# ss20's 7 Day Northern/Central VT Adventure!



## ss20 (Mar 12, 2018)

Day 1- Sugarbush, Monday 3/12/18

I had a 4am wakeup for the 4 hour drive to Sugarbush. Made it for first tracks.  Snow was ohhh sooooo soft.  Lot's of smiles everywhere on the hill.  I "warmed up" on Lincoln Peak in some wide-open, traditional New England glades that sported nice soft moguls.  I hit Stein's which is a little icy in the troughs but has soft snow on the tops of moguls.

Then it was off to Castlerock.  I've had one run in this area before, via hiking, in my one other trip to Sugarbush.  I was pumped to be able to ski some of the most iconic expert terrain in the East.  It did not disappoint!  My first run on Middle Earth was nice.  Beautiful snow.  It was pretty "mellow" compared to what I was expecting.  Certainly a solid black diamond but not what I thought I would ski.

So then I did Rumble.  And I found out why Castlerock is so special.  What a crazy, technical trail.  Coverage was OK (I guess), given that it seems every rock in VT was put on that side of the mountain.  I really had to pick my way down and plan out a route.  Lot's of fun!  Liftline is also a great run.  A little rockier though.  Most of my day (10am-2pm) was spent on Castlerock.  I love that double chair.  Lots of interesting people on the lift.  

After I went to Heaven's Gate.  Paradise kicked my ass good!  I went along the Long Trail and dropped into one of the chutes.  A little more technical than I bargained for...can't say I connected many turns but hopefully with more snow in the forecast I'll get more confident to actually "ski" it later in the week.

I went over to Lynx Peak and liked Morning Star enough for 2 runs.  One more on Stein's and I was toast at 4pm




Off to Mad River Glen tomorrow!  Everyone I talked to said I picked a great week to ski!  Feeling blessed!


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## rocojerry (Mar 12, 2018)

6 more, hopefully deeper by the day.....


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## gmcunni (Mar 12, 2018)

PICTURES! please.


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## kingslug (Mar 13, 2018)

Great week to get some. Wish I could...leave now.


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## bdfreetuna (Mar 13, 2018)

Rumble is one of the best trails in VT. Most similar IMO to Robin's Run.

If you manage to ski 7 days in a row I'll be impressed.


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## ss20 (Mar 13, 2018)

Quick update...pics will come now that all my remote-work is done....

Day 2- Mad River Glen

I've never skied Mad River Glen.

As I winded up Route 17...a real ski resort access road...I felt that this was going to be special.  The mountain peeked through the morning snow, barely visible.  I got parked and did a short 30 foot walk through the mish-mash of old buildings stuck in time.  The main "lodge" was an instant timewarp.  It was early, 8:30am.  The locals were already there booting up.  I got in line for the single chair at 8:40am and waited...just as many other eastern skiers have done on their "pilgrimage" to the "holy grail" of the northeast.  It's intimidating watching that chair haul ass in front of you for 20 minutes.  9:00 came and 3 patrollers went on.  I asked the liftie "Am I good to go" and was given an "all good".  Smiling ear-to-ear I loaded up and the liftie shouted the signature "Go-Go-Goooooo!" as I got whisked up the hill.  

The terrain is rowdy, as advertised.  My favorite run has to be the trees off to the skier's left of Lower Antelope.  The trail under the single chair is absolutely gnarly.  Glad I got to ski it.  They opened up a portion on the lower part with mandatory air.  I went over a relatively challenging line and got a "whoo-hooooo" from the chair.  That was cool.  The level of skiers there is just unreal.  It means a lot more to get a cheer from people who can _actually_ ski compared to joey's from Jersey who think any person who can pop off a mogul and stick the landing is hot stuff.  

The family vibe here is crazy.  I was expecting many older folks and twenty-something ski bums.  I saw lots of families.  With kids who can rip.  Normally when I parent says "my kid went down xxx black diamond" I smirk and think about the kid "skiing" down in a death wedge.  That's not the case at MRG.  

