# Sugarloaf 5/5/2013



## Conrad (May 5, 2013)

*Date(s) Skied: *May 5, 2013

*Resort or Ski Area: *Sugarloaf

*Conditions: *Spring

*Trip Report: *After anxiously missing the last two weekends of what seemed like great spring skiing, I finally hit the slopes again for one last hurrah on Sugarloaf's closing day. Usually it isn't too difficult to find a ride to Sugarloaf but it is that time of year where everyone's job at the mountain has ended and everyone has tons of school work to do meaning not too many people from UMF are driving up there. This weekend proved no exception to that so fortunately SnowMonster saved the day for me by offering me a ride to the mountain. It was a pleasure meeting SnowMonster and he really is a great guy. I wonder if we will ever cross paths again, perhaps decades away in the future?

We got on the lift before 11 am and unlike previous years around closing day (which I have never been to, but heard about), they were able to push plenty of snow so that no walking was required to ski down to the SuperQuad. However, we quickly discovered that you have to be careful not to go the wrong way, as ski patrol was preparing the mountain for the summer and had removed most of the ropes and closed signs. Most of the runs had moguls which was great for spring skiing. The trails with the best coverage were Tote Road, Skidder, Narrow Gauge, White Nitro, and Misery Whip. However, there were plenty of trails without consistent coverage which if anything made those trails more interesting. These included Hayburner, U. Competition Hill, the t-bar line, Spillway, and Gondola Line. I also did Sheer Boom under the SuperQuad which was the sketchiest run of the day. Just the SuperQuad and Skyline were running and let's just say that if you went down a King Pine trail you would have a long walk out.

We skied right until closing. I also got a video of my last run of the day. This will almost certainly be my last day of the season since I don't really have any time to go to Tuckerman's until June. Of course technically I could go, but probably won't. I would be surprised if anyone actually watches the entire video, but maybe you will want to watch sections of it:





0:00 Riding up the Skyline 8X
0:34 Getting off the chairlift 8X
0:54 Last chair of the season arrives at the top
1:50 Run down begins
2:41 Top of the SuperQuad
3:15 Comp Hill
3:44 Jump over stream
4:18 Sheer Boom
7:20 Lower Narrow Gauge
8:20 Final run out to the SuperQuad
9:12 Last view of the mountain


Getting on the SuperQuad:



Good coverage on Misery Whip



Gondola Line, lots of bare spots, but still enough snow to ski



White Nitro, definitely one of the better runs of the day



See you next season!


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## Conrad (May 5, 2013)

Hope you guys don't mind a few more photos:

Skidder:



Upper mountain:



Another shot of the upper mountain:



Doing the t-bar line:



Messed up and tried to add photo at wrong resolution. Here is the same photo twice:


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## Huck_It_Baby (May 6, 2013)

Wow!!! Lots of snow up there still and no lift line! Big contrast to Sugarbush this weekend. Lines were 20-30 mins!


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## wa-loaf (May 6, 2013)

Conrad said:


> Hope you guys don't mind a few more photos:
> 
> Skidder:
> View attachment 8845



Skidder (and Winters Way) in the Spring is how I learned to ski moguls.


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## bigbog (May 6, 2013)

Nice pics Conrad.....


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## Savemeasammy (May 6, 2013)

It's too bad Sugarloaf is such a long haul!


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## snowmonster (May 6, 2013)

It was great meeting you, Conrad! Thanks for skiing with me on my last Sugarloaf day. I hope that you hang around Alpinezone and get to ski with some of these great folks. I am impressed by your knowledge of ski history and ski lifts. Good luck on the rest of your collegiate career. Enjoy the ride and make the most of your opportunities.

I have skied Sugarloaf on a lot of closing days. This was exceptional. While low elevation trails on the east side of the mountain were melted out, the west side was still going strong. Even the problematic Candyside access to the Superquad had a lot of snow. For skiers who didn't mind the hike, both the upper portion/frontside snowfields of Gondola and White Nitro had tons of snow. It was actually pretty hot. Felt more like summer skiing. 

If any of you are planning to skin up the Loaf this week, there should still be a lot left.


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## snowmonster (May 6, 2013)

Conrad getting ready to jump a hole on Spillway


Smooth corn on the Bateau T bar line


Looking up White Nitro


Tote Road at 4:00 pm


Access to SQ at the end of the day


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## snowmonster (May 6, 2013)

Alright, which one of you characters is responsible for this?


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## wa-loaf (May 6, 2013)

snowmonster said:


> Looking up White Nitro
> View attachment 8860



Love this shot. Will miss having you around and your trip reports Snowmonster.


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## deadheadskier (May 6, 2013)

Glad your last day (for now) at Sugarloaf was just about as good as it gets in spring, Snowmonster.  Looks amazing


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## nanjil (May 6, 2013)

it was a great week end both saturday and sunday. I am truly amazed how skidder always manages to keep that amount of snow year after year


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## snowmonster (May 6, 2013)

wa-loaf said:


> Love this shot. Will miss having you around and your trip reports Snowmonster.


I'll miss being here but you know where to find me, wa-loaf.



deadheadskier said:


> Glad your last day (for now) at Sugarloaf was just about as good as it gets in spring, Snowmonster.  Looks amazing


'Twas a great send-off!


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## Mikey1 (May 6, 2013)

Thanks to both of you Conrad and Snowmonster for the great trip report. Looked like a great closing day. We opted to Killington yesterday which was also very good, but you had more choices at SL. Well done, and good luck to Snowmonster in his new endeavors.


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## Conrad (May 6, 2013)

snowmonster said:


> It was great meeting you, Conrad! Thanks for skiing with me on my last Sugarloaf day. I hope that you hang around Alpinezone and get to ski with some of these great folks. I am impressed by your knowledge of ski history and ski lifts. Good luck on the rest of your collegiate career. Enjoy the ride and make the most of your opportunities.



I'm not sure why I didn't respond to this sooner, but thank you so much for the ride and I also wish you the best of luck with this next chapter of your life coming up. It was also very interesting hearing about the history of AlpineZone since I am a newbie here.


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