riverc0il
New member
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i have said it else where many times, but any one who thinks this season has sucked hasn't been paying attention and getting out when it counts. you simply CAN NOT put work above skiing when there is fresh snow on the ground. i have had saddleback on my radar for three or four years now and finally everything lined up to get over there following 12" of fresh earlier this week. i think saddleback is perhaps even more over looked than burke as a great ski area no one skis. certainly one of my favorites now that i have made some turns there. summary and details below wih a video and pics to follow (probably tomorrow).
summary: met up with sledhaulingmedic at the base lodge just after 10am. we both experienced some delays getting there, but my delays were slightly worse (sorry 'bout that!). the place was PACKED!!! at LEAST 40 skiers there, maybe 45 counting patrol. i was mildly irritated at having to wait zero seconds for every lift that we rode. and for what?!?! terrible conditions, ranging from 6-12" of untracked powder, sometimes fluffy sometimes not, with lots of loose chewed up snow, sometimes wind blown and slabby or cruddy... essentially kinda variable. terrible conditions, especially more than a full day after the dump. then we got into the trees, and would you believe this??? no one had the common desency to track most of the glades up for us! freaking 12" of untracked light powder, who needs that? seriously folks, this place was a joke!
details: drivers approaching saddleback from VT should be wary of a few things regarding the directions saddleback suggests. first, route 16 in NH has frost heaves that will launch your car completely air born if you do the speed limit for freaking 15 miles, only slightly better in ME, but at least in NH 16 it is consistantly a rodeo, 16 in ME you truck along at 50 and then slam on the breaks, white knuckling the wheel, praying you don't crack something as you prepare for lift off. the bigger issue is the directions say to take 16 through rangeley; but what they don't tell you is that you need to go straight on 4 when 16 turns off. 15 minutes later... i see saddleback in my rear view mirror :shock: :shock: :shock: oops.
metup with the sledhauler just past 10am and booted up in saddleback's amazing new base lodge, this thing is a beauty, one of the nicest looking base lodges around. we boarded the rangeley double and took upper royal for a warm up. light POW under the lift, about 6", now that is how i like to warm up! the middle 500 verts of the mountain had light pow everywhere. higher up was slabby and down low was crusty, but still tons of untracked. i reflected upon our choice of mountains noting that wildcat would definitely not have a single untracked line today, same with jay and the loaf. rediculous. over to the classic hall telescoping tbar we went.
holy crap, what a trip that section of the mountain is. the map doesn't do it justice. the tbar is "not for beginners." a nice ride. keeps the boarders off as sled noted :lol: :wink: the top sections of tightlint and supervisor were scraped with windblown with a little snow making pipe on the entrance. we dropped into think wind blown variable snow that was rather firm and chopped up. with the wind howling, a quick descent was made to that magical 500' of verts area that had phenomenal pow. these trails were mostly tracked up with untracked lines on the sides. lower warden's worry was reserved for us and carried tons of great untracked pow with a fair amount of obstacles and geological treats, freaking sweet. felt like i was a mitty.
next up were some of the tightest glades i have ever skied :shock: all thick spruce with limbs (usually) chopped off. i dubbed "intimidator" the most aptly named trail in new england. we just kinda stood at the top looking at the trees then looking at each other. :shock: untracked pow everywhere made it easier than it might have been with just packed snow. lines longer than a dozen feet were hard to find, you needed to keep changing it up and trusting your current line and trusting your skis while looking for another. sick sick sick. then we tried dark wizard, HOLY CRAP!!! honestly folks, i can't remember the last time i stood at the top of a run shaking my head and reassessing my sanity :twisted: again, almost completely untracked helped. tight tight tight!!! how tight was it? :wink: :lol:
lower intimadator and lower nightmare glades were more open but also more tracked and less fluffy pow below the magic 500'. still, we occasionally scored jackpot untracked and lines were more forgiving.
run of the day was upper nightmare glades which seemed to get better every run, what a trail! sparse trees and lots of ostacles and terrain features. i found a killer rock jump skiers right while sled was delighting in untracked through sparse tree lines on skiers left.
upper professor had incredible light pow with some untracked up high, interesting terrain features, good curves, and variable snow down low. great powdery run out on ungroomed lower peachy's peril and lower green weaver. golden smelt was a rollarcoaster of turns and rolls, a new england classic by my standards, delving through various layers of crud from slabby to crusty, nice way to end the day.
muleskinner... what can i say? it kicked like a mule! that is definitely one of the best on piste trails in new england, you certainly traverse far enough from the lift to feel like it's not on piste! narrow, steep, tree islands, killer. we took two.
the price was so good, i got a burger and fries for dinner instead of bringing my own lunch. these guys deserved it for having this place open for less than 50 skiers. it was REALLY weird having to drive over 1.5 hours to ski after being spoiled with my new location, but it was well worth the extra milage. not well worth the frost heaves though! i took 17 to route 2 for the drive home which was a much nice drive and almost the same time despite the extra milage. recommended for VT and northern NH drivers.
