Last week at Sugarloaf was good overall, but they have also been affected by the low snowfall this year. The only open trails were the ones where they have been blowing snow. The other trails are at least snow-covered, but not enough to to be skiable. Still, it was a nice week of skiing. Crowds were low and conditions on the open trails were great.
On the really cold day at Sugarloaf last week, with a high of 10 degrees below zero and windchill of 34 degrees below zero, there were only 26 people who skied that day according to the ski patrol guy I talked to at 4 pm at the top of the Skyline lift. On that last run down at the end of the day, I was still finding groomed corduroy on Narrow Gauge.
Then yesterday I went to Okemo in Vermont. They got 10-12 inches of fresh snow Sunday into Monday, so got to enjoy some natural snow conditions for a change. Unfortunately all of the bubble chairs were on wind hold all day. One non-bubble summit lift (Glades Peak Quad) finally opened at 2pm.
The orange bubble at The Canyons (now part of Park City) was kind of nice on cold day for the bubble, but on windy days when it would have been awesome, was on wind hold. The big downside was the heated seats, it just ment you would sit in wet melting snow which is not ideal on a cold day and get a frozen backside.
The one at Okemo that I referenced above also has heated seats, and they work really well. The seats are always warm and dry. It’s almost decadent…and they also always make me feel a little guilty, since they’re basically heating the outdoors.
I’ve also been on the similar orange bubble lift at Canyons in Park City, and don’t remember the seats being particularly warm. Maybe they have them set at a lower temperature that’s just enough to melt the snow.
The similar blue bubble at Mount Snow in Vermont (the Bluebird Express) doesn’t appear to have heated seats at all.
ETA: According to the comments in my link, the Bluebird Express at Mount Snow was actually the first 6-pack bubble chair in North America.
I’ve ridden a few bubble chairs over the years, and they can be nice in nasty weather but most of the time in nasty weather they’re on wind hold. I’ve never had luck with the heated seats, they have rarely worked when I’ve been on them. Mt Snow used to have some old bubble chairs that closed in from the sides; those were odd.
We’re booking weekends because lodging is so tough to come by, and slope side lodging is difficult to find. It makes booting up and eating lunch much easier since we don’t like to spend any time in the lodge. We’ve got Stowe (Epic Pass) and Saddleback (Indy Pass) locked in, and will add one weekend in southern Vermont hitting Mt Snow (Epic) and Magic (Indy). Hopefully there’s good enough snow to hit the woods.
Two ski areas (Sugarbush in VT, Black in NH) have had significant issues with uphill skiers violating their policies. Sugarbush had to stop off hours access totally because skinners were skiing down runs with active grooming, and in once case hitting a winch cable, double ejecting, and taking off. Black hasn’t gone into details but they’re having problems with people not buying a $10/season uphill pass, parking on private property, and generally causing problems.
Lots of people are getting into side country and dawn patrol but they apparently don’t have a lot of respect for the mountains or the people who work there. Is this happening elsewhere?
I’m here at Sunday River in Maine with my adult son for a long weekend. Conditions have been nearly perfect…the best I’ve ever seen here and the best I’ve experienced all season. The snow coverage on the open trails is excellent, and crowds have been pretty good for a weekend. It has been cold, though. But no heated seats!
Two frigid cold days at Stowe this weekend. Not everything was open, but what was open skied pretty well, especially in the mornings. By afternoon on Saturday things were pretty scratchy. I don’t think it got above 3 degrees. Sunday started below zero as well, but made it up to about 10 degree. We skied hard until noon and called it a day.
Got back from Canada a week ago Saturday. 1900 miles of driving. At least a buddy cancelled his fucked up air itinerary and drove back with me. It was a good week, but challenging weather. BC had been around -30 for the previous few weeks, but then got a pineapple express with torrential rain down low and blizzard up high for the first 2 days. We got out some, but not much. Then 2 awesome days, then 2 more challenging (but good) days. We didn’t get our guaranteed 100,000’ vert, so I got an $875 refund… Going back Feb. 25. Conditions at Bridger Bowl are kinda marginal.
Oh, yeah, no Covid! We had to do a PCR test 48 hours before crossing the border, then a self test at the hotel before arriving at the lodge, then test on arrival, then all guest and staff tested every morning. By Wednesday masks were mostly off and things seemed pretty normal. It was a very pleasant feeling!
I made it up to Mount Snow in southern Vermont for the first time this season this past Sunday after the big New England snowstorm. Unfortunately the storm was backwards: it heavily affected the coastal lowlands where I live resulting in over a foot of snow to clear off my driveway, but the mountains didn’t get much, at least in Vermont anyway.
But still it was another good day of skiing. I’m heading back to Vermont in a few days to go back to Mount Snow, followed by a day at Okemo. There’s another storm predicted on Thursday afternoon into Friday, which may make the drive up interesting.
How were the lodges at Mt Snow? We’re headed there this weekend and might eat in our cars if the lodges are a zoo. I assume, being an Epic resort, they require proof of vaccination to enter the lodges?
I only went into the Carinthia Lodge at Mount Snow, and it was totally fine with respect to crowds. Also, you only have to show proof of vaccination to enter the dining areas in the lodges.
This is actually the first time I’ve gotten dressed and booted up in a lodge since before Covid. But temperatures were in the low single digits when I arrived so I decided to see if they were allowing it, and they were. They have also gone back to letting people store bags in storage cubbies or use their free bag check.
I wore a mask inside when I got dressed and booted up, as did most everyone else.
One thing that is new is that they are now charging for parking. On Sunday, the closer lot was $30 and the lower lot was $15. Nobody was collecting money but there are signs directing you to pay via app. I didn’t want to get ticketed or towed so I paid, but I’m not very happy about it.
The Squaw Valley Lodge is independently owned; no idea when or if they will change their name. The Resort at Squaw Creek is scheduled for a rename this April.
On that last run down at the end of the day, I was still finding groomed corduroy on Narrow Gauge.