Hardest terrain...(informal poll)

[redalienx11]

OK in your opinion what is the hardest run in the Northeast. I know this is subjective but I'm asking for your OPINION.

How about the hardest run on your home mountain?

 

[LVNLARG]

White Heat....Sunday River....after a couple thaw/freeze cycles. You get to the main face and realize it's 100% solid ice. You look down at what you're about to "ski" down and realize if you slip and fall you're going to slide for atleast 1000 feet ...most likely off into the woods and do yourself some serious damage.

 

[Zand]

The hardest trail I've done is Hardscrabble at Cannon, but I haven't done much expert terrain yet.

As for my home mountain, nothing there is anything harder than high intermediate. Smith on an icy day can give you a bit of a fight.

 

[Son of Drifter]

OK in your opinion what is the hardest run in the Northeast. I know this is subjective but I'm asking for your OPINION.

How about the hardest run on your home mountain?

The hardest run (outside) of the slides at Da Face would be Empire. It's classic New England ski trail. Very narrow and steep. Big a$$ rocks lay in the middle sometimes just below the snow surface. The trail is all natural (no snowmaking and no grooming) so the bumps can get BIG.

I haven't skied NH or ME so I won't comment on the hardest run in the East. But I will say even a 30 degree diamond can seem like a 55 degree triple diamond if it's boiler plate. I think you should have said something like hardest run under decent conditions.

 

[awf170]

The hardest trail I've done is Hardscrabble at Cannon, but I haven't done much expert terrain yet.

I wouldnt really call the hardscrabbles(well they sometimes are when there total ice moguls) But they are defiantly some of the nices trails anywhere. Middle hardscrable has to be one of the best trails in the east.

 

[ALLSKIING]

OK in your opinion what is the hardest run in the Northeast. I know this is subjective but I'm asking for your OPINION.

How about the hardest run on your home mountain?

But I will say even a 30 degree diamond can seem like a 55 degree triple diamond if it's boiler plate. I think you should have said something like hardest run under decent conditions.

Thats what its all about..Conditions..You ski a trail in powder one day and its great..Two weeks later its all ice and it becomes a new beast.

 

[tirolerpeter]

OK in your opinion what is the hardest run in the Northeast. I know this is subjective but I'm asking for your OPINION.

How about the hardest run on your home mountain?

But I will say even a 30 degree diamond can seem like a 55 degree triple diamond if it's boiler plate. I think you should have said something like hardest run under decent conditions.

Thats what its all about..Conditions..You ski a trail in powder one day and its great..Two weeks later its all ice and it becomes a new beast.

Allskiinghas it nailed. Conditions are the key. At my level of skiing steeps are a blast regardless of the degree. I have experienced something close to "free fall" out west in deep Utah Powder. It is marvelous. I don't have a "home" mountain, but do get to SNOW and K often. Ovation at K is a blast until it ices up. Ripcord at SNOW is fun too, until it ices up. At my age, I do not have to stoke my ego by skiing icey steeps. The recovery time is far too long (if ever) if I crash.

 

[riverc0il]

this question is really impossible to answer for ski areas. mount washington clearly has some of the most challenging stuff in new england and you can probably tack on sections of mansfield and katahdin i would imagine. certainly damn near impossible in certain conditions.

you could ask 10 different experts this question and get 10 different answers. i am not even going to bother suggesting a trail in bounds because the question is far too broad.

 

[RossiSkier]

Since you gave specific instructions for subjectivity in regards to your home mountain.

Looking over the head wall of Ovation can be scarey

 

[Jean-Pierre Skier]

Devil's Fiddle at Killington or Goat at Stowe get my votes.

 

[andyzee]

Since you gave specific instructions for subjectivity in regards to your home mountain.

Looking over the head wall of Ovation can be scarey

Never mind the headwall, that's a short distance. The rest of Ovation would be my choice, just for simple steepness. That is a trail that if you fall you will not stop quickly. People say Outer Limits, well that may be the case with giant moguls, but under normal conditions, my vote goes to Ovation.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Since you gave specific instructions for subjectivity in regards to your home mountain.

Looking over the head wall of Ovation can be scarey

That is a trail that if you fall you will not stop quickly. People say Outer Limits, well that may be the case with giant moguls, but under normal conditions, my vote goes to Ovation.

But giant moguls will stop you if you fall.

 

[andyzee]

Since you gave specific instructions for subjectivity in regards to your home mountain.

Looking over the head wall of Ovation can be scarey

That is a trail that if you fall you will not stop quickly. People say Outer Limits, well that may be the case with giant moguls, but under normal conditions, my vote goes to Ovation.

But giant moguls will stop you if you fall.

This is very true :lol:

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Leaving out backcountry runs and sticking "On the map"

At home, since the marketing department put "Blackline" on the map, I'd have to go with that. (They also put "Black Magic" on the map, and it's not even there.) Otherwise, I'd go with the gladed section of Master Magician.

In the Northeast, Paradise at MRG. Yes, I know there are steeper and tighter lines, but Paradise is on the map.

 

[LVNLARG]

OK in your opinion what is the hardest run in the Northeast. I know this is subjective but I'm asking for your OPINION.

How about the hardest run on your home mountain?

But I will say even a 30 degree diamond can seem like a 55 degree triple diamond if it's boiler plate. I think you should have said something like hardest run under decent conditions.

Thats what its all about..Conditions..You ski a trail in powder one day and its great..Two weeks later its all ice and it becomes a new beast.

Right...which is why I laid out the conditions which made White Heat scary. I'd skiied it numerous other times (previously to that day no less) on carvable snow and the though of a potential slide to my death never even entered my mind. I can honestly say that day I was standing there... barely able to stand up...and unable to even retreat back up the lead up due to ice...was the most scared I've ever been skiing...and I've skiied some serious runs...on DH boards in an actual DH's. That trail should actually have been closed IMHO. How about people just answering this thread instead of knitpicking at it ? :blink:

 

[kcyanks1]

Considering only on-the-map trails, based on what I've skied, I'd probably say the Slides at Whiteface (basically never opened), followed by Paradise at MRG, followed by Rumble at Sugarbush. I haven't skied the Face Chutes at Jay, but those might be the hardest.

My former home was Gore, and the hardest run there was the Rumor. The headwell there compares to any run I've skied in the east, but the steep part is short.

 

[ALLSKIING]

How about people just answering this thread instead of knitpicking at it ? :blink:

I answered the way I did because I think conditions have more to do with how hard the trail is then the trail itself. Not knitpicking just defining it more.

 

[LVNLARG]

How about people just answering this thread instead of knitpicking at it ? :blink:

I answered the way I did because I think conditions have more to do with how hard the trail is then the trail itself. Not knitpicking just defining it more.

Perhaps he should have listed it as "The most scared you've ever been on a pair of skis due to terrain"....which is how I chose to answer it. You still coulda played along

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

How about people just answering this thread instead of knitpicking at it ? :blink:

I answered the way I did because I think conditions have more to do with how hard the trail is then the trail itself. Not knitpicking just defining it more.

Perhaps he should have listed it as "The most scared you've ever been on a pair of skis due to terrain"....which is how I chose to answer it. You still coulda played along

Put that way, it certainly wasn't on "White Hype". even when it was boilerplate

 

[GrizzlyFD]

How about the Face at Jay. Or skiing everglade/staircase from top to bottom without stopping. The trails off the ridge are probably more difficult, but skiing a mile of steep glades is harder if that makes sense.

And conditions are key here. There was a big thaw at Jay last season and they had to close all of their non-groomed terrain once it froze. They opened up beaver pond glade a couple days later after some new snow fell and it was nearly impossible and downright scary.