J.Spin
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A link with additional pictures is available at the bottom of the report.
For the past couple of weeks, we?ve known about the $5.50 ski day in honor of the 47th anniversary of Sugarbush. I think it?s amazing that Sugarbush would have such an inexpensive day so close to the holidays, but we?re thankful they did. I guess you can?t change the date of your anniversary. E woke me up at around 3 A.M. on Friday morning to let me know that she had a stomach virus and would be off to spend some time in the bathroom. Unfortunately, her bout kept her off the slopes for the day, but James came by and picked me up in his big rig, and we caught up with Scott and his pop Bill at the Richmond Park-n-Ride.
The most obvious new feature at Sugarbush was the huge Clay Brook structure going up. It seems like it?s been a long time coming, but hopefully this project will finally give the Lincoln Peak base area a polished, cohesive feel. I had forgotten it was actually not a weekend, so even with a bit of delay we arrived well ahead of the Super Bravo loading. I think I saw SkiVT-Lers K and Bruno up in front of the lineup as well. For our first run, we took Downspout to Heaven?s Gate, and Downspout was in its usual hard-snow state. I was hoping this wasn?t going to be the case for other trails, and fortunately, it wasn?t. Jester had much softer snow, and many of the curves had leftover cut up powder along the edges. James was on his new (to him) Pilots that he had purchased from Chris, and he simply flew down Jester. Personally, it felt nice to be back on one of my favorite trails anywhere. I?ve yet to find another trail that has S curves quite like Jester. We continued on to Snowball & Racer?s Edge, finding soft packed powder all the way, and a couple of thin areas on Lower Snowball.
Our next few runs were off Gate House, and we ended up on Sleeper for our first run. I was hoping to find the usual amount of fun terrain contour, but they were making snow and the guns were generally pushing everyone more to the skier?s right of the trail. Also, the manmade snow made an inconsistent and sometimes chunky and hard surface. All in all there was absolutely no reason to ski that again, and if I could have taken the run back, I would have. It?s just too bad I couldn?t hear the guns from the start of the trail. Only a brief detour onto Sleeper Road provided real snow and a reprieve from the guns. We all knew there was no reason to go near Sleeper again for the day, so we headed down Pushover on the next run. The snow was nice, and there was thick untouched powder off the edge of trail. We all enjoyed jumping in and out as we skied along the edge. At one point, Scott found a nice looking patch of woods that looked inviting. The snow was actually pretty deep (I?d guess two feet or so) and powdery, it was just that there wasn?t any base to speak of. Still, our brief foray into the trees indicated that you could ski in there if you took care. Scott had fun making a jump off the trail into the powder (in honor of Greg) and I took a few photos. We finished off with a Hotshot/Waterfall, and only the Waterfall area really had any hard snow. I challenged my Pilot Hots to hold an edge there and they responded well.
After that it was another 2400 verts of full-length Jester/Snowball downhill, since everyone had enjoyed our first one so much. We hit the Ravenna?s Way option and the snow there was fantastic. When we finally got back down to the base area, the lift lines had exploded, possibly because both the Super Bravo and Gate House lifts had temporarily stopped. It was about 11:00A.M., and with the sudden surge of crowds, we determined it was time for lunch. We?d done almost 10,000 vertical feet of skiing by that point anyway, and at $5.50 a ticket, I don?t think any of us would have cried too hard about not getting our money?s worth.
Sugarbush seems to have been gradually upgrading their cafeteria setup over the past few years, mostly in layout and food offerings, so I always like to check out how things have improved since my previous visit. On my last trip (December 26th, 2003), we ate up at the Mushroom House with table service, so it?s been a long time since I?ve even been in the lower base lodge. The far end of the lodge with the fireplace has now turned into a table service area. This is a bit of a bummer, since it was always nice to sit by the fire on cold days. Still, if one wants to take a leisurely lunch, you can probably just head in there, order a couple small things, and relax for a while. In our case, we just hit the regular cafeteria, and I got an order of Chili in a bread bowl. It was $7, but I figured it would fill me up and it certainly did. James got the same, and Scott and his dad got an assortment of items including a nice salad. So, things were actually pretty good on the cafeteria front. With all the base area expansion in the future, and an extensive remodeling of the base lodge, I?m sure we?ll see even more options to come.
