Category: Reports by Month

2010-2011 Season, November, Sunday River

Top to Bottom at Sunday River

Unloading the Locke Mountain Triple Chair

You can generally see good management in action not by watching good managers but by watching good employees. Such is the case at Sunday River. As I approached the Locke Mountain Triple Chair, the liftie greeted me with a welcoming “How are you doing today?” After the chair was bumped, I was whisked away to an enthusiastic “Enjoy your run!” Even though Sunday River is not my cup of tea, I could easily see that the resort has a special buzz. One aspect of said buzz is being treated like a friend rather than a guest.

Sunday River is the first ski area in the Northeast to open top to bottom. Skiing was on T2 and Upper Sunday Punch to the mid-station, followed by Sunday Punch and Lower Sunday Punch below it. Snow guns were blowing on a significant number of trails including Upper Sunday Punch, Sunday Punch, Jungle Road, Ecstasy, and Right Stuff. With a few more snow making opportunities this week, I expect all of these trails to be open wall to wall next weekend.

Today’s conditions varied greatly from trail to trail. T2 offered the best coverage with some sugar on the sides. Upper Punch contained some sections of dirty snow and death cookies. Below the mid-station conga line, Sunday Punch had delightful soft bumps under a frozen waterfall of blowing snow and Lower Punch was teeth chattering refrozen hard pack, several sections of thin coverage were easily avoided. Skiing was true top to bottom with no need to take skis off or walk, though some less adventurous skiers still opted for a download.

The comparison to last year when–leading up to Thanksgiving–conditions got worse every week instead of better is night and day. Any skiing during the first week of November is good skiing. Top to bottom skiing without walking is especially delightful, which is more than can be said about Killington’s current offering costing twice as much with lift lines twice as long.

2010-2011 Season, October, Sunday River

Blow for Show, Open for Dough: Sunday River

T2 at Sunday River on Opening Day

I am not even going to go there (figuratively and literally). Okay, one quick jab is in order. Blow for show. Open for dough. Now let’s get to the report. 🙂

I arrived at the Barker Lodge shortly before the projected eight o’clock opening. A stiff breeze was blowing out of the north. The wind combined with cold temperatures to make the opening line up feel more like mid-winter than mid-October. Operations needed some extra time to prepare the unload ramp up top which would improve from treacherous to survivable as the work continued throughout the morning. I was soon aboard the first open chairlift in the country for what will undoubtedly be an epic 2010-2011 season.

Guns were blazing top to bottom on T2 and in select places on Upper Sunday Punch. Without automatic intermittent goggle wipers, occasional stops were required for visual clarity. Later in the morning I became proficient at manual goggle cleaning while skiing, sliding the back of my thumb across the lens on alternating pole plants.

Crowds were directly proportional to the number of snow guns blowing. As the snow making crew turned off the guns, more and more skiers and riders took their first turns of the season. Despite increasing volume throughout the morning, the mid-station of the Locke Triple was still ski on when I left shortly before noon. Due to the stealthy snipper like secrecy of Sunday River, I suspect most skiers and riders were caught unprepared for their Saturday opening. Sunday will likely be the busier day of the weekend.

Snow conditions were surprisingly delightful. Two groomed passes had been made without bulldozing any mounds. Surface conditions featured many bizarre irregular contours characteristic of recently blown snow that has not yet whaled. Due to a combination of freshly blown snow and good solar gain, the surface skied very well despite traffic levels being confined to one trail not yet skiable wall to wall. I did my best to ski in bump lines where they developed. And much to my delight, I felt that I was having to work my turns due to variable and constantly changing snow contours and terrain irregularities.

Today was a marvelous first day of lift serviced skiing. I feel physically stronger than any past opening day. I can thank a summer of road biking and the loss of more than twenty pounds for the conditioning. I skied for three hours straight and was never board despite being limited to only one trail. If crowds had not increased causing a sudden spike in chairlift slow downs due to downloading, I probably would have skied even longer.

