Where's The Snow?

[DougD]

Great list, Dan. I haven't skied Magic since they re-opened but they used to get long lines on sunny Saturdays. The terrain's a hoot, a really fun little mountain. To me it always felt like MRG's little brother, not as gnarly but every bit as quirky.

Westerners travelling here should try to ski mid-week. Prices may be lower and crowds are rare.

[Mac]

How are the crowds this time of year?

Like most any time of year in New England. On weekends/holidays it's maddening, popular lifts may have up to a 45 minute wait. Popular bartenders may have an even longer one! On workdays you ski straight onto many lifts, 4 out of 5 chairs are empty and you ask yourself, "How do they stay in business"?

A 45 minute wait? Holy crap! Where do you ski? If I had to wait for 45 minutes in a lift line, I wouldn't go. And I've skied just about every mountain in New England that is worth going to. Sure, the more popular lifts are going to be busy on the weekends, but once you get to know the mountain, you can usually work the lifts to your advantage. But after this weekend, the crowds are going to thin right out. Pretty soon, the resorts will be giving away stuff to get people to come up. A couple of years ago, after a good snow year, Okemo announced that they were going to stay open an additional two weeks after their announced closing day, and ended up closing anyway, because nobody showed up. The place was deserted. I was there the last two weekends, and I rode the lifts all weekend by myself. Of course, Okemo is not known as a mecca for spring skiing. The family/doctor/lawyer crowd is not going to be up there at that time of year anyway. The main players for spring skiing in the east are Killington, Sugarbush and Sugarloaf. Killington will stay open as long as they can, and will always draw some decent crowds late into the spring. Sugarbush is always a good bet for spring. They usually stay open weekends well into the end of April. The Mt Ellen side always holds snow late into the season. They used to offer snowcat service after they closed the lifts on that side, I'm not sure if they still do. And Sugarloaf always offers great late season skiing. One of the few resorts in the east that can rival western mountains for size and vertical. Further north, higher elevation, colder temps, little southern exposure, and abundant snowfall, even in May, makes it a great place for an extended late season ski vacation. They have a big crowd there for Reggae Fest in mid April, but that's one of the biggest ski parties in the country. After that, the crowds just disappear, and all you're left with is some of the finest spring skiing in the country. I've been there the first week in May, and it's been like mid-winter. Temps in the 20's, over 100 trails open, and they end up closing because nobody's there. One year, they ran a few of the lifts into June, mainly for the employees and the locals, with mostly natural snow. Good thing I didn't know about it, or I would have gone back. I've skied late into the season all over the country, but when it comes to spring skiing, there are few better places.

[DougD]

Hey, just read an article that Taos has had a banner snow year and is extending their season by a week. Now that's a mountain worthy of a trip. The new Kachina Peak lift accesses high altitude, mostly north facing terrain. Get there if you can.

Fully agree with Mac about Sugarloaf. Best mountain east of the Rockies was my short take in my original post. Mac gave many reasons why.

[speedcontrol]

Here is something interesting about Sugarloaf (from 4 days ago) http://abcnews.go.com/US/sugarloaf-moun ... d=29808377

[DougD]

Yikes. I've ridden that lift a zillion times.

That's the second major lift malfunction at Sugarloaf in just a few years. They need to raise the budget and priority for maintenance and safety. Events like this can destroy a business, and rightly so. There's no excuse for unsafe operation.

The evac crew also needed a supervisor/safety watch. The line slipped and almost dropped the skier because it was incorrectly angled and got hung up on the edge of the chair seat. Easily preventable with proper procedures.

[theorist]

Skied powder at Mammoth today . Cold, blizzard conditions with limited visibility on the upper mountain (Chair 5), leaving relatively empty pistes and thus lots of untracked snow. Used mostly my Mya 7's until I decided to venture into runs with more rocks underneath -- switched to a wider ski to keep me off of them.