PDA

View Full Version : May 9th for SB



mattlucas
04-27-2009, 03:12 PM
What about downloading off the bravo and skiing HG if weather allows. The cover up there looked VERY solid minus one patch on Jester.

Grinder and Ripcord were still midwinter.

Plus, if that patch around the Valley House lodge is big enough to ski steins and coffee run to the lift, I don't see where the bottle neck would occur traversing to VH anyway.

If it's worth skiing, it's going to be worth skiing the top!

win
04-27-2009, 04:30 PM
The problem is that Jester and Downspout won't hold up!

shadyjay
04-27-2009, 08:26 PM
Skiing from Bravo to HG requires quite a bit of elevation drop. And returning to Bravo requires Upper Jester to Allyn's. While it may look good up top, you have to maintain a way to get to/from the lift. It's not like the Mt Ellen setup where you step off GMX and onto Summit and you're already at a high elevation there. Maybe someday we can resurrect the gondola and have a midstation where OG meets Downspout. 8)

Other problem is that by April/mid April (definetely by May 8/9), the mindset of many is not on winter activities, and if the warm weather stretch we've been having is any indication, its time to break out the bikes, golfclubs, etc etc. While it would be great to stay open as long as possible, it has to be economical for the mountain to do so.


This does bring an interesting question.... what is the latest the mountain has been open? Closing first weekend in May seems to have been the norm for as long as I can remember. Even back in the early 90s.

mattlucas
04-27-2009, 09:17 PM
unless you have the numbers, it's impossible to speculate about the economic sense. There looked to be about 60-80 cars on sunday which was drizzly and uninspiring, I would think that at least that many come out again as long as the day is nice and the lifts turn - especially if big K and Jay are closed.

The coverage was very good on downspout. I don't know if you skied but it wasn't opening weekend WROD at all. One section at the very bottom was going, with plenty of snow to push around. To me it would depend on ticket sales, and whether the passholders felt it was a worthy service for the mountain to offer.

I would think any skier would have the ability to walk from allyns to bravo. Maybe you can station a sugar sherpa to carry skis for little old ladies. It's not that much harder than the stairs at the bottom.

Mostly it is up to the weather. One more week of 80 degrees would make this all look like nonsense. Cold nights and a flurry or two, not so much.

Lostone
04-27-2009, 09:28 PM
I would think any skier would have the ability to walk from allyns to bravo. Maybe you can station a sugar sherpa to carry skis for little old ladies. It's not that much harder than the stairs at the bottom.

Go hike that trail and tell me it isn't much harder than the stairs. :roll:

And in ski boots? :shock:


And I really doubt you'd find a Sherpa that would want that job, tho one might ski it whether or not there was snow. :lol:

mattlucas
04-27-2009, 09:40 PM
you know, i was on the bravo with a bunch of guys who had backpacks and dukes this year when HG went down.
I asked them, who's hiking up for a run on Paradise? All of them backed out. Three able bodied youngish
"geared up" skiers on a powder day, so I get your point.

But out of all the shuttered areas in the northeast to think that there aren't 60-80 cars of people that would make that
80 vert hike to ski bumps all day in mid may just seems wrong to me.

Better yet, do an AT clinic and teach people to skin over there. Scarpa / dynafit demo day! BBQ at allyns!
A band on the Lincoln Glacier! Show those west coast resorts who is boss!

Hawk
04-28-2009, 06:46 AM
How about let's get past May 2nd and 3rd first. I may be wrong but it seems that Win hasn't committed on next weekend thus far.
I was there last weekend also and the cover is getting thin in some key areas. With the predicted temps and rain in the forecast, I would bet that by the 9th there will be no snow at the base of HG and Jester will be a problem. One the other hand I think that there is plenty of snow on Steins and they could harvest the snow from spring fling to maintain coffee run and the base for the VH double to stay open.

