monday 2/19 report

[skiadikt]

an absolute beauty. cloudy start but flocks of bluebirds arrived chasing the clouds away. still cold & breezy. another inch and change of snow. every little bit helps. good sized crowd though the first hour was ghostown. 8-12:30 shift.

at the bell, making trax on bear claw was perfection. guns on burst from the pit to the bottom. speaking of perfection, the upper half of OL under the guns was. the lower section where the guns were off was a bit "domey". earned a couple laps. co-rotd. upper wildfire apparently groomed saturday. easy couple inches pow skier's left. lower good. stash/maker quite good. upper dream ok. a mix of pow and hard stuff. cruise good. needles gondi line more of that mix. vertigo (mid down) skied decently enough. the lower section recently groomed.

bitter was bitter. low road also recently groomed was quite good. that skier's left thing again. supe co-rotd under the guns. gets a demerit because of the guns being off on short section towards the bottom. the woods are loaded. skye hawk benefiting from the supe blowover. groomed mid o ok. lower o had been winched in the morning and open for a while, was closed when we got there.

north star groomed yesterday skied well. LEF good late morning. finished w a trip through the stash woods. ok not great. hard stuff underneath. at 12:30 with the snowmaking, lower burst a mogul field.

[newpylong1]

We also had a good day, but since it was my 8 year old daughter's first visit, my report is all about the greens and easy blues.

Up Stage I around 9 and got off at Northbrook station to ride the quad to nowhere up to Snowshed. We all joke about this monicker but after recently introducing children to Killington the lift is pretty invaluable. Also it was running at 450 FPM which considering the high chair density, it's actually kinda tricky for novices to load. They need to pull some chairs for sure. Not really complaining though the lift moves right along now and offers a solid alternative to a swamped Snowshed for the two trails it serves. Once up to Snowshed we tackled the Yodeler and Idler headwall several times hiding from the wind. Also hit Snowshed slope, Northbrook trail and Lower High Road. All as you would expect.

Went under the road and after a lengthy wait for RH (capacity wise this definitely needs to move to a 6 bomb first) we went up and then down Caper to the bubble. Up the bubble and down to North Ridge where we lapped an empty chair on a very good Rime, Reason and an OK UEF. Snuck across High Traverse for an Upper Pipe Dream to Bear Cub run. Guns have recently been staged on every third hydrant from the base of South Ridge down Bear Cub to the S curves and every hydrant or so from there down. Looks like they want to fatten it up which makes sense considering it's largely natural. We took Sun Dog to the Cafe for lunch. Then up Skye Peak and down Cruise Control. Up Needles and down Bittersweet. Up SS down Gateway to GE to Route 4 and home. As others noted they touched up from around East Mountain Road down on GE and it definitely needed it - much better.

All in all much better conditions than I expected all around. Only hit a couple coral reef spots but then again we stayed on the low angle stuff. All lifts including Skyeship knock on wood were running smoothly and lines moved well where they existed. Still the busted cabins on Stage I but the doors to the Northbrook storage building were wide open and they had quite a few cabins in there being worked on. Who knows. Didn't look like Upper WF, Pipe Dream, Vertigo or DF were hosed so they are likely just going to be building depths where it exists.

[skiadikt]

Didn't look like Upper WF, Pipe Dream, Vertigo or DF were hosed so they are likely just going to be building depths where it exists.

yeah the clock is ticking and afraid they're done w expansion. w OL being shut off today, wishfully thinking that at least lower pipedream gets some love. skied it today and though the snow was softening, hard to let the skis run. lots to avoid. looks like base & glacier building from here on out.

fwiw they did have one gun on the ss crossover at vertigo and the ropes have been dropped on the crossover from needles, so you can now ski across. they also had lower skyeburst lit from vipers down.

[newpylong1]

For sure. L Pipe Dream will not last long when the sun starts to cook it.

[twilkas]

Nice reports gents, Mohawk was a treat too, deep blue sky noteable.
Newpy - Sun Dog to the Cafe, is the Cafe that 'new' (to me anyway) mid mountain lunch option stop? good you had the 'kids' out.

[newpylong1]

No, I was referring to the Sunrise Cafe which has been there going back to when the Sunrise Village was built in the mid 80s. It has had several different names since then though.

