Ride Delaware ?

It took me awhile to get to this, but I figured it’s better late than never. I hadn’t been to Snowshoe since 2004 when I was a senior in high school, so when my parents, who have an affinity for WV, offered to take us on a trip there, we jumped on it. When we last went, they hadn’t finished Corridor H or Snowshoe Drive over the backside of the mountain, so the trip was much shorter this time. It would have been about 7 hours without any extra stops, but they are tough to avoid when you have extra people, so it took us about 8. The last hour or so on the winding WV roads were partially snow covered too, which added to the adventure. It’s been difficult to justify going to WV when the drive to Southern VT is the same distance and has much more consistent snow, but we just got really lucky this time. Outside of days in the northeast where I’ve gotten free refills all day, this was probably top 3 in terms of pure snow conditions. They hadn’t experienced a freeze thaw event in almost a month, snow guns were constantly going, and they had received 6 feet of snow in the previous two weeks. We stayed ski in/ski out at the top of the mountain. We got into our accommodations at 3 on Monday, got an hour or so the first day, went bell to bell with some stops Tuesday-Thursday, and then did another hour in the morning Friday before we left. We got a couple inches of fresh snow Tuesday night and a couple more Thursday night, so in addition to the snowmaking, there were some little refreshes in there. Overall, the mountain is relatively mellow, but has some great cruisers. It’s also a top/down mountain which is unique. There are 3 distinct mountain areas. The main mountain is where most of the lodging and village are located. Silver Creek is a little smaller, has the night skiing, and you have to take a shuttle to it. The Western Territory is where they have “4” runs that are the full 1,500’ vert, and they are fast, open, and really make the mountain ride/ski a lot bigger than the stats show. Those runs compete with some of the runs up in VT, but there aren’t many of them. They were also blowing snow on open terrain which you don’t see too much of south of NY, so that was cool to see too. There’s plenty of high speed lifts, so you can cover the mountain quickly and really rack up some runs. Most of the trip was spent at the main area. All the trails were packed powder. There wasn’t any ice. It was incredible. The main HSQ in the middle of the mountain, Ballhooter, was by far the busiest lift, sometimes having a 5 minute lift line, but every other lift was ski on/off. I spent most of my time on the Soaring Eagle and Powder Monkey lifts. Since I was there last, they also added some glade skiing. They were cut well, but even with all the natural they had gotten, there were still obstacles and they could have used another foot in there. On Thursday we took the opportunity to go to the Western Territory by walking across the road at the top of the Powder Monkey lift. It’s about a 100 yard walk. I knocked out 7 or 8 runs in about an hour and 15 minutes. There were some hard pack spots over there due to the sun exposure, but all in all, nothing to complain about. The view there is very reminiscent of out west minus the lack of above tree line views. The amenities are really nice. We stayed at the Mountain Lodge, which has a great location, but being one of the first lodges built in the late 70’s/early 80’s, is very dated. The village is great. Nice mix of shops and food. There is a small grocer at the top, which comes in handy for overpriced necessities, but make sure you bring what you need since Snowshoe is out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There’s a Dollar General at the base, but if you can’t find it there, you’re traveling an hour plus for a real grocery store or a Wal-Mart. Great trip overall. I’d go back, but you just don’t get that lucky on conditions that often. When we were there, they had more snowfall for the year than Sugarbush had. Sometimes you just get lucky.

I’m sure this has been addressed in the thousands of posts I missed before this, but did any of you spring the extra $$& for a Peak to Peak pass for Camelback. I’m guessing GSS didn’t… It’s not always feasible to drive to Sugarbush now, so there could be a venue change for a few years. Not sure yet. Weighing our options.

These are all going to the same webcam now, but regardless, it’s nice to see some snowmaking. If the base looks like this, with all its concrete and the lazy river, I’m sure the rest of the trails they are making snow on are fine to open tomorrow. I haven’t been interested in camelback’s snowmaking for years, but we have a small family ski trip planned before Christmas, so I am interested now lol

It’s a little weird being back at the mountain and not patrolling this year, and I fully expected my first day to be at Sunday River, but a cold and other circumstances led me over to Sugarbush, and it just so happens it was opening day. It was a 3 hour drive from the in-laws in NH, and I had some family obligations to take care of, so I didn’t get into the parking lot and PLB until about 1:30. Crowds had either cleared out or were non existent. I hopped on the lift and ran into an old ski patrol buddy at the top, so we took a couple runs together. There were only 2 distinct runs with a third side run. All skiing was off the Gatehouse lift, so in reality, both trails that were open share the same starting trail and same ending trail. Regardless, conditions were excellent for late in the day on opening day. I expected similar conditions to previous years where it’s basically glacial ice with some granular bumps and icy troughs on the side. Surprisingly, only about 10 feet right in the middle was iced up. The rest was a mix of packed powder and groomed snowmaking. I guess the snow last week, combined with consistent below freezing temps and no warmup really paid off. I took 6 runs, going with a 66%/34% split on the two trails. It was great getting the legs warmed up and catching up with an old friend. Looks like 3” or more tomorrow at opening, so I’ll be looking to get after it before I head back to NH.

