Farewell for now North

[MntMan4Bush]

I was told that South was the better mountain on Sunday by someone who did both, but I don't believe it. There was no way I was not skiing Mellon on its last day of the season and having just one last Long Trail on the deck. It was a bit firm in the morning, but by noon Extermintor to Cliffs was running like a dream. A dream about hot girls that is. There weren't a lot of people out, although I did cross paths with Mogul Logic a couple times and there were nice soft bumps and plenty of them. Then off to the deck to sit out in a T-shirt and relax with an LT. It was a bit cooler than usual for a last day on the deck, but the T-shirt just makes it feel right. Would have loved for them to play some tunes and and send us off in style, but it was a good way to end the season none the less. Until next year North.

[Lostone]

I would be one of those that say that South is the better mountain.

In evidence, I'd like to point out that thru most of the season, South is where far more people ski, and there is a reduced price for North, only.

That said, I was also there to say good bye to North, yesterday, as were a lot of others that normally ski South. I agree that there was a ton of great snow at North. There was also Upper Looking Good.

From Summit



And I didn't just look at it. I stopped at the top, looked at the sign and the bare center and said, "That just has to be nasty!" Then I went down it... twice.

From the trail.


While South, the day before had copious traffic On Lower Birdland...
And yes... I was there, too.



More pix added to my Widely Assorted Pix album, here.

Great pics. I love being forced to get creative with line selection in the Spring!

[MntMan4Bush]

The pic of lower birdland looked like lower organgrinder in January. Alpha to Omega in such a short span, but what a great span it was!

[BushMogulMaster]

In evidence, I'd like to point out that thru most of the season, South is where far more people ski, and there is a reduced price for North, only.

Of course South gets more traffic sometimes... that's what SV is marketing. ME is left behind with no marketing push. That's what happens. New base village at South, new marketing for that and other improvements at South, South to stay open late, South to have mountain biking, South to have disc golf. The list goes on. What do you expect, everyone to ignore all of the talk?

However (no offense) your assessment is not entirely accurate... on the busiest days of the year, the numbers (and yes, this is based on factual stats) were very nearly equal between the two mountains. The split is 55/45 or 60/40 most weekends, the higher being South. In fact, once or twice this season, North had higher skier visits than South.

BTW, yesterday was one of the greatest days I've ever had at Sugarbush. ME was absolutely perfect! Every major trail still has GREAT cover and great depths. The bumps on Cliffs were phenomenal. I was in the Mogul Logic camp with David Babic, and had the time of my life. I can't express in words my frustration with the fact that ME is closed this early. Even if South is to be the late mountain, this is awfully early to close ME. South closed on the 7th or 8th last year, why can't we have this week at ME?

Oh well. There's still skiing to be done, so I'll be doing it .

[WWF-VT]

I was at LP on Saturday and Mt Ellen on Sunday. IMHO Mt Ellen had much better conditions especially cruisers off the North Ridge Express Chair. The pic of Upper Looking Good is not representative of the conditions and coverage on the upper mountain.

[BushMogulMaster]

I was at LP on Saturday and Mt Ellen on Sunday. IMHO Mt Ellen had much better conditions especially cruisers off the North Ridge Express Chair. The pic of Upper Looking Good is not representative of the conditions and coverage on the upper mountain.

Thank you.

The cover at ME seems to be still in much better shape than LP.

[Lostone]

Sorry if you thought I was saying that coverage was bad, with my pic of Upper Looking Good. Rather, I was showing what some people will do, when they are doing spring skiing.

A agree totally, that there was a lot of good coverage at North. My only complaint was that it really didn't warm enough to feel like the last day.

If you look thru the linked pix, you'll see Rim Run, part of FIS, which were full covered.

They're not shutting down North due to lack of snow, but lack of people coming up. It is sad. We would kill for these conditions in November. (And in this season December and most of January. )

[BushMogulMaster]

Sorry if you thought I was saying that coverage was bad, with my pic of Upper Looking Good. Rather, I was showing what some people will do, when they are doing spring skiing.

Nope. I was just making sure everyone else knew that the cover is still good.

A agree totally, that there was a lot of good coverage at North. My only complaint was that it really didn't warm enough to feel like the last day.

And there was WAY too much snow to feel like the last day.

If you look thru the linked pix, you'll see Rim Run, part of FIS, which were full covered.

