January Trail Conditions Reports

[Tin Woodsman]

Have at it folks.

[itsallaboutpow]

Skied LP today (Friday) , Ripcord (skiers right) pretty nice, very fun, Spillsville, nice up top. but was pretty thin after the half way point. Birdland (right down the middle) had great snow, Murphys was a little thin. The middle of lower OrginGrinder was a little slick, the lower section was nice and soft. All in All .. a really fun day, but you had to work for it and pick your way down. Absolutley worth coming up and skiing !!

[RopeTow]

Hi -- Here's a trail condition report for int and advanced skiers. Skiied LP today Sat 1/14. Most of the pow from yesterday was skiied off, atleast on the trails (as opposed to woods). Ripcord "ok" but a fair amount of windscouring left lots of annoying machine made frozen granular stretches, esp in the middle of the trail. as usual, sides were softer and better. Hard to hold an edge on the machine made wind scour. (Do I read Ripcord will be groomed tonight?) Frankly, upper Organgrinder, while ungroomed and somewhat weirdly shaped by the snow blowers was better and the snow quality was softer and better. Hotshot, including Waterfall, had nice snow top to bottom on the sides and the middle. Waterfall was only lightly bumped and had good snow. It was nicely skiable and turns on the steepest pitch of Waterfall were easy. Downspout (as usual) was the worst trail I skied. Pow largely skied off leaving the machine made frozen granular base. pretty terrible. Spring Fling was especially nice with large stretches of soft on both sides and in the middle and some nicely formed very skiable smaller bumps. Lower Snowball was very soft and skiable although the guns were on both times I came through. Sleeper was very nice yesterday, I didn't ski it today. They had the guns on Steins all day and I heard it may be groomed and opened tomorrow, as well as the trails off North Lynx. That should be nice. RopeTow

[HowieT2]

Snowball was in great shape. As was sleeper and waterfall when we hit in the morning. Ripcord and paradise had lots of snow again in the morning. Middle earth was sublime. The upper level woods have lots of sweet powder but little base.

[itsallaboutpow]

If you have to ask how it was today (Sat 1/14/12) then you missed it :-(

Some woods at ME .. some more POW vids to come

http://vimeo.com/35073877

[RopeTow]

I thought conditions were "interesting" today. The frigid cold wasn't uncomfortable since we dressed for it, but we found a lot of snow that slid a bit like sand...the snow wasn't nearly as soft and slippery ==buttery== as yesterday. It was nice to ski North Linx but the very top of Birch Run was quite thin. I hit a rock traversing at medium speed. It popped my binding, and I went flying, landing on my thigh on another mostly submerged rock. The cover was much better a bit further down.

[gostan]

Sure, top of Birch was thin, but remember that it was marked thin cover and experts only. Glad your fall did not hurt you.

I want to thank the MT for delaying the opening of North Lynx to Sunday& for adding Steins to the mix as well. This well thought out plan gave us all something new to play on after a fabulous Saturday. And, we were definitely pleasantly surprised to find all 3 trails all untracked at the opening of NL since our original thought was that the Lincoln Limo would have cut it all up before the rest of us got to it. Win, Saturday & Sunday were a blast, and the cold blast did not really affect all of the fun!

[ReefBum]

Sure, top of Birch was thin, but remember that it was marked thin cover and experts only. Glad your fall did not hurt you.

I want to thank the MT for delaying the opening of North Lynx to Sunday& for adding Steins to the mix as well. This well thought out plan gave us all something new to play on after a fabulous Saturday. And, we were definitely pleasantly surprised to find all 3 trails all untracked at the opening of NL since our original thought was that the Lincoln Limo would have cut it all up before the rest of us got to it. Win, Saturday & Sunday were a blast, and the cold blast did not really affect all of the fun!Agree.....The untracked powder on Sunday was awesome and it was a terrific follow-up to an incredible day on Saturday. I ran out of gas by noon today after skiing so hard the past 2 days.

[itsallaboutpow]

What a weekend .. I stayed at the North, no lines on Saturday .. untracked could be found all morning.