The plan was to meet Dave at the Super Bravo at 11:30, so I headed off to wait while the other guys took care of a few things. I waited until 11:45, and then figured he must have had delays getting to the mountain from Boston. The line at the Super Bravo was still pretty long, so we all headed over to the Gate House for a run. Scott wanted to have another shot at the jump he?d done earlier, now that he know the powder was so deep and there weren?t any underlying obstacles in his path. He went a little bigger, and wound up buried in the powder near a tree. Then, his dad did the same jump, took the same run out, and wound up buried with Scott in the same place. Everybody was cracking up over the father and son pile up. We did a little more skiing in the woods, and found it not all that bad, so I figured a little more powder skiing was in order. My idea was to take them over for a few fresh tracks on the condo access trail (I guess they?re calling it Cat?s Meow on the trail map now). It also seemed like a good time for another Jester/Snowball run.
We hiked up above the top of Heaven?s Gate to mix things up a little, but they had groomed all the way to the summit so it wasn?t anything too exciting. Jester was now showing some signs of wear from all the traffic, although Snowball was still as good as ever. With the Valley House Chair not running, and the Spring Fling Chair non existent, traffic seems really low on that side of the mountain. We cut into part of the Shop Run to get to Cat?s Meow, and although I had really meant for us to pick our way through to get to our destination, the skiing was actually pretty good. The powder was as deep as we?d seen earlier; it just had the same lack of substantial base. But, it was actually a lot of fun, so we pulled out the camera and snapped some photos. Cat?s Meow was OK, but there were actually a good number of tracks in there, so we had to pick around for some fresh lines.
A little powder seemed like a nice way to finish things off, so we decided to call it a day after that. We hadn?t caught up with either Dave or Chris (and Chris even had a radio) but we?d had an awesome day, and I figured we?d catch up with them for dinner that evening. I had listened in to the 3-13 FRS radio channel to hear the SkiVT-L chatter throughout the day, and had heard several calls and some discussion. I hadn?t planned to meet up because I already had a substantial group, and I don?t think a merge would have worked. Food resources were pooled back at our vehicles to create a little Vermont après ski treat of apples and Vermont cheddar. It felt pretty great to be back among the Green Mountains.
So overall, it was a great return to my favorite area. It was a little different in a couple of ways, one of which was dealing with lift lines, and the other was not spending much time exploring the trees. Even though lift lines were typically about 5 minutes, it felt long when you?re used to having essentially none. There was never a line at Heaven?s Gate, which is pretty typical, but it may have been reinforced by the fact that the clouds obscured the mountain above 3,000 feet throughout the day and visibility was limited at the top of the mountain. It would have been nice to have access to the North Lynx terrain though, that probably would have taken some strain off the lower lifts. Later that evening when I spoke to Dave, I found out why he was so late. When he arrived at Sugarbush South, the parking was full, so they sent him to North. Then, at North, he was getting the word that the parking was full and he should head to South. I can?t recall exactly how it ended, but I don?t think he actually got skiing until after we had left anyway. I had brought only my carving skis, and wanting to keep at least one set of skis with a sharp edge meant that I didn?t dare do too much exploring in the woods (or want to venture to Castle Rock). But, our couple of short trips into the trees (see the photos) indicated that tree skiing was a lot further along than I had thought. You just couldn?t go hog wild or hit really steep terrain everywhere. In a way, the warm up we?re having now will be useful if it consolidates all that fluffy powder into a legitimate base. Throw a dump or two of snow on top of that and the woods should really be ready.