See you this weekend......I hope. :wink:

summitchallenger
04-28-2009, 08:05 AM
I'm not sure where folks got the idea that SB is opening May 8-9th....that has never been on the table AFAIK. We're talking about this weekend...and when I skied Deathspout on Sunday at 4pm, the lower 1/2 was shot...down to the ice base that was thin and had rocks poking out. Jester was pretty much done as well. Even more concerning is that the snow from VH to the base of Bravo was going fast and there was no snow built up around the VH Double. I thought that Coffee Run looked thin, but pushing some snow from Stein's is an option. Snowball will require some TLC to survice as well...the section around Moonshine entrance was gone.

And not to sound even more pessimistic, but Roger Hill is forecasting a gray, foggy, drizzly weekend. I'm not sure where someone got the idea that there were 80 cars in the lot on Sunday, I'd say more like half that....

Hate to be a naysayer, but I guess I'm trying to be realistic. :roll:

vonski
04-28-2009, 11:45 AM
This is why we need to open the top of North again!!! Is there still enough snow up there to download off GMX? Ah, but then the Claybrook cutters could not cut the line. LOLOL!! And yes I know that this will not happen. But it sure makes sense. I wiil be up for one last hurrah if the mountain does open this weekend. So lets mine and push around the snow!!!

mattlucas
04-28-2009, 04:06 PM
why be realistic? The internet is a place for dreams and arguing, man!

gone.skiing
04-28-2009, 06:53 PM
North is open, lift ticket is $150 times 12 or something like that.

flakeydog
04-28-2009, 08:28 PM
Back in the day (early 80's?), sugarbush and killington were locked in the annual end of season battle to stay open. Killington usually won, going into June most every year and Sugarbush would shoot for Memorial day. The latest I remember skiing Sugarbush was around may 22nd? I think. I do not believe they ever made it until June.

Killington had superstar and sugarbush had FIS. Killington was able to stay open longer because they had one trail directly served by the lift, no runouts... and they made an absolute a$$load of snow on that one trail. During the season it was said that you would look up at the trail as you rode up the lift. Sugarbush could do the same on Steins if they wanted to spend the money to do it.

Strat
04-29-2009, 12:13 AM
Back in the day (early 80's?), sugarbush and killington were locked in the annual end of season battle to stay open. Killington usually won, going into June most every year and Sugarbush would shoot for Memorial day. The latest I remember skiing Sugarbush was around may 22nd? I think. I do not believe they ever made it until June.

Killington had superstar and sugarbush had FIS. Killington was able to stay open longer because they had one trail directly served by the lift, no runouts... and they made an absolute a$$load of snow on that one trail. During the season it was said that you would look up at the trail as you rode up the lift. Sugarbush could do the same on Steins if they wanted to spend the money to do it.
Just not worth the expenditure, as Win has said. By that point on the calendar, skiing is not on the minds of the majority of people, and since Sugarbush has other facilities more appropriate for this time of year, why pour money that won't come back into preserving a slice of winter?

Hawk
04-29-2009, 06:27 AM
Being fiscally responsible is the right thing to do this year for sure. I heard that business was down slightly and cost cutting will ensure that the future will be a bright. :)

But for the record they already spent the money blowing the snow. Steins is still 5 to 10 feet deep in most places and from all observations they could certainly run the double and have skiing for at least two more weeks on Steins. So the cost to do that would be power, a couple of lifies, a couple patrollers and a few other people to watch over base area. I am sure that there are full time employees that could cover most of the responsibilities. All I know is that I would definitely be there if they were open. :wink:

summitchallenger
04-29-2009, 07:57 AM
From what I could see having enough snow to cover the loading area of VH Double and the run out is the problem.....

win
04-29-2009, 08:25 AM
Starting tomorrow we will be pushing snow around to try to piece together Upper Snowball so that we can try to have Stein's, Snowball and Spring Fling for Saturday and Sunday. Stein's is for sure. The others will depend on what our groomers can accomplish as we have a large bare spot on "the rock garden to repair".

It is Ok to dream, but we will not be open May 9th. A Nowegian friend of mine once gave a toast and the end of a meal. "There is a time to come and a time to go and the time for going has come". This will be the final weekend. We will once again have had one of the longest season in the USA. It has been a good winter, and I really appreciate everyone's passion even if we don't always agree!

As far as the latest Sugarbush has even been open, I believe in the first year of ASC ownership before Killington became part of the empire it latest until late May with only Stein's open. I never skied that time of year then, so I don't have first hand knowledge. You see, I was involved in lesser sports in those days and put the skis away at the end of March.