They're not shutting down North due to lack of snow, but lack of people coming up. It is sad. We would kill for these conditions in November. (And in this season December and most of January. )

It's the trend the industry has shone in the past 15 years or so... spring skiing just doesn't have the draw it used to. I wish there were enough paying skiers in April to keep both mountains open all month, but that's just not feasible in the current state of the industry. Although... Mt. Ellen probably has enough cover to stay open on the Summit at least through the middle of May, but no such luck.

And don't misinterpret my earlier comments either, Lostone... I wasn't just rebutting your point. I just wanted to make it clear that on busy days, ME and LP see almost the same numbers, and that the reason LP sees quite a few more at certain times is because that's where the current marketing effort is.

So, are we going to have a powder day soon???

[shadyjay]

I too had a great time at North, riding there for the last of the season. Had to thank all the staff there for the awesome season I had there. Got there around 10 and was warm enough to go sans-helmet and sans-jacket, just rocking out my DC hoodie. Had a beer and a dog on the deck. Coverage was great, except on ULG (or as I called it, Upper Lookin' Not-So-Good) - couldn't believe it was open. Lasted till shortly after 2 when I hit down the bottom, de-geared at the 'Cruiser, and said goodbye, with a little tear in my eye. Heading to CT for Easter, but if there's a storm, I may come back a day early - took Monday off for that reason.

[BushMogulMaster]

I haven't said farewell to North yet. Hiked up Straight Shot, Mainstream, Which Way... and hit some bumps on Cliffs today. Twas fun indeed! It really is a shame it's closed... there is so much great snow up there!

[freeheel_skier]

I skinned up this am. Very Sad ME is closed indeed!

[Lostone]

Not denying that North is not a good mountain, but I went out for about 3 hours, this afternoon. Had a couple power failures that stopped things for a bit, but still got in 9 runs, mostly off Bravo.

If you liked Cliffs, you might have liked Stein's, too. Wasn't as soft as I wanted, but was very easy to ski, as was most of the stuff off Bravo. Skiing was quite good. Almost didn't go out. Glad that I did.

Now, if North were the late mountain... I'd be riding the lifts over there!

I hike all over the mountains, during the off-season. But I'm not carrying skis or wearing ski boots. And granted, it is easier, if you are skinning, as opposed to carrying, but... They are still running lifts, quite locally.

But feel free to hike/skin. You'll certainly get more exercise. I'll do more skiing.

[BushMogulMaster]

Not denying that North is not a good mountain, but I went out for about 3 hours, this afternoon. Had a couple power failures that stopped things for a bit, but still got in 9 runs, mostly off Bravo.

If you liked Cliffs, you might have liked Stein's, too. Wasn't as soft as I wanted, but was very easy to ski, as was most of the stuff off Bravo. Skiing was quite good. Almost didn't go out. Glad that I did.

Now, if North were the late mountain... I'd be riding the lifts over there!

I hike all over the mountains, during the off-season. But I'm not carrying skis or wearing ski boots. And granted, it is easier, if you are skinning, as opposed to carrying, but... They are still running lifts, quite locally.

But feel free to hike/skin. You'll certainly get more exercise. I'll do more skiing.

I'm heading to the South side (the Dark side ) tomorrow. I'll do a little of both. I'm just not ready to give up on Mt. Ellen yet.

[BushMogulMaster]

FWIW, here's a quote from "Win's Word" on sugarbush.com:

Sunday started out warmer and as I made first tracks down Spring Fling, it was already soft corduroy, and at 9am Birch, which had been groomed just before opening, was creamy. It took three runs before I decided that I needed to ride Slide Brook over to Mt. Ellen for our final day there. I must say I really had mixed feelings about it being our last day. The snow depth was still excellent and the conditions on the many trails we groomed the night before and all the ungroomed as it warmed up were terrific. Early runs down Elbow, Looking Good, Rim Run, Cruiser, Inverness and Which Way were on "hero" snow. Later runs on FIS, Black Diamond, Tumbler, Bravo and Exterminator reminded me why I love those trails and made me feel guilty that I skied more days at Lincoln Peak this year.

I wish that more people would continue skiing in April so that we could keep both base areas running longer into the spring, especially in a year like this. Spread the word that golf, lacrosse, and baseball can wait a few more weeks; the skiing and riding it still terrific here. While we have moved to Lincoln Peak officially for the balance of April, we are ready to jump back over to Mt. Ellen if we find that conditions do not hold as well as we hope on the other side.