The "Sugarbush Thread"

[slatham]

I would have also thought another snow-making route off your brand new lift would have been more of a priority than Steins...

Hummmm……

1) They don’t want to make snow next to lift on a crowded weekend?
2) They want to hit Steins while they have ideal temps down low?
3) Coin toss!

 

[cdskier]

Hummmm……

1) They don’t want to make snow next to lift on a crowded weekend?
2) They want to hit Steins while they have ideal temps down low?
3) Coin toss!

1) They've made snow plenty of times on RC when the lift has been running on a weekend (not wanting to have guns running on Hot Shot/Waterfall on a weekend on the other hand is more logical, although even that has been done in the past). The trail is wide and the hydrants are the opposite side from the lift. Unless you have a lot of wind there is not typically an impact on the lift from what I've seen over the years.

2) You likely won't have enough run time on Steins before temps warm up to finish it, so why not work on RC where you can keep running longer and then shift down to Steins Tuesday when it cools back down?

3) Certainly possible...

4) With the way things have been going...maybe there's an issue with a pipe or pump feeding RC!

5) If they still have guns running on Hot Shot/Waterfall, perhaps they don't have capacity to run RC/Lower RC at the same time (I'm very tempted to say Steins is less hydrants than RC/Lower RC would be).

Honestly though I really don't know if ever recall Steins being started before Ripcord in recent memory.

 

[thetrailboss]

And they aren’t getting any % of real estate sales at all whatsoever?

I don’t care enough to look around very much tbh but I doubt there isn’t some kind of deal that gives them a percentage of the real estate sales. Can you quote your source on that?

Correct. Not on Mayflower side. But they are salivating to get rid of the Snow Park lots and develop that. So that’s how they benefit. It is relatively limited.

 

[thetrailboss]

New update:

State of the Mountain 1/10/25 - SugarBlog

The road to redemption starts in 2025. So far, that road has led us to greener (see translation: whiter) pastures. In fact we've received snow every single day this year, totaling 30" since January 1st. If you skied before New Year's, you'll know that this new snow has been transformative...

blog.sugarbush.com

Alterra sending staff to help with lifts

I seem to recall someone in here recently saying that they should do that……

 

[djd66]

1) They've made snow plenty of times on RC when the lift has been running on a weekend (not wanting to have guns running on Hot Shot/Waterfall on a weekend on the other hand is more logical, although even that has been done in the past). The trail is wide and the hydrants are the opposite side from the lift. Unless you have a lot of wind there is not typically an impact on the lift from what I've seen over the years.

2) You likely won't have enough run time on Steins before temps warm up to finish it, so why not work on RC where you can keep running longer and then shift down to Steins Tuesday when it cools back down?

3) Certainly possible...

4) With the way things have been going...maybe there's an issue with a pipe or pump feeding RC!

5) If they still have guns running on Hot Shot/Waterfall, perhaps they don't have capacity to run RC/Lower RC at the same time (I'm very tempted to say Steins is less hydrants than RC/Lower RC would be).

Honestly though I really don't know if ever recall Steins being started before Ripcord in recent memory.

Or, maybe they think they could run out of water again and want to make sure they have their spring trail stockpiled

 

[Hawk]

It seems everybody covered it. My observations.
- HG ramp is absoulutely fine. If you can't handle that you shouldn't be up there.
- Wind was howling up there and the lift stayed open. It would have been closed any other year. I guess the new lift is fine.
- We simply need snow. But most naturaly trails skied OK if you stayed on the trail edge on the far left side. The wind blew snow out of the woods so it was softer.
- People are saying the woods and Slidebrook are OK. I skied several places. The snow from mid mountain down is only about 10" to 12" deep with rocks, swack, logs and blowdowns everywhere. The winds has made conditions range from small drifts to sheer ice. If you are not an expert skier, donn't have very good survival skils and tremendous edge skils you are putting yourself at risk. Also if you like your skis then you are out of luck.
- I skied slidebrook so I could give an accurate report. on a 1 to 10 it was a 3. 1 and 2 to me means walking. Swack and blow downs everywhere, open waterbars at the bottom, ice and drifts as reported. pinball ally was interesting. I suspect patrol will be very busy in there this weekend because people are stupid.
- Stiens is a great choice. I skied it at 4pm and it was already better. This moring it will be great. I don't care to bitch about order as long as there is progress. I have to give them a break on something because I have this following thing.
- I will say I hate IKON early ups. I pay for that benifit and now we have to share it with the masses. I looked out the window at 7:00 and the line was already forming so I opted to cook breakfast and will head out now. Oh well I guess.

Ski on.