Lastly, the pub was PACKED at the end of the ski day.  Absolutely jammed with locals.  Good to see.  


5" of fresh made it my best day of the season.  Hard to believe tomorrow's probably gonna be even better...


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## thetrailboss (Mar 13, 2018)

Be sure to ski Burke.


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## kingslug (Mar 14, 2018)

This will prolly end up being one of the best TR's of the season. The west has nothing on us at this point. This is the kind of season when THEY fly here...


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## bdfreetuna (Mar 14, 2018)

congrats on MRG initiation... hope you got to ski Fall Line / Paradise... that's kind of mandatory 

I would even encourage you to do a 2nd day there during you 7 day ski trip.


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## JimG. (Mar 14, 2018)

kingslug said:


> This will prolly end up being one of the best TR's of the season. The west has nothing on us at this point. This is the kind of season when THEY fly here...



Slug is just kidding...no reason for any western skiers to fly east to ski!

Nothing here but manmade snow and dirt.


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## ss20 (Mar 14, 2018)

Day 3- Stowe

Today was epic.  My best ski day of the year.  My best ski day in my life (never been out West).  Just bliss out there on the hill.  They got ~12" overnight.  I got in line for the Forerunner at 8:05am with a big first tracks crowd still there despite chairs loading up.  My first run was Hayride and some trees.  Absolutely gorgeous.  My second run was Nosedive glades cutting over to the skiers right of Nosedive to do those trees.  First tracks!  Faceshots, yipp-ees and yahoo's galore.  I'm not exaggerating when I say it was the happiest I've been skiing.  There was just something about that run...I'll never know.  I'll always remember though, shouting and hollering down 2,000 vertical feet.

By now it was 8:40am and I went to get early tracks on the gondola.  There was surprisingly few people loading up.  I got first tracks through Angel Food and to the skiers right of Gondolier.  Off-map Waterfall skied nicely too.  Everyone was raving about the conditions and how it was the best snow of the season.  I stayed over in the gondola area till 11am.

I had "skied" the Front Four.  "Skied" meaning picked my way down the headwall of each trail.  Today, in much more superior conditions I _actually_ skied the Front Four.  Starr was my favorite.  Skied like a narrower version of Ovation at Killington.  Starr woods were off-the-charts.  I ended my day skiing the very very dangerous do-not-enter microburst area.  Terrible skiing in there with all the trees down...I "accidentally" wound up in there each of my last 3 runs... :-D 

12" of fresh on top of a deep base meant point em' down and ski.  No rocks, trees, or BS.  It was busy til 10am then the powderhounds left.  At 1pm or so it started snowing hard and there were new fresh tracks to be made, probably 4" or so fell through the day.  My legs started to quit on me at 2pm but I couldn't pull myself off the hill til 3:30.  It's just unreal out there...and...as the motto of this trip report has been so far...Tomorrow's gonna be even better...

What an awesome mountain Stowe is.  Tree skiing everywhere.  She's a gem, for sure.


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## ss20 (Mar 14, 2018)

Day 1 pics, Sugarbush....

It's deep out there...keep in mind 2'+ has fallen since this was taken...only 2 days ago...


Excellent coverage on Rumble...keep in mind 2'+ has fallen since this was taken...only 2 days ago...


Castlerock liftline as clean as it gets...keep in mind 2'+ has fallen since this was taken...only 2 days ago...


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## ss20 (Mar 14, 2018)

Day 2 pics- MRG

I've dreamed of catching first chair at Mad River Glen for years...and now it's in front of me...


Tight and pretty


Freshies!!!


Note the height difference between these people...and the open cliff between them.  I did it twice just to see if I could stick the landing.


These "trail" signs crack me up.  This one is on Paradise, but there's one on Donkey in the middle of the woods.  It points to a chute about 7' wide.  I actually thought I had drifted off the trail and was in a glade.  Only at Mad River Glen!


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## ss20 (Mar 14, 2018)

Day 3 pics- Stowe

Angle Food (I believe).  Sorry for the poor framing.


