thesnowway.com

There are few things that can cause longing for a WROD. One of those things is summer, an obnoxious and offensive season known to cause what some skiers call “the Jones”. Another thing that can cause a longing for a WROD is a DOWR: when ribbons die prematurely. I found both a WROD and a DOWR at Sunday River today. But I would rather find a DOWR than the patron saint of the lowly desperate skier: the Download.

T2 was generally firm hard pack and scrapped snow. Skiers left had limited amounts of loose snow whereas the edge of skiers right had sufficient loose snow and soft bumps to make for a few fun turns. Skier and rider traffic was thankfully limited despite the holiday and generous offer of free skiing to veterans and their families. The mini park on lower T2 was rather busy which helped keep the trails clear and the liftlines down. Despite Sunday River’s best efforts, T2’s edges are beginning to creep in towards the center of the trail.

Upper Sunday Punch was closed due to a disconnect at the summit and thin coverage under the chair. Sunday Punch to Lower Punch was roped. But ducking the rope to ski Punch and walk out is common practice to avoid downloading. A solitary tilled groomer track provided interesting turns on the pitch under the mid-station; the snow was extremely firm considering the temperature. Two ski carries were required short of walking your skis through two grassy breaks in the snow. Things got interesting where Right Stuff merges with Sunday Punch but turns could still be had until the merger with Tourist Trap at which point it was a matter of when, not if, the skis were going to come off for good. I stopped short of skiing over rocks and hiked a football field length back to the lodge.

With only two options covering limited terrain, the skiing population of the northeast is starting to get excited for the season. This weekend will no longer feature just the desperate and shameless, but the rabid Jonesing ski population that is only just now realizing that summer has long since departed. This weekend will likely be a shit show for sure, so I am glad I was able to take advantage of the mid-week holiday. With no end in sight for the above average temperatures, the Death of the White Ribbon will continue for the immediate future–working its way slowly up the hill and creeping in from trail edges.

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.