Last Saturday, as you know, could not have been nicer. We had just over 700 on the mountain, the vast majority were employees and pass holders. On Sunday we had around 230. This coming weekend last year when Killington was not open we had a couple of hundred, so you can see what happens to demand.

I understand that some people are hiking Mount Ellen, but, of course, we don't encourage or condone that, so if anyone is doing it beware of the sinkholes and water bars. Our staff is focused on other things than watching what happens there.

Hawk
04-29-2009, 10:04 AM
Thanks for the update Win. I tried to con my Sunday River friends to come over this weekend since they closed for the season. It seems like they were more interested in going to that other ski area in Maine that begins with Sugar. :roll: I told them they had the wrong sugar because ours is sweeter! 8)

See you on the hill!

djspookman
04-29-2009, 12:39 PM
silly question.. ticket prices are what? I may make the drive... :)

dave

TreeBandit
04-29-2009, 03:35 PM
I like the idea of having a AT demo and clinic day up on the hill. This could be a good draw for the sport and even bring more people to be aware that there is more than one way to get to the top.

teleo
04-29-2009, 04:11 PM
I like the idea of having a AT demo and clinic day up on the hill.
+2 - although it would have to be a Tele demo day :wink:

It is really hot skinning up this time of year though. How about the weekend BEFORE the lifts spin in the fall. Think about how psyched people would be to do it then :lol: Plus the potential publicity of first to "open" and sales opportunity for the vendors at the beginning of the season instead of the end.

I know - will never happen - too many liability issues :cry:

win
04-29-2009, 09:48 PM
We have a two day ticket for $39 and $29 if you bring a 08/09 season pass from another area. The $29 apply to Mount Ellen Only pass holders and Sugarcards as well. Also on Sunday at 5pm we are raffling off a 09/10 all-mountain season pass to anyone who purchased a ticket or to any season pass holder or sugarcard holder who registers and skis either Saturday or Sunday. Suggest you get you get to the mountain this weekend.

RopeTow
05-01-2009, 08:46 AM
Win mentioned the Sugarcard in his last post. I can't find any info on the 2009-10 Sugarcard on the website. Can anyone point me there or provide details? Thanks!

skiladi
05-01-2009, 09:19 AM
Win mentioned the Sugarcard in his last post. I can't find any info on the 2009-10 Sugarcard on the website. Can anyone point me there or provide details? Thanks!

I don't think the sugarcard is available anymore but people that already had them can still use them. Not sure but that's what I think. Also , not sure if all-mt. 5 passes will have to pay $29 this weekend or if they ski free since the mt. was not open midweek. Logic would suggest that but not clear on the site. But I'll be there just not sure if Hubby will ski or not. ; {

Lostone
05-01-2009, 09:32 AM
I believe the Sugarcard is still available, but I've never been able to find it on the website. :?

If I'm correct, it is around $35 to purchase then saves on all tickets. You might want to call the 800.53.SUGAR # and hopefully, they'll have the answer.

I had the answer at the beginning of the season, but there might just have been a few too many days between. :wink:

mattlucas
05-02-2009, 01:28 AM
I always feel like the sugarcard is kind of complicated and hope the mtn revamps it for next year.

Hunter's big lift is an easy one:

full freight ticket price for the card (comes with a ski day if you buy it super early)
50 percent off weekdays
25 off weekends
holiday blackouts

I wouldn't mind paying for an extra day or two premium if it came with the tickets, and having the blackout days only be good for ellen or some such.

Looking forward to seeing what they come up with for next season for the people who can't break even on 20 days if they hope to ski MRG a bunch as well.

ski_resort_observer
05-02-2009, 06:51 AM
If your local you can call the season pass/tik office today and tomorrow, 583-6533 for info on the Sugarcard.

skiladi
05-02-2009, 09:27 AM
If your local you can call the season pass/tik office today and tomorrow, 583-6533 for info on the Sugarcard.

Just bought my passes online and the Sugarcard is in the onestore. It is $99. I thought they were doing away with it but I was wrong. :oops: