# Sugarbush - 2/26/2011



## snowmonster (Mar 2, 2011)

*Date(s) Skied: *2/26/2011

*Resort or Ski Area: *Slidebrook at Sugarbush

*Conditions: *Powder; Fresh snow overnight; Cloudy; Temps between the teens and twenties.

*Trip Report: *I met up with the Trailboss at Mt. Ellen and started skiing at around 930. We hit several glades for fresh pow. The rope was up at Brambles Woods but the liftie yelled at us to tell us that they were opening it so we ducked under the rope and enjoyed the untracked fresh powder. It had snowed between 4 to 8 inches the night before and the fresh snow buried our skis and feet. This scene would be repeated over and over throughout the day. After a quick break, we rode the Slidebrook chair and went over to Lincoln Peak. After a few runs there in the low angle glades, we dove into Slidebrook. For both of us, it was our first time.

The entrance to Slidebrook is pretty obvious and, as Trailboss joked, it really is lift-serviced sidecountry. From the entrance, there is a well defined traverse to the right that leads underneath the Slidebrook lift. We continued on the traverse until we got to a well spaced glade to the left. We started descending there and the trees opened and closed beneath us. Many people had the same idea as us but there were very good powder pockets on the sides. I kept veering to the left side while Trailboss kept right. While I had to do some bushwhacking in search of powder, TB seemed content with following the well-defined tracks. We eventually spilled into a traverse at the bottom. There were certain uphill sections so we kept up our speed. The trail eventually merged with the runout from the Mt. Ellen side of Slidebrook and it spit us out onto a side road on German Flats Road. There were other skiers there waiting for the shuttle as well as Sugarbush employees and ambassadors.

We returned to Lincoln, took a break and decided on one more run in Slidebrook. We decided to stay on the traverse longer and enter into a different glade lower on the ridge. This was a good decision. We came upon a section of birch trees with untracked snow (We were later told that this section is named "South Beach"). We jumped in and the snow was bootdeep in places. It was surreal floating silently through the forest (no pictures here because we couldn't be bothered to stop). We eventually came to a runout which led to a trail (Village Run). We took the trail and ended up in the condo complex. A short hike through the parking lot was a fair price to pay for the powder we had. It was almost 330 pm and we took a few more runs on Lincoln before calling it a day. Some skiers we met on the Slidebrook runout told us how good conditions were on the Mt. Ellen side of Slidebrook. Perhaps next time!

Slidebrook entrance:






The traverse:





Trailboss on the traverse:





Underneath the Slidebrook chair:





Trailboss doing the gaper jump:





The first glade:





Heading into South Beach:









Stop! The ride is over.


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## thetrailboss (Mar 2, 2011)

Yeah!  Lots of fun with the Snowmonster, even if he did not ski in his Snowmonster suit.  My pictures coming soon!


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## billski (Mar 2, 2011)

Nice, nice, nice.  Always wanted to take a run in there, but things never worked out that way.


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## WoodCore (Mar 2, 2011)

Nicely done guys!!


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## snowmonster (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks, guys! Slidebrook is awesome. Been wanting to do it for a long time so I'm lad to finally scratch it off the list. I can't wait to try it from the ME side.


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## thetrailboss (Mar 2, 2011)

Well written and beaten to the punch!  

First, I just want to say that in the exactly four years I have known snowmonster, since that first time at the AZ Day at Burke in 2007, he we've had a lot of great ski days together (even if ashes of some guy we didn't know were involved).  He is a very good skier and a nice guy.  If you haven't skied with him, you owe yourself a visit to his stomping grounds to ski with him (Sunday River/Sugarloaf/Loon). 

SM and I had been planning this weekend for some time and despite the snow he made the drive up.  I got up early anticipating bad roads and was very surprised to make it to Mount Ellen in the usual one hour or so.  I called wlopowski and convinced her to make the trek.  

I got (almost) first chair and was there early enough to scare the groomers off the slopes:






For the first 90 minutes I let the Tigersharks roam the slopes in search of cord.  The snow conditions were variable--some nice soft cord mixed in with windblown dense snow and some ice.  


















First tracks down Cliffs at 8:00 was interesting...nothing great really until about halfway down when the snow wasn't as windblown.  

I met wlopowski and SM at about 9:45 and we headed to GMX and then to ski some
 warm up, semi-difficult woods while wlopowski cruised Walt's Way.  Despite my cartwheel in the woods, we had a good time finding snow:  











Next spin was down Brambles, in which Wlopowski got some chowder:






And SM got to rock out:






With her last medical school exam pending, Wlopowski left us boys and went home to study.  SM and I headed to the now not-so-undisclosed Bramble's Woods (my former secret stash) to check out things:  






Though I had heard mixed reviews of the woods, we were finding good snow so we decided to press on, starting off of GMX and into some unmarked glades I had never skied, but some other locals had invited us to venture into:  











No, that is not a turtle on its back, it is SM!


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## thetrailboss (Mar 2, 2011)

Needless to say the powder pump was primed and we boarded Slide Brook Express and headed south, skied a very bony Deeper Sleeper:






Before heading to one of the entrances to Slide Brook.  In all my years of dreaming of skiing and skiing Sugarbush, I had not ventured into Slide Brook.  I knew it to be hallowed ground for locals and one of the many things that makes Sugarbush special.  SM's passion to explore it motivated me to stop waiting and start skiing it.  We started down the entrance not knowing what to expect:






Eventually crossing the Slide Brook Express and beginning down one of the many service roads to find this gem:  






For at least a solid 30 minutes we enjoyed the open woods, soft snow, and relative solitude of what is hands down one of the best wooded runs I have taken:  





















Some old blazes made it apparent to me that this might have at one time been contemplated as the oart of the now long abandoned "North Link" project proposed in the 1980's to unite North and South Sugarbush.  It followed the fall line nicely and held nice, consistent pitch.  






