TR Mount Snow Feb 25/26

[DiMe]

Oh, Hello Everybody

I left Stroudsburg at 11:45 arrived in Brattleboro at about 4:45pm and checked into my hotel. The ride up was pretty interesting seeing the different snow levels as I went up and down in elevation. I seen a TON of blue ice on the mass turnpike rock faces on the side of the road which made me think of Robert 2. What makes the ice appear blue anyways? It was pouring rain all through NY and into Mass, 20 mi from VT the rain changed to wet snow and the roads got slick but no troubles getting through. I'm really wishing I left Tuesday given what the weather is going to be like the next two days but I am staying hopeful. Mount Snow got DUMPED on last night and today! From the website:

 

"Today was an amazing day out on the mountain, the snow kept falling and the powder was deep and fluffy. We received about 25 inches at the base and easily 30 inches at the summit. This snow is great and will remain on the mountain for quite some time. Everything was open but the North Face was where to find the steeps, and the knee deep powder that hit your teeth because you were smiling so much. The upcoming weekend is looking to be fantastic for skiing and riding. The weather looks to have flurries and snow showers straight through the weekend and we expect to have all our trails open with great conditions for everyone with powder, groomers, bumps and parks."

 

I was super stoked when I read that and then scrolled down a little further only to be slightly stoke stomped

 

"That being said tomorrow looks as though it may be a challenging day for weather. Like many storms the back end of this one is causing some of the weather people out there to worry.

The state of Vermont is preparing for possible power outages due to heavy snow and the wind predicted for this evening. This combination may cause tree limbs to fall and in addition there is a possibility of freezing rain and sleet tonight. Driving may be very treacherous.

 

IN ORDER TO INSURE THAT IT WILL BE BUSINESS AS USUAL AT MOUNT SNOW BE SURE TO CHECK THE SNOW REPORT FIRST THING IN THE MORNING BEFORE MAKING ANY PLANS AND LEAVING THE HOUSE."

 

 

Anyways I am going to relax a bit and enjoy some brewskies and pray to the snow gods to keep the rain and wind away tomorrow or at least not be so windy that the lifts go on hold or they don't open. Wish me luck! More to come tomorrow.

Edited February 24, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[method9455]

You took the Thruway->Albany->9 route? Where did you wind up staying?

 

Dots has decent chili and good breakfast food, there is on in town and one on the road up to the mountain. The one on the road to the mountain is slightly better. TC's is probably a good place to go as well - owned by Kelly Clark parents so would have been the place to be a few nights ago during the olympics. The silo? I think its called that, (or is it the barn?) is more of a bar than a rest.

[DiMe]

Sounds like he took I-91..as he mentioned Brattleboro..the one time I went to Mount Snow I stayed in Bennington which is practically a suburb of Albany NY..

 

 

Nice road report..lets hope it stays all snow at Mount Snow..Woods should be pretty freaking deep..I think 25 inches will keep you from hitting rocks..

 

Correct I followed my GPS to the taconic (what a trip of a road when its snowy and your being safe....), I-90, I-91 from NY, Mass, VT. I'm staying in Brattleboro 27 miles from Mount Snow, it was INSANELY cheap with my expedia coupon at a chain motel that had pleasant ratings on tripadviser. Since I'm rolling solo I chose to save some money and drive a little further to the mountain.

Edited February 24, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[AtomicSkier]

Only goobers go that way

[DiMe]

Only goobers go that way

 

First time I went this way I think I made great timing considering some of the roads. Not a bad route.

[mbike-ski]

thats a wack route - we usually eat and drink at the silo, tc's is cool to check out kelly clarkes medals and stuff. get to the woods on north face - skiers far left trials, i think

[TT C6]

Have fun Dime. It I wasn't creeping commando style I woulda offered to go with ya.

 

I still think you ride well, just no more face landings on the jumps this weekend. You're wounded grill is still in my cell phone.

[DiMe]

Have fun Dime. It I wasn't creeping commando style I woulda offered to go with ya.

 

I still think you ride well, just no more face landings on the jumps this weekend. You're wounded grill is still in my cell phone.

 

 

LOL send me that pic in a pm if you can.

 

 

 

AMAZING day at Mount Snow report with pictures comming shortly!

[DiMe]

The ride to Brattlesboro was pleasant, very sceneic enjoying the varying snow levels from area to area and fairly quick.

 

 

Nice plow pile at a rest stop in Mass raised stoke levels

 

 

I woke up at 7am and checked the snow report to see if there were any issues due to the weather. Snow report was great then at 7:30 it changed to say that the Summit Express and Sunbrook Express will have a late opening due to icing on the lines over night. I took a peek outside and seen no new snow accumulation over night and it was raining at a steady pace. I deicided not to rush and just take my time since only the Canyon Express will be running to give access to groomed trails and I wont be missing much. After some issues trying to get my GPS to point me to Mount Snow I was on the road at 8:30.

