The 2013-2014 Ski Season Thread

[mreaves]

Watching a cool documentary on the PBS affiliate out of Plattsburgh, NY. It's called passion for snow and documents the impact of New Englanders on the development of the ski industry. Emphasis on Dartmouth grads.

[ono]

^{Question for the Vermont ski buffs.}

^{Here's the situation:  You are starting the morning in Albany and need to end the day in Waterbury.}

^{You want to break up the long car ride and stop to ski for at least a few hours with your children ages 5 and 4.}

^{The kids have skiied a few times but are still beginners.}

^{Where would you stop?}

^{The two  on top of my list are Mt. Snow and Killington.} 

^{Welcome any suggestions.}

Honestly, I'd do Sugarbush or maybe MRG.  I'm partial to going north for better snow, and MRG is amazing for families.  The reason I say go to one of these two places is three-to-four fold: you get virtually all of the driving out of the way- you'll be a half-hour from Waterbury after taking off your boots after skiing.... And secondly, you'll be buying afternoon lift tickets.  I imagine afternoon lift tickets at  Sugarbush/MRG you'll will save some money over Mount Snow/Killlington.  

 

MRG is much, much cooler for the family than Mt. Snow in my opinion.  You can take the $ difference, and enjoy a nice dinner in the Mad River Valley- which is much sweeter than Killington or Mount Snow as far as vibe/restaurants.  Or just go to Waterbury and hit up Hen of the Wood- with the savings,  you won't mind the $ you spend on some of the best food in VT.

[N. OF PIKE]

MRG doesnt even have much snow, do they.

Killington is my choice on a week day. Avoid the zoo on weekend. Mt snow for weekend!

[mreaves]

Honestly, I'd do Sugarbush or maybe MRG. I'm partial to going north for better snow, and MRG is amazing for families. The reason I say go to one of these two places is three-to-four fold: you get virtually all of the driving out of the way- you'll be a half-hour from Waterbury after taking off your boots after skiing.... And secondly, you'll be buying afternoon lift tickets. I imagine afternoon lift tickets at Sugarbush/MRG you'll will save some money over Mount Snow/Killlington.

MRG is much, much cooler for the family than Mt. Snow in my opinion. You can take the $ difference, and enjoy a nice dinner in the Mad River Valley- which is much sweeter than Killington or Mount Snow as far as vibe/restaurants. Or just go to Waterbury and hit up Hen of the Wood- with the savings, you won't mind the $ you spend on some of the best food in VT.

Hen of the Wood with a 4 and 5 year old is a bit much but definitely get to the Valley. After skiing at Mt. Snow, you still have a nearly 3 hour drive to Waterbury. If you decide on Mt. Snow, it's actually quicker to drive over to Brattleboro and head up I-91 to I-89 than it is to drive straight up Rt. 100.

Killington is much closer, probably an hour or so from Waterbury and 45 minutes from Sugarbush. You could just keep riding and visit Powderfreak in Stowe. LOL.

[gravitylover]

Bring a couple of cans of food and have a wonderfully affordable day at Middlebury Snow Bowl.

^{Question for the Vermont ski buffs.}

^{Here's the situation: You are starting the morning in Albany and need to end the day in Waterbury.}

^{You want to break up the long car ride and stop to ski for at least a few hours with your children ages 5 and 4.}

^{The kids have skiied a few times but are still beginners.}

^{Where would you stop?}

^{The two on top of my list are Mt. Snow and Killington.}

^{Welcome any suggestions.}

[cny rider]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Our just-turned 4 year old can only handle about 2 hours in the car before she gets stir crazy so I want to keep the initial drive time down.

I figure after we ski and fill her tummy up she will take a nice afternoon nap so even if we have to drive from brattleboro we should be OK.

 

Does Middlebury have kid-friendly lifts and terrain?

[sankaty]

Thinking of coming up to Sugarbush or Stowe for part of Presidents week.  I'm curious which is typically more crowded, weekends or midweek Presidents week.  Does anyone know the statistics for that?  Thanks!

