Jim Schley

Ski Report 21-22: Sugarbush- January 14-15, 2012

Snow on Thursday and Friday really improved conditions, with a total of sixteen inches falling before we hit the lifts on Saturday morning. About nine inches of that snow fell on Friday, making for difficult driving from Boston to Vermont, but made for awesome skiing. Being a holiday weekend and one of the first with decent snow, the hoards arrived. The line of people waiting for Heaven’s Gate to open was pretty huge, but the first run down Ripcord was worth it. Conditions were still pretty thin, but a few inches of icy hardpack under the new snow protected the ski bases from the sharp rocks underneath. Even Paradise was pretty sweet. Lower mountain, natural snow trails like the Mall, Twist, and Moonshine were all pretty great early in the morning, and still great albeit sketchy later in the day.

Once again, skiing was officially sanctioned on Castlerock with full Patrol coverage despite the lack of lift service. The twenty minute hike along the ridgeline was a great opportunity to warm up on a freezing cold day, and the conditions made it more than worth it. The run down Liftline yielded fresh tracks and lots of fluffy powder to cushion landings from the many launching points on the trail.

Sunday was a seriously cold day, but there was a lot more great skiing. North Lynx never opened on Saturday but it did open on Sunday. Fifteen straight laps on the trails there before lunch burned the legs but was really great fun. We made another trip over to Castlerock after one of the coldest lift rides in my memory. The temps at the summit were around -10F and the wind was howling. Once again, the hike was a good warm-up. It was clear that the hoards had herded their way over on Saturday, and although the skiing was very fun up there, the conditions were packed powder on Castlerock Run. Overall, very sweet weekend!

111/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 72 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

Saturday featured warm temps in the thirties and forties, so it felt more like March than January (but with way less snowcover than you’d normally have in March). Snowmaking and a few inches of new snow allowed for a few trails to reopen, such as Ripcord and Spillsville. The thin but frozen base underneath actually did a good job protecting skis from rocks. The soft snow was pretty fun. Things froze solid overnight and stayed so on Sunday. Groomed trails off Gatehouse were decent, while anything ungroomed was heinous. New snowmaking on Ripcord allowed for some challenging but entertaining runs despite low visibility.

59/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 51 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times, and then back to the worst of times. We were really fortunate to be able to spend the entire week after Christmas in Vermont and made the best of what nature gave us and managed to get out skiing everyday. We arrived on the 26th and got out for some skiing in the afternoon. Conditions were slightly improved with a few inches of new snow right before Christmas. Terrain was still pretty limited, though, with only 28 open trails, and unfortunately, Organgrinder had an icy glacier from a snowmaking incident (blamed on a “weather bubble”). Tuesday had more of the same, and although the crowds were fairly light for a holiday week, the skiing was just pretty boring.

Things turned around on Wednesday, though. A forecast of a couple inches of snow after some rain turned out to be off the mark. It snowed all day. hard. It dumped. By afternoon, we were skiing honest powder on Organgrinder where we didn’t even really notice the glacier ice. Poachers were leaving nice tracks on Spillsville and Lower Ripcord. There were at least 8″ of new snow at the top at the end of the day, and it was still dumping.

Thursday was a great day. With single digit temps, the sun came out shining on the foot of fresh snow, and Patrol was very liberal about dropping ropes on all of the natural snow trails despite zero base. I grabbed my old rock skis, and I wasn’t complaining. We got out early, and the first couple runs down the newly opened Birdland were just awesome. As Heaven’s Gate opened, Ripcord was just ridiculous– great powder run. Paradise was boney at the top, and somehow I managed to plant my ski pole in an actual rabbit hole. Fortunately, I don’t use pole straps or I would have ripped my arm off. The pole did break requiring a trip down to the base before setting back out for more skiing. After a sweet run down Spillsville, we made the trip over to Mt. Ellen in order to lose the crowds and search for some freshies. Runs down Exterminator and the upper section of Bravo were really nice with very solid cover, but two runs from the summit down Black Diamond were just awesome. Liberating Lower Exterminator on our last run was a distinct highlight for the whole week. By the time we hit the Green Mountain Pub, I was just spent.

Friday was another great day, and with the trail count up to 83, there were plenty of options, despite the thin cover. Runs down the Mall, Twist, Morning Star, and Sunrise really stood out. Rock skis were necessary to really enjoy them, but it was great fun. On Saturday, Patrol sanctioned skiing on Castlerock, though they weren’t running the lift. A short hike over from the top of Heaven’s Gate delivered us to some sublime powder and a sweet run, top to bottom, on Liftline. Everything else that was open to the growing hoards was starting to grow very thin as the natural snow was quickly wearing away down to moss, grass, and rock. A run down Paradise was regretful, and the Mall was somewhat adventurous. Temps rose as we rung in the new year, and the snow melted away. Most of the natural snow trails were closed on the first of the year and Castlerock Liftline was a distant memory. With a freeze on Sunday night, we were back to square one on Monday, skiing the lower mountain groomers. The worst of times.

