guitar73

free lift tix, a snow shower, some sun, hero snow, and spring bumps were the order of the day. we rolled into the parking lot around 9pa and still scored a killer spot (ya for late season crowds). upper level temps must have been really cold b/c it was def snowing a good bit at jf while everywhere else around it was getting rain showers....wasn't sunny but i wasnt gonna complain! snow was excellent, there was still some coverage in happy land, the elevator was in prime shape (as was floyd's). the sun poked in and out of the clouds all day, and it warmed up really nicely by lunch time....def had to drop a layer. the bumps on exhibition were fabulous and we spent a lot of time in them. not sure when they're gonna close up, although i kinda heard rumors that this was there last weekend. i hope not b/c they def have enough coverage to get through to mid april. oh well, it was a stellar day and loads of fun! and thanks to free lift tix from subaru, it was an epic day!

gotta love those suprise pow days

sweet....i hope it keeps on crankin' thru next week. we're headed up to sunday river next weekend.

sweet!

it was really good. i had some before going up (a co-working brought some in). it's not available outside of northern vt, as far as i know. i was not able to get to a distributor up there to get a case. the alchemist closed their brewery to the general public and they deliver their own stuff to local resturants and liquor stores. the delivery is on a rotating schedule during the week....just didn't line up for us this time, sorry guys . supposedly they are opening up a new retail space, but they are having a hard time finding suitable space. no, we didn't have enough vacay days to do any non-ski touristy stuff...

whiteface = ice. gotta hit that place up when it gets fresh or in the spring when the ice softens up. the catskills are good for a day trip. I find that lodging in the catskills is more expensive than in vt (generally)....there is also a lot less lodging options in the catskills. that said, we did an end of the season trip to hunter last season: $30 lift tix and a mtn side room for $150/nite (reg $350/nite)....so it wasn't too bad. you'll be very hard pressed to find any descent lodging for under $150/nite.

heady topper goodness castlerock liftline

tinymoose and I started march off with a mini ski safari of northern vt. our trip was centered around the skidiva.com's eastern gathering at stowe mountain resort. we decided to check out other mtns on this trip, so we tacked on smuggler's notch (smuggs) and sugarbush. our base of operations was the innsbruck inn in stowe. this is an OK place....not fancy by any means, but it has clean rooms and a hot tub, is close to stowe mtn resort, and the rate includes a full b-fast and après snacks ( 2 queen bed for about $100/nite). we arrived in stowe on Saturday and met our friends bryan, melissa, and rob. dinner was had at the vermont ale house. bangin' fried chicken and two heady toppers made for an excellent dinner. ski day #1 - smuggs. the resort consists of 3 peaks (morse, madonna, and sterling). the main village is located on morse peak: this is where most of the beginner terrain is located. all the family friendly stuff is located in the village. madonna and sterling is where the real skiing is to be had at smuggs. we bypassed the village area and went up to the madonna base lodge to get our tix and boot up. 3 to 6 inches of freshies and highs in the mid teens was the order of the day. we started off by taking the madonna 1 lift up to the top of the resort. let me tell you that madonna peak is no joke: steep tight glades, 30 ft cliffs, 50 plus degree pitched trails....you had better bring your A-game if you want to tackle everything that madonna peak has to offer up. unfortunately for us, all the really difficult terrain was close due to lack of coverage. from the top, we headed over towards the sterling area.....turns were soft and fluffy over a scratchy base. sterling peak has a ton of great tails on it. we did several laps....more fresh turns, powdery bumps and sweet glades: yummy. after lunch, we hit up the trees off the madonna 2 lift. bermuda glades was a nice long area...not very technical, but a lot of fun. we went back up to the top and dropped into doc dempsy's glades: steep and bumpy with widely spaced trees....def the run of the day. overall, we really like smuggs...so many gladed areas to check out. we're def planning to go back. ski day #2 - stowe. fast and firm, cold and windy. all the fresh snow that we got on day #1 was scraped off by the 12 bus loads of people that crowded smr. not much to say about this day's skiing....the only trail that was really fun this day was whirl away on spruce peak. no one was skiing any of the front four, and for good reason.....ice skating rink at the top. this year we used the midway lodge. parking is really close to the lodge and it is convenient to the gondola. ski day #3 - stowe. still fast and firm, but no wind. rob and I met up with jfskidan at the base of the gondola around 10 am. tinymoose and the others went over to lower national to get some practice in the bumps and then headed over to the chapel area to check out the trees. everyone met up for another lap down the chapel glades. after lunch, rob went off with a few local instructors and hit up the kitchen wall. jfskidan and I lapped the front runner quad, hit up the nosedive glades (skier's right of trail), lower national glades, and liftline glades (skier's left, below midway). by far this was the best time we had at stowe this week. nice soft snow, very good coverage, little to no ice. ski day #4 - sugarbush. surprise snow showers and not as cold temps made for every good skiing conditions, even though light was an issue. we all started off the super bravo quad.....about 2 inches on scratchy boiler plate. we moved over to the heavens gate lift to get to the top of Lincoln peak. we cruised down jester and stayed to skier's right, where we split up. rob, jfskidan, and I dropped inot the eden glades, which was just fantastic. it was a little thin in places, but nothing to get worked up about. we jumped over to the gate house quad and did a couple of laps on sleeper and deeper sleeper. after a quick waffle break, we headed up to the top of north lynx and headed over to castle rock.....that's where the goods were. loads of untracked and the deepest stuff we found that day. run of the day was castlerock/troll road/liftline. we were very impressed by sugarbush and def plan to get back there at some point. good times had by all....and there was much rejoicing....pics to follow.

