The "Sugarbush Thread"

[shadyjay]

I worked at Mt Ellen today. Coverage from North Ridge, up is pretty descent on open terrain. Rim Run, Panorama, Elbow, and Lookin' Good are pretty much covered edge-to-edge, though there is one bare spot on Rim Run just below top of NRE. FIS is also still well covered. Good coverage on Northstar, Lower Northstar, and Cruiser. Mainstream which cuts across Northstar/Cruiser/Which Way is ice and bare, so best bets are to stick with Lower Northstar and Lower Cruiser. Once you pass beneath the NRE liftline, the groomed route bears to the left, closer to the North Ridge Express corral, and then goes "uphill" to get to Crackerjack by Slide Brook lift. Crackerjack had descent coverage. Over on the park side, Riemergasse and Sugar Run are still descent. The cutover from halfway down Sugar Run over to GMX is very thin. Over on the "I-pod", Inverness and NRExpy are both open, and occasionally groomed. Northway is also open but haven't taken it in a while - haven't had to, thank god.

If things soften up this weekend, it should be a lot of fun over there. No idea if FIS will be groomed. My suggestion would be to not go below Times Square until you have to (to go to base lodge, bar, etc), and just jump on North Ridge Express. I'm not sure if Glen House will have food service this weekend - I'm sure they will. $30 lift tickets over there all week.

 

[Plusbrians]

Heading up there tomorrow to ski Thurs/Fri - and finally use up my Warren ticket - first time there, any recommendations on where to stay for the night and grab a bite for dinner? Will be with my 7yo son...

 

[rocks860]

I've stayed at the sugar lodge, but only during the summer. Nice enough place but I have no idea what the prices are in the winter. The restaurant at the movie theater has some good food (and a bar)

 

[shadyjay]

Heading up there tomorrow to ski Thurs/Fri - and finally use up my Warren ticket - first time there, any recommendations on where to stay for the night and grab a bite for dinner? Will be with my 7yo son...

Doesn't the Golden Lion at the base of the access road do an Alpine Zone discount? For dinner, I'd hit up the Mad River Barn or the Hyde Away. Pizza at Blue Stone is pretty good.

Conditions were pretty good today. We missed out on the snow but there's some coming tonight I believe, though there may be some ice and other funk mixed in. Lincoln Peak was skiing really nice. Even Downspout was fun! Nice and soft. Don't know about Stein's - some people were doing it but I didn't get a chance to talk to them. The double-black Ripcord is getting a grooming job tonight so that could be good in the AM. Good coverage on most trails on the Bravo side. Gate House is getting thinner and thinner though Sleeper was fun today and Birch looked good as well. If you want to hit up Mt Ellen, tickets there are $30 through Sunday (see my previous post about conditions there).

 

[cdskier]

Doesn't the Golden Lion at the base of the access road do an Alpine Zone discount? For dinner, I'd hit up the Mad River Barn or the Hyde Away. Pizza at Blue Stone is pretty good.

Not sure if Golden Lion still does. They have a new owner now. He did renovate and upgrade all the rooms though which is nice. The new owner actually is neighbors with one of my co-workers at work here in NJ.

For dinner I like Shady's suggestion of either Mad River Barn or Hyde Away for a place to go on a Thursday night with a 7yo. I'd also potentially add American Flatbread to the list.

 

[rocks860]

Not sure if Golden Lion still does. They have a new owner now. He did renovate and upgrade all the rooms though which is nice. The new owner actually is neighbors with one of my co-workers at work here in NJ.

For dinner I like Shady's suggestion of either Mad River Barn or Hyde Away for a place to go on a Thursday night with a 7yo. I'd also potentially add American Flatbread to the list.

Not sure what nights American flatbread is open. For some reason I thought it was only weekends but maybe they changed it

 

[HowieT2]

Heading up there tomorrow to ski Thurs/Fri - and finally use up my Warren ticket - first time there, any recommendations on where to stay for the night and grab a bite for dinner? Will be with my 7yo son...

Take your son to American flatbread, definitely. But they may only be open Friday night. Not sure. Also recommend mad taco, Hyde away or mad river barn.

 

[cdskier]

American Flatbread is usually open Thursday-Sunday (this weekend they are closed Sunday for Easter). Thursday nights they are usually pretty empty too, so you don't need to worry about going early to put your name on the list.

 

[smac75]

Heading up there tomorrow to ski Thurs/Fri - and finally use up my Warren ticket - first time there, any recommendations on where to stay for the night and grab a bite for dinner? Will be with my 7yo son...