Lookout!  This was one of my favorite trails here from 3 years ago when I last visited.  Today it was one of my...let me phrase this carefully...not-as-most-best-er-est trails today.  I struggle to see how they'll be able to have the lift and trail open...it's just too deep!  They'd have to rope off most of the top section of the trail where the lift runs above.


Goat was the least-covered trail I skied but still in fantastic shape.  


Very dangerous...stay out :razz:  Skiing sucks in there anyways...


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## prsboogie (Mar 14, 2018)

Fantastic, can't wait for tomorrow!!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


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## kingslug (Mar 15, 2018)

Ooooo..dying to get up there..this would have been a week better than a lot of western trips i take..have to settle for saturday sunday..mrg for sunday..never been..


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## ss20 (Mar 15, 2018)

Day 4- Sugarbush (Mt. Ellen only)

Another new place for me!  I had never skied the Mt. Ellen side of Sugarbush.  I got in the lodge at 7:20am...only a handful of people.  I got in line at 7:40am for the 8am lift (nice perk).  I was second chair up.

First run- first tracks down Hammerhead.  Surfy feeling with nearly a foot of light snow on top of moguls.  North Ridge was running.  I got first tracks through Bravinator woods.  I picked a line that was just a crazy chute/elevator shaft down the mountain.  What a wild ride.  

Exterminator woods were off-the-charts awesome.  It's like another world in there.  It's really open in there at the top then it closes up on you.  I took a fall in there, and a snowboarder had to help me out.  I had to take off my skis and kept sinking with each movement. It is dangerously deep in there.  Once I had help to get out I just laughed it off.  I did 7 runs at least through those woods.  

At 9am I got about the 10th chair up the Summit.  I got fresh tracks on the skier's left of F.I.S.  Insanely deep the way the drifting worked on that side of the hill.  

I really enjoyed skiing Exterminator Woods then traversing to woods on the Inverness side of the hill.  Those had little traffic given the traverse to get there with the Inverness Quad not running.  A long run with over 2,000 vertical (I believe).  

Again, at 2pm it started NUKING snow just like yesterday at Stowe.  Picked up 2" in 2 hours I'd assume. 

My last run was Tumbler woods which still had fresh powder in it.  I don't even know how deep it is now...close to 2 feet?  It's been snowing constantly since Monday night.  It's finally let up a little on Route 100 where I'm staying (Hostel Tevere) but I bet it's still snowing at the peaks.  

Tomorrow I'm starting at Mt.Ellen for 8am lift, doing some repeats over there til the Slidebrook Quad opens, skiing Lincoln, then going back via the Slidebrook- hitting all my favorites from the past 2 days there before making the 2 hour drive south down Route 100 to my ski club lodge for a weekend at Killington and Pico.


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## ss20 (Mar 15, 2018)

It is interesting to note that...despite me doing several 4+ day ski trips in the past...my body has never been this battered after "just" 4 ski days.  Especially in Mid-March when my muscles are at their peak.  My legs tired out again at 2pm today...unheard of for me.  I have lots of odd aches...I've been trying to fit my body through tight trees and I've been ducking/twisting more than I'm used to.


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## bdfreetuna (Mar 15, 2018)

Dude you are really killing it with the Eastern Skiing and exploring new spots in the best conditions. As an Eastern-biased woods skier myself I think this is a great thread and showing what Vermont can really offer. Will be watching to see where you hit next.


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## ss20 (Mar 16, 2018)

Day 5- Sugarbush

Another day, another powder day.  Fresh tracks down Hammerhead and Bravinator.  I found some wind drifts in Tumbler woods.  Did that three times...delicious.  Slidebrook was closed for wind so I had to take the bus to Lincoln.  Gatehouse trees were AWESOME!  I did some final laps on Castlerock and found awesome trees in there.  It's been quite a crazy week!    

Killington tomorrow.  Snow actually looks deeper here in Weston, VT than up in Warren.


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## bdfreetuna (Mar 19, 2018)

so.. what happened ?


