The "Sugarbush Thread"

[tumbler]

That’s too bad about Sunrise, it needs the snowmaking to take the pressure off Birch. Most of the pipe is above ground except at the bottom in the flats at the lifts.

 

[WinS]

good stuff. ripcord really needed the snow up top

The snowmaking on Ripcord was some of the best I have seen. It was dry and there is a ton of it. Dan should have fun grooming it tonight, and I bet even a first groom will turn out nicely. The big decision tomorrow is whether to do Stein’s or Ripcord first. For those who purchased early-ups no decision is needed. Hopefully the winds won’t shut the upper mountain down. But I think the directions may not impact HG. We’ll see.

 

[Newpylong]

That’s too bad about Sunrise, it needs the snowmaking to take the pressure off Birch. Most of the pipe is above ground except at the bottom in the flats at the lifts.

It could be right under the flats where people have to ski over to get to and from the lift. I'm not overly familiar with topology of Lincoln piping but there also may not be an air isolation valve for just NL either and the leak could be somewhere else on Gate House that they don't want to touch.

 

[HowieT2]

I'd much rather have the great conditions we've had, best early season stretch I can remember, and no castlerock lift, than the crap we usually have to deal with. refreshing hike on the long trail followed by some good powder, sign me up.

 

[cdskier]

That’s too bad about Sunrise, it needs the snowmaking to take the pressure off Birch. Most of the pipe is above ground except at the bottom in the flats at the lifts.

Yea...no snowmaking on Sunrise is a bummer. Birch will definitely see too much traffic now. Could be interesting to ski an all natural Sunrise though for a season.

 

[shadyjay]

I'm not overly familiar with topology of Lincoln piping but there also may not be an air isolation valve for just NL either and the leak could be somewhere else on Gate House that they don't want to touch.

Actually, North Lynx is either the only or one of the only areas on the mountain where air can be isolated... hence why they're able to make snow elsewhere.

An air leak out on Spring Fling or up on Jester would give you an issue over on Pushover, for instance. I remember early season having air pressure not build and having to listen and drive all over the mountain in the dark looking for/listening for open hydrants, hoping that's all it was. But North Lynx we were able to isolate so that no air goes past the bunker (between Gate House and North Lynx lifts).

 

[Newpylong]

Yep, that's the worst, always first fire up too. It's easiest to hear them at night I found, less background noise. Ride around a while, stop and shut off your SxS or sled and listen. Ride some more, rinse and repeat lol.

With what you've said, if that loop is isolated, the only tricky repair location is between the lifts and they likely just don't want to bother digging it up.

 

[Castlerockrisk]

The below is the Sugar Blog- IMO no other excuse other than a complete failure of management.


Welcome back to your MLK Weekend edition of State of the Mountain. Let’s jump right into the topic on many of your minds: Castlerock. We made significant progress on the lift this past week, but there’s still some more electrical work to complete and sensors to swap out before it can be inspected. We want to be spinning Castlerock as much as you do, but it will continue to remain accessible via hiking access only through this weekend. While there is certainly a contingent of skiers who prefer hiking access, we know for many of you this is a major disappointment. The bottom line: we wanted to have this done sooner, it wasn’t able to happen, and we are truly sorry. We will continue to provide updates as the work continues.

The team is working hard and the resort as a whole continues our recruiting efforts to add additional lift mechanics to the staff through things like signing bonuses, raised pay, using recruiters and paid ads, and continuing to offer training to mechanics through Alterra Mountain Company’s partnership with Colorado Mountain College’s lift maintenance training program.

 

[elfnif1016]

The below is the Sugar Blog- IMO no other excuse other than a complete failure of management.


Welcome back to your MLK Weekend edition of State of the Mountain. Let’s jump right into the topic on many of your minds: Castlerock. We made significant progress on the lift this past week, but there’s still some more electrical work to complete and sensors to swap out before it can be inspected. We want to be spinning Castlerock as much as you do, but it will continue to remain accessible via hiking access only through this weekend. While there is certainly a contingent of skiers who prefer hiking access, we know for many of you this is a major disappointment. The bottom line: we wanted to have this done sooner, it wasn’t able to happen, and we are truly sorry. We will continue to provide updates as the work continues.

