Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 59
  1. #1
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Behind That Tree
    Posts
    1,627

    January Trail Conditions Reports

    Have at it folks.


  2. #2
    Skied LP today (Friday) , Ripcord (skiers right) pretty nice, very fun, Spillsville, nice up top. but was pretty thin after the half way point. Birdland (right down the middle) had great snow, Murphys was a little thin. The middle of lower OrginGrinder was a little slick, the lower section was nice and soft. All in All .. a really fun day, but you had to work for it and pick your way down. Absolutley worth coming up and skiing !!

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Park City UT
    Posts
    40
    Hi -- Here's a trail condition report for int and advanced skiers. Skiied LP today Sat 1/14. Most of the pow from yesterday was skiied off, atleast on the trails (as opposed to woods). Ripcord "ok" but a fair amount of windscouring left lots of annoying machine made frozen granular stretches, esp in the middle of the trail. as usual, sides were softer and better. Hard to hold an edge on the machine made wind scour. (Do I read Ripcord will be groomed tonight?) Frankly, upper Organgrinder, while ungroomed and somewhat weirdly shaped by the snow blowers was better and the snow quality was softer and better. Hotshot, including Waterfall, had nice snow top to bottom on the sides and the middle. Waterfall was only lightly bumped and had good snow. It was nicely skiable and turns on the steepest pitch of Waterfall were easy. Downspout (as usual) was the worst trail I skied. Pow largely skied off leaving the machine made frozen granular base. pretty terrible. Spring Fling was especially nice with large stretches of soft on both sides and in the middle and some nicely formed very skiable smaller bumps. Lower Snowball was very soft and skiable although the guns were on both times I came through. Sleeper was very nice yesterday, I didn't ski it today. They had the guns on Steins all day and I heard it may be groomed and opened tomorrow, as well as the trails off North Lynx. That should be nice. RopeTow
    Last edited by RopeTow; 01-14-2012 at 04:55 PM. Reason: typo

  4. #4
    Snowball was in great shape. As was sleeper and waterfall when we hit in the morning. Ripcord and paradise had lots of snow again in the morning. Middle earth was sublime. The upper level woods have lots of sweet powder but little base.

  5. #5
    If you have to ask how it was today (Sat 1/14/12) then you missed it

    Some woods at ME .. some more POW vids to come


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Park City UT
    Posts
    40
    I thought conditions were "interesting" today. The frigid cold wasn't uncomfortable since we dressed for it, but we found a lot of snow that slid a bit like sand...the snow wasn't nearly as soft and slippery ==buttery== as yesterday. It was nice to ski North Linx but the very top of Birch Run was quite thin. I hit a rock traversing at medium speed. It popped my binding, and I went flying, landing on my thigh on another mostly submerged rock. The cover was much better a bit further down.

  7. #7
    gostan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    West Of Boston
    Posts
    503
    Sure, top of Birch was thin, but remember that it was marked thin cover and experts only. Glad your fall did not hurt you.

    I want to thank the MT for delaying the opening of North Lynx to Sunday& for adding Steins to the mix as well. This well thought out plan gave us all something new to play on after a fabulous Saturday. And, we were definitely pleasantly surprised to find all 3 trails all untracked at the opening of NL since our original thought was that the Lincoln Limo would have cut it all up before the rest of us got to it. Win, Saturday & Sunday were a blast, and the cold blast did not really affect all of the fun!
    Stan

    "There's No Cure For Life"

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by gostan View Post
    Sure, top of Birch was thin, but remember that it was marked thin cover and experts only. Glad your fall did not hurt you.

    I want to thank the MT for delaying the opening of North Lynx to Sunday& for adding Steins to the mix as well. This well thought out plan gave us all something new to play on after a fabulous Saturday. And, we were definitely pleasantly surprised to find all 3 trails all untracked at the opening of NL since our original thought was that the Lincoln Limo would have cut it all up before the rest of us got to it. Win, Saturday & Sunday were a blast, and the cold blast did not really affect all of the fun!
    Agree.....The untracked powder on Sunday was awesome and it was a terrific follow-up to an incredible day on Saturday. I ran out of gas by noon today after skiing so hard the past 2 days.

