Date: March 12, 2008

Resort: Sugarbush

Conditions: 3-4 inches of P/Chow, MG and FG underneath. Some ice underneath as well.

Weather: Snow, cold, wind. (Typical Mount Ellen Conditions)

2007-2008 Trip Report #: 44

Report: OK, it has been waaaaayyyy too long since I have been to Mt. Ellen. It was my home for much of College...and this season with some of the craziness at Law School and life has prevented me from getting back...until now.

Got to the mountain early. Got on the first chair. Warm up run down Cruiser was nice...no complaints at all...then it was off to Cliffs, which was slick underneath, but not bad otherwise. It was not too bad because I hit it at least three times during the day:



From here I went up to the top...figuring I would do FIS. But I peered down into the white beyond and saw ice...and that only the "men's tee" was open. So I opted to wait...and I did attempt to push myself over the edge on at least three more occasions....

Hit Rim Run to Elbow...nice. Then hit Rim Run, Looking Good, Northstar, Which Way, etc. So I hit pretty much everything that had seen a groomer since Monday. Exterminator was sketchy...quite slick...but I found that later in the afternoon it got better.

After lunch I noticed that Inverness side was empty, so I hiked over via Northway and hit Brambles, Inverness, Semi-Tough, and Walt's Way. Brambles was icy underneath with about 4 inches of pow on top...Lower Brambles was nice and soft...well worth the hike. Inverness was OK, but not groomed edge-to-edge. Semi-Tough was rough....it had not been groomed and there were icy things that lurked beneath the surface...beware. Walt's Way was really nice...and had lots of chow and pow...I hit it three times.

I even ventured over to the Sunny D area for a quick spin. Things look good over there....

In the afternoon I lapped the North Ridge Express...many thanks for opening it. People were loving it...Elbow was great. I found plenty of drifted snow on Northstar in the afternoon...loved it. I did not venture onto my beloved Lower FIS because it looked a bit too sketchy...soon I hope it will be better.

Now for some pics:

Cruiser:



Brambles:



Lower Brambles:



Walt's Way:



Looking Good:



Northstar/Lower Exterminator:



The gallery.

A lot of people overlook Mt Ellen... it truly is a great mountain and rarely is crowded, even on the busy weekends. There's also a lot of great terrain over there, especially when the conditions are right. Had the trails over on the I-Pod not received the "schmeg" they received over the weekend, I'm sure they would be in premo condition. A couple weeks ago, they had groomed Semi-Tough and it was the first time I've ever "cruised" (literally) down it... well worth the "hike", though Northway gives me just enough pitch to keep me going. I have plans to go there twice between now and Sunday, as that's where my pass is good at, and definetely worth every penny!
Great pics.

Nice job. See you on the hill Friday!

ya shoulda tried FIS. I was up there yesterday, and ran skier right 3 times. There was tons of snow over that ice. Edges would scrape every few turns, but otherwise a really fun time. Bravo also skiing very nicely. Not so much for exterminator.