[rogman]

Pretty good 3 day weekend: 6” of snow to kick it off on Saturday, snow making on OL and SS, most of the trails open, no major operating snafus. Maybe I’m setting the bar too low. Saw Mike was bussing tables in KBL, which is a bit of, “okay this austerity thing has gone too far”, but oddly reassuring: at least he isn’t dealing with a bigger crisis. And the lodges were full. Monday, although it seemed quiet, had lots that were nearly full; Upper Snow Shed had a few spots left in the back but that’s it.

The groomers seemed to hold up well over the course of the day. I mostly skied bell to bell, in part because four held up really well. He was tired, but a happy tired, and while he’d look at trails that were clearly marked black and proclaim, “I don’t want to do a black” he gamely accepted our reassurances and made his way down without incident. An occasional face plant here and there, but he’d come up smiling. I had a face plant too. In the woods. Double eject after a ski got trapped under a branch. Deep powder, had to have a scavenger hunt for my yard sales worth of equipment. All good.

Given the firm conditions, I believe the mountain made the right decision on putting a groomer on trails that weren’t otherwise skiable; Northstar, OL, Wildfire. Middle and Lower O. It spread out the crowds, which would have been confined to a lot fewer trails. Hopefully, this holiday week will continue on a positive note. Hope they’ll relent and run SR4, particularly when it warms up later in the week.

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: Yep, best day in a while. As SA has posted in the past, Old Sol shining through DOES make a difference. Another cold day so very little softening on just a few of the trails. Worked backwards today [Bear to Snowdon and back] as I figured the early afternoon stuff at Bear would be good and then didn't have to make the 3:30 South Ridge chair to get back to Snowdon later in the day.

Stash -> Dream Maker park opener; quite good especially that final pitch and the pipe. Calling O.L ROTD though I wiped out on one of the "domey" patches 3/4 the way down. All of the guns were off and the top 2/3 of the trail was spectacular. Rest of the way down the middle was slick so I went right where I found icy troughs; think the better call woulda been left at the rope line as I finally got into that after falling on the porcelin middle "dome". Skyeburst TTB very good; quite fast at the start, Viper's Pit was great with some decent moguls and nice snow, and then a decent final pitch with scattered moguls and mostly great new manmade snow.

At South Ridge [a ghost town], a smidge of softening on Lower Pipe Dream [Rusty's left side] and Breakaway [left] providing some of the better "nat" terrain that we found.

Royal Flush also with a smidge of softening left, and just barely still in the sun. Not as good as late day yesterday [with the new pow] but still a fine run and close to ROTD for me.Then, just had to do Double Dipper. Upper 3/4 was really good with mostly ice free right side, even on the steep pitch. Then, where joined by Downdraft, I tried to get to the "valley" but went into a long death slide, heading left towards the edge of the trail, before I could find some purchase to slow down and make a turn. Scary icy.

Recently groomed North Star was decent. If nothing else, spread the "snow" around and improved overall cover. Should be really good if we get some new snow on it. Highline OK.

Old Supe OK and Mid Supe great with the new snow, though guns were wetter as you went down. Skipped Pres's Pitch but am sure it was great early. Just didn't want to deal with the big, double fall line bumps, icy "traverses" that had formed down low, and tons of herbs. Skyelark decent and Low Road great.

Home Stretch down to Needle's Eye very good. Return to Bear via Dream Maker park, and then final run down DM TTB was great.

[asher2789]

still pow to be had in the lower angle trees, wind blew the snow into tracks i made friday so i had a couple of untouched pow runs :) WROTD near chop chop. dangerously bad snow. too steep for conditions and i should of known better.

the crowd this week is intermediate at best, the blue cruisers were scary but anything more difficult was virtually empty. south ridge was a great time.

[asher2789]

Pretty good 3 day weekend: 6” of snow to kick it off on Saturday, snow making on OL and SS, most of the trails open, no major operating snafus. Maybe I’m setting the bar too low. Saw Mike was bussing tables in KBL, which is a bit of, “okay this austerity thing has gone too far”, but oddly reassuring: at least he isn’t dealing with a bigger crisis. And the lodges were full. Monday, although it seemed quiet, had lots that were nearly full; Upper Snow Shed had a few spots left in the back but that’s it.

The groomers seemed to hold up well over the course of the day. I mostly skied bell to bell, in part because four held up really well. He was tired, but a happy tired, and while he’d look at trails that were clearly marked black and proclaim, “I don’t want to do a black” he gamely accepted our reassurances and made his way down without incident. An occasional face plant here and there, but he’d come up smiling. I had a face plant too. In the woods. Double eject after a ski got trapped under a branch. Deep powder, had to have a scavenger hunt for my yard sales worth of equipment. All good.