[ono]

Thinking of coming up to Sugarbush or Stowe for part of Presidents week.  I'm curious which is typically more crowded, weekends or midweek Presidents week.  Does anyone know the statistics for that?  Thanks!

 

Hmm... probably would say that Mt. Ellen (Sugarbush North) would be least crowded.  Ellen's less developed than Sugarbush South.  But the crowds will be everywhere.  With Stowe and Sugarbush two being your choices, you really can't lose.  You've already chosen wisely.

[ono]

MRG doesnt even have much snow, do they.

Killington is my choice on a week day. Avoid the zoo on weekend. Mt snow for weekend!

 

They're in ok shape.  Wait a few days, they'll be in better shape.  I've honestly never had a bad day at MRG.  If MRG is skiing bad, then everywhere around is probably skiing just as bad.

 

They do a really good job with managing their snow IMHO.  

[powderfreak]

Thinking of coming up to Sugarbush or Stowe for part of Presidents week. I'm curious which is typically more crowded, weekends or midweek Presidents week. Does anyone know the statistics for that? Thanks!

It's going to be busy at both...I saw Sugarbush had its busiest MLK Holiday weekend ever, and we have been slammed each holiday period as well. There's really no where to go to avoid crowds...the way to approach it is get out early (if you come to Stowe, the lift will open at 730am giving you 1.5 hrs before most other tourists show up), take lunch early (crowds peak at 10-11:30am) when the crowds are out, then when they all head in at noon, you go back out.

[sankaty]

It's going to be busy at both...I saw Sugarbush had its busiest MLK Holiday weekend ever, and we have been slammed each holiday period as well. There's really no where to go to avoid crowds...the way to approach it is get out early (if you come to Stowe, the lift will open at 730am giving you 1.5 hrs before most other tourists show up), take lunch early (crowds peak at 10-11:30am) when the crowds are out, then when they all head in at noon, you go back out.

 

I realize I phrased my question poorly.  What I meant was, which is busier, the weekend days or the midweek holiday days?  Intuitively I would guess the weekend, but I've heard anecdotally that the reverse is true.  I figured you guys would know.

 

Thanks for the good advice! 

[powderfreak]

I realize I phrased my question poorly. What I meant was, which is busier, the weekend days or the midweek holiday days? Intuitively I would guess the weekend, but I've heard anecdotally that the reverse is true. I figured you guys would know.

Thanks for the good advice!

Ahhh, yes it is without a doubt busier on Sat-Mon. That's like critical mass. It's still busy the rest of the week, particularly the second weekend, but there's a drop in average skier visits from Tue-Friday that week. It's not huge, but you lose all the folks that don't have the whole week off from work or school...and only come for Sat-Mon.

[Madroch]

SNE lurker here-- heading up to NVT mid week-- Stowe wed, wherever is best thurs, sugarbush fri and sat and somewhere south on sunday (working toward home).  Feeling good but not great about my timing-- Would love to hit smuggs thurs if they get the goods through wed-- for those of you in NNE in the know, how much snow would smuggs need to get liftline/freefall/blackhole etc open?  Fingers crossed for castlerock to spin by Friday....  Maybe MRG thurs????

[N. OF PIKE]

. I've honestly never had a bad day at MRG. If MRG is skiing bad, then everywhere around is probably skiing just as bad.

They do a really good job with managing their snow IMHO.

Not to go OT, but this makes no sense. In fact they were closed a cpl times last cpl years. So in Essence that is "skiing badly" and meanwhile places like Stowe were solid. Since everywhere but them makes snow, and there have been a few cutters this year, ur post seems more like a shameless plug for MRG. I would say generally conditions this year at MRG have been consistently worse than Stowe.

Anyway Middlebury snow bowl would still be over 2 hr ride for the poster that asked for suggestions.

[ono]

Not to go OT, but this makes no sense. In fact they were closed a cpl times last cpl years. So in Essence that is "skiing badly" and meanwhile places like Stowe were solid. Since everywhere but them makes snow, and there have been a few cutters this year, ur post seems more like a shameless plug for MRG. I would say generally conditions this year at MRG have been consistently worse than Stowe.

