New England 2022-2023 Northeast Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[ilovepugs]

White gravel was back. Some decent spots. Last weekend was far better despite another 15 inches of snow. It’s the rain.

Ah, so it wasn’t just me. The snow was definitely a bit weird.

 

[Wilhelmson]

I was working and went out for a quick nordic run. I have skied icy snowmobile tracks, crust, and frozen stuff before. This truly was death crust. Once I got going down a hill there would be too much pressure on a ski and it would break through. I went down a few times and called it over.

Some crust rash

 

[MissySki]

I haaaate crust.. Several years ago I excitedly jumped onto a trail that looked pristine, and promptly broke through a thick crust and caught an edge. I couldn’t turn and was careening towards the trees stuck in the tracks I was making. I finally came to a stop by turning uphill very forcefully. The only reason I didn’t launch into trees was the trail being wide enough. Had a very healthy fear/respect of serious crust develop after that.

I know not all crusts are like that, but I’m more cautious of it in general now.

 

[Norther1]

I thought the conditions at Sugarbush today were fantastic. Lots of soft bumps but it seemed crowded. But I've never been there before, so not sure how a normal Friday is there.

 

[TSQURD]

Fridays have been more crowded the past few seasons, but today was not a typical Friday, even for the past few seasons.

 

[JCF]

Sunday River, 4 days, 4 completely different conditions.
Day 1 - Tuesday. I was lucky to get there as S Maine was covered with ice and fallen trees. Conditions were good, especially to the sides. Snow was a bit dense and fatiguing, but fun.
Day 2 - Mogul Day ! Tin Woodsman and Lost Princess and the left side of the Vortex's were a combination of heavy dense piles and an occasional surprise of glare ice on the backsides - A bit complicated for my limited time in bumps, but took it slow, had a few fun sections but definitely worked too hard, and learned quite a bit. Which came in handy later on Obsession which was ice and ball bearings on top but really, really nice in the bump section on the lower right. Spent the afternoon in them and had a blast. AR's worked well in them.
Day 3 - Mixed Bag. CRUSTY. Looked fun with wide equipment but I was stupid enough to think Pocket Rockets would work. Enough said. Swapped them out for the AR's again and tried to unlearn all the bad technique they infected me with. Focused on Lollapalooza which was a little smoother and concentrated on my pinky toe leading the turn and by the end of the day could ski again.
Today - Bluebird Day. Perfect groomers. Let the WRTP's run. But it got crowded quickly and I reluctantly left early.
Lots of kids all 4 days - don't they have schools to go to during the week ? Packs of them, whole bunches of boarders, more than half out of control.
Home, tired and happy.

 

[mulva28]

Killington: Krusty but not so bad.

Got out at noon and skied to the bell. Parked at Vale. 172cm Enforcer 88's.

Caper
Frolic -> Vagabond
Northstar
Upper/Lower Royal Flush
Upper/Lower Double Dipper
Escapade from the top -> Flume
---Lunch---
Upper Catwalk -> Cascade
Pipedream/Breakaway/Bear Cub
Thimble/Chunnel/Needles
Vertigo HW/Vertigo
Bittersweet/Old Bittersweet/Bittersweet
Upper/Lower Royal Flush
Upper Royal Flush -> Conclusion

Kracker of a day!

Most skied the same. Krusty firm bumps. Sometimes the snow was nice on the sides. Fun though! Get out this weekend and Ski the East!!!

 

[Wilhelmson]

Sunday River, 4 days, 4 completely different conditions.
Day 1 - Tuesday. I was lucky to get there as S Maine was covered with ice and fallen trees. Conditions were good, especially to the sides. Snow was a bit dense and fatiguing, but fun.
Day 2 - Mogul Day ! Tin Woodsman and Lost Princess and the left side of the Vortex's were a combination of heavy dense piles and an occasional surprise of glare ice on the backsides - A bit complicated for my limited time in bumps, but took it slow, had a few fun sections but definitely worked too hard, and learned quite a bit. Which came in handy later on Obsession which was ice and ball bearings on top but really, really nice in the bump section on the lower right. Spent the afternoon in them and had a blast. AR's worked well in them.
Day 3 - Mixed Bag. CRUSTY. Looked fun with wide equipment but I was stupid enough to think Pocket Rockets would work. Enough said. Swapped them out for the AR's again and tried to unlearn all the bad technique they infected me with. Focused on Lollapalooza which was a little smoother and concentrated on my pinky toe leading the turn and by the end of the day could ski again.
Today - Bluebird Day. Perfect groomers. Let the WRTP's run. But it got crowded quickly and I reluctantly left early.
Lots of kids all 4 days - don't they have schools to go to during the week ? Packs of them, whole bunches of boarders, more than half out of control.
Home, tired and happy.

