sf77
Well-known member
Time Skied: 9:30 am to 4 pm
Weather: Sunny and very clear, snow showers in early morning, warm - mid to upper 30's, somewhat windy
Conditions: Packed powder, ice pellets, machine groomed
Traveled up to Stratton this past Sunday and unfortunately they got some rain last Friday, which froze and added some ice throughout the mountain. The main trails had many ice ball/pellets on them which made it kind of tricky to turn on, but at least it wasn't a sheet of ice. When the sun came out in the late morning, it softened up the snow very nicely on the trails making it easier to turn and more enjoyable to ski on. The trees, on the other hand, were sheets of ice
. The glades that I did had ice throughout the whole glade, making it much more challenging and hard to turn on. The rain that fell and turned into ice on the trails was groomed out by the groomers and moved around by other people. However, the rain that froze in the trees stayed on the snow since it obviously was not groomed. The crowds were much less than I thought they would be. The lines for all the lifts were sort of long from 9:30 am to 12 pm - 10 minutes for the six packs, 20 minutes for the gondola. However, after 12 pm it seemed as if everyone left :grin:! Most of the lifts were ski on (especially Sun Bowl Express) and if you did have to wait it was only for a couple of minutes. I started off my day in the Sun Bowl by doing a few runs there and a couple in the shooting star lift area (Upper Kidderbrook, etc.). Then I went to the Snow Bowl (Upper/Lower Drifter, etc.), but the snow bowl lift was closed so I had to take the gondola to access these trails (only took the gondola twice). Then I went to the base area trails off American Express and then back to the Sun Bowl to finish off the day on some awesome intermediate trials. Moonbeam glades were softened up by the sun so they were good, but Eclipse glades were very icy. The best trails of the day were: Upper Kidderbrook, Upper/Lower Drifter, Black Bear, and Sunriser Supertrail. A day that could have used a little bit more soft snow and less ice gets a B+.
I will add some videos to this thread in the next couple of days!
Weather: Sunny and very clear, snow showers in early morning, warm - mid to upper 30's, somewhat windy
Conditions: Packed powder, ice pellets, machine groomed
Traveled up to Stratton this past Sunday and unfortunately they got some rain last Friday, which froze and added some ice throughout the mountain. The main trails had many ice ball/pellets on them which made it kind of tricky to turn on, but at least it wasn't a sheet of ice. When the sun came out in the late morning, it softened up the snow very nicely on the trails making it easier to turn and more enjoyable to ski on. The trees, on the other hand, were sheets of ice
. The glades that I did had ice throughout the whole glade, making it much more challenging and hard to turn on. The rain that fell and turned into ice on the trails was groomed out by the groomers and moved around by other people. However, the rain that froze in the trees stayed on the snow since it obviously was not groomed. The crowds were much less than I thought they would be. The lines for all the lifts were sort of long from 9:30 am to 12 pm - 10 minutes for the six packs, 20 minutes for the gondola. However, after 12 pm it seemed as if everyone left :grin:! Most of the lifts were ski on (especially Sun Bowl Express) and if you did have to wait it was only for a couple of minutes. I started off my day in the Sun Bowl by doing a few runs there and a couple in the shooting star lift area (Upper Kidderbrook, etc.). Then I went to the Snow Bowl (Upper/Lower Drifter, etc.), but the snow bowl lift was closed so I had to take the gondola to access these trails (only took the gondola twice). Then I went to the base area trails off American Express and then back to the Sun Bowl to finish off the day on some awesome intermediate trials. Moonbeam glades were softened up by the sun so they were good, but Eclipse glades were very icy. The best trails of the day were: Upper Kidderbrook, Upper/Lower Drifter, Black Bear, and Sunriser Supertrail. A day that could have used a little bit more soft snow and less ice gets a B+.I will add some videos to this thread in the next couple of days!