As with all good things the trees came to an end and we found ourselves on one of the service roads leading to German Flats Road where a crowd of skiers and riders were waiting for the bus back to either area:











After a tasty waffle from the Wafflehouse, the meal of real woodskiers, we were back at it finding another line in the Slide Brook area, this one we found out later has been dubbed, "The South Beach."  The birches were nice and the snow less tracked out.  





















This came to an end on another woods road that eventually led us back to South.  It was an interesting voyage back to the lifts, but well worth it!






Though I had been going since opening bell and it was now 3:15pm, snowmonster was not ready to hang it up and we decided to ski Jester since he had never skied it from top to bottom:  






We got to the bottom of LP at 4:00pm and I was beat.  The 'Monster was just getting going and was excited for our trip to Smuggs the next day.  Knowing that I was toast the groomers figured it was safe to return to the slopes of Ellen to continue their work:  






I can't think of too many days in my ski career when I have seen groomers at both ends of the ski day or have skied from bell to bell.  The woods were amazing and I was so glad to share it with SM.  

And if you found a pair of black fleece LL Bean gloves at either German Flats or LP bus stop please let us know.


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## thetrailboss (Mar 2, 2011)

Let the YouTube Videos begin!


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## thetrailboss (Mar 2, 2011)




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## WWF-VT (Mar 2, 2011)

Looks like another great day at Sugarbush !


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## snowmonster (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for the kind words, trailboss. It's always an honor to ski with you, sir. Seems such a long time ago when I first ventured into the woods at Burke. As Plake would say: Ski ya on the hill!


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## djspookman (Mar 3, 2011)

thetrailboss said:


>




mmmmm sexy winch cat porn!!  thanks for that shot.  now, that's a powerhouse!


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## thetrailboss (Mar 3, 2011)

djspookman said:


> mmmmm sexy winch cat porn!! thanks for that shot. now, that's a powerhouse!


 
Oh if you like that just wait until you see what I have coming!  A friend insisted that I ride shotgun on the nightshift at Mount Ellen this week to see what they do.  I made the sacrifice for you guys and reported in at 4:30pm on Tuesday night and rode in the Pisten Bully until midnight!


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## thetrailboss (Mar 3, 2011)

SM on South Beach


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## djspookman (Mar 3, 2011)

thetrailboss said:


> Oh if you like that just wait until you see what I have coming!  A friend insisted that I ride shotgun on the nightshift at Mount Ellen this week to see what they do.  I made the sacrifice for you guys and reported in at 4:30pm on Tuesday night and rode in the Pisten Bully until midnight!



sweet!  Closest I ever got to riding in a cat was being towed behind one early int he morning to setup gates for VASS when I worked for them years ago.  yahoo!


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## twinplanx (Mar 3, 2011)

Seems like some unspoken ruel was broken w/ the posting of this thread. AZ has, in the past, treated Slide Brook sorta like Fight Club... FWIW I appreciate this thread enormously. I have been in the Slide Brook area once and was pleasently surprised!!!


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## thetrailboss (Mar 3, 2011)

twinplanx said:


> Seems like some unspoken ruel was broken w/ the posting of this thread. AZ has, in the past, treated Slide Brook sorta like Fight Club... FWIW I appreciate this thread enormously. I have been in the Slide Brook area once and was pleasently surprised!!!


 
I certainly understand the concern and have in the past enforced said rule with good reason, but in this case I disagree. Discretion was used with regards to disclosing how to access the terrain. The photos and video are in the woods and could have been shot anywhere. And besides Slide Brook is advertised and promoted by the mountain so it is not really a secret.  

But then again there is always someone who complains about something in a ski chatroom. :roll:


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## snowmonster (Mar 3, 2011)

I was not aware of any rule regarding Slidebrook TRs and I apologize for breaking that. As with TRs with secret stashes, I did not describe exactly how to get there. The mods should feel free to pull this down. Rules are rules and I respect that.


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## thetrailboss (Mar 3, 2011)

snowmonster said:


> I was not aware of any rule regarding Slidebrook TRs and I apologize for breaking that. As with TRs with secret stashes, I did not describe exactly how to get there. The mods should feel free to pull this down. Rules are rules and I respect that.


 
I will just modify the title.


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## billski (Mar 3, 2011)

djspookman said:


> mmmmm sexy winch cat porn!!  thanks for that shot.  now, that's a powerhouse!



I have video of the Winch cat in action at Sugarbush in the dark from about 2 years ago. It felt like being in a rocket ship.  I rode the cat up Organgrinder to Jester.  We came down Ripcord and then scooted over to upper Organgrinder to watch the winch cat at work.  Surreal would be an understatement.    I'll post it sometime soon.

And the operator admitted that sometimes they do make mistakes, sometimes they do slip off the trail and need a little help!


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## snowmonster (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks, trailboss. 

For the record, I don't see being reminded of the rules as complaining. I am glad that folks enjoyed the TR. I am well aware of the first -- and second -- rule of Fight Club. 

There's a lot of snow to be skied. Go get 'em, boys!


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