47/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 44 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

Unemployment has its benefits. A short work hiatis between jobs means skiing– it doesn’t matter what the snow is like. Unfortunately, all of the snow on the trails, in this atypical winter, is artificial. There might have been an inch of natural snow on the ground, but things were looking pretty dire without the combination of compressed air mixed with water pumped up from up from the Mad River. Thanks to that snowmaking, the trails that were open were actually pretty good.

After a bunch of years of working flat out, a little break is pretty awesome. Withtout a lot of terrain to ski, we focused on technique. I’m not sure we made any advances, but it was fun thinking about it.

The weather deteriorated on Wednesday, but we kept at it. When visibility was at a minimum we took the opportunity to try our luck at the terrain park. We didn’t lose any teeth!

17/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 20 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

Temps finally dropped into Winter realms and the artificial blizzard commenced! With the mountain open top-to-bottom and Organgrinder blanketed with the white stuff, things were looking up. With the guns blasting overhead and mid-trail, the skiing was great. Crowds weren’t too bad, and it was pretty awesome to have a steep trail available to ski. I ran quite a few laps on the growing moguls, and it was pretty fun. My legs agreed that I actually did something.

The temps were surprisingly cold, and the surface of Organgrinder turned to styrofoam by Sunday morning. It was still pretty fun, but Downspout was miserable. Without decent edges on my skis, I was out of luck.

13/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 20 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

I was happy to be skiing, but the skiing was pretty terrible. Continued warm weather meant that open terrain was Jester-Downspout only with icy surfaces and tons of people. I don’t have much more to say about this day.

3/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 19 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

It seemed as though Winter was just refusing to settle in, and the mountain had to close down after Thanksgiving weekend due to lack of snow. Temperatures finally dropped mid-week, and snow-making resumed. A quick 2-4″ hit of snow on Friday helped matters as well, and we were back in business on Saturday morning. Of course, conditions were a little adverse– it was a day for die-hards. The snow guns blasted away as the resort struggled to catch up on lost time. Downspout remained ungroomed making for continued challenging but fun conditions. Jester was also ungroomed but wasn’t bad despite fairly crowded quarters. Unfortunately, the cold weather didn’t last and the guns had to be shut down on Saturday afternoon and high winds prevented the lifts from running at all on Sunday. Mother Nature seems angry!

3/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 15 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

Ski season begins! Mother nature was not cooperating the mountain was struggling to find temperatures cold enough for snow-making, but the natural snow finally came on the day before thanksgiving with a quick storm dropping almost a foot at the high elevations. It was enough for the mountain to open up on Thanksgiving day. We arrived on Friday afternoon to very warm temps and Spring-like conditions, skiing on three trails.

Downspout was not groomed, and the moguls were pretty big. It was a lot of fun despite objections from the legs– jumping into those bumps is a tough way to start the season. Jester was smoother.

Saturday was even warmer, and the skiing was sunny and great despite the fact that the snow was melting fast. A freeze on Saturday night kept it from all melting away but did make for a challenging first run on Sunday morning. I couldn’t have been happier to be back on snow, and it really was a great weekend.

3/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 11 inches of snow so far in the 2011-2012 season.

Awesome skiing the last three weeks of April were a testament to what a great season we had.

Spring is fickle, though, and Saturday the 16th was not quite warm enough. Conditions stayed firm all day long. Frozen granular on the groomers were ok, but it wasn’t a great day. It was the last day for Lower Birdland before it was closed, and I skied the frozen moguls while I still had the chance.

It rained quite a bit on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, though, defying the forecasts, the rain stopped. The sun came out, and it was decently warm. It ended up being an expectedly very good ski day complete with honest to goodness corn snow. It was actually very good corn snow at that– it wasn’t slushy at all– just good, supportable, delicious, peel-away corn.

Our 50th day on the ski slopes was (Good) Friday the 22nd. We took the day off from work, and we were so glad we did as it was probably one of the nicest Spring skiing days EVER.  Bluebird skies and temps in the 50s after an overnight freeze, and tons of snow on the trails and woods. Everything was great, top to bottom. Ripcord, Spillsville, Organgrinder, Steins Run, Moonshine, and Domino were all very fun.

Again with our fickle Spring season, we woke up to snow on the ground on Saturday. It was colder, and the snow was firm underneath the new snow, but the skiing was actually pretty good. The three inches of new snow was like a layer of cream cheese on top, and it was decent. Sunday, the 24th was a really nice spring skiing day, all over the mountain. It was almost as good as Friday the 22nd. I couldn’t stop marveling how much snow remained. The 24th was scheduled to be closing day for Sugarbush, but it was clear that they would need to reopen with so much snow left.