Additional pictures from the day can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/23DEC05.html
J.Spin
For the past couple of weeks, we?ve known about the $5.50 ski day in honor of the 47th anniversary of Sugarbush. I think it?s amazing that Sugarbush would have such an inexpensive day so close to the holidays, but we?re thankful they did. I guess you can?t change the date of your anniversary. E woke me up at around 3 A.M. on Friday morning to let me know that she had a stomach virus and would be off to spend some time in the bathroom. Unfortunately, her bout kept her off the slopes for the day, but James came by and picked me up in his big rig, and we caught up with Scott and his pop Bill at the Richmond Park-n-Ride.
The most obvious new feature at Sugarbush was the huge Clay Brook structure going up. It seems like it?s been a long time coming, but hopefully this project will finally give the Lincoln Peak base area a polished, cohesive feel. I had forgotten it was actually not a weekend, so even with a bit of delay we arrived well ahead of the Super Bravo loading. I think I saw SkiVT-Lers K and Bruno up in front of the lineup as well. For our first run, we took Downspout to Heaven?s Gate, and Downspout was in its usual hard-snow state. I was hoping this wasn?t going to be the case for other trails, and fortunately, it wasn?t. Jester had much softer snow, and many of the curves had leftover cut up powder along the edges. James was on his new (to him) Pilots that he had purchased from Chris, and he simply flew down Jester. Personally, it felt nice to be back on one of my favorite trails anywhere. I?ve yet to find another trail that has S curves quite like Jester. We continued on to Snowball & Racer?s Edge, finding soft packed powder all the way, and a couple of thin areas on Lower Snowball.
Our next few runs were off Gate House, and we ended up on Sleeper for our first run. I was hoping to find the usual amount of fun terrain contour, but they were making snow and the guns were generally pushing everyone more to the skier?s right of the trail. Also, the manmade snow made an inconsistent and sometimes chunky and hard surface. All in all there was absolutely no reason to ski that again, and if I could have taken the run back, I would have. It?s just too bad I couldn?t hear the guns from the start of the trail. Only a brief detour onto Sleeper Road provided real snow and a reprieve from the guns. We all knew there was no reason to go near Sleeper again for the day, so we headed down Pushover on the next run. The snow was nice, and there was thick untouched powder off the edge of trail. We all enjoyed jumping in and out as we skied along the edge. At one point, Scott found a nice looking patch of woods that looked inviting. The snow was actually pretty deep (I?d guess two feet or so) and powdery, it was just that there wasn?t any base to speak of. Still, our brief foray into the trees indicated that you could ski in there if you took care. Scott had fun making a jump off the trail into the powder (in honor of Greg) and I took a few photos. We finished off with a Hotshot/Waterfall, and only the Waterfall area really had any hard snow. I challenged my Pilot Hots to hold an edge there and they responded well.
After that it was another 2400 verts of full-length Jester/Snowball downhill, since everyone had enjoyed our first one so much. We hit the Ravenna?s Way option and the snow there was fantastic. When we finally got back down to the base area, the lift lines had exploded, possibly because both the Super Bravo and Gate House lifts had temporarily stopped. It was about 11:00A.M., and with the sudden surge of crowds, we determined it was time for lunch. We?d done almost 10,000 vertical feet of skiing by that point anyway, and at $5.50 a ticket, I don?t think any of us would have cried too hard about not getting our money?s worth.
Sugarbush seems to have been gradually upgrading their cafeteria setup over the past few years, mostly in layout and food offerings, so I always like to check out how things have improved since my previous visit. On my last trip (December 26th, 2003), we ate up at the Mushroom House with table service, so it?s been a long time since I?ve even been in the lower base lodge. The far end of the lodge with the fireplace has now turned into a table service area. This is a bit of a bummer, since it was always nice to sit by the fire on cold days. Still, if one wants to take a leisurely lunch, you can probably just head in there, order a couple small things, and relax for a while. In our case, we just hit the regular cafeteria, and I got an order of Chili in a bread bowl. It was $7, but I figured it would fill me up and it certainly did. James got the same, and Scott and his dad got an assortment of items including a nice salad. So, things were actually pretty good on the cafeteria front. With all the base area expansion in the future, and an extensive remodeling of the base lodge, I?m sure we?ll see even more options to come.
