The "Sugarbush Thread"

[Smellytele]

Was up this weekend as well. Skied LP on Saturday and Sunday and ME on Monday. Stayed in Burlington. Friday night, dinner was at Paradiso Hifi. I know that Burlington is out of the way for MRV skiers, but this place is off the charts. NYC level cooking and cocktails and a Brooklyn meets Vermont vibe.

Saturday was wild. Skied from about 9:30-3pm with a 45+ minute break at Allyn's to dry out. On the drive in from Burlington, I got blown across a lane on 89S on one of the flats. I kept on watching the temperature hoping the rain would turn to snow and when I pulled into the lot, it did turnover. All day, on and off, snow, rain, snow, rain all mixed with a lot of early wind. Spring conditions and a surprising amount of snow made for some fun skiing. HG, NL, and CR were all on wind hold for most of the day. Runs of the day for me were Moonshine and Domino. Murphy's was good too. Spring Fling was messy. When I took a break at Allyn's it was raining. Side note, great PB&J. Also, I'm doing dry January and when I looked around, I was pretty much the only adult drinking water. This was around 1:30pm. While I was inside it started dumping snow so I geared back up and headed out as I heard that HG was spinning. Took Downspout to HG and by the time I was one lift pole up the lift it stated raining hard. My gloves had given up around 11am so at this point I was done. Took Jester most of the way down and called it a day. When I was leaving, it was dumping snow again. When I got back to my hotel...I wrung out my glove liners and couldn't believe how wet they were. Also, my Arc'Teryx shell is waterproof but the outside pocket zippers are not. I had one inch of water inside all three outer pockets. Side note, with the upper mountain lifts closed, VH, GH, and SB were pretty packed. But all in all, the singles line did the trick.

Saturday night, dinner at Folino's in Burlington...the bacon/leek pizza is so ridiculously good. It's not on the menu, but I remember it from years back and they make it if I ask.

I had low expectations for Sunday as I knew it was going to be cold overnight and thought all that wet snow would freeze and would make for a shitty ski day. Turned out that the snow at the end of the day and a groom that ended up with another inch on top of it worked wonders. Lapped Birch Run for a bit. Laughed at what the guys who braved Sunrise looked like. Took HG up and looked at the boiler plate ice at the top of OG and also laughed. I then watched some guy jump right in to OG and ski it like a champ. It literally looked like a hockey rink and he had no trouble. Castlerock was open for a brief moment and then went on maintenance hold. Based on the conditions, I wasn't going up there anyway. I heard the top was good on Saturday and Sunday, but the lower part and run out were a mess. Jester was fun as was Murphy's. Had my first go down the new HG traverse...so much better. At about 1:45, it started to squall. Whiteout conditions. I took another few runs on Birch and then drove back to Burlington around 3:15pm in a serious squall. It was my first test of the brand new Blizzaks and they did the job. Had a kid tailgate me the last 7-8 miles before I got to Waterbury...dumbass.

I have to say that the scene in the courtyard at LP around 3pm was great. Music blasting, Tons of people around. The TGR merch stand was there. It felt awesome!

Sunday night dinner at Dedalus Wine Bar...the dry January thing is killing me. Another great find.

Monday was at Mount Ellen. Summit was closed all day. Ripped the classic groomers all morning. Rim Run, Elbow, Looking Good, Cruiser. There was another 1-2" overnight on top of the groom so it was great. I probably should have hit lower FIS but didn't. NRX seemed to have issues all morning. I first saw a chair hit the trip bar and that shut things down. Then around 11am I was on the lift and it stopped for a while. Felt like 10 minutes but I'm guessing it was less. Stopped again right before offloaded. I said to myself, let's skip this lift for now, but after another great run full of GS turns, I found myself getting back on NRX. And sure enough it stopped with me on it. My feet were uncharacteristically cold (it was a very cold day) and I took the chair stopping along with my feet being cold as a sign from above to call it a day right before noon. I still had to drive 5.5 hours and I already had 13k of vert. Run of the day was Rim Run. The lift lines at ME were basically non-existent. NRX was ski on or wait 1-3 chairs all morning.

