The "Sugarbush Thread"

[mikec142]

Weren't they both groomed for Sunday? I know Lower OG was, although I didn't ski Murphy's, but I do recall seeing it marked on the report as groomed in the morning.

Saturday's plan was screwed up by the weather. They had a limited window to groom after the re-freeze so the plan was much smaller than normal.

Both Murphys and Lower OG were groomed on both weekend days.

 

[benski]

I think most of the suggestions for improvements are good, except the HS6/HSQ comments. I think the reason why Sugarbush feels like it can't handle 6 packs is because they went for really high capacity high speed quads before 6 packs were widely available. Modern lifts tend to prefer fewer wider chairs than the lifts of the 1990s.

Comparing new 6 packs on the Ikon pass located on the Front Range, A Basin's Lenawee 6 and WP's Sunnyside 6 both has the same capacity as the North Ridge. WP's Wild Spur 6 has the same capacity as Super Bravo. Copper's Timberline 6 has a higher capacity than any of the Sugarbush lifts but Gate House is higher than the other 6 packs mentioned. The only recent HSQ among these resorts is Copper's Kokomo beginner lift which has a capacity way lower than any of the Sugarbush HSQs, and slightly lower than North Lynx.

My understanding is lifts fewer wider chairs run more smoothly with fewer stops and wind issues. So my guess is Super Bravo and Gate House are replaced with 6 packs unless they lower the capacity of the lifts. North Ridge and GMX could also go to 6's easily without increasing capacity but they have few wind and loading issues.

 

[Smellytele]

I'm pretty sure the West portfolio is hurting this season. I saw it was 60F in Denver this morning.

60 in Denver means nothing for snow in the mountains.

 

[elfnif1016]

Conditions at North on Saturday were a bit fast and furious but not totally unexpected after the weather we had. I saw that whole Stateside part of Jay was actually closed so it wasn't just here. I did take a run down Inverness after the racing was over and I can only describe the conditions as "World Cup" level firm. I will say the views from the top were quite nice, there was even an orange-y twilight hue over the Adirondacks at 3:00.

Sunday at South was much better. A couple of inches of slop were a big help!

As for $$ for improvements, Pod over Inverness could be fun....

But realistically, let's think of a better bag storage algorithm for North, we can definitely do better there. And spring for some more chairs. The table-to-chair ratio is way off this year. And for god's sake, put the deck back on the Glen House. Obviously the deck is nice to have but aesthetically the building looks like that house up the road that never quite got finished even though the guy had good intentions (we all know that guy). Put it back the way it should be!

The boot room at North is far too small for busy weekend/holiday days. Unless you get there in the 8-9am range, your bag is going to be on top of dozens of other ones. I understand that they don't want the main floor covered in bags as it was before the minor upgrade, but the current arrangement sucks.

North is the red headed step child of an already ignored mountain by Altrerra.

At least the terrain is good.