 

Most of the ride up was raining until I got a little further up route 9 where the rain turned to snow to sloppy up the roads, went through a little more rain and then boom nothing but snow falling 10 miles from Mount Snow until I reached the parking lot. I arrived around 9:35, being unfamiliar with Mount Snow I parked in the main base lodge and found the ticket window to claim my 2-day ticket I purchased online and made my way to the Canyon Express.

 

 

From the canyon quad you can see the groomers are pretty tracked out with the few inches of snow that fell on them after grooming. Pretty much what I was expecting being the terrain was so limited at opening and the few trails that were open under the canyon were fairly crowded. My 2nd ride up I sat with a local passholder who told me that yesterday was absolutely amazing and there werent near as many people in one spot being the summit express was open and expressed how amazing the snow is at the summit. I did about 2 or 3 runs down the different groomers that lead right back to the canyon quad and enjoyed it but wasn't to impress yet. I was to busy trying to plan out where I should go to take any pictures then other than from the lift.

 

 

 

 

I deicided I have to find one of the Natural trails I can access and still get back to the canyon express because after all I came here for pow not groomers! I seen a couple people go down a trail that I didn't even notice before due to the visibility being poo and this is where things get good. Turns out the trail I took was River run and I see that a mid mountain tripple chair just happened to have opened and I get in the back of the line and a local waves me up to ride the lift with him and we're off 3rd chair of the day on the Challenger. I asked the local where this lift was taking us and he informed me to the top of the North Face the most challenging terrain on the mountain. STOKE levels were rising as we looked down at untracked deeeep pow. He told me in these hills we like to down em and burn em and I mentioned that my dumb ass forgot my safety supplies back at the hotel so he asked if I wanted to follow him off trail for a safety meeting and a brew and of course I did.

 

River Run to the Challenger tripple

 

 

Riding up the Challenger quad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The good pictures will be comming soon after I go get some grub.

 

To be continued...............................

Edited February 25, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[DiMe]

 

Mmmmm the Panda North had some real good Chinese food Anyways, on to the good stuff. So after chatting it up with the local he wanted to head back to the canyon express for a few groomer runs and to meet his friend arriving soon so I made my way down some nice fresh and back to the challenge. The powder was lighter at the top but still wet and there was a blue real thin crust about 6" down that was easy to bust through but added some more challenge and wear on the legs. After that run I decided to sample the steepest trail Mount Snow has to offer Ripcord! It was awesome huge powder bumps that my nose just busted through and dropped me onto the next bump after bump.

 

Top of Ripcord, the skier on the left had fallen and had the hardest time getting up and putting his skis back on in the powder. I almost wanted to pull up GSS's video clip from Jackson Hole on my phone so he could get some pointers on how to put your skies back on in deep snow.

 

 

 

 

Where I was standing in the above pic, mmmmm powder.

 

 

At the bottom of Ripcord I seen some younger kids sitting next to a sweet fresh line cutover into another trail. I slowed down to much when I deicided to go for it and realized the kids werent hanging out they were stuck and I joined them by mistake. I dug my legs out and unstrapped my board and tromped through belly deep snow back onto some packed powder where I could get going again.

 

 

After a couple more runs on the Challenger I deicided to figured out how to make my way back down to the main base area. Visibility was becomming an issue at the summit on the main face but I follow a group of people down a trail to the main base.

 

 

 

Now that I knew how to get back to my truck I deicided to head back over to Challenger for a few more powder runs and check out some trees I felt safe enough to go in alone. After going belly deep I was a little nevous of going way off trail and possibly getting stuck alone.

 

Mmmmm lets try Fallen Timbers

 

 

 

Niceeeee

 

 

 

 

I went for one more ride on the North Face in search of some trees and planned on heading back over to the Canyon Express. I found some nice open trees skiers right on Boulder Pile and went for it.

 

 

 

 

My legs were pretty tired now and I deicided I would call it a day and head back down to the main base. I walked over to the main face and deicided to search for some fresh on my way down being that the Summit Express and it's back up Fix Grip never opened today. I figured if I end up somewhere other than the base it's my last run I don't mind walking to my truck. Well it was now 1pm and I managed to find nearly completely untracked fresh on top of groomed cord, it was an incredible way to end the day. I even made it right to the main base aimlessly following fresh snow until I ended up near the canyon express unloading and down the tracked groomers^_^

 

 

 

So today no lifts were running on the main face besides Canyon Express other then maybe the park lift. Sunbrook was also closed today. I think there may be some epic deep on Sunbrook and off the main face early tomorrow morning providing the lifts spin. I will be up there early to track it up tomorrow.

