Saturday/Sunday Report (Updated with PIX)

[summitchallenger]

The comprehensive one is coming soon, but some brief observations...

The good: Lower Domino, Lower Snowball (the former Ravena's Way), Upper Twist, Spring Fling were all good IMHO. Snow on Lower Domino was nice. Lower Snowball was good on Saturday, but Sunday was skied out. Twist was nice up top...until a stampede followed me down it. Lower Twist and Moonshine were bony.

The not-so-good: whoever thought it was a good idea to do racetraining on Organgrinder...that trail was too narrow for that...but I understand why they were there. Ripcord: block of ice (I did not ski it). Pretty much ungroomed stuff from Reverse Traverse and Heaven's Gate Traverse up was scratchy to icy. Below that soft and thin.

I had a good weekend. I was glad I went exploring...enough open for me to get off the groomers and to have some fun. Lower Domino, wow...did it three times Saturday...maybe four on Sunday. Lower Organgrdiner skied better than it looked. Some good times...but the drive home Sunday was not fun.

[summitchallenger]

Date skied: December 6-7, 2008

Resort: Sugarbush—Lincoln Peak.

Conditions: Saturday: FG/LG/SM. Sunday: MG/FG/SM/LG

Weather: Saturday: Cloudy, cold. Highs in the 20's. Sunday: Snowshowers, temps falling into the mid 10's.

2008-2009 Report #: 4-5.

Report: The weekend report. Skiing is getting better...some trails are in need of some grooming and others just need more snow.

Saturday: I made it there late, thanks to a late Christmas Party the night before. I got on the slopes at 11:30 and was not expecting too much. Machine groomed runs were already skied off. OG was hosting race training as well (?). I did three runs on the snowmaking runs and then headed over to Spring Fling. The cover was good and the bumps nice and soft. Next run I hit Lower Snowball and found some good snow...I must have skied it off because Lostone didn't find it...I also hit Lower Jester, which was slick, but led to Lower Domino which was very nice. I rolled the dice on Murphy's (which was FG and rough) and Upper Domino (slick up top, bony in the middle). Pulled the plug at about 3:30pm. The day exceeded my expectations...some decent skiing and nice to have some other terrain to venture onto...

Organgrinder:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111891_2344.jpg

Spring Fling:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111893_2970.jpg

Lower Snowball:

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111894_3300.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111895_3583.jpg

Upper Domino:

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111897_4196.jpg

All the way down to Lower Domino:

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111900_5071.jpg

Upper Domino...getting thin.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111901_5439.jpg]

[summitchallenger]

Sunday: so the plan was to get there earlier...say 9am. Well, I slept in and pulled in at about 10am. It was snowing and conditions seemed to improve as the day went on. Did a few quick spins down OG (2x and much better), Jester (2x) and over to Lower Jester/Lower Domino. Lower Domino was still great...just watch out for the waterbars near the bottom. I did at least five runs down it. Run of the weekend. I also jumped into Lower Organgrinder and was pleasantly surprised. It was worth two runs. Lower Snowball was shot...but still worth a couple spins. I hit Spring Fling once at the end of the day and it was really bumping up. I also made sure to visit some old favorites...Upper Twist and Moonshine. Peering down Twist at about lunchtime, I could see some nice soft machine made snow blowing into it. A few others peered down it before skiing on. I gave it a go. Wow. Nice bumps, nice drifted in snow, and nobody on it...until an army of ski racers pounded down behind me. Lower Moonshine was bony to say the least. Upper Moonshine, a little while later, was almost as good as Twist. Lower Twist was better than Lower Moonshine, but both need snow. I kept finding some decent snow here and there and mixed it up nicely. Took a lunch break, saw Ski Resort Observer and was talked into a 50th anniversary ball cap. I did three more spins before calling it quits at 3pm. Murphy's was still rough, but Domino was still good.

I got a good workout today and am excited to have tasted some other terrain first time this season. I was surprised that Valley Traverse was not groomed...the upper part by Bravo was a mess...bumps, ice, and grass. Overall, a good weekend and some nice variety of terrain to try! Nice to run into the usual suspects...ski ladi, SRO, and the not-so Lostone who I always seem to run into...

Riding up in the snow:

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111913_2162.jpg

Organgrinder:

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111914_2512.jpg

Twist!

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111916_3259.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111917_3623.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111918_3970.jpg

Lower Moonshine:

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111919_4308.jpg

Upper Moonshine:

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111922_5540.jpg

Lower Spring Fling:

[img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1044/35/104/744459666/n744459666_1111923_5919.jpg[/img