The pic at the beginning of this video was run #5

http://vimeo.com/35150446

[mattlucas]

4-6 today. Nice stuff everywhere except where they blew snow. Still not impressed with the new guns. Are there laws for Arborcide on the books in Vermont? 60-100 pounds of snowmaking ice on trees around the gatehouse. I imagine those limbs will come down this season or next, and then the trees. It kind of sucks. I look at trails like Murphy's and can remember what it looked like way back when. At the time, I thought that was the exception but unfortunately it's the rule. The snow guns seem capable of doing real damage to the foliage. I can't help but feel like Sugarbush will need a policy of refoliage and buddy trees in stands to preserve areas like Slowpoke for the next generation.

Getting back to conditions it was cold and windy so I stayed in the sun and didn't push it. Snowball, and Sunrise were real treats and I did them a bunch.

Steins is closed because it needs to get the wales rolled out. I think the base will be around 3-5 feet of ice when it's buffed, which should keep it open and edgeable for awhile this spring. I would have liked to test it on the glacier but didn't want to poach. It looked pretty intimidating in a good way. I'd rather get into some tough skiing and possibly long slides on an empty trail like that then a crowded one like Downspout, even without the whippet. Downspout was actually better than I expected today by no small margin for what it is worth, so perhaps I shouldn't pick on it.

The worst surfaces were anywhere old frozen moguls had consolidated. I'd stick to the groomers and wait for more snow. Woods in my mind are out of play. Poked around and it is thin. Wouldn't advise anyone to do any serious skiing whatsoever in the trees.

[RopeTow]

Mrs Tow and I are heading up tomorrow for 3 days. Anybody want to update the conditions? How much damage from the rain? How are Ripcord, Grinder and Paradise?
How's the top of Ellen? Any new info would be much appreciated.
Rope.

[Yard Sale]

After the weather that was called for this past week, my expectations for this past weekend were pretty low. Got off at exit 5 late Friday evening just as the roads were slicking up. As I was steering the minivan down the fall line Rox Mtn Rd, the snow was blowing a little bit, but I was pretty sure that I was in for some firm fast and frozen runs in the morning. However, in the morning I was pleasantly surprised. That mixed precip from Friday resulted in a nice edgeable sugary topping. From Steins to Ripcord, Grinder, Paradise to CR right around the whole ridge around to North Lynx and back again to Snow Ball and Spring Fling, I thought the whole mountain (South) skied great. Run of the day was Lift Line.

Things appear to be looking up for the weekend ahead too.

[jwt]

Had the pleasure of getting some fresh tracks on Mt Ellen Sat and the snow was still soft Sunday at South - but it was colder and windy Sunday - Sat was nowhere near as cold or windy at North - surprise!

I saw far less bare spots than last w/e - this added base of 4" of snow and then 1/2" of rain seemed to be perfect for the long run, as even Bravo/Encore had no dirt on it, none.

Exterminator had fresh blow in and pillow to pillow turns Sat morning and afternoon! ( Remember, all these aforementioned trails face due north)

Woods are ready with 2-3 more feet - we have the base we have not had all season in there now. Top 700 feet might be good now, but how is one going to bail after that 1st 700 is passed?

As Egan said on chair - 'w/o 5-7' in there, we pull bark out if folks a**es all day long' Well, we got 2 or 3 of it.

Friday and days leading into it look great.

[skiladi]

It has jumped 10 degrees since sundown but yesterday was good and today was pretty darn good. Did Castlerock both days with little to no ski damage. Trees were doable and not dangerous. Top 1/2 of Slidebrook was heavenly , bottom purgatorial but not hellish. ; }

[ReefBum]

Any more reports on the natural snow trails? Interested to hear how things were impacted by the mid-week warm up and subsequent cool down.

[itsallaboutpow]

Any more reports on the natural snow trails? Interested to hear how things were impacted by the mid-week warm up and subsequent cool down.

I know you don;t want to hear about Tuesday (the day before the rain) .. as it was awesome .. I think todays facebook page pic says it all about current conditions .. note
no loose snow around skier's skis ...

[ReefBum]

Yeah....some boilerplate for sure today on the natural terrain.

[itsallaboutpow]

Win .. what are the plans to make this weekend's skiing "special" ?
Your team did a GREAT job last Saturday with the snowmaking on Steins and Spring fling (they were awesome .. lapped them most of the day).
Maybe Stein's and Ripcord this sat ??

thanks

[klop]

Bring your edges and your layers this weekend. Nice day today with very fast conditions. Ski safely, everyone.