  9. #9
    What a weekend .. I stayed at the North, no lines on Saturday .. untracked could be found all morning.

    The pic at the beginning of this video was run #5


  10. #10
    4-6 today. Nice stuff everywhere except where they blew snow. Still not impressed with the new guns. Are there laws for Arborcide on the books in Vermont? 60-100 pounds of snowmaking ice on trees around the gatehouse. I imagine those limbs will come down this season or next, and then the trees. It kind of sucks. I look at trails like Murphy's and can remember what it looked like way back when. At the time, I thought that was the exception but unfortunately it's the rule. The snow guns seem capable of doing real damage to the foliage. I can't help but feel like Sugarbush will need a policy of refoliage and buddy trees in stands to preserve areas like Slowpoke for the next generation.

    Getting back to conditions it was cold and windy so I stayed in the sun and didn't push it. Snowball, and Sunrise were real treats and I did them a bunch.

    Steins is closed because it needs to get the wales rolled out. I think the base will be around 3-5 feet of ice when it's buffed, which should keep it open and edgeable for awhile this spring. I would have liked to test it on the glacier but didn't want to poach. It looked pretty intimidating in a good way. I'd rather get into some tough skiing and possibly long slides on an empty trail like that then a crowded one like Downspout, even without the whippet. Downspout was actually better than I expected today by no small margin for what it is worth, so perhaps I shouldn't pick on it.

    The worst surfaces were anywhere old frozen moguls had consolidated. I'd stick to the groomers and wait for more snow. Woods in my mind are out of play. Poked around and it is thin. Wouldn't advise anyone to do any serious skiing whatsoever in the trees.

  11. #11

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Park City UT
    Posts
    40
    Mrs Tow and I are heading up tomorrow for 3 days. Anybody want to update the conditions? How much damage from the rain? How are Ripcord, Grinder and Paradise?
    How's the top of Ellen? Any new info would be much appreciated.
    Rope.

  12. #12
    After the weather that was called for this past week, my expectations for this past weekend were pretty low. Got off at exit 5 late Friday evening just as the roads were slicking up. As I was steering the minivan down the fall line Rox Mtn Rd, the snow was blowing a little bit, but I was pretty sure that I was in for some firm fast and frozen runs in the morning. However, in the morning I was pleasantly surprised. That mixed precip from Friday resulted in a nice edgeable sugary topping. From Steins to Ripcord, Grinder, Paradise to CR right around the whole ridge around to North Lynx and back again to Snow Ball and Spring Fling, I thought the whole mountain (South) skied great. Run of the day was Lift Line.

    Things appear to be looking up for the weekend ahead too.

  13. #13

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    not on the mtn at the moment
    Posts
    217

    Great Base

    Had the pleasure of getting some fresh tracks on Mt Ellen Sat and the snow was still soft Sunday at South - but it was colder and windy Sunday - Sat was nowhere near as cold or windy at North - surprise!

    I saw far less bare spots than last w/e - this added base of 4" of snow and then 1/2" of rain seemed to be perfect for the long run, as even Bravo/Encore had no dirt on it, none.

    Exterminator had fresh blow in and pillow to pillow turns Sat morning and afternoon! ( Remember, all these aforementioned trails face due north)

    Woods are ready with 2-3 more feet - we have the base we have not had all season in there now. Top 700 feet might be good now, but how is one going to bail after that 1st 700 is passed?

    As Egan said on chair - 'w/o 5-7' in there, we pull bark out if folks a**es all day long' Well, we got 2 or 3 of it.

    Friday and days leading into it look great.

  14. #14

    Gettin' there...but

    It has jumped 10 degrees since sundown but yesterday was good and today was pretty darn good. Did Castlerock both days with little to no ski damage. Trees were doable and not dangerous. Top 1/2 of Slidebrook was heavenly , bottom purgatorial but not hellish. ; }

  15. #15
    Any more reports on the natural snow trails? Interested to hear how things were impacted by the mid-week warm up and subsequent cool down.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


Ski Gear | Snowboard Gear | Cycling Gear | Camping/Hiking Gear | Ski & Snowboard Racks | Gear Outlet | Men's Clothing | Women's Clothing | Kids' Clothing

Ski Vermont | Whiteface / Gore Message Boards