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View Full Version : Mt Ellen, 12/30/08 -- Quick recovery led to great turns!



BushMogulMaster
12-30-2008, 05:39 PM
Got to the mountain around lunch time expecting it to look about the same as it looked when I left at midnight. And it seemed like it would be awful. GMX + NRX were on windhold. Summit was running, but you had to hike from top of the I over to it.

I decided to grab some lunch with the old man. Good decision. After lunch, GMX was spinning again.

Took a warm-up run down Cruiser to make sure the grooming job turned out okay (have to check up on my handywork, you know!). It actually skied very nicely. Firm underneath about 3" of fluff. But the cord was very edgeable, with only a few icy spots.

Headed up to Summit. Skied Rim down to Lookin' Good, which was definitely the run of the day. About 4" of untracked on top of a flat, firm base (it was groomed a couple nights ago to clean up after the meltdown). Truly great skiing. That trail should have good bumps very soon!

Went back up Summit and hit Exterm. It was sketchy at the top, but the middle section was great! There were two distinct bump lines that skied very nicely. Firm, and a little icy underneath, but a solid 6-8" had blown in and filled in the troughs just enough to soften it up a little. Went across Wayback, up Summit, down to Upper Bravo. Sketchy. Cut across for another run on Exterm, and followed it down Lower Exterm, which was bony. Skied North Star... it was fine. Nice cord... it was groomed second shift, so the fresh snow was mixed with the old hardpack, which left a nice, softer surface.

I headed down to warm up, helped carry all the trash from the trash room to the dumpster, then went up for two more runs with Dad. We skied North Star, and Elbow-Exterm to Cruiser. All were still very nice.


It is absolutely incredible how well that mountain recovered. You could definitely tell that we had a major meltdown, but the skiing was truly great!

I'll take the camera out tomorrow. Good stuff.

mattlucas
12-30-2008, 05:59 PM
great news, thanks for the report.

klop
12-30-2008, 09:29 PM
I'll back MM up. We waited out the windhold and were one of the first 6-8 chairs to the top. Made first tracks on Elbow in nice ankle deep powder over a great base. Everything skied great but I don't envy the maddogs on FIS - I don't think I would have skied it just to say I had.

mattlucas
12-30-2008, 09:35 PM
how much base is left in the upper mountain woods? Is it all brown, or do a couple storms get us back into shape?

klop
12-31-2008, 08:09 AM
The snow has settled a lot but everything looks covered. I saw people in the woods between elbow and bravo and at least from the lift it looked like they had plenty of base.

ski_resort_observer
12-31-2008, 09:33 AM
Personally, I wouldn't venture in the woods until there is at least another foot of new snow. With all the wind yesterday and new snow yesterday and today there are spots which are okay but many other places which are not.

HowieT2
12-31-2008, 02:43 PM
Just got back from mellon. It's brutal out there now that the wind kicked up.
Exterminator is very thin up top. Not recommended. Elbow, rim run, looking good were great.

BushMogulMaster
12-31-2008, 02:53 PM
Just got back from mellon. It's brutal out there now that the wind kicked up.
Exterminator is very thin up top. Not recommended. Elbow, rim run, looking good were great.

Yeah... it was cold up there today!

But I thought the middle part of Exterm was great! Look:

http://www.mogulskiing.net/images/az/exterm111.jpg

HowieT2
12-31-2008, 04:28 PM
yes there are good sections on exterminator but it would be misleading to go by that picture. Most of it is bare.

BushMogulMaster
12-31-2008, 04:42 PM
yes there are good sections on exterminator but it would be misleading to go by that picture. Most of it is bare.

Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

freeheel_skier
12-31-2008, 04:48 PM
Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

HowieT2
12-31-2008, 05:10 PM
Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

just trying to be fair and balanced

Strat
12-31-2008, 08:03 PM
Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

just trying to be fair and balanced
Is that you, Billo?

Snowman
12-31-2008, 09:19 PM
just trying to be fair and balanced

And I, for one am glad you were.

Were I to go onto Exterminator and find big trouble getting to that pictured part, I would consider it a lie. I think it is wrong for someone to say everythig is fine, and show a picture, saying that, leaving out any mention that to get there you might have to jump rocks, is dishonest.

Legally I know you're right. Morally, you should know you are wrong. :roll:


Seems to be a lot of that here. :?