[ReefBum]

Some nice corn today on Castlerock Run and Sleeper. And everything off of North Lynx skied very well. Key was to follow the sun. Top of Twist was actually nice this AM.

With the temps dropping this weekend things will definitely be firmer so hopefully mother nature will help out a bit.

[itsallaboutpow]

Saturday was a tough day .. some reasonable conditions could be found .. but some really scary, icy and dangerous stuff as well. Two more deaths (Jay and Mt Snow) and a quote from ski patrol "we have been very busy" highlight the fact that everyone needs to be careful.

[HowieT2]

Saturday was a tough day .. some reasonable conditions could be found .. but some really scary, icy and dangerous stuff as well. Two more deaths (Jay and Mt Snow) and a quote from ski patrol "we have been very busy" highlight the fact that everyone needs to be careful.

Agreed. The woods were firm but edge able. Had a couple nice runs on ripcord, jester and birch. But my last run on birch I caught an edge and took a major tumble. No ill effects but that was it for me and taking today off as well.

Hoping we get some love at the end of the week.

[gostan]

First, let me commend the MT on continuing to make the winter of 2011-12freeze-thaw cycled snow work as best as possible yesterday morning.

Second, let me say that it is definitely a bit scary out there with speeding out of control skiers and riders all over the place seemingly out of control. Maybe, the ski patrol (& the ski instructors as well) need to slow some folks down; especially when one considers that 100% open does not extrapolate into safe conditions for all skiers.

Maybe I am still trying to overcome my BC 6 days of soft snow conditions, but I was spent the entire day yesterday looking behind and beside me worrying about a bunch of seriously out of control skiers and riders. Maybe the ski patrol needs to be a bit more proactive instead of reactive. I was told yesterday that there were an extraordinary amount of injuries last Weekend although this has not yet been re confirmed. Be careful out there.

No doubt at all that we and the rest of ski country inUSA need more snow,but if it does not come soon my dayS on the slopes in the balance of 11-12 ski season may diminish dramatically as there are better challenges out there during the rest of 2012 besides frozen granular, granular & ice. I hope that my ski season does not move to golf season before I get my full ride of snow!

PS. My ski reports if I were a ski reporter for Sugarbush would be a bit more realistic than the reports that are being promulgated on the SB website. Some time when I read the MT ski report I feel like I am at Killington instead of SB. Sorry to make this comment, but 100% open & blue bird skis do not necessarily equal great safe skiing..

Snow.....Snow....Snow........

[skiladi]

At least , chronologically. Yesterday was very sweet. All groomers pleasant with milder temps and sun. Paradise was a nice surprise. Amazing what a few inches of fresh can do. Also tested some low pitch , north-facing woods. Happy girl. Now if the week's forecast stays snow for the Mt. we should have a nice weekend. Keep dancing,people! ; }

[Pastime]

I guess I will follow Skiladi and continue with February conditions in this post. I went on the snow report just now and noticed they were saying that three inches fell at mid mountain. I then went to the web cam and noticed no snow on a roof or walkway. Can anyone fill us in that was skiing today? I do not care if it snows at all at the base - I do care about further up! That was I save on plowing, I do not need to shovel and the skiing is good!

[win]

Yes, We had 3" mid-mountain up, but if we got anything at the base it was gone by morning with temps above freezing. Skiing today was excellent and that is no exaggeration. Even some nice woods.

[shadyjay]

Conditions these past few days have been really good. The groomers are doing one heck of a job. The soft snow made for some great turns on some trails that weren't groomed, including Sunrise. Wish I was able to get a ride on a groomed Upper OG today.

As a side note...

While listening to the radio today, I heard a region-wide snow report which stated the various mileage of terrain that resorts in VT and NH are offering. Killington only has 45 miles of terrain open. Sugarbush has 53 miles!!! I think that's pretty good - that we have more terrain open than the "so-called" beast. In reality, it doesn't come down to the number of trails, but rather the mileage. And we got it, some come n' get it soon!

AND KEEP THINKING SNOW!!!!!

