# Ski Sundown - 1/3/2006 (Night)



## Greg (Jan 3, 2006)

*Date(s) Skied: *Tuesday, 1/3/2006, 7:15 pm - 10:05 pm

*Resort or Ski Area: *Ski Sundown, New Hartford, CT

*Conditions: *Packed powder, powder, crud. Clear and cool. No wind. Beautiful night.

*Trip Report: *Just got back from a night session at Ski Sundown. Our area picked up about a foot of snow today so the conditions were awesome. Lots of buttery smooth packed powder with plenty of powder and crud on the trail sides to play on.

There was a race going on Gunbarrel on the lower portion of the hill, but it didn't effect great the skiing on skier's right of the upper portion of the mountain's steepest run. There were some nice lines and some small bumps forming which helped me work on some technique. Tonight the "extension" aspect of bump skiing finally clicked. The great smooth surface allowed me to really concentrate on driving my skis down the backside (or is it front side?  ) of the small moguls (crud piles really...).

The rest of the mountain skied well. Stinger was somewhat a nightmare with a HUGE terrain park and tons of park rats flying all over. Temptor was groomed in the evening and didn't ski well until the skier traffic broke it up. There was a ton of powder and fun lines on skier's left of Noreaster. I stuck to Gunbarrel for most of my runs though.

Saw Brian working the A lift and I tried not to make him feel too bad about him working the lift as I was skiing, but you could tell he'd rather be out there. Funny story about the A Triple. As I approached the summit, the lift stopped and I noticed a young girl on her way down. She missed the stop gate and went right around the bullwheel. The summit liftie must have been asleep as she was about three chair down the descent before the lift was stopped. Ski patrol struggled to decide how to get her down. She wasn't able to get the bar back down so they were going to try to extract her. :blink: Finally, with a makeshift pole made of a terrain marker pole and a ski pole they were able to help her get the bar down. A few redcoats jumped into the chairs behind her to help her feel comfortable on the way down. She was obviously scared and I felt for her. Of course numerous jackasses on the lift called for them to just start it the whole time. When it finally did, the cheers heard up and down the mountain were amusing.

All in all a really great night skiing session and likely my last outing for a while. My wife is due in 2 1/2 weeks with our second child so it's time to stay home and wait for the happy day. I can't compain. Tonight was Day 8 and the great pre-Christmas conditions of December were very satisfying. A number of highlights from "part one" of my ski season:
Met a few new AZers in highpeaksdrifter, Son of Drifter and BeanoNYC
Got to ski with three other mods this season - ALLSKIING, bvibert and thetrailboss
Two powder days at Ski Suindown, of all places.
 A brief visit to a new mountain - Sunapee
A revisit to a mountain in Mohawk after a 9 year hiatus
 An excellent full day at Jiminy with unexpected perfect packed powder conditions.
So, all things considered, I can't complain. I hope to get out in February or March once Mom has a chance to recover. My new Volkl Unlimited AC3s are their way, but I guess I'll have to wait to ski them and simply live vicariously through all of you...


----------



## bvibert (Jan 4, 2006)

Glad to hear the conditions were good.  I wasn't too happy that I had to actually work, but I guess thats to be expected from time to time when you take a job... 

That deal with the girl going around the bullwheel wasn't good, sorry to hear that you got stuck on the lift too.  Its not to often that happens, I hope the little girl isn't scared to go skiing again...


----------



## thetrailboss (Jan 4, 2006)

Awesome to hear!


----------



## hammer (Jan 4, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> I guess I'll have to wait to ski them and simply live vicariously through all of you...


Isn't that what these forums are for?  

Good luck, Dad (and best wishes to Mom as well)...you've been through it before, but each little one is a new experience...


----------



## Catul (Jan 4, 2006)

Sounds like a great time!  I was VERY tempted to head out there since I left work at 1:30 p.m. and figured I might get a couple of hours in, but had to be home by 4 p.m. to do some remote stuff.  I thought the snow would be too heavy anyway, but it looked like they groomed some of it well and it was actually great at night - very cool!


----------



## Greg (Jan 4, 2006)

Catul said:
			
		

> Sounds like a great time!  I was VERY tempted to head out there since I left work at 1:30 p.m. and figured I might get a couple of hours in, but had to be home by 4 p.m. to do some remote stuff.  I thought the snow would be too heavy anyway, but it looked like they groomed some of it well and it was actually great at night - very cool!


Certainly not a light and fluffy snow, but still nice. By the time I got there, it was mostly crudded up by skier traffic (which is one of my favorite surfaces) and a few runs were groomed. The surface was about as good as it gets for CT...


----------



## ALLSKIING (Jan 4, 2006)

I missed another good day in CT  The storm just blew through one day to late for me.


----------



## Vortex (Jan 5, 2006)

Seems like your getting all the snow.  Glad you got out while you could. Nice.  Good luck to you and your bride.


----------



## bvibert (Jan 5, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> The surface was about as good as it gets for CT...



I got a chance to make a few runs last night, and I have to agree.  Excellent sliding surface with no scratchy spots to be found. 

Greg, was the lower part of Nor' Easter open when you were there?  They had it closed last night for some reason and there were some sweet looking bumps on it.  I was wondering how it was when you were there.


----------



## Greg (Jan 5, 2006)

bvibert said:
			
		

> Greg, was the lower part of Nor' Easter open when you were there?  They had it closed last night for some reason and there were some sweet looking bumps on it.  I was wondering how it was when you were there.


Skier's left of Noreaster was very nice and ungroomed. Perhaps they were planning to groom it? They groomed Temptor (why is that a double black?) the other night though which I thought was odd. Was Gunbarrel left ungroomed? Any bumps?