I know GSS and I both stayed here. I stayed here once when my Sugarbush condo was being renovated in 2011 and there was nowhere else open in the fall, and then a second time in 2014 when I hiked the Long Trail. I know when GSS did his annual trip to VT back in the day this was an annual stay for him. Apparently it sold the first time in 2018. Those owners were awesome. I came in off the trail soaked to the bone at 10 AM asking for a room when check in wasn’t until 2 PM and not only did he let me in early, he had me in the computer system from 3 years earlier and cut my rate 40% for being nice enough to think of him when coming back to the area. It needed an overhaul in 2014, so I’m sure this is well overdue, but it’s still sad to see something else affordable sold at a high price and overly gentrified. https://www.vtcng.com/stowe_reporter/news/local_news/town-country-stowe-resort-gets-refresh/article_b667f7da-588f-11ee-96a7-6300bacddf73.html

Wait, what? Papasteeze died? Also, what’s your totals looking like there? Just flurries here in Vermont.

I had some work to do in the morning, but the leg felt pretty good after yesterday, so I decided to stick to the plan and do a couple lower mountain runs followed by some mid mountain runs to ease back into it. I got out on snow about 1 today and went about an hour and a half to 2 hours on 7 runs. Mostly went off of Bravo and Gatehouse lifts. Only 7 degrees colder today than yesterday, but a huge difference in snow consistency. Yesterday was corn and today was more sugary. There were plenty of sugar piles and icy spots to be had, but for not having any natural snow in a week plus, I thought the conditions were standard for February in New England. There was a good crowd for a Monday. Trails of the day surprisingly were Downspout/Domino Chute and Valley House Traverse. The traverse, while relatively flat, was pitched well with snowmaking this year and wasn’t skied off due to the pitch. I stopped in the middle of it and still made it across with plenty of speed. Quite an enjoyable little section with a great view. All in all, a great day, and tomorrow I’ll try to make it to the top and test the leg out on some t2b runs. I guess I’ll stick with the PT and home PT. It’s made a huge difference so far. Pics below:

It’s been a tough year on the snow so far. Lots going on personally, and I’ve been dealing with a nagging injury that finally de-compensated and required PT. We had some water damage this summer to our place in VT that I had to come address, and the leg was feeling better, so I decided to get out on the snow a little while I was here. We split the drive over 2 days, so we didn’t get into Sugarbush yesterday until around 3 PM. It’s been 6 weeks since I rode last and I hadn’t tested the leg, so I figured getting out on snow for a few runs on the lower mountain would be a good test. I pulled a Joey move and threw the snow pants on over the jeans, went with the old PLB, and got on the Village Lift at about 3:15. It was the end of the day so most of the crowds had dispersed. 42 degrees at the base and an early corn harvest. I did one run each of the “distinct” runs off the Village lift for 3 runs total. The leg felt pretty good overall. It was good to be back out. The goal is to get out today after lunch for a couple hours and at least get to mid mountain for a few runs. Here’s some pics:

I’ve never been a huge fan of Hunter, but I did appreciate it for early season. They can really blast that mountain and they know how to dial those guns in. Every time early season was under the guns and they were dry and soft. Fantastic snow. I don’t know if they’ve evolved since being bought by Vail, but I always loved how easy it was to “accidentally poach” there. They never roped off closed trails. They had this small sign in the middle of the trail, which was always covered in snowmaking snow that said “closed”. By the time you were close enough to read it, you were already too committed to go back uphill.

Only gondola I’ve ever ridden in NH is Loon’s old 4 seater. I think it’s still in use. I think Bretton Woods has one now too. Not too many in NH…

Throwback thread. Whatever happened to Robert2?

Looks like you weren’t the only one…

My guess on that one would have been Highmount next door to Belleayre. I’d really like to make it to Bell this year. I haven’t been in over 10 years and haven’t experienced any of the improvements ORDA has done, including the ski bridge and gondola. I don’t know about build out, but I know they acquired the old Highmount ski area years ago, and this approved plan does show that it is part of the future plans. It would be rather large and add another base area to split up the crowds if they ever completed it. ORDA has had a quantifiable impact. Since 2015/2016 to 2022/2023 skier visits have gone from 72k to 237k.

You ski down Paradise off of Heaven’s Gate and before the trail turns to the right, there’s a sign and a path that leads to the left and puts you on the Long Trail. If you’re on a snowboard, you’re hiking 90% of it. If you are on skis and adept at duck walking or whatever skiers call it, uphill, then you can keep the skis on, as there are a decent amount of downhill sections. There isn’t any type of trail between North Lynx, and the elevation change is much more drastic. When the lift isn’t open, we don’t run a fixed patrol station at Castlerock, so patrollers rotate every hour or two, and therefore, I know the hike rather well.

Very elevation dependent. On the main road before the access road, there wasn’t any snow outside of what the plows had pushed a few days earlier. Up on the hill there was probably about 10”. The guy I rode the lift with told me it had snowed on and off for about 2” the day before. It was groomed in nicely. Nowhere near enough to open anything on natural. On the flip side, Sugarbush was reporting 20” and counting in 4 days from some upslope, and being the most aggressive resort at opening terrain I know, was opening natural trails left and right.