NeedhamSkier
New member
Easily one of my best ever days on skis today at SB.
It looked like it snowed all night and there was 8-10 inches of light fluff on the car at the condo. This was more than any of the previous two mornings, which had already been pretty good days. My wife dropped me at the base area, hoping she would then be able to get the car back up the snow-covered road to our sleeping kids at the condo... (She did) My now customary 7.40 arrival got me chair 6 today, but I guess it was the Saturday of a holiday week, with nearly 3 feet of powder and a good weather forecast, so that's the severe punishment you get for sleeping in. Unbelievably quiet, all things considered.
First run was down Moonshine, with a couple of tracks before me, and surfing through boot-high snow. Dived into Eden's again after that, with 12--18" of soft pillows to bounce down. So good, I had to go back, and it was just as good second time round. Trees are very nicely spaced, no worries about rocks with all the previous snow, and most of the intermediate skiers on the trails either side seem to overlook it. Then lucked into meeting John, a frequent visitor to SB, in the singles line. He too had a 2-hour pass from his family for powder-based recreation and offered to take me into the woods. We hit a couple of nice knee-deep shots on the way to Castlerock and then did the run of the day (perhaps the year for me), which was Middle Earth. They had groomed it the night before (unusually for Castlerock, apparently) and now it had a layer of feather-light down on top. Maybe 6-8 skiers had been down before us, but we mined the edge of the trails all the way down for turn after turn, with powder flying everywhere, chest-high and more. It was awesome.
After that we hit Paradise trees, which were a bit more skied out (by about 10.45) but close to thigh-deep where you could get into some untracked. John finished by hitting the big ditch at the Bailout trail from Castlerock and burying himself in the powder. He was calling out to me, but I had come out further up the track and skied right past him before I turned and saw his powdery head sticking out of the snow from the ditch - it was quite a scene and I was glad to return his guiding favour by helping extract him from the waist-deep fluff. On that run, I was working hard in the steeper, tighter trees, but really felt like I got the very best of the Vermont powder experience today, with some local knowledge and a friendly guide. Sorry for the lack of photos, but I figured pictures of tracked snow aren't too exciting, and once I had somebody to ski with, I didn't want to hold things up too much with taking pictures. But I really wish I had taken some to help me remember today, particularly on Middle Earth.
My wife wanted to ski some, so I had to head home at 11.30 to relieve her (sorry, James, but I did get the trees this time...), but my legs were close to being done anyway - 3 1/2 hours of powder with no rests is a lot for me. Came out for a few runs with the kids this afternoon once ski-school was done. My 8 year-old has made great progress in just 4 days on a snowboard, and was linking turns very smoothly all the way down Sleeper this afternoon.
This was a great day's skiing, and the end to a very cool family vacation. Sugarbush has a lot of interesting trails, plus a ton of other terrrain to explore in the trees. Our kids have been happy at ski-school and the resort staff seem pretty welcoming. Cap all that off with with the snow we've had this week, it really can't be faulted.
It looked like it snowed all night and there was 8-10 inches of light fluff on the car at the condo. This was more than any of the previous two mornings, which had already been pretty good days. My wife dropped me at the base area, hoping she would then be able to get the car back up the snow-covered road to our sleeping kids at the condo... (She did) My now customary 7.40 arrival got me chair 6 today, but I guess it was the Saturday of a holiday week, with nearly 3 feet of powder and a good weather forecast, so that's the severe punishment you get for sleeping in. Unbelievably quiet, all things considered.
First run was down Moonshine, with a couple of tracks before me, and surfing through boot-high snow. Dived into Eden's again after that, with 12--18" of soft pillows to bounce down. So good, I had to go back, and it was just as good second time round. Trees are very nicely spaced, no worries about rocks with all the previous snow, and most of the intermediate skiers on the trails either side seem to overlook it. Then lucked into meeting John, a frequent visitor to SB, in the singles line. He too had a 2-hour pass from his family for powder-based recreation and offered to take me into the woods. We hit a couple of nice knee-deep shots on the way to Castlerock and then did the run of the day (perhaps the year for me), which was Middle Earth. They had groomed it the night before (unusually for Castlerock, apparently) and now it had a layer of feather-light down on top. Maybe 6-8 skiers had been down before us, but we mined the edge of the trails all the way down for turn after turn, with powder flying everywhere, chest-high and more. It was awesome.
After that we hit Paradise trees, which were a bit more skied out (by about 10.45) but close to thigh-deep where you could get into some untracked. John finished by hitting the big ditch at the Bailout trail from Castlerock and burying himself in the powder. He was calling out to me, but I had come out further up the track and skied right past him before I turned and saw his powdery head sticking out of the snow from the ditch - it was quite a scene and I was glad to return his guiding favour by helping extract him from the waist-deep fluff. On that run, I was working hard in the steeper, tighter trees, but really felt like I got the very best of the Vermont powder experience today, with some local knowledge and a friendly guide. Sorry for the lack of photos, but I figured pictures of tracked snow aren't too exciting, and once I had somebody to ski with, I didn't want to hold things up too much with taking pictures. But I really wish I had taken some to help me remember today, particularly on Middle Earth.
My wife wanted to ski some, so I had to head home at 11.30 to relieve her (sorry, James, but I did get the trees this time...), but my legs were close to being done anyway - 3 1/2 hours of powder with no rests is a lot for me. Came out for a few runs with the kids this afternoon once ski-school was done. My 8 year-old has made great progress in just 4 days on a snowboard, and was linking turns very smoothly all the way down Sleeper this afternoon.
This was a great day's skiing, and the end to a very cool family vacation. Sugarbush has a lot of interesting trails, plus a ton of other terrrain to explore in the trees. Our kids have been happy at ski-school and the resort staff seem pretty welcoming. Cap all that off with with the snow we've had this week, it really can't be faulted.