----------



## bvibert (Jan 5, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> bvibert said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not sure why Temptor is a double black, it used to be single.  I assumed they intended to bump it up to live up to its double black status, but they never have that I've seen.  The bottom part of Nor'Easter is not going to be groomed anytime too soon, they're going to intentionally let it bump again this year.  Hopefully they're a little more consistant than last year's bumps.

I didn't get over to Gunbarrel last night, I spent all my time on upper Nor'Easter and Canyon working on getting my weight foward.  It fianally clicked and I was able to make a few runs without getting in the backseat hardly at all.   From what I saw it didn't look like they groomed Gunny during the evening groom, but it looked like they had probably groomed it the previous night.


----------



## Greg (Jan 5, 2006)

bvibert said:
			
		

> From what I saw it didn't look like they groomed Gunny during the evening groom, but it looked like they had probably groomed it the previous night.


I hope they leave some lines on skier's right of Gunny this season...


----------



## bvibert (Jan 5, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> bvibert said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I hope so too.  If they're going to be anywhere they'll be on the skier's right since they run the race course on the left...


----------



## Greg (Jan 5, 2006)

Brian - I just heard from Dotty that Gunny will likely be groomed most of this season for race practice. However, they are seeding bumps on Noreaster. Perhaps that's why it was closed last night. I'm a bit curious as to why they selected Noreaster (classified a blue) vs. Temptor (double black) as their dedicated bump run, but hey, the effort is commendable. Be sure to report back next time you're over there...


----------



## bvibert (Jan 5, 2006)

I'm not sure why they chose Nor' Easter over Temptor.  Thats what they've been doing for at least the last couple of years though.  Thanks for the official update, no one I ever talk to there seems to know much about whats actually happening.  I still don't see why they can't bump up half of gunny though.  There should be plenty of room for the race course and some bumps now that the terrain crap is gone....


----------



## Greg (Jan 5, 2006)

bvibert said:
			
		

> I'm not sure why they chose Nor' Easter over Temptor.  Thats what they've been doing for at least the last couple of years though.  Thanks for the official update, no one I ever talk to there seems to know much about whats actually happening.  I still don't see why they can't bump up half of gunny though.  There should be plenty of room for the race course and some bumps now that the terrain crap is gone....


According to Dotty, Ski School can utilize Noreaster more in intermediate lessons to teach mogul skiing, as a double black with moguls is a little too intimidating for individuals wishing to learn how to ski bumps. Makes sense. We forget sometimes that Sundown is a feeder hill with an emphasis on learning. Can't expect it to be something it's not, nor really shouldn't be, I guess. Still a great little mountain - I'm starting to really appreciate it this season. The scenery is great and all the evergreens make it seem like you're further North; great twisty trails too and the steepest overall pitch in CT. Being only 25 minutes away is nice as well as I can make a quick decision to head over there after a snowfall. Oh, by the way, Dotty also indicated terrain expansion in the future is likely!


----------



## Catul (Jan 6, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> Oh, by the way, Dotty also indicated terrain expansion in the future is likely!



Now that is great news!  I agree that Sundown is fun for what it offers, and the one thing that would make it even better is more terrain.  It can get pretty old quickly after a few runs down Gunbarrel and Noreaster in an hour 

BTW, I too am surprised that Temptor is rated a double black; even with bumps it isn't any steeper than Gunbarrel which also used to have bumps, so I don't understand the reasoning.  As it is now, it is one of my favorite runs because most people stay off it and the snow stays in good shape.


----------



## bvibert (Jan 6, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> Oh, by the way, Dotty also indicated terrain expansion in the future is likely!



Awesome!  I've been wondering when they would expand.  Now the question is where and when...



			
				Catul said:
			
		

> BTW, I too am surprised that Temptor is rated a double black; even with bumps it isn't any steeper than Gunbarrel which also used to have bumps, so I don't understand the reasoning.  As it is now, it is one of my favorite runs because most people stay off it and the snow stays in good shape.



I don't think its even as steep as the top of Gunny, and the steep part isn't even very long.  Just the other day when I had the bottom part of Nor' Easter roped off, so that the groomers could get up onto Canyon, a mother decided to take her very timid, young, pizza wedging child down Temptor instead of waiting a few minutes for Nor' Easter to open back up.  She was very concerned about heading down a double black with her child, but decided to do it anyway.  I saw her at the bottom after the run and she said Temptor was no problem, a piece of cake...


----------



## Greg (Jan 6, 2006)

bvibert said:
			
		

> Greg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And that's been asked...


----------



## Greg (Jan 6, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> bvibert said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's too early to mention anything as they're apparently still very early in the planning stages.


----------



## 2knees (Jan 6, 2006)

Greg said:
			
		

> Greg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



i would think it has to be to the right, looking up, next to the little separate beginners area.  The backside is all private land unless they purchased it. Or at least that is what a patroller told me last year.  He actually told me how they tried to get the little woods run behind the sundeck at the top to be an official trail but were not allowed based on some regulation.  I've personally been going far less in the last 8 or 9 years because they stopped allowing gunbarrel to bump up.  (that and 2 kids now)  Occasionally they would let stinger grow bumps but invariably would knock them down too.  I've always felt they should let one run grow them but i understand their clientele (ie snowboarders and lots of newbies) arent looking for that.


----------



## Catul (Jan 9, 2006)

bvibert said:
			
		

> Not sure why Temptor is a double black, it used to be single.  I assumed they intended to bump it up to live up to its double black status, but they never have that I've seen.



I was there yesterday (Sunday 1/8 ) with my daughter and noticed that they had huge moguls on Temptor - finally living up to its (relative) double-black status


----------

