Made my first turns of the season up at Sunrise this week. Sunrise is Sunrise but I definitely observed some signs of better things happening management-wise.
First impressions come from better communications. After last season's total sh*tshow, I was encouraged by frequent emails and updates beginning this summer, and on into the winter season. New website, new trailmap...
I was actually able to purchase lift tickets thru the website, the transaction worked smoothly and I even received an email confirmation with barcode and everything! How 21st century is that!
Mid-week is not a busy time at Sunrise. Truly like having the mountain to myself. Ski on to every chair, never had to share a chair, in fact, I was looking to share with someone, anyone, just to have someone to talk to... lol.
Four chairs were in operation, the main Sunrise Express and the Spirit Ridge (midway) lifts were running on the Sunrise Peak side not to mention the bunny hill lift, as well as the Geronimo lift on Apache Peak. Perfect compliment for a not busy day, and more than I expected actually. And miracle of all, 40 lift rides over the two day period, only ONE lift stoppage, and three other slowdowns. Of course, when they are only loading 1 in 15 chairs, the odds of needing a lift stop are considerably diminished.
Snow wise - not quite two weeks since the last snowfall, but the quality of the snow was great. A little bit of thaw and freeze happening at the base, but the sun still very low in they sky, so not spring-like at all. Still chalky in the morning, only slightly heavier late in the day. Coverage is excellent on the Sunrise side, a little more base needed on the Apache side although the mile-wide Wickieup run was fine.
The only complaint would be the parking lot. Always a potholed, muddy mess, this week presented visitors with a surface of glare ice in the morning, glare ice covered with a half-inch of melt in the afternoon. It was dicey walking and I saw several people slip and fall. Luckily, I didn't have far to walk, not many cars in the lot. I joked with another guy carefully picking his way back to his car, "survived a day of skiing only to break a hip in the parking lot." Spread some cinders or something.
I did not sample the F&B offerings, other than a couple of beers. The main lodge cafeteria was open for breakfast/lunch, closing ~2PM I think. Bar was open. Midway was closed as well as the Apache lodge. The snack bar at the top of Sunrise was open for beverages and snacks, grill was closed.
Summary - I can actually recommend a visit to Sunrise this season!
Pics to follow...
First impressions come from better communications. After last season's total sh*tshow, I was encouraged by frequent emails and updates beginning this summer, and on into the winter season. New website, new trailmap...
I was actually able to purchase lift tickets thru the website, the transaction worked smoothly and I even received an email confirmation with barcode and everything! How 21st century is that!
Mid-week is not a busy time at Sunrise. Truly like having the mountain to myself. Ski on to every chair, never had to share a chair, in fact, I was looking to share with someone, anyone, just to have someone to talk to... lol.
Four chairs were in operation, the main Sunrise Express and the Spirit Ridge (midway) lifts were running on the Sunrise Peak side not to mention the bunny hill lift, as well as the Geronimo lift on Apache Peak. Perfect compliment for a not busy day, and more than I expected actually. And miracle of all, 40 lift rides over the two day period, only ONE lift stoppage, and three other slowdowns. Of course, when they are only loading 1 in 15 chairs, the odds of needing a lift stop are considerably diminished.
Snow wise - not quite two weeks since the last snowfall, but the quality of the snow was great. A little bit of thaw and freeze happening at the base, but the sun still very low in they sky, so not spring-like at all. Still chalky in the morning, only slightly heavier late in the day. Coverage is excellent on the Sunrise side, a little more base needed on the Apache side although the mile-wide Wickieup run was fine.
The only complaint would be the parking lot. Always a potholed, muddy mess, this week presented visitors with a surface of glare ice in the morning, glare ice covered with a half-inch of melt in the afternoon. It was dicey walking and I saw several people slip and fall. Luckily, I didn't have far to walk, not many cars in the lot. I joked with another guy carefully picking his way back to his car, "survived a day of skiing only to break a hip in the parking lot." Spread some cinders or something.
I did not sample the F&B offerings, other than a couple of beers. The main lodge cafeteria was open for breakfast/lunch, closing ~2PM I think. Bar was open. Midway was closed as well as the Apache lodge. The snack bar at the top of Sunrise was open for beverages and snacks, grill was closed.
Summary - I can actually recommend a visit to Sunrise this season!
Pics to follow...
