Best Tree Skiing?

Where are the best places you've surfed the trees in the big POW?

My favorite places...

Wolf Creek... only because you get the best drop in!
Santa Fe actually rocks for trees?
Monarch.. been a long time


I've only visited other trees.... :twisted:

With all due respect, and I live out west now, the west can't hold a candle to eastern tree skiing. Around here, I love the aspen stands at Park City and Deer Valley -- and most of their guests wouldn't even think about venturing into the trees! More for me.

Down your way, option_ride, Taos has some phenomenal trees. (Sorry. ) I did adore the upper mountain woods at the northeastern end of Santa Fe, too.

But there's nothing like a perfectly-spaced New England hardwood forest, a la Jay, Stowe, Smuggs, MRG or the 'Bush. It's just not the same thing as what's out here. On the plus side, though, what many western skiers and riders consider to be "unskiable woods" is precisely what we were weaned on back East, so again...more for me.

coming from an eastern perspective only, you won't find many people naming their favorite tree shots... likely because they don't have official names :wink: but VT clearly owns the woods. mad river and burke are my favs for trees. magic is super on a powder day in the woods, though they are limited but good. cannon has some great stuff off the map, their on map glades are usually pretty thin. gee, i couldn't even begin to pick favorites, they all have their own special qualities and no two runs ever feel the same! finally will be able to duck in jay's glades this year on my mid-week pass through burke. can't wait! last time i went there was a pretty miserable day before i was really into the trees yet, not so fun.

Down your way, option_ride, Taos has some phenomenal trees. (Sorry. Embarassed )

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ouch... I'm hurting... seriously. I have to ride there, if the snow is good I will this year after close.... leftovers. Or maybe.........

I've never been out east, It's good to know you have something to brag about! lol. I've never really been anywhere that doesn't have big pine everywhere. I did qualify WITH POW though~! :wink:

option_ride":2h7k6142 said:

I did qualify WITH POW though~! :wink:

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Now wait just a doggone minute! :lol: The East isn't all bulletproof cruisers, despite the popular western misconception. If you know how to ski the woods, and you know where to go, you can find knee-deep or better a week after a storm. I spent 8 years patrolling Jay Peak back before its current popularity boom, and I can honestly say that 50% of my patrol days -- weekends only -- included pow. Stowe is the same thing, again if you know where to go, as is Smuggs. Drop the frequency down only 1 notch for MRG and Sugarbush.

Looks like we have ourselves a show down cowboy. Powder turns at high noon! :lol:

I must admit there are a lot of misconceptions about easterners. I have a few New Yorkers myself.

Admin":26ac9c7u said:

But there's nothing like a perfectly-spaced New England hardwood forest, a la Jay, Stowe, Smuggs, MRG or the 'Bush.

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I don't think I have skiied glades out West or in the Alps, but I would put Smuggs, MRG and Jay tops in the East for the trails on the map and NOT. :wink:

Admin said:

With all due respect, and I live out west now, the west can't hold a candle to eastern tree skiing. ...

But there's nothing like a perfectly-spaced New England hardwood forest, a la Jay, Stowe, Smuggs, MRG or the 'Bush. It's just not the same thing as what's out here. ...

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Until a few years ago I had done most of my treeskiing in NM, CO, UT, & MT and deluded myself into believing that I knew a thing or two about skiing trees. Then I joined a group of local VT'ers at Stowe for a weekend of spring skiing. I could hardly keep up. The trees are tight and the eastern guys (and gals) skied them fast!! Some entries were downright scary because the overhanging branches obscured the first turn and the initial entry required a quick blind turn on steepening terrain.

Since then I've skied eastern trees a lot. Jay & Stowe are my favorites, but most eastern areas have quality stashes. (My buddies claim MRG is best, but I haven't skied it.) In MASH WVa has a lot of off-piste and backcountry tree shots that measure up nicely.

Cheers,
Jeff

Homewood (CA) is best area I've seen for teaching treeskiing skills. One can select lines long through the trees that are either uniformly widely-spaced or uniformly tight. An added bonus is the low price ($25/day) for the experience.

Cheers,
Jeff

look'n4powder":bd3v9kpi said:

teaching treeskiing skills

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There are five important rules for learning to ski tight trees:

1. Look at the spaces, not at the trees. You're inevitably drawn to whatever you're looking at.
2. through 5.: Don't forget rule #1.

Too many novice tree skiers look at the trees out of fear that they'll hit them. That's the critical mistake. It's kind of like the way that you need to lean away from the hill when skiing steep terrain. It's counter-intuitive and counter to self-preservation instinct, but critical.

admin is right on point. when you see the spaces, it is really amazing how wide open most shots really are. well, compared to seeing things the other way around at least! i think another key is to not just be looking at the spaces, but to be looking for spaces further ahead than you think you need to. inevitably, most spaces turn into trees, so you gotta be looking ahead and setting yourself up for more spaces.

Nice to see Eastern tree skiing getting its' due.

Pretty much drooling for snow at this point. Soon!

JimG.":2moclbb9 said:

Pretty much drooling for snow at this point. Soon!

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I just hoping for below freezing temp or at least normal seasonal temps. :roll:

It was 16c at 5:30am this morning, the normal day time high for this time of the year. Forecasting another 28c today and hearing everyone how great this weather is is really depressing.

I'm going to take issue with the comments about spacing. There is no question that the tighter spacing in the East sharpens ski skills. However, there are 2 major downsides:
1. Really tight spacing can can only be skied in good quality powder.
2. When there are only a few skiable lines, they will get tracked out more quickly.
I would guess that the elite of Eastern skiers, probably well represented here, would argue they get their powder fix consistently in the tightest glades because 99+% of skiers can't handle them and thus stay out.

