# Five Favorites (2010-2011)



## noreasterbackcountry (Oct 9, 2011)

If you're like me, you're probably putting together your "to-do" list for the 2011-2012 season.  

Here are my favorites from last year:  http://www.emsexploration.com/wordpress/five-favorites-winter-lives-on/

Detailed reports/videos on those (and others) here: http://nebackcountry.blogspot.com/p/trip-reports.html

What's on your list this year?


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## skidmarks (Oct 9, 2011)

*My BC Bucket list for 11/12*

Last season was great but there's still lots of unfinished business!

It's always a moving target with timing and conditions since I live down in the badlands of CT but my short list includes:

Oakes Gulf
Great Gulf
King Ravine
Tuckerbrook
Return to Mount Cardigan
Mt Moosilauke
Doublehead Ski Trail
2012 Thunderbolt Race (a faster non stop run)
Petersburg Pass NELSAP
Berkshire Snow Basin NELSAP

We'll see what the new season brings!


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## TheBEast (Oct 10, 2011)

My Goals are pretty simple = just getting the green light on the home front to spend some time at the mountain skiing....and getting my 3 1/2 yo out some more!


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## riverc0il (Oct 10, 2011)

I posted my *strategy* on my blog. In brief:

Finish exploring most new areas Stateside
Trifecta in the Eastern Townships
More touring
MRG Triple Crown participation

My touring to do list specifics I'll keep to myself. Though I will say it has been too long since I've been in the GoS.


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## Nick (Oct 10, 2011)

My list this year definitely includes MRG, Sugarloaf, and I'd really like to hit at least one New York place (having never skied NY before). Maybe more ambitious later but for now that's my short list. Maybe Smuggs. I want to tackle some really difficult terrain this year on new slopes.


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## billski (Oct 10, 2011)

My favorites change from year to year. Most recently I've been fixated on Sugarbush, Stowe, MRG, Jay and Magic.  And a couple of community ski area here and there.  Gotta get my pin fix from someplace!

I'd like to get to Saddleback again.


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## 4aprice (Oct 10, 2011)

billski said:


> My favorites change from year to year. Most recently I've been fixated on Sugarbush, Stowe, MRG, Jay and Magic.  And a couple of community ski area here and there.  Gotta get my pin fix from someplace!
> 
> I'd like to get to Saddleback again.



I'm confused, I thought the OP was refering to back country and now people are listing areas.  If its areas my favorite 5 (In the east) have been/will always be Smuggs, Stowe, Mad River, Mt Ellen (will always be Glen Ellen to me), and Sugarbush.  Hope to hit all 5 + others this season.(K, Magic etc)

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ


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## snowmonster (Oct 11, 2011)

Yes, I think the OP was reaching for backcountry trips. We usually have a "to-do"list of resorts that comes up this time of year and we can write about resorts there. In keeping with the backcountry theme, my to-do list for 2011-12 includes:

1. Mt. Mansfield, Bruce and Teardrop trail - Never been partly because, if you're paying for a day ticket to Stowe, you should be riding those lifts as much as you can. Maybe I'll skin it from the bottom. 

2. Big Jay - It's been taunting me for years. I may access it by skinning from the highway rather than from Jay Peak itself. I need company for this though.

3. Ammonoosuc Ravine - It melted out too quickly this year, Hopefully, we get some winds from the east to build a good snowpack.

4. King Ravine - Sounds like a torture-fest to get in. Someday, I'll bag that run.

5. Anywhere that's not on the Goodman book - All this talk about Lincoln's Throat, the Osceola slides and North Twin are getting me interested in getting off the beaten path. I just have an irrational fear of getting lost. I usually tour solo so having the Goodman book is a good security blanket.

Back to the slideshow, I totally agree about the Gulf of Slides at number one. In a lot of respects, it is a better experience than Tuckerman Ravine. The isolation, the wide open bowl feel, the wildness of the place are amazing. Highly recommended. However, unlike Tux, be sure to be equipped with avy gear and knowledge. Isolation has its price.


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## awf170 (Oct 12, 2011)

> My hairbrained plan took me out along the Greeley Ponds trail from the  Kancamagus, and then bushwhacking across the various drainages until  reaching the bottom of the main Osceola slide.   What started as wide  open hardwoods quickly closed in as I moved higher on the mountain.  I  set waypoints on my simple GPS device, and with the help of a compass I  found the slide after battling the tight trees and numerous stream  crossings.


Lol.  I had the same dumbass plan a couple of seasons.  Unlike you though I gave up with the bushwhack, skied back down, and hiked the gully from the bottom.  I gotta give you credit on getting accross to the gully, that had to be one of the heinous looking bushwhacks I have ever seen.  

And that isn't a spring time gully.  I talked to a couple of people who ski it all the time and they said you got to ski it in powder.  Once any warmth comes it gets trashed.

And my list is quite simple:
-powder in steep and above treeline places.  Nothing beats skiing powder in a 40 degree gully or giant snowfield.





An awesome albeit kind of rocky day of skiing on the westside last December.






And some blow in pow a couple of years ago.


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## Cannonball (Oct 12, 2011)

On my list is to be photographed by G. Petrics.  He makes everything look amazing.  (I mean, nice turns and all AWF...but holy CRAP what a shot!!)


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## Johnskiismore (Oct 12, 2011)

More more more backcountry skiing, especially in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.  Have learned a lot over the last year of places to explore, and scouted out many places this summer too.

That and snowmobile/ski trips, girlfriend and I have talked about this for years now and hopefully we will knock down some trips this winter.  This will consist of snowmobiling up and taking old logging roads or sluices to the bottom.  We'll switch skiing and driving each run.  Many opportunities in the nawth country await!!


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## noreasterbackcountry (Oct 14, 2011)

Those are some ridiculously good pictures AWF.  And yes, a little more fresh powder on Osceola would have been nice.

I've also got some Pemi on my mind.  I'm interested in checking out Lincoln's Chin? (the east side slide) as well as the Guyot and W. Bond slides.   

I'd like to hit some of the classics still on my list:  Moosilauke, Doublehead, Wildcat Trail, Mansfield... as well as some off the radar stuff (Northern NH, VT).  I think I'm due for a trip to the ADK's too.

I've tried to build ALOT of flexibility in my list, given that local conditions really dictate what can/should get skied.  I probably won't hit half of the stuff I've put together, but it is nice to dream.


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## mlkrgr (Oct 20, 2011)

Well, my strategy is to make it to Wildcat at least for the 2 days I've done in the past few years. Sunday River and Loon is just unavoidable in my book since they have so much clout in my mind as someone is almost always heading up there. There's enough places to hide when it gets busy at Sunday River, and Loon is OK if I use my common sense and go when it's not looking to be as busy. And I'll try to do a few more day trips to Wachusett this year too; mostly as additional skiing days. I'm going to try to make it to a few others depending on how schedules, weather, deals, and etc. goes as the season progresses. Hoping that at least a day at someplace I've never been to or haven't done in a few years becomes feasible as the season progresses (Stowe, Sugarbush, MRG, Cannon, among a few others)


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## snoseek (Oct 20, 2011)

There are a couple slides on Hancock that are worth having a look (must be done early in the spring). You are a good ways out there if anything happens however.....


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