2010-2011 Season, Earned Turns, Killington, October, Powder Day

Never Cut Your Loses: Killington

Steve on Royal Flush

The thought had been nagging me for the past few weeks: I was decidedly not ready for the season to start from a gear perspective. Nothing had been pulled out of the closet. An inventory had not yet been taken. New jackets still retained their store tags. My recently mounted new Dynafits had not been inspected for DIN setting accuracy nor tested so I could learn the features. Ready or not, the season starts now. Ready? Set. GO!

Killington or Mansfield? Reports had confirmed a foot of snow near the summit of Killington but I repeated my mantra not to bet against Mansfield. Besides, I hate the drive from Ashland to Killington even though it is twenty minutes shorter than Ashland to Stowe.

While I should usually not bet against Mansfield, I should also know by now that one in the hand is better than two in the bush. That you never get greedy when you know of a sure thing. You keep hammering the known quantity as long as it remains good because you might get skunked when you go in search of something better.

Sheets of rain blowing sideways greeted me at the Mansfield Gondola. The snow barely started near the base of the slopes and was very thin and spotty for a few hundred feet. The Front Four did not look in play from the parking lot. I suspected skiing was likely good up high but I resolved that I was not skinning in a drenching rain.

Rather than wait for the rain to stop, I opted to drive to Killington where I suspected they had top to bottom skiing, more snow, and no rain. I guess I never learn… But this was rather defaulting back to the known quantity when the greed did not pan out. Sure enough, I made the wrong decision when I left home but made the right decision in revising plans.

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2009-2010 Season, April, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, Powder Day

The Powder Days Started Here, The Powder Days Finish Here: Over Two Feet of Fresh at Cannon

The Powder Days Started Here. The Powder Days Finish Here. This is Cannon. This is my home.

Just when you thought it was safe to put away the powder skis and take off the snow tires, old man winter says he ain’t finished quite yet. An impressive storm system dropped copious amounts of snow from Northern Vermont clear across the White Mountains pushing the Avalanche Advisory for Tuckerman Ravine to a rare Extreme rating.

Two feet seems to be the average for terrain above two thousand feet in favored aspects. Cannon got two feet and them some with drifts of three to four feet in places. Cannon historically delivers early season and late season. So it comes as no surprise that my first and last powder days book end the season at Cannon.

With early morning meetings at work and a physical therapy session for my knee (LOL) just after noon, my turn earning was delayed until later in the day. Driving north on I-93, I saw nothing but bare ground and rain which might have tested a less knowledgeable die hard’s resolve. But I know Cannon. And I know what these types of storms do in the Notch.

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2009-2010 Season, April, Killington

Closing Weekend at Killington — THE BEAST is Dead

 

Much to the dismay of Killington pass holders, Killington die hards, and spring bump skiers everywhere, Killington recently announced that this would be there last weekend in operation despite having previously promoted that they would ski into May if conditions allow. As we would find out throughout the afternoon, conditions most certainly would allow at least one more weekend of skiing if not two more weekends with a little effort. Three weeks ago, I skied Killington and asked whether or not THE BEAST is back. In answer to the question I posed, Killington will write the words “Closed for the Season” in the new flowery and flowy script of Powd’r and not the big bold letters of the beast of old.

With a freeze overnight, we arrived at Killington shortly after 10 A.M. and went about booting up at a leisurely pace to allow the sun and temperatures to work their magic. Even as early as 11 A.M., some surfaces were still a little firm and variable. By by noon time, epic spring bump conditions arrived and it was game on for a great afternoon of bumps.

The center of Superstar was groomed which proved to be a disaster. The snow formed long well spaced out mounds of snow. Right and left sides had bumps but lines were fairly irregular though things did get better after noon. Upper Ovation was a narrow ribbon down skier’s left and I would be surprised if it was still open on Sunday. There is a 10 foot break in the snow mid-trail. Sensible folks were taking off their skis and down hiking but more adventurous folks, such as yours truly, just pointed the skis straight down the wet grass and went for it. The portage back to Superstar was short and not the problem.

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