Sugarbush, VT 18NOV99

Jay Silveira

New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 11/19/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <BR> This week, the Northern Green Mountains received 2-3 feet of snow due to <BR>a storm that did a "sit and spin" maneuver up near the mouth of the the <BR>St. Lawrence Seaway. It effectively pulled moisture off the Atlantic <BR>Ocean, spun it in a counterclockwise flow around the center of the low <BR>pressure system and plastered the moisture on our mountains in the form <BR>of snow. 2+ feet is a great snowfall for any time of year, but for mid <BR>November, it's outstanding. Even with all the snow accumulating in the <BR>mountains on Monday and Tuesday, near the lake in Burlington we didn't <BR>receive much more than a dusting, even though we had a few periods of <BR>moderate snow. Ironically, a very small system that came through <BR>Wednesday night gave more accumulating snow (about 1/2 inch) on the <BR>ground in Burlington than the entire 2 1/2 day event. <BR>I had work to do in the morning, so I didn't get to the mountain <BR>until around 11:00 A.M., and I could see that all the trails were <BR>totally tracked up, even Spring Fling. I decided to first take a trip <BR>up the Gate House, then head to the top of North Lynx and see if any <BR>untracked snow remained in those reaches. I checked with the ski patrol <BR>at the top and they recommended taking Sunshine, good snow, but watch <BR>out for the cover. Sunshine was basically tracked up, but even when I <BR>did find untracked powder (sides of the trail still had some), it had <BR>settled quite a bit (even up at that elevation of 3300') and was really <BR>nothing like what I'd heard about the past two days. My Midfats were at <BR>the factory for a delamination, so I was on my Betacarves. If I stood <BR>on top of the untouched snow in many areas, I would only sink in about <BR>an inch or two, that's how much it had settled. It was actually darn <BR>tough skiing all things considered, trying to stay in good form amidst <BR>this thick stuff that wanted to make you go any which way. After <BR>finishing off Sunshine, I headed straight below the Gate House lift on <BR>Hot Shot to hit the steep section of Waterfall. I had my eyes on the <BR>skier's left hand side, which remained untracked near the snowmaking <BR>pipes and is always one of my roommates favorite shots. As expected, <BR>the snow here was well settled, and even with the pressure created by <BR>this steeper slope, I was only going into the snow about 6 inches max. <BR>I really had to muscle it and get up out of the snow to make good <BR>turns. Oh, where for art the light billowy stuff from the last two <BR>days?! I now came to the bottom of the Waterfall pitch and decided that <BR>maybe the woods would be better? I realized that I was now in the realm <BR>of the new gladed trail known as "Deeper Sleeper", so I hung a right <BR>onto Sleeper Road, and before I knew it, I was face to face with an <BR>untracked, unroped glade! Despite the excitement of this encounter, the <BR>skiing was basically hampered again by the snow consistency. With that <BR>pitch, and the consistency of the snow, it was basically all I could do <BR>to go straight line it and keep up my speed, the snow was just too <BR>thick. I will say this though, Deeper Sleeper was cut really nicely for <BR>folks that are just going to be getting into skiing the trees. The only <BR>things remaining were the big trees, and these ranged from probably 5 to <BR>20 feet apart. There are lots of nice dips and rolls in there, it's <BR>probably 40-50 feet wide, and the pitch is perfect for learning. You <BR>need the right kind of powder, but I've skied those woods many times <BR>before, and 6-12 inches of champagne will set you just right and you'll <BR>float around in a dreamlike state ;) I realized that I'd had first <BR>tracks on Deeper Sleeper (for what they were worth) but I then later <BR>realized that these COULD be the first tracks EVER on the trail (since <BR>it had been cleared at least). I'm at least going to assume that until <BR>I learn otherwise. When my friend E heard about this, she was already <BR>groaning about how many times she'd have to hear me talk about it this <BR>season - I'm already thinking of doing a video segment on it, lol ;) <BR>I was thinking of checking out Castlerock since it was supposed <BR>to open, so I headed up Heaven's Gate and banked over to murphy's Glade <BR>to check out the snow on skier's right. As with the other snow, it had <BR>settled pretty well but it made for some nice turns anyway. It was <BR>certainly skiing more "on top" of the snow than in it. I stopped and <BR>talked a fellow on the trail who was using a metal detector to search <BR>for a ski that he had lost in the powder the day before. He obviously <BR>wasn't going to profit much from my help, so I wished him luck and went <BR>on my way. The entrance to the Castlerock lift was roped, although it <BR>seemed like people had been down there earlier. I headed on back down <BR>to the Super Bravo Chair, and found John Egan just removing his skis. <BR>He said that they had to stop Castlerock for a bit to work on the lift, <BR>but it would be opening back up. <BR>I knew that I'd have to be getting back to work soon, so I did a <BR>quick run down Domino (cut up powder and bumps - slightly lighter than <BR>the stuff I'd hit at Lynx) and hit Heaven's Gate. From there I finished <BR>off with a nice cruise of the Jester Downhill (Jester - Valley House <BR>Traverse - Snowball - Ravenna's Way - Snowball - Racer's Edge.) Even <BR>though the fluffy light powder of earlier this week is probably not <BR>going to be around this weekend due to warmer temps, there should still <BR>be plenty of soft snow and terrain for everyone. At last check <BR>(Friday), they were reporting 60 trails and the last I heard from the <BR>RSN Sugarbush Chat is that they are holding off opening North until next <BR>week. <BR> <BR>J.Spin
 
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