[itsallaboutpow]

Shadyjay .. groomers .. what .. itsallaboutpow .. and there was plenty of that .. all of this was off of SuperBravo today :-)

http://vimeo.com/37038074

[Hawk]

Now I know who that was. I'm going to be extra early next time.

[HowieT2]

Today was good, borderline great. Skied north lynx in the morning. Sunrise was groomed and the snow was great. Went over to Mellon. Powder on the groomers and the woods were super fun. Returned and did north lynx again. Birch run still had powder to rip. granulated sugar on sleeper.

[Hawk]

Your expectations are low. ;-)

[HowieT2]

Your expectations are low. ;-)

You're spoiled.

[Hawk]

Not from this year. Scraped around the woods a bit for variety today. Yay!!!!! Low angle was managable.

[vonski]

Alright, not having a pass this year has been mis and good fortune. I finally made it up for Saturday skiing at the Bush, and had an excellent day. I have been to Mt. snow day tripping from CT and what a difference. I was tired after one run on Jester compared to a day of skiing at Mt. Snow, not really, but WOW the Bush is so more intense and BETTER trail wise. I found my regular hidden stashes and had an early awesome run thru Eden. The low pitch woods are definitely in play if you take it easy. I made numerous fresh tracks on Saturday. Keep Dancing hoping to get a full Month of March in skiing.

[Hawk]

Weekend was tremendous. ;-) Enough said........... So they got 2-4" more last night and they are forecasting another 6+" for tomorrow night. Looks like Thursday will be another dandy? After that the weekend looks like a crap shoot. Hopefully it will be a net gain for you guys.

I however will be chasing the snow out to Whistler for a week with my awesome and beautiful ski buddy. I think a little pow retreat for the two of us will improve my attitude greatly. ;-) Best of luck and leave me some goods for my return.

[beelze]

just a quick note for people looking for an update... was only out very briefly at LP. Conditions overall seemed to be holding up well. snow was a little bit grippier as temps warmed up. Overall pretty nice and more typical of what most would expect for a nice Feb. day.. 7 out of 10

note: 1/10=rain, ice and bare spots 5.5/10=average 10/10=2+ feet of fresh,bluebird and 89 closed.

[Brew Ski]

just a quick note for people looking for an update... was only out very briefly at LP. Conditions overall seemed to be holding up well. snow was a little bit grippier as temps warmed up. Overall pretty nice and more typical of what most would expect for a nice Feb. day.. 7 out of 10

note: 1/10=rain, ice and bare spots 5.5/10=average 10/10=2+ feet of fresh,bluebird and 89 closed.

Nice/interesting rating scale.
Thanks for the update. Will make my 2 pm phone conference more tolerable.

[RopeTow]

Was there any unfrozen precip on the mtn today (Saturday)? Or did we dodge the bullet?

[HowieT2]

Dodged a major bullet.. A brief period of misty ncp. SOme wind holds but otherwise a great spring day. Heard south of here gitc drenched.

[beelze]

Lincoln Peak. The key word for the day is probably wax. While slush (black) wax may help you on the last 100 yards to the Bravo, yellow better choice as rest of snow is sticky but not corn. Would be nice if mtn. ops could minimize the upward parts of the traverse over to upper snowball/steins. On the whole, conditions were good, 6/10. I did not do steins or spills but did see a number of people there. Ripcord was riding nicely. Spring Fling a little changable between sun/shade and traffic patters. Right side smoother.

Was somewhat concerned by use of greeters/ambassadors to scan passes....have to wonder if mgt is not expecting to make it much past this week or if this was an abberation.

[Brew Ski]

Lincoln Peak. The key word for the day is probably wax. While slush (black) wax may help you on the last 100 yards to the Bravo, yellow better choice as rest of snow is sticky but not corn. Would be nice if mtn. ops could minimize the upward parts of the traverse over to upper snowball/steins. On the whole, conditions were good, 6/10. I did not do steins or spills but did see a number of people there. Ripcord was riding nicely. Spring Fling a little changable between sun/shade and traffic patters. Right side smoother.

Was somewhat concerned by use of greeters/ambassadors to scan passes....have to wonder if mgt is not expecting to make it much past this week or if this was an abberation.

