snoskier

I was up last night (Thursday 1/7/10) and wanted to give a quick up date re conditions. Mainly skied the North face with runs down the big 4. All trails had fresh blown, carvable powder from those wonderful fan guns. Smoke was the worst with an icy patch between a couple bumps, but it is my least favorite trail so I might be a bit biased. White was freaking awesome. Very nice powdery bumps with fresh snow the whole length. Boomer and C-ball were fresh too. Up top mainline was closed and chunky they were rebuilding the park. Spike had a thing, then the s rail, then another thing, then a jump, then an up down box/rail thing, and then a plastic pipe thing. Obviously, I'm well versed in park speak. I did highball which was also nice and powdery. with the snow they are getting today it should be a real nice ski weekend. I'd love to be skiing today!

I was up last night and the conditions were awesome.

So were you skiing the woods at NIGHT?

You should expect good snow and short lift lines. As a beginner to intermediate you should enjoy anything on the top half of the mountain. If the long haul lift is open you can get some nice top to bottom runs on fast track and runaway. The lower portions of both trails are solid intermediate terrain. There are a couple steep headwalls but a solid intermediate should be able to get down with no issues. Whistler and switch off the iron horse lift are both nice cruisers. If your up for a challenge cannonball is pretty fun with some steeper headwalls although it is an "advanced" trail. Boomer is one of my favorite trials it has a very nice steeper pitch and usually skis well. Smoke and White are the two toughest trails. You will see white from the bottom of the quad - can't miss it. As a beg/intermediate If I was just getting there I would take a run down mainline to warm up and check the conditions then go across the top to whistler, then move skiers right and ski upper runaway back to the iron horse and then do a top to bottom on fast track if your up to it. If they blow snow the night before you can expect chalky powdery conditions. If you get there early there will plenty of nice corduroy to ski. If you ski during the day you will probably have the place to yourself as I don't imagine there will be ton of people. Friday nights tend to get more people as a lot of schools have trips, but during the day you should be fine. For food you have a choice between the bar and the cafeteria. Bar food is actually pretty good, but a little more expensive. The Caf gives you standard fare pizza, burgers ect. (8 for burger and fries i think) but usually has good soup and chili. I know on the weekends they will spread out other dishes e.g. pastas, meats ect. I can't say for Fridays. Personally I would spend the couple extra dollars and eat in the bar especially if its just burgers ect. If you're there for dinner look for the pasta bar (I know its sat/sun (maybe fri) in the bar. It is 10 bucks and REALLY good. Have fun and enjoy.

Going to be in SLC Feb 13 to Feb 20 anyone else going to be out there?

Days 1 and 2 at Riverside was actually really good. For 69 a night I don't think you can beat it. Our room had two beds (singles or doubles) and the bathroom was right across the hall. The owners were really nice and accommodating. I had no complaints staying there. But, I'm pretty low maintenance and can sleep anywhere. Days 3 and 4 were at the Barn which had rooms with their own bathrooms and a super chill vibe. They had an on site bar and a big lounge area. Plus we got breakfast the next day. The lesson wasn't too bad. It was 145 for two people for two hours. So 72 each. It was worth it to get personalized instruction on an area where you need improvement. It was worth every penny. It was certainly one of the best trips I've ever had to Vermont.

Day 3

Just got back from a two day ski trip which turned into a four day trip. I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I'll eventually post what I did take. On December 30 my buddy and I decided to make the trip up to Vermont and ski Stowe. So we booked a cheap place at the riverside inn and started up after work on NYE. We made it up about an hour before the ball dropped, cracked a long trail and watched it on TV. Our plan was to ski stowe and maybe Mad River. Day 1 Stowe

When I left last night almost every gun was one. Can't speak to park conditions (e.g. set ups ect.) but the rest of the mountain should have great conditions for this week. Boomer and White were awesome last night.

I've been watching this and drooling all week. I'm hitting up Stowe too. Maybe Jay / MRG Could be awesome!

Skied white. Was better than some, but not as good as others. It was good up top, boiler in the middle and sluff at the bottom.

Up here for some fun turns. There is a decent crowd especially for a Monday. Same trails are open with the addition of the long haul lift. I think it was shut down around 7 but I got a couple laps in. They were blowing on upper run away and fast track. Some nice chalky powder on uft. And I'd guess urw will open Tomorrow. Lower runaway was terrible it was a sheet of ice. The other trails were good. Especially on the sides where it was sweet and low and sugary. Lots of people in the park. Didn't ski white or boomer. They might have been good but looked "firm". I also have no edges so that played a part too. I might go backout and ski them so I'll comment if I do.

Upper fast track was open, but upper run away was not. They had pushed out the piles on URW, but there were death grapefruits that needed to be addressed before it will open. My guess is probably Tuesday or Wednesday. LFT need a lot of snow and probably will open by the weekend. I'd love it if they'd blow 4-6 inches on white. It was SO good before Christmas.

I was up yesterday and it was ugly. Most trails were very firm. I think I've gotten spoiled with how great the conditions usually are when they blow with the fan guns. I didn't even try White or boomer after seeing and hearing from people who skied them. Cannonball was decent, but lower runaway was chattery and visited by blue mountain's famous death cookies. Upper fast track was pretty good as were mainline spike and switch. Those trails got better once they got some sun. I think today will likely be more of the same, but trending towards improvement. It will be really nice if we can pick up a few inches from the small storm rolling through today.

I hope this is a joke... but this really did happy at west mountain in NY in the 80's. Two guys spent the night on the chair after sneaking on after last chair.

I'm sure they were planted... then bulldozed. I'm sure they will post a video of them "clearing" trees from the new trail. Either that or they buried pine cones around the mountain. Planting new trees can be left open for interpretation.

I didn't go in the lodge so I can't comment, but I think it will be the same size as it was in years past.

I was up at K-Mart this past weekend. conditions were actually really really good. Nice packed powder on all the trails. As long as there hasn't been any ice between last weekend and when you go you should be good. Pico is actually a lot of fun - if the upper quad is running. If not it is fairly tame. At Killington if the lifts are crowded and the trails are icy head to snowdon. It has fixed grip lifts so it less crowded and snow stays longer. Superstar is a fun run as is Cascade and Flume off K-1. Enjoy.

Careful on the riding without passes thing because they will start cracking down.

Pretty good conditions at the start. It was Very spring like conditions. Little icy as the night wore on but still really fun.

Good tip. But, clearly you've never seen me ski. I don't think I'm going to be bombing cannonball anytime soon. I'm a slow skier.

Website shows that Whistler, Cannonball and Boomer are open. Plus, I see people on the webcam skiing towards the north face. That's good enough for me. I'm probably going to head up after work and see how it looks.

Thanks for the info!

I've heard Saturday kicked around but I suppose that will depend if today and tomorrow are good coverage days.

An ugly slushy mess in the mt.top area. about 3 inches of slush. My thoughts of a dawn patrol were crushed.