Other than dry January, it was a great weekend. I was worried about the weather and conditions and while I definitely experienced every type of weather, the conditions were much, much better than I expected. Hope to be up again this coming weekend.

Do your thumbs hurt after typing that?

 

[cdskier]

Another weekend of making the best of it, but what I skied on Sunday was a rink. My one request is I wish they would put Birdland back in the usual grooming rotation, such a fun trail to start the day on.

IMHO, Sunday was the worst of the three days, but still fun.

To me, it's too early to push myself to ski marginal stuff. I have a long season ahead where I'd like to ski some glades that I've never tried at SB, get into Slidebrook for my first time, and enjoy my two planned trips out west. I took one look at Organgrinder and laughed. Even though Moonshine and Domino were really fun on Saturday, I knew that Sunday they would be bad ideas. Thus, I stuck to the groomers. I did jump into Morningstar around mid-day and didn't love it. I had heard that it got better as it gained snow as the day went on, but I wasn't going to bother at the end of the day.

I'd tend to agree that Sunday was the "worst" condition wise, but if you knew where to look it was still good. I have no idea what LP was like, but none of the groomed terrain at ME was "icy". From GMX down it was fast and firm and some trails were chunky, but no actual ice that I noticed. Based on Saturday's weather, I saw no point in attempting any natural terrain on the bottom half. The top half was a different story. The groomers above GMX were softer and I suspect they stayed all (or mostly) snow on Saturday. Exterminator had a decent amount of powder on it early (iirc, both NRX and Summit never ran at all Saturday...so the upper trails were essentially untouched except for people that put in the effort to hike up). Bravo looked good too especially for the first people down it. I just didn't end up skiing it.

I know that the original plan was to replace HG and NRX after this season. I've seen the blog post about HG. Is NRX still in the plans for replacement during this offseason?

Hah...this was a topic of discussion on one of my rides up NRX this weekend. No mention of NRX since John Hammond's video at the end of last season. That leads me to suspect it was pushed back, but haven't heard anything official.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'd tend to agree that Sunday was the "worst" condition wise, but if you knew where to look it was still good. I have no idea what LP was like, but none of the groomed terrain at ME was "icy". From GMX down it was fast and firm and some trails were chunky, but no actual ice that I noticed. Based on Saturday's weather, I saw no point in attempting any natural terrain on the bottom half. The top half was a different story. The groomers above GMX were softer and I suspect they stayed all (or mostly) snow on Saturday. Exterminator had a decent amount of powder on it early (iirc, both NRX and Summit never ran at all Saturday...so the upper trails were essentially untouched except for people that put in the effort to hike up). Bravo looked good too especially for the first people down it. I just didn't end up skiing it.



Hah...this was a topic of discussion on one of my rides up NRX this weekend. No mention of NRX since John Hammond's video at the end of last season. That leads me to suspect it was pushed back, but haven't heard anything official.

I thought someone in here posted a link/comment that NRX permitting delayed things at least one year….

 

[pinnoke]

our snow totals seem way out of whack. Today's 11am updated written report indicating 16" from yesterday's snowfall?!? But, the app and website show the more likely 10" total (at summit, of course). And, 46" in last 10 days? Hmmmm...

 

[kingslug]

Math..it's fundamental..

 

[Bumpsis]

our snow totals seem way out of whack. Today's 11am updated written report indicating 16" from yesterday's snowfall?!? But, the app and website show the more likely 10" total (at summit, of course). And, 46" in last 10 days? Hmmmm...

Exactly the same question here. I just got a "snow alert" type of an email from Sugarbush, yeah, 16" (?). So I figured perhaps someone posted today's conditions and raved about all that powder.

 

[ducky]

10" at my house at 1000'.
Great day at MRG yesterday. If you've never been it is worth a visit. Tickets are $110.

 

[pinnoke]

our snow totals seem way out of whack. Today's 11am updated written report indicating 16" from yesterday's snowfall?!? But, the app and website show the more likely 10" total (at summit, of course). And, 46" in last 10 days? Hmmmm...

It looks like the totals have been properly revised, (and promoted via targeted email) though still confusing and slightly unbelievable (MRG reports 8-10" plus another inch today). Nonetheless, our last 3 storms have over-delivered, and snowmaking is augmenting what was lost through earlier warmth and rain. One more good natural snowfall and we'll really have conditions to celebrate.