A little clarification please. Greeters/ambassadors scanning passes,...where? In the lift line or where the greeters usually stand on the walkway by timbers and the schoolhouse?

Thanks for the update too. Hows the cover?

[beelze]

they have been using ambassadors to scan passes at the Bravo chair the past two days (older people in blue jackets, right?). I saw one regular employee there in standard green sugarbush attire as I left around 2pm. Didn't do anything off Gatehouse so no idea over there.

We lost a little cover overnight, I think mostly from the temps as the only rain was for about 10 or 15 minutes around 11am and was light. Most of LP was in the shade from clouds today with some sun after 2pm, mostly towards spring fling/snowball. Usual suspects going first - castle rock , a few bits on murphy's. Chance of some wet snow tomorrow night but temps look to be in the high 50's to mid 60s in the valley through at least mid week next. I'm guessing by next week we'll be down to spring fling, steins, ripcord, upper organ grinder if these temps (ignoring any chance of rain) hold. Will try for ME tomorrow or thurs and will bring camera.

[Brew Ski]

Thanks for the update.
I'm thinking that mid next week it gets cold again and March goes out like a raging lion and pukes 34" of spring delight.
That's right, we have spirit yes, we do, we've got spirit, how 'bout you?
Of course I could just tie one on and start insulting Ullr in the most inappropriate way, just to piss him off. Like he has the ability or the guts to dump on me during my week vacation! I triple dog dare you Ullr! Triple dog! You can't not take a triple dog dare!!!!
No snow tires Ullr! Can't even find my snow shovel!!!
...

[beelze]

brief visit. panorama off summit was a bit sketchy but once off that snow was generally firm but a little corn like. rim run was quite fast. I am saving my bum leg for Steins (if I'm gonna re-injure than I want it on something worthwhile!) so skipped Looking good and Elbow. Quite a few doing LG and bumps were numerous but generally low and snow looked soft. Inquire on Elbow was that bumps were varied in size and softness. Does not appear anything up top other than rim run has been groomed in recent times.
I did take some photos and if I can figure out how to upload will do. Brambles looks pretty well shot. Cliffs beginning to have challenges.

And as I am his faithful servant, Ullr did show himself to me!

[beelze]

attached a few shots from Wed. Was not that much different at ME yesterday but we had a heavy rain shower roll through around midnight last night and have some more rain now though looks not to be an all day affair, or at least not a very heavy one.

Included what will hopefully not be the last images of new snow!

[beelze]

A double for you guys. 3/19 ME: Unless you are trying to do upper FIS, take the wrap around getting off the summit chair as the other route has no snow (at least mid day 3/19). Rim run was still ok back to chair with one soggy spot at FIS exit. Looking good was ok. Upper FIS staring to have rocks show. Elbow bumps got big again, left side the easier way. Cruiser had a few patches showing up. I did manage to take the Northway over to Inverness (all the way on my board!) there are likely now a few breaks from water flow but should be ok. Inverness was not as good as hoped I think mostly because nobody had used it so was still feeling setup from cooler overnite temps even at 1pm. A few patches to go around but not an issue on 3/19.

3/20 LP: Regrets I can't tell you about Ripcord or Upper OGrinder the bumps looked a little bigger than I wanted to risk on 80% legs. From what I could see, entrance to Grinder may be on the way out but that just means walking down a few feet to get started. Ripcord did appear mostly ok but I'm guessing the lower part might start to have issues. Jester looks done, if not officilally than for anyone with good equpiment still on. Steins in good shape, a rock here and there poking through. Upper snowball pushing way left near moonshine entrance, perhaps they can move a bit of snow to improve the cover. Other wise it was still ok. Spring Fling still good, far right around the middle looked to have some grass coming through. Did not do lower snowball but looks to be going.

The End is probably very near folks. Temps look to return to only 'damn its warm' from 'stupid warm' Friday and through middle next week. With a little luck it gets cold enough to allow groomers a chance to push some of whats left around a bit and maybe mellow RipCord out a little bit too but not looking good for new snow.

