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HowieT2
10-27-2014, 12:09 PM
claims the snowmaking improvements increase capacity by 25%. that's significant.

also, the early ups pass has met with "very limited interest". not surprising. overpriced. suspect this will be a short lived program.

lift upgrades and new head of lift maintenance. proof is in the pudding, but appears they have moved to address whatever issues there were last season.

gostan
10-27-2014, 04:55 PM
claims the snowmaking improvements increase capacity by 25%. that's significant.

also, the early ups pass has met with "very limited interest". not surprising. overpriced. suspect this will be a short lived program.

lift upgrades and new head of lift maintenance. proof is in the pudding, but appears they have moved to address whatever issues there were last season.
It looks like pretty decent snowmaking weather Thursday through Sunday. I am sure that some Sugarbush skiers will doing "early" turns at the big K soon. i am not sure about the weather beyond Sunday, but i wonder when we get to see the 25% capacity increase in action. Here's hoping for a top to bottom opening weekend.

Benski
10-27-2014, 09:48 PM
I assume they plan to open trails up in the same order. I hope they do not put a park on alyn's traverse this year. I would like to see them move push back the opening lower downspout and open either lower grinder or lower jester instead to get you to the bottom. Opening it without any other way to the base makes deathspout terrible and it is the least enjoyable way to the bottom. Of course if it takes longer to open either lower jester or lower organgrinder than keep the same plan.

Tin Woodsman
10-28-2014, 01:20 AM
I assume they plan to open trails up in the same order. I hope they do not put a park on alyn's traverse this year. I would like to see them move push back the opening lower downspout and open either lower grinder or lower jester instead to get you to the bottom. Opening it without any other way to the base makes deathspout terrible and it is the least enjoyable way to the bottom. Of course if it takes longer to open either lower jester or lower organgrinder than keep the same plan.

I tend to believe Deathspout is Deathspout b/c it's the only way own at that time of year, not b/c of some inherent flaw with the trail. It's actually quite pleasant early in the morning before the hordes descend. If you opened Lower OG or Lower Jester you'd face the same exact issue, only it would take longer to cover those.

Hawk
10-28-2014, 06:41 AM
They stated and have for the last few years started snowmaking operations on November 1st weather permitting. The mountain is going to get some snow on Saturday and Sunday so I would bet they start at lease at the top. I will be at Killington and Sunday River for the next few weeks or when they open go get my usual early season training out of the way.

They put all new guns on lower organgrinder so maybe it will help in opening it up earlier. I have no idea what their plan is but I would bet that they open the trails in the order that they do because it is the fastest way to get T to B. The biggest issue in the past was that they did not have enough capacity to blow an entire pathway from the top to the bottom all at the same time so they had to do it in sections. This is why it takes a long time to get T to B. Maybe with this increased capacity it will be faster? It's a wait and see on the snow making and lifts.

HowieT2
10-28-2014, 03:55 PM
posted pic on twitter today of truck delivering new snow guns. they better get those bad boys installed in a hurry.

Hawk
10-28-2014, 04:00 PM
They have time Howie. Can't use them all at once. :-)

Benski
10-28-2014, 04:33 PM
I tend to believe Deathspout is Deathspout b/c it's the only way own at that time of year, not b/c of some inherent flaw with the trail. It's actually quite pleasant early in the morning before the hordes descend. If you opened Lower OG or Lower Jester you'd face the same exact issue, only it would take longer to cover those.

I was saying that would be a good idea if they have the can make snow on one of those routes all at once. I think the traffic issues would be less severe and the terrain would be more enjoyable if they opened lower OG or lower Jester instead of lower dounspout. last year they could make snow on all of lower jester and 2/3 of lower OG at the same time so they could do this whole route all at once.

Benski
10-28-2014, 04:40 PM
when does mt ellen snowmaking start and when does gmvs start skiing?

shadyjay
10-28-2014, 10:07 PM
We have to make snow on Downspout since that is the only snowmaking route from top of Bravo to Heaven's Gate. If you've already made snow down to the base of Heaven's Gate, there is really no need to start another route from (almost) the top of Bravo, to the bottom. The base of Heaven's Gate is already at a lower elevation. Covering Middle Jester and making that the early season route to the base would require a lot more guns and cover a lot more terrain, with the switchbacks. And it wouldn't save you much elevation since there's not much elevation change from the base of Heaven's Gate to where Middle Jester meets Lower Downspout. Making a lot of snow early on Downspout/Lower Downspout also secures the trail for the rest of the season, given its a major route to/from Heaven's Gate.

The usual progression in trails at LP has been top 2 bottom, then beginner terrain, then alternate routes from mid to base (Lower OG and Middle Jester are usually done together, then Birdland/Murphy's, then VHT-Snowball-Spring Fling, or some variation).

Of course it all depends on Mother Nature. Looks like she'll be in our favor this weekend. Fingers crossed for success, from the beginning of snowmaking to the last turns in the spring.


And I agree, I've had some really nice runs on Downspout. On weekends, though, this only happens (a) first thing in the morning, and (b) if heaven's gate is not spinning. It's just the quickest route from the top of Bravo down to Heaven's Gate, and most of the crowds are headed that way. On busy days, I'll take Lower OG/Middle Jester to Heaven's Gate Traverse to reach HG and find that to be a pleasant alternative (and I'm a snowboarder). Or I'll stick to the far right side of Downspout.