Given the firm conditions, I believe the mountain made the right decision on putting a groomer on trails that weren’t otherwise skiable; Northstar, OL, Wildfire. Middle and Lower O. It spread out the crowds, which would have been confined to a lot fewer trails. Hopefully, this holiday week will continue on a positive note. Hope they’ll relent and run SR4, particularly when it warms up later in the week.

the job share thing where the execs pitch in with general labor when its really busy has been going on for years now, i wouldnt look too into it as an austerity measure.

[Killington_Lover]

Not much to add to the reports but K parks is doing an excellent job as usual. Finally made my return to DM 4 years to the week tearing my ACL. Unfortunately after lunch the crowds filled in and Ramshead was out the gate so took the small victory and headed to the flatlands. We go to Germany and then Austria for some skiing unfortunately no snow in the forecast. Glad I left a mid fat park ski over there at the in laws place for just the occasion.

[spanky]

Pretty good 3 day weekend: 6” of snow to kick it off on Saturday, snow making on OL and SS, most of the trails open, no major operating snafus. Maybe I’m setting the bar too low. Saw Mike was bussing tables in KBL, which is a bit of, “okay this austerity thing has gone too far”, but oddly reassuring: at least he isn’t dealing with a bigger crisis. And the lodges were full. Monday, although it seemed quiet, had lots that were nearly full; Upper Snow Shed had a few spots left in the back but that’s it.

The groomers seemed to hold up well over the course of the day. I mostly skied bell to bell, in part because four held up really well. He was tired, but a happy tired, and while he’d look at trails that were clearly marked black and proclaim, “I don’t want to do a black” he gamely accepted our reassurances and made his way down without incident. An occasional face plant here and there, but he’d come up smiling. I had a face plant too. In the woods. Double eject after a ski got trapped under a branch. Deep powder, had to have a scavenger hunt for my yard sales worth of equipment. All good.

Given the firm conditions, I believe the mountain made the right decision on putting a groomer on trails that weren’t otherwise skiable; Northstar, OL, Wildfire. Middle and Lower O. It spread out the crowds, which would have been confined to a lot fewer trails. Hopefully, this holiday week will continue on a positive note. Hope they’ll relent and run SR4, particularly when it warms up later in the week.

the job share thing where the execs pitch in with general labor when its really busy has been going on for years now, i wouldnt look too into it as an austerity measure.

Exactly. Win used to bus tables at Sugarbush and the Muellers used to bus tables at Okemo. I always thought of it as a sign of a good leader.

[skiadikt]

Pretty good 3 day weekend: 6” of snow to kick it off on Saturday, snow making on OL and SS, most of the trails open, no major operating snafus. Maybe I’m setting the bar too low. Saw Mike was bussing tables in KBL, which is a bit of, “okay this austerity thing has gone too far”, but oddly reassuring: at least he isn’t dealing with a bigger crisis. And the lodges were full. Monday, although it seemed quiet, had lots that were nearly full; Upper Snow Shed had a few spots left in the back but that’s it.

The groomers seemed to hold up well over the course of the day. I mostly skied bell to bell, in part because four held up really well. He was tired, but a happy tired, and while he’d look at trails that were clearly marked black and proclaim, “I don’t want to do a black” he gamely accepted our reassurances and made his way down without incident. An occasional face plant here and there, but he’d come up smiling. I had a face plant too. In the woods. Double eject after a ski got trapped under a branch. Deep powder, had to have a scavenger hunt for my yard sales worth of equipment. All good.

Given the firm conditions, I believe the mountain made the right decision on putting a groomer on trails that weren’t otherwise skiable; Northstar, OL, Wildfire. Middle and Lower O. It spread out the crowds, which would have been confined to a lot fewer trails. Hopefully, this holiday week will continue on a positive note. Hope they’ll relent and run SR4, particularly when it warms up later in the week.

the job share thing where the execs pitch in with general labor when its really busy has been going on for years now, i wouldnt look too into it as an austerity measure.

Exactly. Win used to bus tables at Sugarbush and the Muellers used to bus tables at Okemo. I always thought of it as a sign of a good leader.

and the slutskys did it at hunter. mike has been doing this long before the current "belt tightening." setting a good example.