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Sugarbush/Mt. Ellen - 8/20/16


indiggio

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First ski day in the books from postponed Northern Vermont trip that was supposed to have happened back in Feb/Mar of this year, but since most slopes had closed, owner let me push the trip to this week. Very nice of her!

 

Loaded up the car in 0 degree weather and headed South to Sugarbush as yesterday's snow reports seemed to have them being the best bang for the buck. All the slopes took a hit to the snow that had fallen the past few weeks, just my luck...

 

Arrived at the mountain to find guns going as far as the eye could see. Got a couple of tickets and headed out. Didn't check the trail report, so just followed some up the Gate House Quad only to find nothing open above or even the Castle Rock connection open.

 

The snow was frozen cord with large patches of glacial ice from the monsoon rains Sunday which made for some interesting sliding.

 

Went over to the other side and rode up Bravo. Skied down to Heavens Gate triple and took that up to the summit. Needless to say it was wicked cold and winds cranking, and they said it was supposed to be warmer today!! NOT!

 

Took Ripcord, et. al. down to the bottom. Made our way back up the same route but took Jester all the way down.

 

On the next ride up the Bravo, we spied some freshies in the troughs of the bumps down the lifeline, so decided to give them a whirl. Turned out to be quite nice and so we lapped them a few times until others joined in.

 

On the next run up, looked over to Murphy's and spied some freshies in the bumps there so lapped them a few times. These were the run of the day as nobody was or had been in them.

 

Since they didn't have the Slide Brook running, we packed up around 1pm and drove over. After booting back up and a quick snack, we ventured out.

 

The conditions on Mt. Ellen were windblown and bare. Lots of slide slipping was had. Clouds rolled in and temps were dropping and winds picking up.

 

We rode up the Green Mountain quad and then the Summit quad. Winds were howling at the summit. We made our way down Rim Run, Elbow & Which-Way down to the North Ridge quad. Riding up that we saw what looked like some freshies on Bravo, so gave that a try. The top half was decent, with filled troughs, but bottom was bare so we slid over to Exterminator and took that down to Northstar. We decided to bug out around 2:30pm.

 

Was expecting some pretty horrendous conditions, which we did encounter, but also found some pretty fun conditions in the bumps!

 

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Is lodging expensive at New Years??? Looks pretty dry up there between now and New Years not to late to book Jackson hole ;-)

 

We got a condo off VRBO...seemed reasonable - I think it was like $350 a night for a 3 bedroom place... no idea if it will be nice or not....but more affordable.

 

Flights are expensive out west that time though, and we are a family of 4.  

 

 

The other day at Hunter I talked to a guy who drives his RV around NE and Canada.  They park it in the remote lots and just sleep in it!  Should have rented one of those and parked it at Blue for the holidays!  No one would bother us in the Valley near the fish pond construction site...

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Looks like you might have hit jackpot on Jay today....trail map showing a handful of glades open and it's been snowing since 5am.....

 

Yeeeeehaw!!!!!!!

It was a great day today at Jay!

Was pumping all morning, but limited lifts. The glades we hit were ok, but the base was very crusty/hard, so while they looked good, they were pretty dicey once you got in them.

 

 

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Edited by indiggio
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It was a great day today at Jay!

Was pumping all morning, but limited lifts. The glades we hit were ok, but the base was very crusty/hard, so while they looked good, they were pretty dicey once you got in them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Winner!  Happy for you man.  Skiing tomorrow?

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  • 3 months later...

Hitting Lincoln Peak (the open one) for the 14th. Day 27 for me. Day 11 for the girls.

 

Then 6 Flags New England Saturday.

 

Belleayre Sunday not out of the question if weather and conditions warrant it.

 

Next weekend Colorado!

 

(Way to get after it :-)

Edited by Ski2Live Live2Ski
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Hitting Lincoln Peak (the open one) for the 14th. Day 27 for me. Day 11 for the girls.

Then 6 Flags New England Saturday.

Belleayre Sunday not out of the question if weather and conditions warrant it.

Next weekend Colorado!

(Way to get after it :-)

Wow Lincoln peak for one day..you are hardcore. When are you going to Japan??

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Got back from Japan Wed night. Drove up to Waterbury Thurs and did Ben & Jerry's tour. Skied Fri. Hitting six flags New England in the AM. Topped the day (and their season) off with a TTB 2400 vertical foot run, the longest the girls have done. 3 of us spent $62 to ski and $85 for 3.5 star hotel with breakfast :-)

 

Google maps took me across some ridiculous mud mountain road going to I89 that was basically negotiating a mogul run in an auto. Cars had carved the mud like skiers carve the snow. So far no auto damage detected but will get it up on a lift when I get home.

 

Gate house side was hanging on by a thread and needs to close but most of Lincoln was A+ for spring skiing.

 

 

So what do you recommend for CO next weekend. What will be open, for one?

Edited by Ski2Live Live2Ski
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Did you stay at the best western in Waterbury? Only 3.5 star hotel I can think of. I recommend Loveland and Abasin although neither has any 2400 vert runs. Winter park is also still open so that's an option if you want to hit up a mega resort in that case prob do winter park one day and either Loveland or Abasin the other day

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Yep, Best Western in Waterbury it was. Hot wire deal so I only found out hotel after paying but perfect it was 1/4 mile from Ben and Jerrys.

Isn't Belleayre closing on the 15th?

They may be open 16th too, it does not seem they have made the call. But it looks like girls want to end their skison with Sugarbush. Belleayre would not be as good.

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Cool that SB located my skis 2 days after I left them there and are shipping them to me. Definitely means I will be renting in CO next weekend though.

Wait you left your skis at sugarbush? Where in the parking lot? Whatever you were smoking was better than what I had in Colorado.

Sounds like you took Roxbury gap. I would have taken 17 past mad River Glen straight into NY then 9n south to 74 east to 87 south.

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In the drop off pick up area by the lot. There is a lot of gear to remember with two kids. Realized it 30 hours later as I was heading into NJ.

Wow just wow...and I remember that time at Hunter you forgot your wallet. Remember your ID when you go to Colorado Friday. Anyway you might have your skis back by Thursday. Would be about two days to ship UPS or FedEx.

 

For this weekend in Colorado your choices are Abasin, Loveland, Winter Park and Breckenridge. Breck is the largest but also the farthest and most flats. Winter park is the closest mega resort and Loveland and Abasin are both reasonably priced and easy highway access. Looks like possible snow thursday and Friday for the mountains.

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