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## kingslug (Mar 19, 2018)

He's resting.
I feel like I've been hit by truck..this skiing thing is murder..


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## ss20 (Mar 19, 2018)

St. Patty's weekend + skiing + oh shit I have work to do Monday = "slight" delay in the weekend portion of the trip report :smile:


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## ss20 (Mar 19, 2018)

Day 6- Killington

My plans got a little screwy as I was hoping to ski Pico Saturday to avoid crowds thinking K would be a madhouse.  That didn't work out so it was off to the big K on Saturday!  At 7:40am I parked 5th row in the Bear lot...5 rows further back than a normal Saturday at 7:40am in mid-March.  Lodge and racks were packed and I was fearing the worst.  I was 20th chair up or so and carved the crap out of Dreamaker park.  My first groomer of the whole trip!  Then I skied Bear till 11am...I love Bear and the Bear Quad...my favorite "pod" in the ski world.  Outer Limits was pretty good, not a real good bump rythem but manageable.  The Fiddle was covered fantastically but I still hate playing Dodgerock on that trail so it was one-and-done.  The real gems were Centerpiece and Growler.  Growler in particular, usually one of the most-traveled glades at K, was skiing amazingly.  Everyone I talked to on the Quad that had come from the "other side" told me it was bleeping cold...meanwhile...I actually took off my gloves and skied with just my liners I was so warm in the March sun.  

I did a short lunch and got back out at 11:15am, crowds were very minimal, 2 minute wait on the singles line to get up the Skye Peak Quad and out of Bear.  Vertigo and the Stairs were good in Needle's.  Sitchline (a favorite of mine) was so well-covered it actually lacked its usual "technical" character.  

Superstar ravine trees are nicely filled in with the snow guns roaring.  We'll be skiing the glades in there in May hopefully.  Ovation was the best I've ever seen it.  Did several re-runs.  All the bushes and vines skier's right were totally covered.  Julio/Juanita also had the best coverage I'd seen.  I couldn't get out of the Superstar pod til 2:30 it was so good.  

Canyon was amazing...too bad I only got 3 runs in there till it was time to go back to Bear.  Again...just incomprehensible coverage there.  The rocks at the Downdraft/Dipper intersection are completely covered and I couldn't locate them on the hill...somewhere in that deep snowpack there's those massive rocks but they're buried!

Lifts don't spin past 4...wish I could've kept going.  It's a long spring though!

Okemo traffic going south on Route 100 is something I will NOT miss and reminded me why I don't ski VT weekends!  Killington overall was not crowded at all, surprisingly.


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## ss20 (Mar 19, 2018)

Day 7- Pico

This was the end...10 days straight of skiing.

It was cold.  I was unmotivated.  I made it to the hill at 9am and was proud of me for that.  A-slope warmup revealed the cold had really firmed up the snow.  Outpost pod skied nicely till I saw Upper Giant Killer in the sun, then I headed to the upper mountain.  Summit glades had high traffic but snow was good.  Upper Giant Killer was nice.  I saw a family hike out of the entrance to the Poma lift line.  They said it was sketchy, but covered.  I skied it and it was gnarly.  Crazy steep.  There's a massive ice flow at the top of the trail with 2-3ft wide stretches of snow on either side.  The cable also isn't covered...that'll wake you up when your skis find that!  Was it "good" skiing?  No, but it was technical and it's something that you don't get to go down too often.  

At 2pm I had to go back down to the Flatlands.  My crazy ski trip of 2018 was finished!  Of course, this is only the "skiing" portion of the trip...the most fun is remembering all the characters and crazy things that happen along the way.


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## kingslug (Mar 20, 2018)

Best report of the season..and theres still another month and a half to go..


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## ss20 (Sep 25, 2018)

Don't mind me...just reminiscing...


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## bdfreetuna (Sep 26, 2018)

ss20 said:


> Don't mind me...just reminiscing...



Mental preparations!


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## bigbog (Oct 13, 2018)

Was an epic winter and great TR ss20....


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