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The 2018-2019 Ski Season Thread


Skivt2
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Sugarbush has announced they will close for week and then reopen for the 5/5 weekend. Wildcat is making lots of noise that they will stay open but they do that most years but then melt out at bottom. Sugarloaf ends up having the same problem with sustaining a snow path to the lower lifts. I was just impressed by that emphatic tweet. 

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I echo PF's comments about Sugarloaf on Thursday. Just 'wow.' The base is amazingly deep. First time skiing Bracket Basin extensively which I was a skeptic of...fantastic. not a rock to be seen on natural trails like Winter's Way and Bubblecuffer. comfortable temps, fantastic snow, amazing blue skies. skied from opening bell until close with short 10 minute break, never waited to get on lift. smiles everywhere on mountain.

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16 hours ago, Skivt2 said:

Killington is trying for June and I would not be surprised to be skiing june 1st at all there.  Superstar is as big as I’ve ever seen it.

It's a publicity ploy, of course, and I don't blame them a bit - short term loss for future gain.  I've wondered why Sugarbush never got into the game, as the summit lift on the old Glen Ellen starts at over 3,000' and those upper trails face N to NE.

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Tamarack makes good observation re: Glen Ellen. The area that could go longest - with all things equal - would be Sugarloaf. The Skyline lift services almost 1,500' of vertical with the loading base somewhere around 2,500'. Yesterday, I went to the base area only once during the day to try and find something for lunch...didn't...the top three lifts - King Pine, Sky Line and Timberline have a ski areas worth of vertical and equivalent terrain. Sugarloaf always closes with a ton of terrain open - just no one showing up to make it economical. I have taken a day in early May for the past 4 or 5 years to ski Killington's Superstar and it is alot of fun but multiple days of skiing a handful and finally one bumped up trail would get tedious after a couple of days IMO.

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1 hour ago, Angus said:

Tamarack makes good observation re: Glen Ellen. The area that could go longest - with all things equal - would be Sugarloaf. The Skyline lift services almost 1,500' of vertical with the loading base somewhere around 2,500'. Yesterday, I went to the base area only once during the day to try and find something for lunch...didn't...the top three lifts - King Pine, Sky Line and Timberline have a ski areas worth of vertical and equivalent terrain. Sugarloaf always closes with a ton of terrain open - just no one showing up to make it economical. I have taken a day in early May for the past 4 or 5 years to ski Killington's Superstar and it is alot of fun but multiple days of skiing a handful and finally one bumped up trail would get tedious after a couple of days IMO.

Only big mountain I've skied was Glen Ellen - a ski week back in 1971 (half price in January, only $22.50 :lol::lol:) when I learned parallel, then a Fri-Sat visit the next year, partly because all the beautiful pics I took in '71 failed because the shutter spring had broken - didn't find out until all the black slides came back from the developer.  Started on the slopes when I lived in NNJ - great Gorge/Vernon Valley, have no idea if or in what form those 2 exist today.  Have not skied since my broken leg in Jan 1981 - passenger in pickup that went head-on with a log truck near the Maine-Quebec frontier, results predictable.

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3 hours ago, tamarack said:

It's a publicity ploy, of course, and I don't blame them a bit - short term loss for future gain.  I've wondered why Sugarbush never got into the game, as the summit lift on the old Glen Ellen starts at over 3,000' and those upper trails face N to NE.

Mt Ellen is closed already.  From a pure skiing perspective, the summit lift to the top is the perfect spring skiing venue especially with the mid station lodge at the base of that lift.  But all the infrastructure, condos, lodges, bar are at Lincoln peak, so that’s why they favor operations there.

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1 minute ago, tamarack said:

Only big mountain I've skied was Glen Ellen - a ski week back in 1971 (half price in January, only $22.50 :lol::lol:) when I learned parallel, then a Fri-Sat visit the next year, partly because all the beautiful pics I took in '71 failed because the shutter spring had broken - didn't find out until all the black slides came back from the developer.  Started on the slopes when I lived in NNJ - great Gorge/Vernon Valley, have no idea if or in what form those 2 exist today.  Have not skied since my broken leg in Jan 1981 - passenger in pickup that went head-on with a log truck near the Maine-Quebec frontier, results predictable.

