Jim Schley

It was a very busy weekend at Sugarbush because of the Martin Luther King holiday combined with perfect ski weather with sun and temps in the upper twenties. It doesn’t get much better than that weather-wise in mid-January. The weather pattern had been dry, so snow levels remained pretty low but not terrible. Unfortunately, the morning started off with a snag on Saturday due to electrical problems with the Super Bravo lift that kept it from opening until mid-morning. They opened the Gatehouse lift early to compensate, and we were out early enough to get some nice runs on groomers before the crowds descended. Once Bravo did open, got some nice runs in on Stein’s, the Mall, and Christmas Tree woods. Despite the huge crowd, there was absolutely no line at all at Castlerock. Conditions there were a bit tough, and the trails did get pretty bony as the day went on, but at least there weren’t any crowds there. The waterfall on Middle Earth was pretty spectacular with very significant ice. I finished the day with another run on Stein’s, which skied very nicely.

Clouds and fog rolled in on Sunday making visibility very difficult on most of the mountain. Sunday was my first day on my new skis, and I gave them a try on a groomer to give them a whirl. Honestly, they didn’t do great on the icy hardpack– although the operator was mainly to blame. With the natural snow trails being pretty bony, I switched back to my old skis and hit North Lynx with a run on Morning Star. The big bumps were firm and not all that much fun, so after a nice run down Birch Run we moved over to Castlerock. After a ride up the lift where you couldn’t even see the chair in front of you, we found conditions were tough up there too, and Danielle took a bad digger bruising her leg up with the inside edge of her ski. She’s hardcore and kept on going as we took the runout over the Heaven’s Gate. We had heard rumors that the very summit of Lincoln Peak was poking out above the clouds, but I refused to believe it. It was pretty spectacular as the lift approached the top of Ripcord and we emerged from the clouds and the sun did shine on us. It was pretty amazing, and the view to the West looking out over Lake Champlain to the ‘Dacks was very cool, with low clouds on the New York side of the lake. Paradise, Paradise Woods, and Ripcord Woods were all awesome. Christmas Tree woods and Stein’s were fun runs once we retreated back down to the cloud. It was a good weekend of skiing.

111/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 76 inches of snow so far this season.