Anyway Middlebury snow bowl would still be over 2 hr ride for the poster that asked for suggestions.

 

They close when the snow is bad/manky/iced over.  Some days this season the snow has been downright pitiful up here- just complete bulletproof/thin.  MRG wasn't open for many of those days- but I skied other resorts during that stretch and it was downright marginal (not worth it IMHO).  

 

Generally, MRG has been worse than Stowe this year (you could argue that every year- Stowe just gets more snow)- but that doesn't mean Stowe's been great, or MRG was even open.  Stowe was "solid" due to snowmaking and grooming (which they do a good job given the circumstances).  Lots of open trails does not equal good, or even ok, skiing- as a pass holder, I've had several "one and done" days over at Smuggs- while MRG was closed- I'd be pretty pissed to pay $70 for a day of skiing in those conditions- so being closed isn't all that bad.  Unless you've dropped $4k on a condo for a week, it wasn't worth skiing IMHO for several multi-day stretches in January.  Too cold, too hard, too thin. 

 

 But this was a forward-looking statement with markedly improved conditions recently and forecast- so it should be considered separately from the earlier this month.

I don't plug MRG at all (it's a non-profit- so "shameless plugging" would be motivated by...?)- I don't ski there much anymore, really- just stating that they are pretty mindful of snow conditions and  quality of skier experience (being a non-profit and all)- and that they don't spin the lifts after rain/hard freezes when other places do.  This, and that it's a cool, more affordable place to take a family where the kids will have a good time.  But hey, thanks for the feed back.

[HoarfrostHubb]

I've never been to Smuggs. Often overlooked. Interesting place?

[ono]

I've never been to Smuggs. Often overlooked. Interesting place?

 

It's definitely worth a go during a good stretch of snowfall. They get about as much snow as Stowe, a bit of an old-school component with the lifts and trail layout.  Lots of good woods skiing, good terrain overall and some steeps on the trail map and off.  Like Stowe, there's plenty of sidecountry/slackcountry/backcountry around the Notch/off the lifts.  Some people don't like the old lifts (no complaints here), and it is about an hour longer drive than Stowe (though only a mile or two apart) as the road is closed between in the winter. As far as eastern skiing, I'd put in the top 5 resorts for overall skiing (terrain and snow). Just my .02.

[gravitylover]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Our just-turned 4 year old can only handle about 2 hours in the car before she gets stir crazy so I want to keep the initial drive time down.

I figure after we ski and fill her tummy up she will take a nice afternoon nap so even if we have to drive from brattleboro we should be OK.

 

Does Middlebury have kid-friendly lifts and terrain?

If that two hours is a requirement you might consider West Mt   http://www.westmtn.net/

 

They sure do.  I think that during the week you would be hard pressed to find a more family friendly place. 

[Madroch]

Smuggs is great... in the old school variety of Magic and MRG.  Great terrain on trail and off, terrain that is not all groomed to chord nightly as is the rage at many resorts, which is fine because traffic is minimized by old slow doubles that don't drop the masses off in bunches like the HSQs.  Needs a good bit of snow though, which is usually gets...

[ono]

SNE lurker here-- heading up to NVT mid week-- Stowe wed, wherever is best thurs, sugarbush fri and sat and somewhere south on sunday (working toward home).  Feeling good but not great about my timing-- Would love to hit smuggs thurs if they get the goods through wed-- for those of you in NNE in the know, how much snow would smuggs need to get liftline/freefall/blackhole etc open?  Fingers crossed for castlerock to spin by Friday....  Maybe MRG thurs????

 

That's the million dollar question.  Smuggs would need a good, healthy dose of snow to get those runs open if I were to venture a guess. If you're skiing 5-7 days from now, wait it out and see- hopefully it'll be much improved as the forecast is looking the best it has in a month IMHO.