 

[cdskier]

10" at my house at 1000'.
Great day at MRG yesterday. If you've never been it is worth a visit. Tickets are $110.

As low as $60 midweek if you purchase them online for MRG. I'd love to make it back there one day. Had a great time my last visit a few years ago.

 

[Hawk]

I bought a couple 3 packs so it is $75 any day.

 

[Hawk]

I think the 16 they are saying is the 6 wet inches we got Saturday into Sunday and 10 yesterday.

 

[WinS]

The notes from ski patrol are a nice touch, unfortunately we have gotten a bunch of them over the years both for the kids and adults. We are lucky to have the clinic open again.
Another weekend of making the best of it, but what I skied on Sunday was a rink. My one request is I wish they would put Birdland back in the usual grooming rotation, such a fun trail to start the day on.

As you may know the clinic is now an independent non-profit. Unfortunately UVM chose not to continue operating the clinic due to financial the financial issues they realized in the COVID years. Sugarbush has generously contributed the space we operate out of but has no involvement in the operation. We have a great group of orthopedic and ER doctors and PAs who volunteer their time. Thanks to the generosity of the Community we purchased a top quality X-Ray machine and other equipment and operate weekends and Holidays. Hopefully in the future the days can be expanded. Any and all contribution with help to keep the clinic funded in order to provide this important service to skiers and riders injured on the Mountain. You can find more information about The Three Peaks Medical Clinic at threepeaksmedicalclinic.org.

 

[cdskier]

Looks like Stein's is up next on the snowmaking list. Surprised they're going with that instead of finishing off the GH side first.

 

[ducky]

Photos from today at MRG by Jeb Wallace Brodueur

Jeb Wallace-Brodeur on Instagram: "It’s getting deep out there. Rowdy morning at @madriverglen today. @ski_vt @powhub @parlorskis @trewgear @salomonfreeski @skitheeast"

423 likes, 18 comments - jebphoto on January 17, 2024: "It’s getting deep out there. Rowdy morning at @madriverglen today. @ski_vt @powhub @parlorskis @trewgear @salomonfreeski @skitheeast".

www.instagram.com

 

[WinS]

Looks like Stein's is up next on the snowmaking list. Surprised they're going with that instead of finishing off the GH side first.

An opinion from an old retired guy. The last thing remaining on GH side is Hot Shot. It would take 48-72 hours to finish it. My guess is they do not want to run the guns under the GH lift on a weekend so moving to Stein’s make a lot of sense to me. Hot Shot is thin but skiable. Unfortunately, we are in for another warm-up next week so Hot Shot may not happen until later next week. Another observation is that is seems more snow than past years has been made on Sunrise and Sleeper, so they may last longer this spring. For early risers, my hunch is that tonight’s grooming will turn out well.

 

[cdskier]

An opinion from an old retired guy. The last thing remaining on GH side is Hot Shot. It would take 48-72 hours to finish it. My guess is they do not want to run the guns under the GH lift on a weekend so moving to Stein’s make a lot of sense to me. Hot Shot is thin but skiable. Unfortunately, we are in for another warm-up next week so Hot Shot may not happen until later next week. Another observation is that is seems more snow than past years has been made on Sunrise and Sleeper, so they may last longer this spring. For early risers, my hunch is that tonight’s grooming will turn out well.

I was surprised how long they ran the guns on Sleeper. I thought they would have finished that by yesterday and then moved on to Hot Shot at that point so they would be finishing it up before the weekend and wouldn't have to worry about running guns under a lift on a weekend. The point about not wanting to run guns under the lift on the weekend is valid, but at the same time with the warm up coming I'd still have considered Hot Shot more of a priority than Stein's to give the GH crowd as many options as possible. Hot shot not having snow made until potentially the end of January seems later than usual to me.

 

[kingslug]

What warmup?

 

[cdskier]

What warmup?

Temps in the upper 20s to 30s possibly next week... Not exactly a major thaw, but also not snow-making weather...

 

[kingslug]

What warmup?

u

 

[kingslug]

Rather it be 3?
I'll take 20,30...