View attachment 190637 View attachment 190638 View attachment 190639

Is that a snowmaking rainbow in the third picture?

 

[Scruffy]

I think the general vibe from the posts is to keep the fledgling, timid mogul skier off of Castlerock for now. I think I'll push him this weekend but not on CR and with a crowd. Have fun guys!

If he's bored of Lixi's twist, then Spillsville usually has some nice big bumps-snow seems to stay better in there too. I'd take him on Paradise before Castle Rock. At least with Paradise you can end it before Lower Paradise and bail back to Ripcord.

 

[Tony S]

Spillsville

Love that run.

 

[Crank]

I thought the conditions at Sugarbush today were fantastic. Lots of soft bumps but it seemed crowded. But I've never been there before, so not sure how a normal Friday is there.

Conditions were great today all over the hill. It was a bit crowded for a Friday. Get out early if you're here tomorrow!

 

[sparty]

Is that a snowmaking rainbow in the third picture?

When I saw it, it looked to be over Merrill Hill. Someone suggested that the pot of gold was necessary to buy a lot

Thursday was a snow day for multiple local school systems, I believe, and Monday was as well. So no, kids did not have school to be at on those days.

Sounds like the Merrill Hill lift is scheduled to open at 9 am today, which will result in most (maybe all?) of the lifts turning. Traffic has been backed up on Sunday River Rd for at least half an hour, so that's probably a good thing. I'm headed to Mt Abram for magic carpet time with little ones, hoping that it's not too crowded there at opening.

 

[JCF]

Is that a snowmaking rainbow in the third picture?

Maybe, though the snowmaking was all down wind so more likely crystals being blown out of the trees (?)
All 4 days were pretty in our special NE ways

I was told last weekend set records for ticket sales - bet they do it again this weekend.

I snuck out of ”school” Tuesday and Friday

 

[Wilhelmson]

As said there was more traffic than I have ever seen on the way up to Sunday River. But the lift lines weren’t too bad and we got in some good moguls and even woods. Anything that hadn’t been skied before the crust up was tough going. I did a little crust busting here and there just for the heck of it but not too much as we skied a lot of moguls.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Stowe was all time today. I think I skied National 10 times today, I haven't skied bumps like that outside of Snowbird. And then the carving was prime too, I felt like Daron Rahlves out there.

 

[Crank]

Skied Mt. Ellen today. Conditions were really great. We skied FIS twice. The long bottom run out thingy xc-ish on lower FIS too.

 

[sparty]

As said there was more traffic than I have ever seen on the way up to Sunday River. But the lift lines weren’t too bad and we got in some good moguls and even woods. Anything that hadn’t been skied before the crust up was tough going. I did a little crust busting here and there just for the heck of it but not too much as we skied a lot of moguls.

The limiting factor on capacity right now sure seems to be the road and parking situation. When people start getting excited about the long term discussions about expanding beyond Jordan, I think they're missing the point--there's not much reason to expand terrain and lifts unless you can bring more revenue by doing so, because maintaining the snow surface on that terrain and staffing those lifts is going to cost money. And without a solution to the access issues, I'm not sure how much room for visit growth exists.

I got out on lightweight tele gear with the dog, which skied fine where the snowmobiles had packed things and on flat terrain in the shade, but untracked downhills were challenging. I'm hoping that the small amounts of snowfall in the forecast make bc skiing a little more friendly.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Biggest lines of the season in Stowe yesterday, not not today. Also I think 30% of the cars had tickets on them yesterday.

 

[TheArchitect]

If he's bored of Lixi's twist, then Spillsville usually has some nice big bumps-snow seems to stay better in there too. I'd take him on Paradise before Castle Rock. At least with Paradise you can end it before Lower Paradise and bail back to Ripcord.

That's exactly what we did. We skied Ripcord, Paradise, Lower Paradise, Orgrangrinder, Spillsville and Steins in that order. As I suspected, after skiing Paradise those other trails changed in his mind from being challenging to being fun. Re-calibration of terrain assessment is complete!

Overall it was a great day. We seemed to find most if not all of the exposed rocks on Paradise but other than that there were soft bumps on many trails and most of the hardpack was edgable. It might have been more edgable if it weren't for the previously mentioned rocks. Time to break out the Razor Tune for the first time.

Lines weren't awful but I heard there was a 40 minute wait early on for Castlerock. We got to SB at 8:15 and the line of traffic was backed up to Paradise Provisions on the access road. That was a first for me.

 

[SKI-3PO]

I heard there was a 40 minute wait early on for Castlerock.

There was an hour+ wait early at Castlerock. The 40 ish minute wait after 10 was much nicer.