Sugarbush, VT 1/17/04 & Ascutney, VT 1/18

[Talisman]

I headed up to Sugarbush to avoid some of the crowds in So VT and perhaps find some natural snow. Sugarbush wasn't crowded with short liftlines for a holiday Saturday. Conditions varied a lot depending on the aspect of the trail. <BR> <BR>The best snow I found early was on North Lynx. The snow on the lift line was good enough for me to sample Castlerock. The wind packed snow on Castlerock was good and I stayed there until the line built up and headed to Heaven's Gate. Rip Cord was ugly even from the bail out from Castle Rock. Organ Grinder to Spillsville was OK, Jester was fun, Mall and Moon Shine had powder stashes. Great ski day for me because of the sun, reasonable temps and stashes of good snow. <BR> <BR>Ascutney was groomed and had decent cover that got skied off as the day progressed. Thai chi stanced and slowly snow plowing newbies were not having fun on Cloud Spin, but there were some fun lines. I liked the fake snow on the Face and Terminator. Upper exhibition which didn't start off in good condition became an unpleasant melange of ice, frozen granular, rocks and patches of loose granular, but better conditions existed further down the mountain. Lower Exhibition was a fun cruiser. Sunday at Ascutney had no bumps, no crowd and no real lift lines. <BR> <BR>Ascutney has some decent terrain for a medium sized ski area, but rarely seems to have it open. I heard there were issues with snow making water and the size of the pond. The upper part of the HSQ lift line had fake snow on it, but was closed though it looked skiable. Hopefully VT will get a dump and inject life into these ski areas.