/ \/ \/ i have said it else where many times, but any one who thinks this season has sucked hasn't been paying attention and getting out when it counts. you simply CAN NOT put work above skiing when there is fresh snow on the ground. i have had saddleback on my radar for three or four years now and finally everything lined up to get over there following 12" of fresh earlier this week. i think saddleback is perhaps even more over looked than burke as a great ski area no one skis. certainly one of my favorites now that i have made some turns there. summary and details below wih a video and pics to follow (probably tomorrow).
summary: met up with sledhaulingmedic at the base lodge just after 10am. we both experienced some delays getting there, but my delays were slightly worse (sorry 'bout that!). the place was PACKED!!! at LEAST 40 skiers there, maybe 45 counting patrol. i was mildly irritated at having to wait zero seconds for every lift that we rode. and for what?!?! terrible conditions, ranging from 6-12" of untracked powder, sometimes fluffy sometimes not, with lots of loose chewed up snow, sometimes wind blown and slabby or cruddy... essentially kinda variable. terrible conditions, especially more than a full day after the dump. then we got into the trees, and would you believe this??? no one had the common desency to track most of the glades up for us! freaking 12" of untracked light powder, who needs that? seriously folks, this place was a joke!
details: drivers approaching saddleback from VT should be wary of a few things regarding the directions saddleback suggests. first, route 16 in NH has frost heaves that will launch your car completely air born if you do the speed limit for freaking 15 miles, only slightly better in ME, but at least in NH 16 it is consistantly a rodeo, 16 in ME you truck along at 50 and then slam on the breaks, white knuckling the wheel, praying you don't crack something as you prepare for lift off. the bigger issue is the directions say to take 16 through rangeley; but what they don't tell you is that you need to go straight on 4 when 16 turns off. 15 minutes later... i see saddleback in my rear view mirror :shock: :shock: :shock: oops.
metup with the sledhauler just past 10am and booted up in saddleback's amazing new base lodge, this thing is a beauty, one of the nicest looking base lodges around. we boarded the rangeley double and took upper royal for a warm up. light POW under the lift, about 6", now that is how i like to warm up! the middle 500 verts of the mountain had light pow everywhere. higher up was slabby and down low was crusty, but still tons of untracked. i reflected upon our choice of mountains noting that wildcat would definitely not have a single untracked line today, same with jay and the loaf. rediculous. over to the classic hall telescoping tbar we went.
holy crap, what a trip that section of the mountain is. the map doesn't do it justice. the tbar is "not for beginners." a nice ride. keeps the boarders off as sled noted :lol: :wink: the top sections of tightlint and supervisor were scraped with windblown with a little snow making pipe on the entrance. we dropped into think wind blown variable snow that was rather firm and chopped up. with the wind howling, a quick descent was made to that magical 500' of verts area that had phenomenal pow. these trails were mostly tracked up with untracked lines on the sides. lower warden's worry was reserved for us and carried tons of great untracked pow with a fair amount of obstacles and geological treats, freaking sweet. felt like i was a mitty.
next up were some of the tightest glades i have ever skied :shock: all thick spruce with limbs (usually) chopped off. i dubbed "intimidator" the most aptly named trail in new england. we just kinda stood at the top looking at the trees then looking at each other. :shock: untracked pow everywhere made it easier than it might have been with just packed snow. lines longer than a dozen feet were hard to find, you needed to keep changing it up and trusting your current line and trusting your skis while looking for another. sick sick sick. then we tried dark wizard, HOLY CRAP!!! honestly folks, i can't remember the last time i stood at the top of a run shaking my head and reassessing my sanity :twisted: again, almost completely untracked helped. tight tight tight!!! how tight was it? :wink: :lol:
lower intimadator and lower nightmare glades were more open but also more tracked and less fluffy pow below the magic 500'. still, we occasionally scored jackpot untracked and lines were more forgiving.
run of the day was upper nightmare glades which seemed to get better every run, what a trail! sparse trees and lots of ostacles and terrain features. i found a killer rock jump skiers right while sled was delighting in untracked through sparse tree lines on skiers left.
upper professor had incredible light pow with some untracked up high, interesting terrain features, good curves, and variable snow down low. great powdery run out on ungroomed lower peachy's peril and lower green weaver. golden smelt was a rollarcoaster of turns and rolls, a new england classic by my standards, delving through various layers of crud from slabby to crusty, nice way to end the day.
muleskinner... what can i say? it kicked like a mule! that is definitely one of the best on piste trails in new england, you certainly traverse far enough from the lift to feel like it's not on piste! narrow, steep, tree islands, killer. we took two.
the price was so good, i got a burger and fries for dinner instead of bringing my own lunch. these guys deserved it for having this place open for less than 50 skiers. it was REALLY weird having to drive over 1.5 hours to ski after being spoiled with my new location, but it was well worth the extra milage. not well worth the frost heaves though! i took 17 to route 2 for the drive home which was a much nice drive and almost the same time despite the extra milage. recommended for VT and northern NH drivers.