Great gorge Vernon valley is now known as mountain creek

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34 minutes ago, Angus said:

LOL. I almost broke my legs and other body parts when I was a kid at Great Gorge/Vernon Valley riding the alpine slide in the mid-70's when I went there with my cousins!

Everyone got hurt on that thing.  There’s actually a funny documentary about action park available online and there was a movie based on it that came out last year.

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49 minutes ago, Angus said:

LOL. I almost broke my legs and other body parts when I was a kid at Great Gorge/Vernon Valley riding the alpine slide in the mid-70's when I went there with my cousins!

VV had a weird layout, as the easiest top-to-bottom trail did an S-turn with the two main intermediates crossing/re-crossing it.  Grooming was sometimes less than ideal - most painful fall I ever had while skiing came on that beginner trail.  Came to a series of steep-sided linear "moguls" running at right angles to the trail with skiers close at hand on both sides and happened to be on the steepest-highest part of those "waves."  About halfway thru them, both heels popped simultaneously and I crashed chest-first into the upper side of a wave.  Nearly ripped the chamois shirt I was wearing in half, splitting it right across the seams.  1st of several very painful rib-area injuries I've sustained, teaching me that there was 4-6 weeks of pain incoming.

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Drove up to Cannon today. Day started with clouds and summit socked in but improved throughout day. They lost a ton of snow over last 6 days - 3 to 4' according to friend I skied with. Last nites rain & wind really ate up pack. They will not be open next weekend. Lots of bare patches and ice flows on lower half of mountain. Fine day of skiing with friends and sure beat finishing my taxes!

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On 4/12/2019 at 12:34 PM, tamarack said:

It's a publicity ploy, of course, and I don't blame them a bit - short term loss for future gain.  I've wondered why Sugarbush never got into the game, as the summit lift on the old Glen Ellen starts at over 3,000' and those upper trails face N to NE.

It’s not a publicity ploy for those who ski it.  Killington sells a lot of spring passes.  The Umbrella bar is rocking with live music etc. in May.  They go to Friday-Sunday and a hard core crew of bump skiers ski it every day they are open until they close.

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14 hours ago, Angus said:

Drove up to Cannon today. Day started with clouds and summit socked in but improved throughout day. They lost a ton of snow over last 6 days - 3 to 4' according to friend I skied with. Last nites rain & wind really ate up pack. They will not be open next weekend. Lots of bare patches and ice flows on lower half of mountain. Fine day of skiing with friends and sure beat finishing my taxes!

Too bad, I was considering skiing there on Easter weekend. 

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9 hours ago, Skivt2 said:

It’s not a publicity ploy for those who ski it.  Killington sells a lot of spring passes.  The Umbrella bar is rocking with live music etc. in May.  They go to Friday-Sunday and a hard core crew of bump skiers ski it every day they are open until they close.

Completely agree - beaucoup snow and no lift lines.  However, I'd be surprised if places competing for latest closing make a profit between April 15 and when the lifts close for good.  The real payout is the reputation gained.

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Made it to Sugarloaf Tuesday night (the 16th). A few flurries were in the air. The weather was epic on Wednesday. Clear blue sky, hardly any wind, and by noon or so, conditions were great up top (had softened enough) and the bottom was really soft, but not impossible slushy. Decided not to buy a ticket this morning, as forecast was a bit suspect (incoming clouds, showers/flurries and wind) and it looked crispy up top. Turned out to be the right call as the winds came in after noon, and they pretty much shut down all the lifts by the time things were softening up. My legs were pretty sore from the previous day anyway....l20190417_151940.thumb.jpg.e3b943031d2682cc5e9e219bb21c98b9.jpgooking down Bubble Cuffer (at least I think that's what this was). All natural snow trail. Incredible cover for mid-April.

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