The Whitehorse for accommodations - hands down. We have 11 weekends in there so far this season. No place up there comes close to their breakfasts, prices and policies. Cancel last minute? - no fees.....one night only? sure, no problem. Thank me later ;-)

 

[thetrailboss]

The Whitehorse for accommodations - hands down. We have 11 weekends in there so far this season. No place up there comes close to their breakfasts, prices and policies. Cancel last minute? - no fees.....one night only? sure, no problem. Thank me later ;-)

Always looked like a cool place...


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[rocks860]

We tried staying at the white horse last summer. Made our reservation then got a call a couple days later saying the whole place was booked for a wedding. Ended up staying at the sugar lodge again

 

[catsup948]

Have to give some props to SB's customer svc people. After my MA school vacation week ski vacation disaster (several pages back in this thread) with weather and conditions - we pulled the plug early on the trip. Not only did SB refund me some of the rental on the condo but just last week I also got a bunch of vouchers good for lift tickets good thru next season to make up for the ski tix we paid for but didn't use because of the weather and conditions.

I had to ask for them but they did make good on it. SB could have easily just said "we can't control the weather" and told me to kick rocks. But instead, in a season where they are probably gonna lose some $, they still took care of one of their loyal customers.

Not just because I have vouchers, but because SB has always shown me they care about their customers - they have guaranteed that I will make the effort to go to SB over my other options in the future.

Makes you wonder how many other mountains would do the same? Makes you wonder how many other mtns realize how much good will and returning business this kind of stuff generates?

Several years back after skiing from first chair to about 1pm we got stuck on the Northridge Express for 40 minutes. They had to unload us slowly and we ended up being stuck on the lift for about an hour total. We had already decided we were almost done so we skied to the base of Mount Ellen anyway. When we got to the lodge we were all handed a voucher good through the end of the following season and a free beer! Bar was of course packed with people. Turns out the entire Mad River Valley was without power. So they really didn't have to give us anything. Pretty awesome though.

 

[Plusbrians]

All booked at the White Horse, one of the less expensive too, which is always nice. Great reviews on Google too... heading up now, praying it stays snow! Think exit 3 is ok today?

 

[cdskier]

Freezing rain warning tonight through tomorrow morning means I'm bailing on going up this weekend. Not worth the risk since I have to leave Saturday afternoon anyway...

 

[Newpylong]

Several years back after skiing from first chair to about 1pm we got stuck on the Northridge Express for 40 minutes. They had to unload us slowly and we ended up being stuck on the lift for about an hour total. We had already decided we were almost done so we skied to the base of Mount Ellen anyway. When we got to the lodge we were all handed a voucher good through the end of the following season and a free beer! Bar was of course packed with people. Turns out the entire Mad River Valley was without power. So they really didn't have to give us anything. Pretty awesome though.

Back when I was at GMVS we got stuck on Northridge for about the same amount of time. We were somewhere up top above Bravo and we all jumped eventually. We found out later that those that waited got a free breakfast. Darn...

I miss Sugarbush greatly.

 

[rocks860]

Freezing rain warning tonight through tomorrow morning means I'm bailing on going up this weekend. Not worth the risk since I have to leave Saturday afternoon anyway...

I'm gonna go up Saturday since I already have a voucher. Hopefully the rain/freezing rain won't be too bad and it looks like it's going to warm up on Saturday

 

[cdskier]

I'm gonna go up Saturday since I already have a voucher. Hopefully the rain/freezing rain won't be too bad and it looks like it's going to warm up on Saturday

Yea...Saturday should be a nice day with warm temps and sun. Just doesn't make sense for me to drive up to ski only Saturday morning. It should be a beautiful spring day though and I wish I could be up there. If it wasn't for Easter on Sunday and having family stuff to do I'd be up there.

 

[rocks860]

The word of the day is corn

 

[cdskier]

I'm so jealous of not being there to ski above the clouds first thing this morning...the pics I saw from ski patrol this morning looked amazing!

 

[rocks860]

I'm so jealous of not being there to ski above the clouds first thing this morning...the pics I saw from ski patrol this morning looked amazing!

Here's one I took around 1045 or so. All in all a very fun day. I got there around 10 and the stuff below the clouds was pretty sketchy so I was kinda worried but once the clouds lifted everything softened up big time. Run of the day was probably jester 2nd run of the day. Super nice corn snow up top and no real ice to speak of. By later in the day it softened up wayyyy too much and was a mess. Ripcord was pretty nice up top early but the bottom was super icy as it was below the clouds. Later the bottom softened somewhat but the top got skied off. Snowball was also pretty nice. Took one run up north Lynx and down birch to sleeper and man is it a mess over a there, don't think it will last too much longer