Go Figure
12-31-2008, 09:37 PM
http://e3creations.com/images/FOX_kool-aid.gif
If I got first chair invites from Win I would post rosy google b* also. :roll:

mattlucas
12-31-2008, 09:40 PM
dudes, we all know what grass looks like, keep bringing the stoke!

summitchallenger
12-31-2008, 10:03 PM
Nice pics. Was up there today....it is tough for me because the last time I was there was 12/21 and it was powder skiing. It was sad to see the grass and ice today. Those pics of Exterminator are interesting...and certainly not my impression of what the conditions were like...although I did not ski it. FIS needs snowmaking and work. Why that is open is interesting.

freeheel_skier
12-31-2008, 10:28 PM
I skied exterminator yesterday. I didn't think BMM was embellishing.
It was sketchy at the top, but the middle section was great! There were two distinct bump lines that skied very nicely. Firm, and a little icy underneath, but a solid 6-8" had blown in and filled in the troughs just enough to soften it up a little.
That is exactly how I thought it skied. I also thought FIS skied well too, but what do I know? :shock: I found a couple of shots where I could link up some nice turns. Overall the upper part of the mountain skied very nice yesterday!

Did it not is poor rain this past weekend? I think it was almost 60 deg the other day and now it is zero. I think ME is recovering nicely. A little more snow making and some natural will do the trick.

BushMogulMaster
01-01-2009, 12:29 AM
I skied exterminator yesterday. I didn't think BMM was embellishing.
It was sketchy at the top, but the middle section was great! There were two distinct bump lines that skied very nicely. Firm, and a little icy underneath, but a solid 6-8" had blown in and filled in the troughs just enough to soften it up a little.
That is exactly how I thought it skied. I also thought FIS skied well too, but what do I know? :shock: I found a couple of shots where I could link up some nice turns. Overall the upper part of the mountain skied very nice yesterday!

Did it not is poor rain this past weekend? I think it was almost 60 deg the other day and now it is zero. I think ME is recovering nicely. A little more snow making and some natural will do the trick.

Right. I was wondering about the hostility... I thought I gave a pretty upfront, honest evaluation. Some of it was amazing, some of it was very technical.

I suppose it depends, too, on your skiing ability, style, and terrain preference. I'm a bump skier who skis 100+ days per season. Hardpack, ice, dirt, grass, and rocks don't bother me much. On the contrary, they are often a welcome challenge. Keeps me on my toes, so to speak! The top of Exterm was technical due to very hard base and some ice/rocks. Lower Exterm was technical because it was just plain thin. The middle section was fantastic. Yep... there was some ice on the backsides. But if you know how to execute a proper mogul turn, that doesn't cause an issue... you're not slipping down the backside anyway, you're attacking the mogul and being aggressive on your edges.

Just my additional .02 for this one.

summitchallenger
01-01-2009, 09:04 AM
Not being hostile at all....just saying that I thought it was a tough day weather and conditions-wise. Yes, we are slowly recovering. I'm glad you found some goods....I'm sure they are there if you looked.

vonski
01-01-2009, 09:48 AM
I think we should just call it what it is and since MRG is closed for the most part right now I think it is fitting. Sugarbush " ski it if you can". I think it is great that the bush keeps open trails that many places would close. Paradise the first day it opened this year was maybe one line of snow on the head wall along with grass and rocks. But once through that it was sweet. and even the single line was sweet in my opinion. And with the warm up and rain what does one expect on exterminator other than hard and scrappy with the troughs getting filled in.

jwt
01-01-2009, 10:17 AM
It is - Exterminator- a double diamond after all.

Love the idea of open and risk it if YOU choose. Choice is good. Have to think every single ski area before snowmaking was like this. We run chairs/rope tows/T-bars/ you can take a risk and see if you can ski it. I lot less technical equipment, a lot less legal ramifications, and like an outdoor adventure should be - natural. You and the elements.

It is why we have so many marginal skiers , courd is what they learned on and know. I imagine we would not have a skier population that we have without all that stuff (groomers/s/m/etc) but if one is looking for what Mom Nature has to offer, leave it up to the customer. ( And yes, I appreciate snonmaking and grooming and the occasional courd, and I realize w/o all that we would not have at least a third of the the skier days we have now.

Happy New Year!