Pico Opening Day

[boston_e]

Wish I was there!

I'm intrigued by this comment from the website:

"we’re opening with a whopping 53 trails tomorrow, including our new trail, Lasso, which was cut this fall to give us better access to Outpost favorites like Bronco, even when the Outpost lift is not turning."

I wonder what that is? Would be interested in any reports from someone there today. Personally I've always liked that you had the short hike to the top of Bronco when the lift was not turning as it kept the crowds down over there. Hope this new trail does not change that dynamic too much.

[madhatter]

Wish I was there!

I'm intrigued by this comment from the website:

"we’re opening with a whopping 53 trails tomorrow, including our new trail, Lasso, which was cut this fall to give us better access to Outpost favorites like Bronco, even when the Outpost lift is not turning."

I wonder what that is? Would be interested in any reports from someone there today. Personally I've always liked that you had the short hike to the top of Bronco when the lift was not turning as it kept the crowds down over there. Hope this new trail does not change that dynamic too much.

gonna guess it cuts through the woods like we all do to get there now...

[GnarDawg]

Wish I was there!

I'm intrigued by this comment from the website:

"we’re opening with a whopping 53 trails tomorrow, including our new trail, Lasso, which was cut this fall to give us better access to Outpost favorites like Bronco, even when the Outpost lift is not turning."

I wonder what that is? Would be interested in any reports from someone there today. Personally I've always liked that you had the short hike to the top of Bronco when the lift was not turning as it kept the crowds down over there. Hope this new trail does not change that dynamic too much.

I'll be there tomorrow I'll report back.

[Snowboardgod]

AmaIng opening day for pico today! Tons of coverage. Probably one of their better opening days st least in recent memory.

That new trail “lasso” looks to be about where everyone goes through the woods now to get to bronco, as mentioned above.

[MrsG]

Heard from very good skiers today, that you had to “pay attention!”

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: Pretty darn good. Mostly untouched. On skis, found the steeper pitches better than low angle stuff as they get 'skied in' more. As you can imagine, the snow is a bit stale by now.

ROTD: Giant Killer. Upper steep pitch section was amazing; narry a rock to be found and nice soft snow w/ no ice. Felt like I was coming down Cruise Control. Lower section tricky with one madatory water crossing to get back to the lift.

Summit Glades skied very well. Same goes for Pike although there a few places you had to watch out for [rocks, sink holes].

Mountain was empty. Summit quad did close for a while while they replaced some sort of belt. In the end, we only lost one summit run due to this.

[Skivt2]

The new trail is heartbreaking. No reason to have cut a huge wide trail straight across outlaw. It goes across Wrangler all the way to middle Bronco. And to make matters worse the tree debris is stacked all along the top of the right side of the new trail making it impossible to even get to the lower steep section of Outlaw. A sad day for one of the remaining old New England trail pods. Anyone want to get a bunch of people together to try to move some of the debris away so at least there is an entrance to the lower section of what used to be a nice glade?

[skiadikt]

The new trail is heartbreaking. No reason to have cut a huge wide trail straight across outlaw. It goes across Wrangler all the way to middle Bronco. And to make matters worse the tree debris is stacked all along the top of the right side of the new trail making it impossible to even get to the lower steep section of Outlaw. A sad day for one of the remaining old New England trail pods. Anyone want to get a bunch of people together to try to move some of the debris away so at least there is an entrance to the lower section of what used to be a nice glade?

so the best you can do is get to mid bronco? seems like a waste and a lot of destruction for nothing. better off having people earn it as before. maybe they'll clean up the debris ...

[boston_e]

Yeah I’m not sure the new trail was needed. Seems like it just interrupts the flow of a classic pod of trails and everyone who skis Pico knew how to access all of the trails on days outpost was not running with less than a 3 minute hike.

I think it was a bad move.

[brownman]

Worthless without pictures ..

[Stache]

Lasso is not shown on the Pico web site trail map.
From reading above, it sounds like in response to Killington trying to eliminate trail crossings, Pico is introducing them.???

[Skivt2]

Yes. They have added a big wide Okemo like beginner crossing trail with no purpose at all except it cuts two expert trails and what was a nice glade awkwardly in half. That trail pod was perfectly fine for almost 50 years. Why??

[madhatter]

Yes. They have added a big wide Okemo like beginner crossing trail with no purpose at all except it cuts two expert trails and what was a nice glade awkwardly in half. That trail pod was perfectly fine for almost 50 years. Why??

gonna guess they want access to lower bronco for race running w/o running the lift...

[Skivt2]

Like they cut the big beautiful pine tree down and widened exhibition so maybe they could race on it several years ago. They haven’t.

[boston_e]

Yes. They have added a big wide Okemo like beginner crossing trail with no purpose at all except it cuts two expert trails and what was a nice glade awkwardly in half. That trail pod was perfectly fine for almost 50 years. Why??

Taking a look at it again today from prospector (lasso was closed), I can’t say I understand the purpose or the logic behind this. It appears to still be uphill away from prospector, so it changes it from a 2-3 min hike up that-a-way to the top of Bronco to a 1 min hike / skate to access the lower 2/3 of Bronco? And in the meantime it disrupts the flow of an otherwise great trail pod?

Usually I think Pico hits all the right notes, but I’m thinking this was a swing and a miss.