ditto what jkskidan wrote. most def an awesome time in NoVT. we ended up staying at the innsbruck inn in stowe....it's an OK place. clean rooms, really good b-fast and apres snacks, and a decent hot tub. very convenient location to stowe (5 min drive max)....all for about $100/nite. sunday at smuggs and weds at sugarbush were def the best days, hands down. i'll post a tr in a bit.

sweet mang, enjoy the pow!

yup, that's the elk story: great mtn...sucky lodge and parking arrangments.

it was another fun day up at jack frost yesterday. subaru was putting on a subaru owner appreciation day: good times. we pulled into the lot around 8:15ish (VIP lot for subarus only...most excellent) and got booted up. checked out the subaru tents and got some free swag. we headed over to east mtn to ditch the president's day crowd. t-bolt glades was tasty goodness. floyd's was pretty good in the morning, so was river shot.....but both quickly got scraped off by the huge volume of skier traffic. the only good ways down were the elevator or risk it, lol. it was very nice to have all the trees in play today: happyland, one park (didn't ski it), t-bolt, elevator glades, gonzo's, mark's way were all in tip top shape. lift lines under the east mtn and challange chairs were nicely filled in as well, but i didn't get around to trying them out. bumps on challenge and exhibition were pillow soft. it was certainly a treat to have such soft (non-boiler plate icy) conditions in PA for a change. run of the day was anything in the trees. subaru brought in nordica demos. the rep had all 2015 skis, so that was nice to see a little bit of whats coming out for next season. i demo'd the firearrow 76 (168cm??) and the energy 90 (180cm). eventhough it wasn't the best day for them, i really liked the firearrow...very easy to get on edge, tight turning radius, very light, and had tons of energy. this ski really didn't like the chopped up cruddy stuff. i did take them into the bumps and found them to be suprizingly adequate. the energy 90 was very stable at speed and ate up the choppy snow, but i found them to be cumbersome in the bumps. also, with two sheets of metal i found them to be a little too stiff for my taste. afterwards we hit up the e2000 lounge for suds, wings, and an extremely loud 80's cover band (that was very good btw).

i'd rather have a high-speed lift to replace the long haul lift.....

after we dug ourselves out of the house, tinymoose and i went up to check the conditions out at bc. we got there around 6:15pm, it was still a light drizzle coming down. we booted up and it had started to change over to sleet, then straight up ice. snow was suprizingly good considering the rain and ice that followed the snow. didn't do too much carving b/c the snow was a bit too grippy and it was very easy to catch an edge. in general, the snow was very slow. we started with cascade park and then headed over to the F-lift. on the way down i ducked into the trees along broadway and was pleasantly suprised. it was a bit rutted up in there, but the snow was soft. loads of soft little bumplets on extreme and grizzly. we continued to play in the woods for a few runs, then went over to sasquatch. it skied very nicely and had nice soft bumps. we went in for a snack around 8:30pm...by this time we were totally soaked. it had started to change over to snow before we headed inside for the break, so by the time we went back outside there was a couple inches of freshies on the ground. we finished out the day with two more runs down cascade park. we packed it up and headed back to the skibaru. two college girls in a honda accord were stuck in their parking spot, so i helped them get out of it. it was pretty rough going, but we managed to get her out and on her way...but not before i noticed that she still had here E-brake on.....yeah..... they left before us, but we passed on them on the access road out b/c they got stuck on the hill. hope they got home ok, or at least got a room at the hotel. anyhow, we made it home with no problems....it was snowy and windy. very little traffic on 100 or 422. and our parking spot was still there when we got back home! sweet.....

i just grabbed the map distance off of google earth....actual ground distance would be longer, so i don't doubt the 4730 ft length. either way, that's a long ass lift (dist and time).

um...i can think of 914 vertical and 4245 horizontal reasons to upgrade the long haul lift......

the highspeed lift should def replace long haul....

golf isn't cheap either, btwn clubs, balls, shoes, and a bag, etc. also, greens fees (w/cart) at most public courses are def in the $50 range. however, people are going out and golfing and more people are either starting to play, or at the very least, follow it on tv. but the big difference i see between golf and skiing is as sibhusky put it...hassle. also, i think that on average the majority of people do not have a high tolerance for colder weather. in the end, it all depends on where you are willing to spend your money....imho.

no, not yet...haven't had the time

we hit up jackson frost yesterday for a fun session. morning condiditons were sunny and cold with very nice and grippy cord to be had everywhere. trees were a bit crusty on top and the elevator was a bit too icy and crunchy for my taste. floyd's was nice and fast and still had some snow left on it in the morning. we lapped the east mtn chair a few times, then went over to do the bumps on exhibition for a while. no liftline crowds to speak of, which was fine by me. we went in for an early lunch where we found a group of unruly girl scout troup leaders who wouldn't let us take a seat so we could eat our lunch. anyhow, after lunch the clouds started to roll in and the temps rose a bit, which softened the snow up nicely. we headed back over to the east mtn chair and took a few drops down the elevator. the skating rink in the center of the face was still there, but extreme skier's right (next to the trees) was very nice. challenge and dematte's were very nice in the afternoon. happyland was sweet as well. we called it quits around 3pm, hit up the e2000 lounge for some suds and snacks. it was snowing pretty good by the time we headed home. overall, another cool time at jackson frost.

what a waste....

lookin' like a good chance for a butt load of ice for SEPA....womp womp

last measurement was 6.5", but that was before it stopped. i'm gonna guess about 7 to 8 inches for us.

they didn't post a depth, but they did say it was quite thin. also, i saw a few pics of the trails posted on FB and they looked rather brown....

ya, but with like a couple of inches of base....sounds kinda scratchy to me.