The team is working hard and the resort as a whole continues our recruiting efforts to add additional lift mechanics to the staff through things like signing bonuses, raised pay, using recruiters and paid ads, and continuing to offer training to mechanics through Alterra Mountain Company’s partnership with Colorado Mountain College’s lift maintenance training program.

Community Weekend presentation will be interesting next October. I would not want to be in John Hammond's shoes that morning. Management will have a LOT to answer for.

 

[Lotso]

Jan. 18th, 2025 9:10 AM: *Heaven's Gate, North Lynx, North Ridge, Summit, and GMX are on wind hold*

Ugh

Lines are immense on GH, VH, Bravo and Inverness...

 

[Zand]

Does Sugarbush have their own special wind tunnel or something? Even Jay doesn't have any lifts on wind hold.

Edit: Literally just checked every major VT resort and the only lifts on windhold are the Stratton Gondola (but Ursa is open) and Bluebird at Mt Snow (but Grand Summit is open). Smuggs, Stowe, MRG, Killington, Jay all firing at 100%. I understand Heavens Gate and Summit, but GMX?!?!

 

[Hawk]

Yup. Huge!! Actually it’s comical because all you can do is laugh as we all stand here

 

[cdskier]

I skied 12K vertical and called it a day. Enough lines for me... (although to be fair, I still think the longest I waited was <10 minutes).

Those winds were whipping at the top of Super Bravo. And looking at the cams, they're whipping pretty good on the Walt's cam at ME.

 

[solar]

One of the busiest weekends of the year and they’re effectively down to three lifts (VH, SB, and GH).

Castle Rock: Closed
Slide Brooke: Closed
Heaven’s Gate: Closed
North Lynx: Closed
Summit Quad: Closed
North Ridge: Closed
Green Mountain Express: Closed

Meanwhile, to others point, neighboring resorts are 100% open.

 

[vtski802]

One of the busiest weekends of the year and they’re effectively down to three lifts (VH, SB, and GH).

Castle Rock: Closed
Slide Brooke: Closed
Heaven’s Gate: Closed
North Lynx: Closed
Summit Quad: Closed
North Ridge: Closed
Green Mountain Express: Closed

Meanwhile, to others point, neighboring resorts are 100% open.

HG just came off wind hold

 

[cdskier]

One of the busiest weekends of the year and they’re effectively down to three lifts (VH, SB, and GH).

Castle Rock: Closed
Slide Brooke: Closed
Heaven’s Gate: Closed
North Lynx: Closed
Summit Quad: Closed
North Ridge: Closed
Green Mountain Express: Closed

Meanwhile, to others point, neighboring resorts are 100% open.

Different mountains are impacted differently by different directions of wind...not a complicated topic to understand.

Also don't think the "one of the busiest weekends" of the year comment has a lot of weight. The parking lots are nowhere near as full as last weekend. You'd have pretty short lines today if there weren't wind holds on half the lifts.

 

[ducky]

My wife went up the skin track at Mt Ellen early morning. She said it was like a hurricane blowing at Walts. She said there was a big line for ticket refunds at the ticket booth when she came down as they had essentilly closed the mountain for the day.

 

[solar]

Different mountains are impacted differently by different directions of wind...not a complicated topic to understand.

Also don't think the "one of the busiest weekends" of the year comment has a lot of weight. The parking lots are nowhere near as full as last weekend. You'd have pretty short lines today if there weren't wind holds on half the lifts.

Fair points.

GMX on wind hold vs MRG open seems odd though, no?

 

[solar]

*GMX loading now

 

[cdskier]

Fair points.

GMX on wind hold vs MRG open seems odd though, no?

Not one bit. You're comparing fixed grip chairs to a detachable lift as well as lifts with different alignments.