 

[ducky]

It seems everybody covered it. My observations.
- HG ramp is absoulutely fine. If you can't handle that you shouldn't be up there.
- Wind was howling up there and the lift stayed open. It would have been closed any other year. I guess the new lift is fine.
- We simply need snow. But most naturaly trails skied OK if you stayed on the trail edge on the far left side. The wind blew snow out of the woods so it was softer.
- People are saying the woods and Slidebrook are OK. I skied several places. The snow from mid mountain down is only about 10" to 12" deep with rocks, swack, logs and blowdowns everywhere. The winds has made conditions range from small drifts to sheer ice. If you are not an expert skier, donn't have very good survival skils and tremendous edge skils you are putting yourself at risk. Also if you like your skis then you are out of luck.
- I skied slidebrook so I could give an accurate report. on a 1 to 10 it was a 3. 1 and 2 to me means walking. Swack and blow downs everywhere, open waterbars at the bottom, ice and drifts as reported. pinball ally was interesting. I suspect patrol will be very busy in there this weekend because people are stupid.
- Stiens is a great choice. I skied it at 4pm and it was already better. This moring it will be great. I don't care to bitch about order as long as there is progress. I have to give them a break on something because I have this following thing.
- I will say I hate IKON early ups. I pay for that benifit and now we have to share it with the masses. I looked out the window at 7:00 and the line was already forming so I opted to cook breakfast and will head out now. Oh well I guess.

Ski on.

Hawk, you forget just how steep things can be for intermediates. When I teach there are parts of Pushover that folks find challenging and we have to moderate accordingly. HG serves Jester. As you know, it's a long cruising blue square trail, ideal for visitors and less-experienced skier/riders.

Not to argue the point but I had a dog walk with a patroller friend who's been stationed at HG lately. He said at times, when the lift is full, there are crashes unloading every third chair and it's not just riders. People congregating in the unload area only aggrevates the problem. They have a chalkboard in the shack and are marking off how often it happens and the board is full! He said the maximum ramp angle design for lifts is 30˚ and HG is at 29˚.

Your woods report matches what my wife said from yesterday.

 

[Hawk]

Hawk, you forget just how steep things can be for intermediates. When I teach there are parts of Pushover that folks find challenging and we have to moderate accordingly. HG serves Jester. As you know, it's a long cruising blue square trail, ideal for visitors and less-experienced skier/riders.

Not to argue the point but I had a dog walk with a patroller friend who's been stationed at HG lately. He said at times, when the lift is full, there are crashes unloading every third chair and it's not just riders. People congregating in the unload area only aggrevates the problem. They have a chalkboard in the shack and are marking off how often it happens and the board is full! He said the maximum ramp angle design for lifts is 30˚ and HG is at 29˚.

Your woods report matches what my wife said from yesterday.

Fair enough Ducky. I guess they could corect it when they deside to blow Ripchord. They can just blow a pile of snow up top and push it around. I skied that lift 3 times yesterday and the lift did not stop so I was happy. ;-)

 

[cdskier]

Or, maybe they think they could run out of water again and want to make sure they have their spring trail stockpiled

I think I figured it out. The guns they need for lower rip cord are likely the same ones on hot shot waterfall.

Edit…nvm…just saw a ton of land guns sitting next to the groomer garage. I missed those this morning…

Water would be an odd reason after bragging they made more snow than usual on sleeper…

 

[Cheetah440]

Stuck on hG been 15 min now. Got one run off it though, is that a win?

 

[Lotso]

Stuck on hG been 15 min now. Got one run off it though, is that a win?

Turning people away from load on the cam. Report says maintenance hold

runnng as of 12;05

 

[vtboarder]

Or, maybe they think they could run out of water again and want to make sure they have their spring trail stockpiled

A pet peeve. Like leaving the whale there for weeks and weeks because of "May".

Catering to a handful of people that will be on Steins the last week of April or first couple days of May compared to the many thousands who want to have the best product during the prime months of Feb and Mar. is not customer friendly. The ratio of people on Steins vs Ripcord should dictate the snow making effort when neither is in great shape. I ride both but 3 or 4x more on Ripcord and doubt that is out of court for most pass holders.

 

[cdskier]

It seems everybody covered it. My observations.
- HG ramp is absoulutely fine. If you can't handle that you shouldn't be up there.
- Wind was howling up there and the lift stayed open. It would have been closed any other year. I guess the new lift is fine.
- We simply need snow. But most naturaly trails skied OK if you stayed on the trail edge on the far left side. The wind blew snow out of the woods so it was softer.
- People are saying the woods and Slidebrook are OK. I skied several places. The snow from mid mountain down is only about 10" to 12" deep with rocks, swack, logs and blowdowns everywhere. The winds has made conditions range from small drifts to sheer ice. If you are not an expert skier, donn't have very good survival skils and tremendous edge skils you are putting yourself at risk. Also if you like your skis then you are out of luck.
- I skied slidebrook so I could give an accurate report. on a 1 to 10 it was a 3. 1 and 2 to me means walking. Swack and blow downs everywhere, open waterbars at the bottom, ice and drifts as reported. pinball ally was interesting. I suspect patrol will be very busy in there this weekend because people are stupid.
- Stiens is a great choice. I skied it at 4pm and it was already better. This moring it will be great. I don't care to bitch about order as long as there is progress. I have to give them a break on something because I have this following thing.
- I will say I hate IKON early ups. I pay for that benifit and now we have to share it with the masses. I looked out the window at 7:00 and the line was already forming so I opted to cook breakfast and will head out now. Oh well I guess.

