HMMM. I think it was winter of 2016/2017. I will refresh my memory next time I see John or Kevin
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The "Sugarbush Thread"
- Thread starter thetrailboss
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slatham
Well-known member
Finally got back to Sugarbush, skied Mt Ellen. I now know first hand the frustration with an unreliable NRX (people stuck for 45 minutes, lift down all afternoon) and a non-working Inverness. Apparently it’s not even available as a back up contingency plan?. A friend has ridden it this year so it’s run, but perhaps it’s down? Or is management just not interested in letting the public ride it? The best afternoon snow was over there after racers left.
Needless to say long lines. Got way more skiing riding a slow Red Friday……
Needless to say long lines. Got way more skiing riding a slow Red Friday……
Cheetah440
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Summit not running, Inverness not running, first ride up GMX stopped for 10mins. Not good.
Cheetah440
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The analytics you could get would be extremely valuable for sure.
Slidebrook87
Active member
First year with them was 17/18 but only lower mountain lifts had them.
I had 20K in by noon yesterday at ME...
As for Inverness, it was talked about in the Sugarbush blog post that was linked previously a week or so ago that covered the lift topics. As of that post, it was available as a backup if GMX was down for an extended period of time, but would be running at reduced speed due to an issue that can't easily be fixed mid-season. So they're avoiding running it unless absolutely necessary.
On a separate note, whale-hunting on Stein's under the guns was excellent today...
Pretty heavy crowds at ME today and both NRX and Summit were down for a while in the morning. That’s in addition to Inverness and Slide Brook (which may not be technically “down” but it sure ain’t up yet on a peak midwinter weekend, and could have alleviated a bit of cluster-F’ing were it running). I’m not here to whine about lift closures on an internet ski forum per se, just pointing out that it sure feels like a mess at ME at the moment.
Cheetah440
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After 11 it was no problem though. Cars were parked down the access road. I thought even with Inverness down and once summit opened we never waited more than 2mins. Skied better today on ME than LP yesterday.
Dickc
Active member
A quick Internet search show summer of 2018 as hen Vail was purchasing these Resorts.
Vail Resorts to face tough questions over Mount Sunapee purchase
Ahead of next week’s meeting on Vail Resorts proposed takeover of the Mount Sunapee ski area, some concerned residents want assurances that the park will be protected.
www.denverpost.com
I made a somewhat similar comment today to someone - ME yesterday skied better than LP today with the sole exception of Stein's at LP...other than Stein's, all the groomers were much firmer and scraped off within no time at LP compared to ME yesterday which I thought was surprisingly really good on the groomers.
Mt Ellen weekend crowds seem to disperse pretty well to Inverness race spectating, the terrain park, the uphill route, and the dysfunction junction above the base of NRX. Also at 11am all the Blazers groups head in for lunch. Lines only really pop up on powder days when the typical skier is there to take laps and not do something else.
One challenge with just GMX running and loading full chairs is that there are approximately 2000 people on Straight Shot at any given time, all of different ability. One of them in particular almost ended my 4.5 year old daughter’s day today if not worse. On a sunny glorious day like today that seems to thin out as the upper mountain opens and many folks stay on the upper lifts.
Cheetah440
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My wife freaks out when I show her videos of my daughter skiing in the woods or going down icy death bumps etc, but Intell her the most dangerous trails to ski are blue groomers. Even the green ones have Bodie wannabes going 50+. That more than anything really bothers me since beginners need a place to work their way down.why does anyone need to bomb Northstar? Saw two today, carving at 30-50 in and out of beginners basically snowplowing. I just don’t get what some people are thinking.
kingslug
Well-known member
Had a boarder almost land on me after jumping onto a crowded Slope.
Another reason I don't normally ski weekends.
Another reason I don't normally ski weekends.
Hawk
Well-known member
Fortunately or Unfortunately however you look at it, Mt. Ellen is the racers mountain. Racers have been flying around that mountain as long as there has been a racing program. GS and Super G skiers use all the trails to train or get warmed up. and Yes Northstar is one of those trails. Big picture, at lease they cant get going that fast, the trail is kind of flat most of the way down. Looking at it on the bright side, I trust those kids a lot more then the general Mahem that goes on at Lincoln Peak. I always have my head looking up hill all the time. Especially when I am stopped. But since I ski Bumps, woods and trail edges, I don't have that kind of issue that often.
I respect racers. I used to be one many years ago, and still enjoy very high speed arcs on empty groomers. They typically aren’t the ones that make me fear for my kids safety though. There are just hordes of terrible skiers that go super fast. I wonder if high speed lifts are partly to blame because they lower the penalty of only spending 2 minutes skiing before sitting on one’s butt again.
Would it kill Sugarbush ski patrol to station someone on North Star during peak hours of peak weekends to encourage traffic calming? There is a time and place to ski that trail at 50 mph and it wasn’t yesterday.
Generally of any people I see flying on Northstar, I agree that they're not racers as they're adults I usually see doing that. Typically it is more random people coming down from Exterminator and then just booking it once they hit Northstar. I always try to go slower on Northstar particularly if I see people going slowly on the trail. Even though it is a flat trail, there are certainly some people that carry a LOT of speed down that trail.
Maybe blaming Ikon is wrong, but I think that has certainly brought a bit of a different crowd to the mountain than what you had in the past.
It's been years for me, but IIRC they used to have prominent "SLOW" signs on Northstar. Has that changed?
Still there...often ignored...
Yeah, well, maybe it is time for SB to enforce them. Out here ski areas do post ski patrol/mountain hosts at problematic places at problematic times to help enforce speed and control.
Has anyone here spoken to ski patrol?
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