jgreco
4" of upside-down snow this morning. Sleet changing to freezing fog/drizzle by the time we left for work at 10. Should bond with the groomers nicely. Got 2nd track down Uncles, which even with crustiness underneath, skied better than South Bowl the run before. Lots of goggle wiping. Fun snow. Wondering how it will set up as it gets skied with the wet precip falling... I'm sure better than it's been the past few weeks.
DrJeff
2-15 - just a damn good day on the hill!! The mountain burned LOTS of Diesel putting corduroy stripes on most every trail that was open, and that combined with the forecasted -10+ degree temps kept the crowds to a very reasonable level all day!
With no wind and not a cloud in the sky the majority of the day, if you had the right gear on, it was very pleasant!!
express at 7:30 with Southbowl, then Cascade to literally the 2nd tracks down an at groomed at 6:45AM one more time, then Uncle's, then Hop (the fresh corduroy had it as good as any non powder day I have ever skied it!) Then Shootout with fresh corduroy, then then Upper Exhibition - tramline - Ego - Low traverse to Canyon, all with fresh cord, then a ledge to Choke to Standard, a quick Summit Lodge break, then a still packed powder soft Plummet, a high speed GS run down a smooth Olympic, then over to Sunbrook with Big Dipper, then Moonbeam to little Dipper, deer run back to the the Sundance Triple another on Hop, and then one more on Southbowl inside of the race team ropes talking with my kids 3 coaches stationed at various places on Southbowl!!
Seriously a top 3 day of the year today!
ski_it
Well said Dr Jeff. It was really fun today
ski_it
2/16 was more crowded but still fun. Took the BB up at 3:30 came down and they weren’t loading because of mechanical difficulties. Got in the GS cue which was 15 yards beyond the back. What I didn’t understand was they started taking the ropes down at 3:40 with the cue beyond capacity.
Some People started bailin so we made it up the singles line before 4. 3/4 the way up it appeared they reloaded the BB. They ran it for the torch lite that evening so whatever it was it’s all good now
ski_it
jgreco
Wednesday: A thin rain crust on top of 5-6" from yesterday kept you on your toes. Groomers were very firm so I stuck to the ungroomed. Ledge top to bottom was fun. Each run through ungroomed got better as the crust got chopped up. North Face lifts on windhold.
yardsale
Sat 2/22. Hadn't skied a Saturday in a spell. Tip top conditions that held up thru the day. Healthy crowd but not crazy. Bit of a breeze - Canyon & Challenger started on hold. Did the 7:30am start and went to 11:30 - quick break then noon to 2pm. Took Blue Bird 7:30 til 8:20 then on to Northface where it was ski on while I was there for a little over an hour. Skiers left of all the Northface trails were nice and soft windblown. Most everything had been groomed on Northface for the holiday crowd. Did a Dipper run over on Sunbrook around 11:20 - there was a mogul comp on bear trap so the bear trap lift was sporting a bigger than normal crowd, but not more than 5 minutes. The mogul course looked dreadful and when I rode up under it, it was really young kids running the course and struggling a bit with it. Tried Carinthia at about 10 past noon and it was mobbed. Headed back to main base and Grand Summit was little to no wait the rest of the day so finished with 5 laps on it. A groomed Olympic at around 8:50am was my favorite descent today.
A groomed Uncles at 8:20
Olympic at 8:50am
Rusty Nail
Chuckled at this... a former poster on the old SJ tagged the Outpost chair
ski_it
Nice report. I must have been skiing parallel to you until 10. Then off to Ascutney
DrJeff
Great weather this weekend. Great snow conditions. The GSE going down for about 3 hours late morning on Sunday seems par for the course this season. Crowds on Sunday weren't bad until the GSE went down and they lost that capacity out of the base area, even after they started spinning Ego.
Solid crowd on Saturday for sure.
Let's hope the storm this week delivers!
