For me, it was just last year. I skied MRG for the first time the day before during last season's first dump (early Feb - ~18"). The next day much of South was on windhold, but Gatehouse opened up around 9:30. I remember getting to the top of Gatehouse and being in awe of the expansiveness os the ski area surrounding me. Not much beyong Gatehouse and Lynx opened up that day but we had a blast nonetheless. The next day we had the pleasure of skiing Mount Ellen for a few hours in the morning and then riding Slidebrook over to South where I bee-lined to Castlerock. 40 minute liftline for the double, but once I got to the top of Middle Earth, it was almost a religious experience!

Many, many years ago, might have been 1995... my first ski lesson ever, I only remember the biting wind, freezing temps, and learning how to fall... I wasn't just not used to it either, it was about 7 degrees with 20 mph winds... severe...

my first experience at the Bush was in 1982. Skied north on a college vaca trip with a bunch of friends. Most memorable was skiing an awesome bump trail called Devils Elbow (think it still had the devil in its name them). I was much skinnier (sp) then it is now. Graduated in 1984 and had my first ski house (club) here two years later after moving back from CA. Been skiing here ever since though I did spend time at Smuggs and Jay as well. Now live here full time. Gotta love this place. Awesome terrain.

Strat wrote:

Many, many years ago, might have been 1995...

Funny how 1995 is "Many, many years ago" for some... The sad thing is I was only in my second year of skiing then - late start for me...

Hey, that's 2/3's of my life ago... quite a bit!

Strat wrote:

Hey, that's 2/3's of my life ago... quite a bit!

Just teasin'. Time seems to accelerate as you get older. Always enjoy life!

I was just kidding too... hope to be riding at the bush when 1995 really will be many many years ago...

My first try was a couple Sunday afternoon when Vermonters could get a free lesson. (Strat- many, many years ago) I tried it and actually liked it. I had a knack for learning it, despite being "so old". Then I realized I could not afford to ski- and since I had no "passion" for it, did not make the sacrifices needed to enter the sport and ski on a regular basis. Many, many years later when my kids began skiing thru the school program, I obtained skis and boots and went a couple times. I didn't like it so much then and decided that it was better for everyone if I became a noski. I preferred Mt. Ellen when I did ski since it had fewer people. I don't miss it- can you still respect me? I will cover for you on powder days- I'll vouch for your sudden illness....

Hey Noski, have you ever tried the shape skis? I would guess you have heard by now that they make learning much easier. They really work.

You can set the ski on edge and it will turn itself. Sometimes I sit in the bar and let my skis go out for a few runs on their own. You should see the look on the ticket checkers' faces.

But they really do make it much easier to learn.

As for my first time at Sugarbush, I really don't remember. I know I skied here my second year of skiing.

The only time I remembered was a big snowstorm. I had come up in the car of someone who worked for me. He had a Camaro. Great car for a snowstorm.

I wanted to get back. There was a lot of work to be done. Also, that year we were in a ski house where almost all the members came from the place I worked. I think there were 11 people from work that were snowed in. The way we got snowed it is one of them called the Vermont State Police and asked if it was safe to drive on the highway. They said no. They always say no.

The next day, I wanted to go to work. I almost got killed.

Everyone explained in very clear terms that when you are snowed in, you don't go back to work... You go skiing. So I thought for a while... Skiing...? Killed...? I chose skiing.

I called in to one of the supervisors that worked for me. ( Who, incidently was the guy who introduced me to skiing. ) I told him that I would not be coming in. Then I told him that 3 of the people that worked for him weren't coming in. Then I told him to call two other managers and tell them about the people who worked for them that weren't coming in. Then,...

Skiing...? Killed...? We went skiing.

This was More many many years ago than talked about, before. Probably '80. There was no Super Bravo. They had the Gondola. We didn't take it. It was Monday, but there were a million people in the line. We went up Valley House.

It was a bluebird day. The sun was brilliant. There were little ice crystals in the air. We got to the top of Snowball. They had groomed it. It was the first packed powder I had ever seen.

Remember that this was my second year of skiing and packed powder was the best surface ever for that level...

To this day, I am unable to look at Snowball, even in summer, without remembering that morning.

The first time I skied the Bush was in January, 1970. To be honest our drive and lodging was a crazy adventure, the skiing was incredible. I was going to college at a small school outside of Brattleboro and one of my skiing buddies suggested we drive up to the Bush and stay at his fathers camp outside of Montpelier.

Another buddy joined so the three of us set out Friday night in my 1967 Oldsmobile Cutless. It was snowing hard so the driving was slow. As we were cruising up Rt 100 towards Montpelier we passed the Sugarbush Access Rd and decided to drive up, it was about 1AM, just to check out the base area before returning the following morning to ski.

The access rd had about a foot of new snow. On the first try I made it about halfway up the first steep section. After 2 more tries we almost made it to the top of the steep section, near the Bass Restaurant, but couldn't quite make it. Being ski crazy college kids with no common sense we decided to give it one more shot with my two friend in the trunck for added traction. We made it and when we got to the base area I remembered to let my friends out of the trunk. The base area was beautiful with all the new snow.

Now it was time to get to friends camp. We found it and to our dismay we had to trudge thru about 4 feet of snow, the camp had no insulation, no heat and it was about 10 degrees as the snow had stopped and the sky had cleared of clouds. Luckily their was a small gas stove so we heated up some cast iron skillets we found, put them in our sleeping bags to keep our feet from freezing.

When we got to the Bush the base was way diferent then it is today. The Valley House was the main base lodge and you parked facing south towards the base lodge. There was about 2 feet of fresh dry snow. I had already spent 2 months in Colorado so I knew and loved skiing powder. It took a couple of hours but I was able to teach my friends how to ski it. We did many laps riding the gondola skiing fresh snow all day under bluebird skies. The next night it was -20 degress but after skiing the Bush and doing the cast iron thing we passed out after dinner, woke up and skied on Sunday, then cruised home.

To say the least, my first experience skiing the Bush was amazing. It's strange that 27 years later I would be working there. I worked, 1997-2001 and last winter but this winter I will be in Maine with trips to the valley as often as I can. During my college days we skied all over New England but the Bush was definately the best.

ski_resort_observer wrote:

with my two friend in the trunck for added traction...

Best part of your story. Friggin' hilarious...

I thought of if some of the members of my former ski club were to do that.

Would they remember to let the others out?

Having remembered... would they actually do it?

Back in the days BSUV(before SUV) few of us college kids had 4 wheel drive. Putting people in the trunk was actually a common solution if you could not get up a icy hill. The rich kids who had fancy front wheel drive in their foreign cars seemed to fair much better.

My first time was back when I took bus trips from RI up to the mtns. It was an adventure getting to the mountain because the bus missed the turn for North and then realized that the road was too narrow to turn around so they decided to turn around at MRG. Unfortunately we couldn't make it up the hill because the bus had no traction. So after about an hr (or what seemed like it) of waiting, we finally got a plow to come throw sand under the tires for traction. We all moved to the back of the bus for a little more traction and we were finally on our way. I remember very little about the trip except that Sugarbush instantly became my favorite mountain and still is to this day. Oddly enough a similar thing happened on the next bus trip except we tried to turn around and got stuck there. Damn Rhode Islandas

Busees getting stuck on that second steep section, just below the Bass Restaurant, continues to be a problem when it's snowy and/or icy, especially on the weekend. Apparentlty they are not familar with the use of chains