Ski on.

I actually managed to get my ass out there early and was on Super Bravo at 7:40. I actually thought of people like you and said to myself I'd be pissed if I had paid extra for Early Ups and then they do this Ikon thing some days. Today was the first day I ever used that benefit. I'm not a morning person and it is hard enough to get myself there for 8am.

Steins was excellent today under the guns.

Stuck on hG been 15 min now. Got one run off it though, is that a win?

I had 3 runs on it early this morning before I moved on to other areas of the mountain. Today was my first time up it. Pretty smooth ride, although I'm surprised that they made the unload ramp as steep as they did. Seems odd. I didn't have any issues, but I could see how others would.

A pet peeve. Like leaving the whale there for weeks and weeks because of "May".

Catering to a handful of people that will be on Steins the last week of April or first couple days of May compared to the many thousands who want to have the best product during the prime months of Feb and Mar. is not customer friendly. The ratio of people on Steins vs Ripcord should dictate the snow making effort when neither is in great shape. I ride both but 3 or 4x more on Ripcord and doubt that is out of court for most pass holders.

I'm guessing they had some sort of reason for Steins over RC first. I'd be curious to know what it was (I'm a very analytical person, so details like that fascinate me).

One other random note...the singles line being on the right side of Valley House is a bit annoying. Everyone in the other lanes blocks getting to it and it is sitting there empty. Not sure why they moved it from left in the past to right now.

 

[Cheetah440]

Turning people away from load on the cam. Report says maintenance hold

runnng as of 12;05

Had to start the diesel to unload after about 40mins or so

 

[Cheetah440]

I actually managed to get my ass out there early and was on Super Bravo at 7:40. I actually thought of people like you and said to myself I'd be pissed if I had paid extra for Early Ups and then they do this Ikon thing some days. Today was the first day I ever used that benefit. I'm not a morning person and it is hard enough to get myself there for 8am.

Steins was excellent today under the guns.



I had 3 runs on it early this morning before I moved on to other areas of the mountain. Today was my first time up it. Pretty smooth ride, although I'm surprised that they made the unload ramp as steep as they did. Seems odd. I didn't have any issues, but I could see how others would.



I'm guessing they had some sort of reason for Steins over RC first. I'd be curious to know what it was (I'm a very analytical person, so details like that fascinate me).

One other random note...the singles line being on the right side of Valley House is a bit annoying. Everyone in the other lanes blocks getting to it and it is sitting there empty. Not sure why they moved it from left in the past to right now.

Same on the ramp, no issues at all and I can’t really understand complaints.

 

[PowderDreams]

I poked around some of the lower angle glades at Ellen today. There’s a lot of new snow, but it’s super sketchy in there (worst conditions since Ellen opening day IMO). So much debris from the windstorm, from branches to entire trees knocked over. I think the Sugarbush woods are off the menu for me, for at least a couple weeks. It’s gonna take a lot more snow to cover up that mess.

I have no doubt they are telling the truth in the most recent blog post, about what’s going on with NRX. If the wind could knock down all those trees, it could certainly take out terminal windows too. I’m still pretty pissed off about how little maintenance was done for the lifts in the off season, after we all bought our passes, but they can’t exactly go back in time and change that. The trails were in excellent condition. Operations must have worked some very long nights this week to clear wind debris from the trails for us. Their hard work didn’t go unnoticed.

 

[foofy]

Fun day, good snow to be found all over, along with the reported ice but was pleasantly surprised.

Their lift line management, however, is awful. No rhyme or reason, and many just cutting in. Not rocket science. Do better.

 

[Cheetah440]

Fun day, good snow to be found all over, along with the reported ice but was pleasantly surprised.

Their lift line management, however, is awful. No rhyme or reason, and many just cutting in. Not rocket science. Do better.

We need snow badly. Not this dusty nickel and dime stuff, we need a dump. It’s rough out there. Good news , the hike to CR delivered. Liftline was awesome, Rumble was awesome. Tons of snow. Did the hike twice today and made the day.

 

[foofy]

We need snow badly. Not this dusty nickel and dime stuff, we need a dump. It’s rough out there. Good news , the hike to CR delivered. Liftline was awesome, Rumble was awesome. Tons of snow. Did the hike twice today and made the day.

Totally agree. Sporty skiing around all the rocks and ice, but still fun!

 

[Cheetah440]

Totally agree. Sporty skiing around all the rocks and ice, but still fun!

Of course it is, I enjoy that, what Indont enjoy is the boilerplate sheet ice, I don’t have the right skis for that. I have pretty dull Blaze 94’s that are a Joy in the bumps and steeps and woods, but on icy groomers I’m like a baby deer on a dozen pond and it can get scary on death spout.