1/20 Montage report

[Mess]

I had a great time today at Montage.I was a little tired in the morning since my son woke me up at 2:40 because he thought it was 5:40 and time to get ready. Left Aston at 6:15 and arrived on the mountain at 8:07. Bought a $29 morning session ticket. I thought renovated lodge looked very clean and the workers were very friendly. Started the day with the slopes to ourselves. Spent most of the day on highball and mainline with my son. He was doing well for a 6 year old but he still needs to learn to turn and slow down at times, He was straight lining and it was funny watching my father trying to keep up with him. When the others decided to take a break I went for a run on whistler to lower runway. I was surprised that Long haul was not running but there were so few people on the mountain I guess it was not cost effective( I think they started running long haul around 11:00). My legs were burning since it was my first day out but after resting on the phoebe lift I figured I would take a run on smoke. When I made it to the second headwall I got an unpleasant surprise. The rest of the trail was bumped up. I am not comfortable on moguls but was shit out of luck. I worked my way down the trail but was not very graceful. After that run I took a break in the lodge. I took one more run on whistler with my wife and then finished the day on the green terrain with my boy. I never waited in line today and that made it worth driving and extra 30 minutes to get to Montage.

 

This is a great mountain for beginners and anyone who has young kids should make the trip. The new ownership has added a terrain park. I would also think that Boomer, Smoke and White lightening would make for a fun day for more advanced skiers. They seem like legitimate Double black diamonds now.

 

A few things that I would change:

There is a sign near the phoebe lift that warns that expert skiers only should go past this sign. I feel that it would be a good idea to have a sign that says ungroomed trail or a moguls sign. I have been on these trails many times and they usually have one side bumped and the other groomed.

 

It would also be nice if they had a part of the trail groomed for an "Out" If someone wanted to get away from the bumps.

 

I also think there should be better signage between the Intermediate and advanced trails. As I went down Whistler there was a very small orange sign with an arrow pointing left. I would imagine skiers could get themselves in trouble if they do not belong on steeper trails.

 

I highly recommend a trip to Montage although I love the small lift lines I want the place to be a success and make some money so it his here for years to come.

 

 

[NMSKI]

I had a great time today at Montage.I was a little tired in the morning since my son woke me up at 2:40 because he thought it was 5:40 and time to get ready. Left Aston at 6:15 and arrived on the mountain at 8:07. Bought a $29 morning session ticket. I thought renovated lodge looked very clean and the workers were very friendly. Started the day with the slopes to ourselves. Spent most of the day on highball and mainline with my son. He was doing well for a 6 year old but he still needs to learn to turn and slow down at times, He was straight lining and it was funny watching my father trying to keep up with him. When the others decided to take a break I went for a run on whistler to lower runway. I was surprised that Long haul was not running but there were so few people on the mountain I guess it was not cost effective( I think they started running long haul around 11:00). My legs were burning since it was my first day out but after resting on the phoebe lift I figured I would take a run on smoke. When I made it to the second headwall I got an unpleasant surprise. The rest of the trail was bumped up. I am not comfortable on moguls but was shit out of luck. I worked my way down the trail but was not very graceful. After that run I took a break in the lodge. I took one more run on whistler with my wife and then finished the day on the green terrain with my boy. I never waited in line today and that made it worth driving and extra 30 minutes to get to Montage.

 

This is a great mountain for beginners and anyone who has young kids should make the trip. The new ownership has added a terrain park. I would also think that Boomer, Smoke and White lightening would make for a fun day for more advanced skiers. They seem like legitimate Double black diamonds now.

 

A few things that I would change:

There is a sign near the phoebe lift that warns that expert skiers only should go past this sign. I feel that it would be a good idea to have a sign that says ungroomed trail or a moguls sign. I have been on these trails many times and they usually have one side bumped and the other groomed.

 

It would also be nice if they had a part of the trail groomed for an "Out" If someone wanted to get away from the bumps.

 

I also think there should be better signage between the Intermediate and advanced trails. As I went down Whistler there was a very small orange sign with an arrow pointing left. I would imagine skiers could get themselves in trouble if they do not belong on steeper trails.

 

I highly recommend a trip to Montage although I love the small lift lines I want the place to be a success and make some money so it his here for years to come.

 

 

Good stuff!

 

Actually, on Boomer they did groom a strip to the left of the bumps for those just getting comfortable in moguls (or for those like me that are comfortable in moguls but suck at skiing them).

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

Had a great time out at Montage in the fresh snow on the 18th myself (I would estimate 5-6"), though the access road was so treacherous I seriously doubted I was going to make it there. Took about 40 minutes from 81 to the mountain.