yardsale
Dr. Jeff spot on as usual. Out around 8:05 today. We were having a beautiful leisurely Sunday. We had opted for Grand Summit early on due to the sun and warmth bypassing Blue Bird - no sense getting on the bubble just to leave the bubble up. Moved to Northface around 9:15 with both lifts ski-on and nice snow. Then on to Sunbrook around 10:05 where we decided to ride the quad a couple of times due to the nice weather and our Sunday pace. The quad was no more than a 2-3 chair wait. We opted out of Sunbrook via beartrap even with the bigger line there due to the mogul comp going on below the lift. Came back into the main base right at 11am with the plan to lap GSE for a few. Darn GSE closed. Kudo's to the Canyon lift crew who extended the ropes quick, although the singles coral was missing a lane. We got out of the main base pretty quick considering - prob a 10 minute wait on Canyon so back to Northface via River Run. After another one there, we decided to lap that Sunbrook quad into the lunch hour. I think we touched every square ft of the Sunbrook area. Around 12:45 we went up bear trap and decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Iron Loft. Great service and really good food. Plenty of staff there ... which leads me to this question. Why is the Nitro lift coral/queue such a debacle? There is only one capable liftie there and when he has do something else or go on break the whole thing crashes and burns. You have this signature, beautiful lodge, adequately staffed inside... but that lift queue is the worst I have seen anywhere. The young "people" who lap this lift have no manners and no filter. F-bombs dropped and talking about drug use with 4 year olds right next to them. Blatant line cutting and if you call them out they just laugh. They cannot be shamed because they don't have any value for others. If I were in charge there, I would put 10 or more staff just in the coral and start calling the worst offenders out - even clipping passes because it is that bad- perhaps then it would stop. Any way, it was a spectacular early spring ski day in February.
Big Dipper
Moon Walk
Sunbrook quad had a minor issue with a wire midway up around 11am. I assume they cut in the new wire while we waited around 5 minutes near the top. Lift mechanics must have been busy today.
ski_it
I was on the GSE at tower 4 for what the wife says was at least 20 minutes. (She was right. I just checked my app, 35 minute ride) She hadn’t loaded yet which made reconnecting tricky. They final ran us off, possibly on diesel. The BB seemed to stop & go a lot during the same period. They started up Ego which they weren’t planning to run, on diesel, as we went by. Anyway at the top they handed us a coupon for $30 off a lift ticket or rental. Woo hoo!
You’re spot on about Nitro. There’s usually only one liftie running the queue and as soon as they turn their back the single line unloads.
However yesterday at 2 they had someone stationed at the singles preventing that type of behavior.
Then there’s the guy with the backpack music spewing graphic X rated lyrics at full volume. That was on NF Saturday.
Then there’s the Mt Snow Academy kids riding single on the GS that would not alternate at the queue merges. Full holiday queues. Ok maybe she didn’t understand me, but I said to the oldest in the group, “Don’t you guys alternate?” “Huh?” So I repeated myself and she barged ahead anyway. They all were probably stuck on the lift as well.
Grumpy old man? Ya betcha!
Selfish entitled peeps? Ya betcha!!
Made spending the afternoon at Ascutney so nice
rickbolger
The young "people" who lap this lift have no manners and no filter. F-bombs dropped and talking about drug use with 4 year olds right next to them. Blatant line cutting and if you call them out they just laugh. They cannot be shamed because they don't have any value for others.
It's not just kids. If someone started convulsing in line at Vail the majority of people would hustle around them to get the next chair.
newpylong
The Nitro chair unfortunately is one to avoid because of the people waiting to ride it. They're the worst.
yardsale
The Nitro chair unfortunately is one to avoid because of the people waiting to ride it. They're the worst.
Yeah. Which is why putting that signature lodge there is a head scratcher. Not much parking and the weekend demographic customer that wants to use the building would rather not deal with that scene. I do like the terrain in Carrinthia and can live with the features on the trails - but.... I just think I would attempt to reign in the behavior in and adjacent to that coral in particular.
Today was full on spring. Not ready for it at this stage - still February - but boy was it sweet out there today. Later in the week might bring a recharge.
From the Sundance offload ramp.
jgreco
Hoping Mount Snow gets the Stowe (and others) queue management next year. Fourrunner quad queue seems to operate flawlessly. 8 lanes merge to 4, then those 4 to 2 (those merges are self-regulated) then at the final merge, there's a staffer pairing up singles.
Mt_Tom
The Nitro chair unfortunately is one to avoid because of the people waiting to ride it. They're the worst.
Watch it!!! You were young at one point too!
lotsoskiing
Young does not necessarily mean they are a$holes. Plenty of them to go around during a holiday week.
rickbolger
If you ski at Vail you'll find that they don't discriminate by age, race, or sex. The a$$hats are not a majority, but they may be observed across the entire spectrum of clientele.
DrJeff
As an FYI, if anyone is coming to Mount Snow this weekend, and expecting trees full of light, fluffy powder like we've probably seen pics of today from up North, the 3" or so that fell yesterday, has set up like a rock, to the point where my 230lb frame couldn't even put a dent into it on my deck as I was out grilling this evening.... Awesome base snow.... Not fluffy stuff!
ski_it
But you are forgetting about the 1/4" of powder we picked up tonight! :D