Despite torrential rains that caused significant flooding in Northern Vermont and New York and significant melt on the mountain, there was still a lot of snow to ski for the last weekend in April, and the mountain did reopen. It was also beautiful weather-wise. Saturday featured temps in the upper 50′s and top to bottom skiing on sixteen trails. Stein’s Run and Spring Fling were good but a bit slushy, but the upper mountain trails were A+ perfect. The lower Downspout / Jester runout was thin in spots, but we were just happy that the mountain put in the effort to move some snow around and keep it open.

Sunday, May 1st was a spectacular day to close out the season. It was actually pretty crowded due to the fact that Sugarbush decided to give away free lift tickets. The masses arrived to take them up on the offer, and we were happy to share the mountain we call home to so many other die-hards.  It was a festive atmosphere complete with a band out on the plaza in the afternoon and lots of odd shenanigans. Of course, the skiing was awesome, too.  Temperatures in the upper sixties meant skiing in a tshirt (and the subsequent sunburned forearms). It was a great day…

…and a great season.

308 total inches of snow for the 2010-2011 season.

Arriving in Salt Lake City on Saturday night to pouring rain was of no concern as we knew what has happening at our destination in Little Cottonwood Canyon, 3000′ above the valley floor. As our van made its way up the canyon, the rain turned to snow, and we could see it had already started to pile up a couple inches at the hotel. We woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of artillery, and upon checking the report, learned that 14″ had fallen overnight.

It snowed all day Sunday, and the skiing was phenomenal. The powder was ridiculous. It was a little higher density than the typical Utah snow, but it was deep. Some highlights were the guy who broke out the harmonica in the Gad 2 liftline as we waited for it to open. He did a great job breaking up some of the aggro testosterone vibe going on there.

Of course, being on one of the first chairs up and the run down, making first tracks down that liftline is a memory that will stick with me for many years. We were planning on taking it easy our first day out, but that definitely didn’t happen. We racked up run after run in the deep powder, and I lost track of face shots and powder chokes. It was easily one of the best ski days that I have ever had.

The sun came out on Monday after another half foot of snow overnight bringing storm total to 22″. It was possibly an even better ski day than Sunday. We were headed over to Alta, but the skiing just to get over there was amazing. Traversing skiers right and dropping into fresh powder in Mineral Basin under bright blue skies was unreal. Alta was untracked and beautiful. The crowds were small, and there was great snow everywhere. I got wind of Devil’s Castle impending opening when artillery explosions reverberated off me as I was riding up the Sugarloaf lift and then saw five or six local dudes loitering around the closed entrance. I decided to head over and wait with them. It probably took 45 minutes or so before Alta Ski Patrol opened it up, and there were probably 75 people behind me in line at that point. After the requisite ten  minute hike out along the traverse on the apron, I dropped into pure bliss. It was bottomless powder for over a thousand vertical feet until the pitch mellowed out. It was ridiculous.

Tuesday was sunny and warm. The sun shines high and strong in Utah in April and it doesn’t take long for the snow to start to soften up and turn a bit gloppy. I got up the tram before the temps rose above freezing at the top of Hidden Peak, and traversed over to the Cirque. It was my first time skiing it, and I will admit that it was intimidating standing on the top of the cornice before dropping in. It was a great run, though, and the snow was still very nice. As we got into the afternoon and temps kept rising into the fifties, skiing became difficult as the gloppy snow was extremely sticky. We took the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and scene on the tram deck.

Wednesday was a colder day, and the snow surface froze up. Fortunately, it snowed again to the order of about six inches. I heard grumblings from the locals about “dust on crust.” For Eastern skiers, six inches does not constitute “dust” and the skiing was pretty great, in my opinion. I had some more great runs in the Cirque, in Mineral Basin and at Alta. In particular, through the gates off Collins to the High Traverse and West Rustler was excellent, as was the Ballroom. I hit Greeley’s Bowl before heading back to the Sugarloaf lift and back to Snowbird, and it was a blast.

A large Pacific storm arrived in earnest on Thursday bringing snow and wind. The skiing was pretty challenging due to low visibility, but it was also really good as the new snow was piling up. I had a great run in the Cirque despite the snowglobe feeling. I hiked up Mt. Baldy with hopes of making the traverse and that skiing the trees once I got down to the shoulder would offer nice skiing and less disorienting conditions. I did find the good skiing on very nice snow, but it was a very challenging run due to the combined very challenging terrain, low visibility and my own unfamiliarity. I was a little unnerved, but I made the best of it.

The snow really picked up Thursday afternoon and evening, and it was just dumping when we woke up on Friday. There was already sixteen inches of new snow on the ground, and it was still coming down hard. We plundered the powder off Gadzoom and did lap after lap on the fast lift with no line. Attempts at skiing the bowls didn’t work out to well due to low visibility in the dumping, blowing snow, so we stuck to the treed slopes. Another eight inches fell by the time our legs failed us and we wrapped up our day. The skiing was ridiculously good.

It would be hard to imagine a better ski trip than this one. It snowed over four and a half feet while we in holed up in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and it was still dumping when we left. Snowbird had a mammoth season snow total of 612″ with a mid-mountain depth of 178″.