# Sugarbush - Mt. Ellen 1.7.13



## gmcunni (Jan 7, 2013)

*Date(s) Skied: *1.7.13
*Resort or Ski Area: *Sugarbush - Mt. Ellen
*Conditions: *cold, some wind, pow, pack pow, bumps
*Trip Report: *First time visit to Mt. Ellen, or as i prefer to call it, Sugarbush North. 

Drove up this morning, arrived around 10:30.  Pretty sure trails were 100% open HOWEVER the Inverness lift was closed.

Booted up and headed up the mountain to the peak of Mt. Ellen.   Conditions were excellent, the amount of snow was amazing.  Snow was soft and plentiful.  Found some bumps (not hard to do, they are everywhere) and some cruisers and some woods. 

It was recommended to try some trails off Inverness but since the lift wasn't working and the trek out on Northway kind of sucked we only went there once.  We hit semi-tough woods which was fun and mostly untracked.

Later we did FIS to Lower FIS. it was bumped up the whole way except for the connecting section of Lower Rim RUn.  Legs and feet were aching big time.  The runout at the end of Lower FIS sucked and i swore i wasn't going back there. Unfortunately, not knowing the mountain well, i thought Southbound cut to Tumbler but we ended up on Lower FIS a 2nd time. :roll:

Slidebrook was running today but we didn't use it.

Not sure what happened over the summer but Jake is skiing way better than last year. I'm not ready to say he's better than me but he is in much better shape and wore me out.

My take away impression - Mt. Ellen is a tough mountain, lots of great terrain and definitely worth visiting.

The one negative - apparently Sugarbush does not have a Mt. Ellen pin to add to my collection. best i could do was get a pin referencing FIS.


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## deadheadskier (Jan 7, 2013)

Run into Dan Egan?


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## gmcunni (Jan 7, 2013)




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## gmcunni (Jan 7, 2013)

deadheadskier said:


> Run into Dan Egan?



i looked around but didn't see him, i assume i wouldn't have been able to catch up to him to ask for an autograph anyway.   I was going to eat at his brother's restaurant but it was closed (for season??, drive was not clear)


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## deadheadskier (Jan 7, 2013)

restaurant has been closed and on the market for a few years I believe

apparently it wasn't a top 20 restaurant in the Mad River Valley


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## gmcunni (Jan 7, 2013)

i really do like the MRV, wish it wasn't so far otherwise i'd be here lots more.

staying at Golden Lion tonight, got my $10 Alpinezone discount


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## thetrailboss (Jan 7, 2013)

Sugarbush North. **sigh** my old home. Great pics.

Your assessment sounds about right.  

Why was Inverness Quad closed?  Race training?  And was Northway not groomed?  I used to be able to cruise right along there to get to Inverness and enjoyed the fresher snow over there.  

Lower FIS:  same question--was the runout groomed?  If not, then it can be a real pain, especially because it does climb UP in one spot.  Despite that, it is one of my favorite trails.  Southbound: lots of fun as well.  

Egan: doubt you'd see him at ME.  Him, Win, and others rarely go over there...for whatever reason...I imagine that Mr. Egan was probably leading a private group lesson at LP.  My wife and I rode up the lift with him once at North Lynx because his two students slipped ahead of him in line.  Their loss our gain!  

Egan's Big World: yeah, closed since at least 2010 or so.  I think they may have sold it.  But DHS is right...it's been closed for a while and I know that there was going to be a creditor sale/foreclosure last year.  That whole thing didn't work out so well.  I don't know how involved they were with it or if someone just borrowed their name for it.


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## JimG. (Jan 7, 2013)

Mt. Ellen rocks!  

Awesome trees.


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## bdfreetuna (Jan 7, 2013)

looks like conditions have shaped up nicely since my visit a couple weeks ago. Nice pics, I like the 2nd one view down top of upper FIS. Trees are lookin' snowy!


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## emmaurice2 (Jan 7, 2013)

Very nice pics, looks like it was a great day to be out.


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## powhunter (Jan 8, 2013)

Rad report and pics Gary...

Steveo


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## o3jeff (Jan 8, 2013)

Looks like perfect conditions. Sounds like jake bumped you out of being a top 20 skier there!


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## marcski (Jan 8, 2013)

Gmcunni:  The 'Bush is looking mighty fine...nice pics.

But, IMHO, the best thing about your post is your 2012-2013 streak of One and Dones!!!  Keep it up all season and that would be mighty impressive!


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## dmw (Jan 8, 2013)

Wow - I've been on the fence about booking a bus trip there Thursday, but it looks like I probably should!


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## polski (Jan 8, 2013)

gmcunni said:


> Not sure what happened over the summer but Jake is skiing way better than last year. I'm not ready to say he's better than me but he is in much better shape and wore me out.


Funny how this happens. On Friday, day 2 of our 2-day trip to MRG, I did note to my 15-yo that perhaps I was having trouble keeping up with him late in the day because at the start of the day when I had been doing things like getting my ass kicked in Falldise, HE WAS STILL ASLEEP


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## WWF-VT (Jan 8, 2013)

deadheadskier said:


> Run into Dan Egan?



Wrong Egan - John is the Egan brother at Sugarbush.


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## xlr8r (Jan 8, 2013)

Looks beautiful,  Glen Ellen to me at least is the prettiest looking ski area in all New England.  I Gotta find a time to get there at some point this year.


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## bdfreetuna (Jan 8, 2013)

xlr8r said:


> Looks beautiful,  Glen Ellen to me at least is the prettiest looking ski area in all New England.  I Gotta find a time to get there at some point this year.



Agreed it is the most photogenic ski area in New England. Here's one I took one the drive to MRG one day


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## thetrailboss (Jan 8, 2013)

bdfreetuna said:


> Agreed it is the most photogenic ski area in New England. Here's one I took one the drive to MRG one day



Love that drive.  Like I'm coming home....


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