 

Good bye Mount Snow see you tomorrow!

 

[DiMe]

nice report!!!!! Is it raining or snowing up there now???

 

It was snowing when I left at 1:30 and accuweather says it still is. The winds are supposed to pick up tonight, they were already starting to around the time I left and then die off in the later morning. It seems like Mount Snow isn't planning on opening the Sunbrook side tomorrow either but that could easily change. Hopefully the Summit Express stays deiced and will be running tomorrow so I can explore the main face some more. I'm so happy I decided to come up even though I'm alone JADIP!!

Edited February 25, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[DiMe]

Hey Atomic or Toast can you please move this thread into the NY & New England forum, totally forgot it existed.

[DiMe]

Wind hold wind hold wind hold on EVERYTHING Looks like a noon to close session today.

[DiMe]

Are they gonna give you a voucher you can use??

 

Even the single chair at Mad River Glen is on windhold..

 

I may ask, they're selling normal tickets at half day rate today but I'll be perfectly content if I can get up there noon-4 w/ summit access.

 

 

yay the Ego triple just up fixed grip that goes as far as the canyon mid mountain I suppose that's my cue to go up winds must be subsiding.

Edited February 26, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[DiMe]

Another EPIC day at Mount Snow. Started off crappy with winhold's until almost noon. When I got there I seen the Canyon express quad had a line similar to that of Blues 6 pack on a busy Saturday and I was stoke stomped. I checked the lift report board and seen nothing else had opened other then the Ego triple so I booted it over there to avoid the crazy lift line at the quad. I rather ride an old slow fix grip that I only have to wait less then a min for than a high speed that I have to wait 10 min for any day. It was snowing all morning and I was getting sad I wouldn't see the summit today but turns out that was not the case at all as the wet snow went away and it began to puke dry fluffy powder. I went to take a lunch break around 1pm and I came back out to find out the North face had opened while I was taking a break STOKE MARKET Skyrocketed! Pics coming in a few.

Edited February 26, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE

[DiMe]

From Ego Lift

 

 

 

My first run down the Ego Lift I hit an ungroomed blue trail that had alot of the old crusted wet powder from earlier in the week. The trail was barely ridden and it was deeeep. Quite difficult to get back on your feet after taking a nose dive. I then went over to link below where I found some decent wind blown.

 

 

After ending up at a different low mountain lift I took a ride up and made my way back over to the Ego and lapped link and a couple other groomers and went to my truck for a safety meeting and some snacks at about 1:30. It started dumping nice fluffy powder right when I started walking to my truck. After trying to pull up the most recent snow report on my iphone and failing I started walking back towards the Canyon Express to take a look at the lift report board to see that a lift has now opened on the North Face!! I rushed to the Canyon to strap get in line and make my way to the North Face. It turns out that they opened it right after 1pm when I was heading to take my break. They groomed around the lift and I started my first run down Olympic and it was great, it appeared to have been groomed and at the top near lift unloading but a little further down it was flufffy powder bumps. My next run was down Challenge which yesterday I mistook for ripcord and it was incredible & called for a repeat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trees off boulder pile.

 

 

 

 

The clock was ticking and I figured I better make my way back over to the Main Base before the North Face lift closed. I wish I had more time on the North Face today. I hiked it up over to the main face lift unloading area where there was tons of wind blown piles.

 

 

 

There were no main face summit lifts running today so there were plenty of fresh tracks to be made even around 3pm. I found myself knee deep is some short wind drift lines I went into.

 

 

 

Some trees on the lower half of the Main Face

 

 

 

Good bye Mount Snow, I will surely see you in the future.

 

 

 

What started as an ehhhh day turn out GREAT!! JADIP

I'm still debateing on weither or not I want to go to magic tomorrow. Light fluffy pow is falling from the sky and they're calling for 5-9" tonight. Turns out my Sunday obligation has also been postponed, I'm tempted to book a room a little further North and do a few more days but I think I will save that for in another week or two.

[DiMe]

Dime did you drive back today??? Nice pictures..I don't think the sun came out your whole trip..

 

 

Ya I am home now, ended up not going to magic figured I'll just save that ticket and extra gas to return very soon. It's depressing the amount of snow I see here after having 53" fall in Southern VT this week The sun didn't come out but it snowed the entire time on the mountain both days which is just as good, I like being a rider of the storm Definitely my best powder experience yet, I had heavy powder day one and nice dry soft fluffy powder day two. First time I ever experienced "crusting" also. It was a great trip, I'm so glad I took it and can't wait to go back to VT.

Edited February 27, 2010 by DiMeThIcOnE