Date(s) Skied: Tuesday 3/8/11
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush, VT - Lincoln Peak
Conditions: Powder
Trip Report:
Long before there was talk of any significant snow, I switched my days off from Wed-Thu to Tue-Wed. Throughout the day on Monday, the snow came down on top of signifcant snows from the previous night. We worked hard and were able to open Super Bravo on time before closing at 12:50 due to wind. I only got one run on Domino, and it was epic!
So no doubt on Tuesday morning, I woke up early and got 5th chair on Super Bravo. The sky: bluebird. The wind: almost dead-calm. The temps: comfortable. My first run was Murphy's to Lower Birdland. Murphy's had some windblown up top, then powder. Lower Birdland was perfection. Not a hint of rock or ledge was showing and each turn I made was dead silence. Up again, I ventured over to Lixi's Twist, where the skier's right side was scoured from the wind the previous day - some sections right down to bare ground. The left side looked great, but by the time I moved over to there, I headed onto Lower Moonshine - 10000x better than Upper Twist.
Next it was off to Heaven's Gate. There was a line but it wasn't too bad. I started off on Upper Jester, diverging into what I call "Forbidden Jester", the portion of Upper Jester that isn't groomed and bypasses Allyn's Lodge. Again with the brief scour, then a "natural halfpipe" with 4' high banks on each side and a path in the middle. Strange, but beautiful. Heading into Domino again, a delight! So good, in fact I headed to the base of Bravo and did it again, heading back to HG via the traverse. In relatively quick succession, I hit up Ripcord to Spillsville (Spills a little icy underneath but really nice otherwise), Paradise to Paradise Extension (ohhh yeahhhhh), and then Upper Organgrinder. Again, the rocks on Paradise were nary to be found. Upper OG was perfect, diving in on the far left side. I saw noone else on that trail. They were missing out, scared by the entrance no doubt.
Returning to Bravo, I decided that I would give Stein's a shot - one of 3 trails at Lincoln Peak I've never snowboarded. It was beautiful - though quite slick on the upper half on skier's right and I fell and slid down a portion before catching myself and continuing. Then it was Upper Moonshine to Lower Twist to the Mall (which was much better than Upper Twist), a groomed run on Snowball->Spring Fling to rest the legs, another Domino, and then a T2B on Birdland->Lower Birdland. My legs were cooked!
But still not yet having my fill, I headed to Gate House for 3 runs: Pushover Chute-> Lower Hot Shot for a nice cruiser, Sleeper -> Sleeper Road (which Sleeper Road's switchbacks were all groomed), and Morning Star to Sleeper. The snow on Gate House side at this time of the day was more choppy and Morning Star took more out of me than did Lower Birdland. By that point, there was no way I was going to Castlerock. I pushed myself hard enough and wanted to end on a good note.
When I got to the base, the clock said 2:10pm... that was it. My legs were beat and so was I. I hitched a bus back up the mtn, dug out my truck, and now prepping for my Sunday tomorrow at Mt Ellen.
My only regret for today: I did not bring my camera, so no pics. But hopefully I'll remember tomorrow and hope that its another great day!
Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush, VT - Lincoln Peak
Conditions: Powder
Trip Report:
Long before there was talk of any significant snow, I switched my days off from Wed-Thu to Tue-Wed. Throughout the day on Monday, the snow came down on top of signifcant snows from the previous night. We worked hard and were able to open Super Bravo on time before closing at 12:50 due to wind. I only got one run on Domino, and it was epic!
So no doubt on Tuesday morning, I woke up early and got 5th chair on Super Bravo. The sky: bluebird. The wind: almost dead-calm. The temps: comfortable. My first run was Murphy's to Lower Birdland. Murphy's had some windblown up top, then powder. Lower Birdland was perfection. Not a hint of rock or ledge was showing and each turn I made was dead silence. Up again, I ventured over to Lixi's Twist, where the skier's right side was scoured from the wind the previous day - some sections right down to bare ground. The left side looked great, but by the time I moved over to there, I headed onto Lower Moonshine - 10000x better than Upper Twist.
Next it was off to Heaven's Gate. There was a line but it wasn't too bad. I started off on Upper Jester, diverging into what I call "Forbidden Jester", the portion of Upper Jester that isn't groomed and bypasses Allyn's Lodge. Again with the brief scour, then a "natural halfpipe" with 4' high banks on each side and a path in the middle. Strange, but beautiful. Heading into Domino again, a delight! So good, in fact I headed to the base of Bravo and did it again, heading back to HG via the traverse. In relatively quick succession, I hit up Ripcord to Spillsville (Spills a little icy underneath but really nice otherwise), Paradise to Paradise Extension (ohhh yeahhhhh), and then Upper Organgrinder. Again, the rocks on Paradise were nary to be found. Upper OG was perfect, diving in on the far left side. I saw noone else on that trail. They were missing out, scared by the entrance no doubt.
Returning to Bravo, I decided that I would give Stein's a shot - one of 3 trails at Lincoln Peak I've never snowboarded. It was beautiful - though quite slick on the upper half on skier's right and I fell and slid down a portion before catching myself and continuing. Then it was Upper Moonshine to Lower Twist to the Mall (which was much better than Upper Twist), a groomed run on Snowball->Spring Fling to rest the legs, another Domino, and then a T2B on Birdland->Lower Birdland. My legs were cooked!
But still not yet having my fill, I headed to Gate House for 3 runs: Pushover Chute-> Lower Hot Shot for a nice cruiser, Sleeper -> Sleeper Road (which Sleeper Road's switchbacks were all groomed), and Morning Star to Sleeper. The snow on Gate House side at this time of the day was more choppy and Morning Star took more out of me than did Lower Birdland. By that point, there was no way I was going to Castlerock. I pushed myself hard enough and wanted to end on a good note.
When I got to the base, the clock said 2:10pm... that was it. My legs were beat and so was I. I hitched a bus back up the mtn, dug out my truck, and now prepping for my Sunday tomorrow at Mt Ellen.
My only regret for today: I did not bring my camera, so no pics. But hopefully I'll remember tomorrow and hope that its another great day!