The plan was to meet Dave at the Super Bravo at 11:30, so I headed off to wait while the other guys took care of a few things. I waited until 11:45, and then figured he must have had delays getting to the mountain from Boston. The line at the Super Bravo was still pretty long, so we all headed over to the Gate House for a run. Scott wanted to have another shot at the jump he?d done earlier, now that he know the powder was so deep and there weren?t any underlying obstacles in his path. He went a little bigger, and wound up buried in the powder near a tree. Then, his dad did the same jump, took the same run out, and wound up buried with Scott in the same place. Everybody was cracking up over the father and son pile up. We did a little more skiing in the woods, and found it not all that bad, so I figured a little more powder skiing was in order. My idea was to take them over for a few fresh tracks on the condo access trail (I guess they?re calling it Cat?s Meow on the trail map now). It also seemed like a good time for another Jester/Snowball run.
We hiked up above the top of Heaven?s Gate to mix things up a little, but they had groomed all the way to the summit so it wasn?t anything too exciting. Jester was now showing some signs of wear from all the traffic, although Snowball was still as good as ever. With the Valley House Chair not running, and the Spring Fling Chair non existent, traffic seems really low on that side of the mountain. We cut into part of the Shop Run to get to Cat?s Meow, and although I had really meant for us to pick our way through to get to our destination, the skiing was actually pretty good. The powder was as deep as we?d seen earlier; it just had the same lack of substantial base. But, it was actually a lot of fun, so we pulled out the camera and snapped some photos. Cat?s Meow was OK, but there were actually a good number of tracks in there, so we had to pick around for some fresh lines.
A little powder seemed like a nice way to finish things off, so we decided to call it a day after that. We hadn?t caught up with either Dave or Chris (and Chris even had a radio) but we?d had an awesome day, and I figured we?d catch up with them for dinner that evening. I had listened in to the 3-13 FRS radio channel to hear the SkiVT-L chatter throughout the day, and had heard several calls and some discussion. I hadn?t planned to meet up because I already had a substantial group, and I don?t think a merge would have worked. Food resources were pooled back at our vehicles to create a little Vermont après ski treat of apples and Vermont cheddar. It felt pretty great to be back among the Green Mountains.
So overall, it was a great return to my favorite area. It was a little different in a couple of ways, one of which was dealing with lift lines, and the other was not spending much time exploring the trees. Even though lift lines were typically about 5 minutes, it felt long when you?re used to having essentially none. There was never a line at Heaven?s Gate, which is pretty typical, but it may have been reinforced by the fact that the clouds obscured the mountain above 3,000 feet throughout the day and visibility was limited at the top of the mountain. It would have been nice to have access to the North Lynx terrain though, that probably would have taken some strain off the lower lifts. Later that evening when I spoke to Dave, I found out why he was so late. When he arrived at Sugarbush South, the parking was full, so they sent him to North. Then, at North, he was getting the word that the parking was full and he should head to South. I can?t recall exactly how it ended, but I don?t think he actually got skiing until after we had left anyway. I had brought only my carving skis, and wanting to keep at least one set of skis with a sharp edge meant that I didn?t dare do too much exploring in the woods (or want to venture to Castle Rock). But, our couple of short trips into the trees (see the photos) indicated that tree skiing was a lot further along than I had thought. You just couldn?t go hog wild or hit really steep terrain everywhere. In a way, the warm up we?re having now will be useful if it consolidates all that fluffy powder into a legitimate base. Throw a dump or two of snow on top of that and the woods should really be ready.
Additional pictures from the day can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/23DEC05.html
J.Spin