[HoarfrostHubb]

WaWa was soft, warm, and empty late this afternoon. Made for good carving

We need the natural though

[bch2014]

Skied Mt. Snow yesterday from 9:30-3:15... No reason to get out too early with the conditions being the way they are. Skied all over the mountain, Chute on the North Face and Canyon had the best snow on the mountain. Ripcord was open and was pretty fun, but one was kind of forced to ski down the "spine" of the large snowmaking whale that stretched the length of the trail. Beartrap had some decent bumps too, good lines but lots of ice... Good enough for five or six runs through... The weather was variable throughout the day, with snow, rain, freezing rain, and sleet. By the end of the day, my jacket was encased in ice. Overall, they need snow, but I still had an enjoyable time. I'll be on the slopes 4 times this week for racing, and a couple times next week as well before I head to Telluride and Wolf Creek on Valentine's Day. I will be sure to post pictures from that. They are having an average to slightly above average year in the San Juan's but the pattern is setting up well so hopefully it will be good.

[radarman]

Skied Mt. Snow yesterday from 9:30-3:15... No reason to get out too early with the conditions being the way they are. Skied all over the mountain, Chute on the North Face and Canyon had the best snow on the mountain. Ripcord was open and was pretty fun, but one was kind of forced to ski down the "spine" of the large snowmaking whale that stretched the length of the trail. Beartrap had some decent bumps too, good lines but lots of ice... Good enough for five or six runs through... The weather was variable throughout the day, with snow, rain, freezing rain, and sleet. By the end of the day, my jacket was encased in ice. Overall, they need snow, but I still had an enjoyable time. I'll be on the slopes 4 times this week for racing, and a couple times next week as well before I head to Telluride and Wolf Creek on Valentine's Day. I will be sure to post pictures from that. They are having an average to slightly above average year in the San Juan's but the pattern is setting up well so hopefully it will be good.

 

Nice.  I had my eye on it and you're right the upcoming stretch looks unbelievable out there.  Can't wait for pics.

[Sugarloaf1989]

I skied at Bousquet Mountain on saturday afternoon as I had to me up with a friend in Stockbridge. It was really warm when we started skiing at 1:00pm with the temperature at 43F. It started snowing at 3:00pm and slowly transitioned over to rain by 4:00pm.

 

Overall conditions where fair with packed powder and scattered icy patches.

 

The summit double chair broke down at 3:30pm with my son stuck on the lift for 27 minutes. They had to use the back-up motor on the lift to get folks off the lift.

 

There was very little snow OTG in the Southern Berkshires and about 3-4" of cover on I-90 above 1,500'.

 

Quite a bit of cover melted during the day on saturday.

[#NoPoles]

i wonder if Mt Snow gets a nice dumping of snow? as well as Berk East?

[Sugarloaf1989]

I'm planning on heading up to Magic Mtn on saturday if they get the forecasted  10-14" of snow.

[cny rider]

We hit Pico on Saturday, and Sugarbush on Monday with the kids this weekend.

We enjoyed both places.

We were renting skis for the little ones and I felt the staff at both places was attentive and very helpful.

The limited terrain that we needed for the kids had adequate snow and was well groomed.

Everyone had a great time.

 

An interesting article about snowmaking:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/science/an-olympian-snow-endeavor-in-sochi.html?hpw&rref=science

[N. OF PIKE]

Hit Wa Wa yesterday and the 1.5" that fell really resurfaced every trail nicely.

The two blacks were a blast and tenth was riding fast and nice after 6pm groomers. Got about 15 runs -great time. Good "deals" def will be back. Better than attitash.

[Brewbeer]

i wonder if Mt Snow gets a nice dumping of snow? as well as Berk East?

Seems like both will do well with this event.

Might try to hit the B'east for $10 Thursday night skiing.

[subdude]

Hit Wa Wa yesterday and the 1.5" that fell really resurfaced every trail nicely.

The two blacks were a blast and tenth was riding fast and nice after 6pm groomers. Got about 15 runs -great time. Good "deals" def will be back. Better than attitash.

better than attitash? lol