Hawk
10-29-2014, 06:38 AM
Win stated at the Community Weekend that they have an agreement with GMVS to Start Snowmaking operations early so that they team can get on the snow and start training. They also revamped the system over there and added all new guns. I think I also heard that they will start on 11/1 just like Lincoln.


when does mt ellen snowmaking start and when does gmvs start skiing?

Hawk
10-29-2014, 06:41 AM
The only way to make DS better on a regular basis is to blow fresh snow on it every few days. Opening a second route will not make a difference. I mean even mid season with all the trails open, DS is still skied a lot and turns to ice. It's just the nature of the beast.

HowieT2
10-30-2014, 10:50 AM
forecast is not favorable for snowmaking other than saturday into monday but then it warms up again.

gostan
10-30-2014, 12:25 PM
steadier colder temps are predicted long range 2nd week in November.

Tin Woodsman
10-31-2014, 12:29 PM
The only way to make DS better on a regular basis is to blow fresh snow on it every few days. Opening a second route will not make a difference. I mean even mid season with all the trails open, DS is still skied a lot and turns to ice. It's just the nature of the beast.

I would argue that the more sustainable way to make DS better is to go ahead with that old ASC plan and cut a cruising run between DS and Domino to spread out the traffic. While that would be unfortunate for the woodchucks, probably would be the better path long-term for the resort overall.

HowieT2
10-31-2014, 12:37 PM
I would argue that the more sustainable way to make DS better is to go ahead with that old ASC plan and cut a cruising run between DS and Domino to spread out the traffic. While that would be unfortunate for the woodchucks, probably would be the better path long-term for the resort overall.

dont ever speak of this again.

Benski
10-31-2014, 01:22 PM
I would argue that the more sustainable way to make DS better is to go ahead with that old ASC plan and cut a cruising run between DS and Domino to spread out the traffic. While that would be unfortunate for the woodchucks, probably would be the better path long-term for the resort overall.

I would make a marked glade on the skier left of downspout. Also they should add a way to get to the top of lew's line without taking downspout.

sglatham
10-31-2014, 02:32 PM
The 2008 Vegetation Management Plan showed proposed trails. It included trails to BOTH skiers right and left of DS: one from intersection of Domino Chute and Organgrinder coming out right at base of HG lift. The other from Organgrinder (just up hill from DS) running down into Lower Ripcord just above the last drop before HG.

Bunch of other good stuff too that we can only dream of, like the "pod" between Castlerock and North Linx.......

Orca
11-01-2014, 08:25 AM
The veggie management plan is an interesting read, or at least some parts of it are.

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/Imaging/Planning/5W1045-31/2008_Sugarbush_Vegetation%20Management%20Plan_With _Figures.pdf

teleo
11-01-2014, 08:09 PM
dont ever speak of this again.
+1. Plenty of options to avoid deathspout exist. No changes required.

villager
11-02-2014, 01:22 PM
The veggie management plan is an interesting read, or at least some parts of it are.

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/Imaging/Planning/5W1045-31/2008_Sugarbush_Vegetation%20Management%20Plan_With _Figures.pdf

Orca, thanks for sharing this - fascinating reading!

Tin Woodsman
11-03-2014, 04:45 PM
dont ever speak of this again.

Ha! Yes I know - sacrilege.

Hawk
11-04-2014, 11:40 AM
Most of that plan was wish list type stuff. I think SV has no real plans for most of that. They did implement some of the glades though.

HowieT2
11-04-2014, 02:51 PM
Most of that plan was wish list type stuff. I think SV has no real plans for most of that. They did implement some of the glades though.

agreed. I think we will see the mid mtn lodge before any of that. were you at SR yesterday???

Hawk
11-04-2014, 03:30 PM
Nope. Wish I was. Actually I was in Healdsburg, CA. (Sonoma/Alexander/Pope Valley/Russian River) Drinking Big Slutty Cabby Cab and Pinots. Terri had business and I tagged along and we met some friends that moved out there. My liver hurts! Good training for the season. ;-)

Hawk
11-04-2014, 03:37 PM
agreed. I think we will see the mid mtn lodge before any of that. were you at SR yesterday???

What I thought was interesting is the lifts shown on the Far Right and Left at Lincoln Peak. The one on the left would go from near the parking area at 22 arce lot (across from snow creek) to the top of racers edge and the one on the Right would go from the corner at German Flats (across from the Sugarbush inn) to above the village run. These 2 lifts would give all the near mountain lodging lift access. Pretty cool. My property value would be going way up.

jwt
11-06-2014, 08:35 AM
Even more interesting and exciting are those planned or proposed trails to skiers right of Black Diamond and another one on the skiers left of Ext. Woods - presumably leading to the new lift above and to the lookers right of top of Inverness. Probably a short term pipe dream( 5 years?) but we can always hope. Exposure seems to be the largest element of concern. And maybe the high efficiency snow making guns makes this all possible?

Tin Woodsman
11-06-2014, 06:24 PM
Even more interesting and exciting are those planned or proposed trails to skiers right of Black Diamond and another one on the skiers left of Ext. Woods - presumably leading to the new lift above and to the lookers right of top of Inverness. Probably a short term pipe dream( 5 years?) but we can always hope. Exposure seems to be the largest element of concern. And maybe the high efficiency snow making guns makes this all possible?


Agree it's a bit of a pipe dream. That said, the exposure is the same as North Lynx but would be about 200' higher in elevation. Probably not a major impediment - really comes down to financial capacity and the vagaries of the regulatory process.