[beelze]

Was nice and sunny so went up to check out Steins lunchtime on Tues. They had winched it the night before. GMVS had just come off the run as I got there. The conditions were a bit odd but still pretty good considering. Only a handful of icy spots. The surface was still a little firm but and edge slippage was saved by the fine granular 'powder' (probably roughly an inch, give or take.) Took three runs and headed back for work like things.. had I been in better shape leg wise would have stayed longer and rode more agressively. Best guess was about 10 to 12 people doing the run.


3/29 update: We had drizzle and brief showers here late yesterday and temps have remained cold, Flurries pretty much all morning. Been watching the webcam and looks to be about 3 skiiers going down... definitely more turning going on than on Tuesday. Think I'll give it a go tomorrow with the slightly warmer (and sunnier) conditions as my edges are well shot at this point.

Be good and be safe up there

[RopeTow]

Looking at the webcam this morning (April 25) the top half of Steins and The Mall are again snow covered....wonder what happened at the top of the mountain...

[pcampbell]

Looking at the webcam this morning (April 25) the top half of Steins and The Mall are again snow covered....wonder what happened at the top of the mountain...


here is one from yesterday morning
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/6963774460_8a840a0cb1_z.jpg

looking further up, it's more white but just not really enough to work with
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/6963770266_a1af9c885d_z.jpg

i would think there's a tiny bit more today than tomorrow and it might keep coming little by little for the next 1-2 days. i'll checkup slope MRG tomorrow or Friday to see what it is like.

it's been flurrying or dip n dotting on and off even at lower elevations.

[pcampbell]

This is from this morning... It looks snowier at the top than Tuesday, but it's been very sunny today.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/6969935954_3899d4a7bf_c.jpg

[Hawk]

So is Ripcord and orgrinder still skiable?

[RopeTow]

This is from this morning... It looks snowier at the top than Tuesday, but it's been very sunny today.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/6969935954_3899d4a7bf_c.jpg

Great picture of all three areas (LP, ME and MRG) in the Spring with green below and snow on top. Love it!

[ducky]

Ripcord and grinder not skiable. It is snowing hard now.

[RopeTow]

Ripcord and grinder not skiable. It is snowing hard now.

From the looks of the webcam this morning, Steins has a new coating of snow...

http://www.sugarbush.com/about-vermont-resort/webcam

[ducky]

http://vimeo.com/10823954

I stand corrected. Apparently, you can ski Grinder and Ripcord. As this guy says, "you ski one turn to the right, one turn to the left". Check it out. :)

[pcampbell]

Here's what the "base" was like on organ grinder from April 18th. We probably lost some of that from the rain, then gained a little on top from the snow. Should be interesting to see what comes today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55221170@N07/6945214348/sizes/z/in/photostream/

[Brew Ski]

http://vimeo.com/10823954

I stand corrected. Apparently, you can ski Grinder and Ripcord. As this guy says, "you ski one turn to the right, one turn to the left". Check it out. :)

But I'd want to use his skis, not mine!!!:-)

[pcampbell]

It did not turn out so well this morning. time to get out the bikes I think.

This is about as good as it got... and most of it much worse.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/7121565749_a181a7818d_c.jpg

[beelze]

Well.. its January..2013. Consider this for 1/22-25. Runs that have been groomed are generally in ok shape and running fast, your pink wax should be fine if you are just doing those. Stuff that was just groomed on Tues lean more to shiny hardpack though not too much issue. Its pretty warm today (Friday) but still will be kinda cold tonight so new groomers tomorrow will be firm.. kinda like riding across rebar until the cord is broken up a bit. There has been no new snow other than a small dusting a few nights back and what has blown around from the guns at south (I don't recall seeing anything about guns at north) so be prepared if you are doing bumps or woods that they may look better than they really are until it warms up some. They still have the expert sign up on Sleeper entrance but FYI, they groomed out the bumps completely and snow wise was one of the best trails yesterday. They gunned a lot on Birch and Sunrise. I did not partake but was told lower part of Sunrise still a bit sketchy and BR was variable depending where the snow went but that was groomed last night so should be ok.
They were doing SB and SFling yesterday (and today). Be advised that much of SFling rides more like lower grinder as a result of the large hills of snow and visability off of them may be limited. I did not notice anyone on Steins the past two days but then again, one row of cars spreads out pretty thin on the mountain.

Castlerock been closed all week as well as Northridge (money saving for sure in the latter case) and HGate yesterday.