But I am much in favor of expansive forests with enough spacing that you can ski anywhere. IMHO these are in relatively short supply even in the West. Typical of many western areas is a nicely spaced subalpine zone of only 500 vertical or so that closes out when you get lower.

The region which has long consistent fall lines in the trees is the Kootenay region along the U.S./Canada border, and the Selkirk and Monashee ranges north of it. Fernie is probably the best lift served example, and Island Lake Snowcat is even better. For you easterners who want more challenge I recommend Red Mt., where the length and steepness of glades are far more than you get in Vermont. For less expert-oriented trees I recommend Schweitzer and particular Big Mountain just across the border in Idaho/Montana.

At many heli operations you feel restricted if snow, visibility, etc. keep you below tree line. But on poor weather days at Selkirk-Tangiers and CMH Kootenay there were consistent tree runs of 2,000+ vertical all day long. I hope to report on the Monashees next February at Wiegele . Judging from Fernie pictures these big trees in forests are spaced due a brushy alder undergrowth that gets well buried by January in normal snow years.

There are a few isolated areas with good trees like Steamboat, for which I have no obvious explanation. We have great tree spacing here in SoCal because that's the only way they can survive our hot and dry summers. Unfortunately there is only enough snow to take much advantage of it every 3-4 seasons.

I will be very interested to get Marc down here to Baldy when it is well covered like last season, and see if he agrees that its topography and powder potential is a close analogy to Mad River Glen.

Tony Crocker":1wxc38qd said:

I'm going to take issue with the comments about spacing. There is no question that the tighter spacing in the East sharpens ski skills. However, there are 2 major downsides:
1. Really tight spacing can can only be skied in good quality powder.
2. When there are only a few skiable lines, they will get tracked out more quickly.

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Spoken like a western native. See above: "On the plus side, though, what many western skiers and riders consider to be 'unskiable woods' is precisely what we were weaned on back East, so again...more for me."

There are more than a few easterners, including an ex-pat like me, who would take exception to your assertion, "Really tight spacing can can only be skied in good quality powder." You haven't seen some of the crap we've skied them in. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. :wink: And depending upon your definition of "skiable," it's rare that "there are only a few skiable lines."

You'll have to spend a day chasing Chromer through some rabbit warrens!

I would be willing to settle this if you eastern folks wan't to send a ticket my way. I promise to give an honest opinion and I won't make fun of any two plankers cause they can't keep up. Scouts Honor! 8)

Oootah:
I'm a big fan of the tree skiing at Deer Valet. They even distribute an experts-only trail map that shows you where to find all the goods. The trees get so little traffic there that the skiing surface tends to be excellent even when there hasn't been snow for a week or two. My favorites are the creek bed to skier's right of the main upper mountain quad that has the little hiker's cabin in it and the trees to skier's left of Mayflower.

The Canyawns also has all kinds of excellent tree shots that are completely ignored by most of their customer base.

Whistler:
Jeez. It's everywhere. That's what makes the place so great on powder days since you can hide in the trees midmountain when the alpine is shut out. I've been dragged around the place by locals in big snow years. There's a line called Christmas Trees off the Peak Chair that skirts the cliff above the Franz's triple. There are tons of amazing tree lines off the Crystal chair at Blackcomb that dump you out on the infinite traverse back from the glacier.

In the east, Killington trees suck. You don't ever want to venture into those. 8)

Tony Crocker":131mr8a0 said:

I'm going to take issue with the comments about spacing. There is no question that the tighter spacing in the East sharpens ski skills. However, there are 2 major downsides:
1. Really tight spacing can can only be skied in good quality powder.
2. When there are only a few skiable lines, they will get tracked out more quickly.

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a relative statement there. for example, what does everyone consider "really tight spacing?" from my perspective, really tight is any line that nearly or needs to be straight lined, that a turn is not permitted except in certain spots. a running width of say about 3-4 feet without much room to put the skis sideways and/or make a turn would get my blood pumping pretty good if it wasn't a powder run. those types of shots generally require some good snow to ski (from my perspective, other folks live for that stuff!). but, on the upside, generally the steepest shots are only known and/or skied by a handful of hardy souls so your chances of getting excellent snow for a run or two are pretty good even days after the snow falls. the tighter the trees, the less they get skied. whereas powder and good snow go quick on the main slopes, the trees usually hold the goods longer regardless of size. there is an inverse proportion between tree spacing and quality of snow and how long it lasts at most areas.

last year i remember skiing some woods at cannon and burke with a fellow skier that enjoys getting into the woods now and again, but generally enjoys a little more space than i shoot for. before ducking into a run, i said how the trees were perfectly spaced. yet once we got in there, he thought the trees were really tight. so spacing is a really relative subject and tighter woods will keep a lot of people away, even folks that enjoy the trees.

so spacing is a really relative subject and tighter woods will keep a lot of people away, even folks that enjoy the trees.

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Yeah, sounds like you east coasters are used to a lot tighter lines. I tend to ride the upper sections until everything starts to close in then I bail out the side if possible. Snow definitly makes a huge difference on a board. I like the really tight trees if there is enough powder and steepness to keep a good line, but tracked up tight trees aren't much fun on a board when all your concentration goes to making sure you don't catch in a rut and end up face to face!

Just a couple examples of East Trees. From Mt. Hor back country and some moderate difficulty glades at Jay. Really tight trees don't make for good pictures .

I'm going to buy a camrea this fall the does a three picture burst. I'm sick of the delay on my 5 year old camera. :roll: