West Mountain 3-4-15

[Ride Delaware ?]

Since it's the heart of the summer, I figured I would finally get around to posting this report.  Figured a little winter love might cool everyone down as we prepare for another upcoming season.  The northern hemisphere typically starts cooling July 21, the days are getting shorter, and foliage will start changing in another month.  It's all downhill from here folks. 

 

I don't remember all the detail of this trip since it was nearly 5 months ago, but I'll give it my best shot.  

 

Every time I drive to VT, I drive past this little ski area on 87 just south of Lake George.  I keep saying that eventually I'll make it there, so this time I made it a point to do so.  I was headed up for a 2 week stay at the Bush, so I left home around 8 AM so I could make it there for a little afternoon session.  Since they have night skiing, I wasn't worried about slight delays.  It had snowed 3-4" the night before, but the roads were clear by the time I arrived around 2:30.  I booted up, snagged a lift ticket for around $30, and hit the double right outside the lodge.  

 

The first thing I noticed about the double, which is incredibly difficult to miss, is the center pole in-between the seats.  I have never seen it before, and I can imagine that it causes some larger people some discomfort.  The seats were tiny.  It was also very low to the ground.  This lift will no longer be here next season.  West purchased an old triple from Haystack (now called the Hermitage) and bought an extra terminal so it can replace both its aging lifts.  Not only will this lift add uphill capacity, but it will improve reliability and comfort.  I lapped some of the trails off the double and the coverage was phenomenal in most spots.  They seem to have spotty snowmaking, but the only place I found any bare spots was the old school winding narrow trail under the lift.  Their snowmaking is mostly fan guns, so they aren't used there.  After hitting most of those trails once or twice, I went over to the triple on the other side of the mountain.

 

The trails over here were a bit wider and had some steeper pitches.  They had a couple all natural trails that hadn't seen much traffic.  Since the snow had been pretty wet, there was some crust on top.  Luckily it wasn't deep, so I was able to cut right through it and enjoy some nice turns to myself.  The lift over there was pretty dilapidated as well.  Pieces of the wooden back were broken off and replaced with plexiglass.  The lift ran smooth, but it needed some love.  The secondary lodge there was pretty outdated and didn't even have a bathroom.  I believe they had some porta potties outside.  All services were out of the main lodge when I was there, and it was modernized and well maintained.  Even had a cool fire pit outside.  

 

After about 2.5 hours, with the lights starting to come on and some school groups coming in, I decided to call it quits.  It was a fun little mountain, but 2.5 hours was enough.  It almost went bankrupt before a local picked it up, so I was glad to patronize it.  They say they lost $250,000 this year, but the new lift should help them break even.  They weren't sure if they would be able to replace both lifts for this season, or just the double.  I would consider hitting it again for another afternoon session, but I probably wouldn't make a special trip if it wasn't on my way.  It was nice being able to ride on a travel day and still get to my place at the Bush at a reasonable hour.  Pics below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2015 by Ride Delaware ?

[Johnny Law]

Sick Bird !!!

 

Dude I've passed that place a 1000 times and never skied there so cool to know whats up...

[Ride Delaware ?]

There didn't seem to be many accessible woods. On the triple side there were some on a ridge line, but it was narrow because of a river. Other than that it seemed to be pretty steep, pretty tight, and pretty rocky. Considering they don't get VT or ADK snow, it's probably rare to get a good off piste day. However, the double lift line was au naturale and it was fun and technical due to obstacles, not steeps...

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice seeing a fresh ski report with pictures during the dog days of summer!!! I've also passed West mountain at least 50 times...I figure prob 25 times just when I was in college and then most ski trips to northern Vermont.