kudos for Sugarbush in making the woods accessible, we can't complain that people actually ski them. Better than the old days when we had to hide from patrol if we (gasp) skied off-piste.
My only gripe about the mega-pass world we live in now is that we have pushed out the spontaneous day skier. Either buy the pass or commit to a day 2 weeks out or you are out of luck. We often host visitors, some are avid skiers and some love the idea of taking a day to ski while they are here if it is nice. Hard to do now. If we have non-passholder friends visit we go to Jay or Bolton or Middlebury where one can still walk up to the window that day and purchase a reasonable ticket, or sadly, we just don't ski. Yes, I know you can purchase a quad pack last month or buy a ticket in advance but believe it or not, some people still look out the window in the morning and say let's go skiing today. I am sure it's great for revenue and demand management, it just makes access for some a bit more difficult.
As far as the woods goes, Sugarbush has always been a skier's mountain. If you've got the goods, the skiers will come. Kudos for Sugarbush in making the woods accessible, we can't complain that people actually ski them. Better than the old days when we had to hide from patrol if we (gasp) skied off-piste.
My only gripe about the mega-pass world we live in now is that we have pushed out the spontaneous day skier. Either buy the pass or commit to a day 2 weeks out or you are out of luck. We often host visitors, some are avid skiers and some love the idea of taking a day to ski while they are here if it is nice. Hard to do now. If we have non-passholder friends visit we go to Jay or Bolton or Middlebury where one can still walk up to the window that day and purchase a reasonable ticket, or sadly, we just don't ski. Yes, I know you can purchase a quad pack last month or buy a ticket in advance but believe it or not, some people still look out the window in the morning and say let's go skiing today. I am sure it's great for revenue and demand management, it just makes access for some a bit more difficult.
Zand
Well-known member
Anyone been up since the "reset" on Monday? The pics from Stowe look great...I'm sure Sugarbush didn't get quite as good of a snowfall on the back end as Stowe did but all the nats are still open at least. Don't mind some rockiness as long as it's skiable. Worth coming up this Friday before the next frankenstorm?
I am referring to the area above and looker‘s right of Inverness. It is a future possibility. We have discussed this in the past and the current team may look at it at some point. This is not USFS land and owned outright by Sugarbush.
raisingarizona
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
- Messages
- 1,125
- Points
- 113
PP mogul skiing IS the new powder day ski day. It's just so much better to not be in a race.
Smellytele
Well-known member
Castle rock on a powder day…
I almost put his in my post. I suppose there are exceptions to every rule.... If Castlerock is 45 mins but all of the other lifts are 5 min you know what you are getting into. Not like days at Mad River where the single is 45 min and the double is at 30 min, not much choice there
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