What are the toughest runs you've skied......

[noncrazycanuck]

Being a westerner I know nothing of the ice you speak of, we only get boiler plate, death cookies and refrozen spackle.
We do get lots of experience braille skiing frozen ruts and knee deep gumbo, a nice break from our endless days of sunshine and powder.

 

[Ogg]

Being a westerner I( know nothing of the ice you speak of, we only get boiler plate, death cookies and frozen spackle.
We do have lots of experience braille skiing frozen ruts and and knee deep gumbo, a nice break from those endless days of powder and sunshine.

Boiler plate is referred to as packed powder in the east at least on the snow reports.

 

[scott43]

Being a westerner I know nothing of the ice you speak of, we only get boiler plate, death cookies and refrozen spackle.
We do get lots of experience braille skiing frozen ruts and knee deep gumbo, a nice break from our endless days of sunshine and powder.

So we're hockey folks..that's eastern ice. You could play pick-up on it...

 

[Tonyr4]

When chin clip is open and icy goat and starr are closed. Isn't national steep for like 5 turns and then is a blue? Outer limits is harder than chin clip in icy moguls. Steins too sometimes. Paradise on ice can be whacky.

If you count National from the very top drop in down to the bottom, it's much more difficult and icy than Chin Clip especially near the top sections. The mid and lower sections are similar to Chin Clip in difficulty. Paradise at Sugarbush has been ice every time I've skied it.

 

[raisingarizona]

There are many tight tree runs like that in the east which jades me a little bit when I'm skiing what they call a "glade" out west. The east (particularly northern Vermont) definitely has the west beat when it comes to tight challenging tree skiing, the west wins out on everything else though.

Ok but it still looks like it sucks. Traversing to a turn to another traverse to a duck and a turn just isn’t fun.

 

[James]

The other saying I know is "it's not ice if you can't read through it".

Seeing little twigs under the rippled surface.
I recall skiing part of Hayride at Stowe once where that was the case. I said to the person I’m skiing with, “We’ve got to ski this. It’s good training.”
To which I got back, “Training for what??”

In reality, because it has texture, it’s easier than glare. Your feet may go to sleep from vibration though. One time I did a clinic at Stowe, we got the main lift just before it closed at 4. We’re at the top of National around 4:15 early Jan and it’s gray dark. First 20 yards or so are flat, polished. Two guys ahead start, they’re both immediately on the ground with the first turn. I’m thinking my skis are sharp, I got this. I start down and the next thing I know I’m looking at the sky, sliding towards the moguls. The stuff was like a Home Depot floor.

Ok but it still looks like it sucks. Traversing to a turn to another traverse to a duck and a turn just isn’t fun.

Hah, pretty true.
There’s also the tree hugger turn where you hold on with one arm and swing yourself around. Can’t be moving for that one.
Shots you see where you can make 3 turns in a row, or more, are most likely heavily pruned and dead stuff removed. I’ve seen the woods on Mt Washington up near the tree line next to a hiking trail in late May. The woods were impassable the stubby trees are so tight. We ended up sliding down on packs through the snow covered trail section. No other choice.

 

[nhskier69]

The other saying I know is "it's not ice if you can't read through it".

What about skiing in the east during a freezing rain storm. Many skiers in the east have done that.
Difficult trails in the east, Rumble woods and DJ's tram line(if its ever open)

 

[dbostedo]

What about skiing in the east during a freezing rain storm. Many skiers in the east have done that.

I've done that! And heavy warmer rain, of the non-freezing variety, too.

But I've also skied in freezing rain at Squaw (which kind of sucked) that converted to graupel (which was good), and wound up at 8" of relatively light powder by morning (which was terrific). The difference in the east (Mid-Atlantic anyway) is you usually get the first part, without the follow up.

 

[Wilhelmson]

We were in exterminator woods at Sugarbush at the end of the season a couple years ago. There was enough snow that i had to duck under the branches. I sked those tight lines horriblt I felt pathetic, but Eagans Woods cheered me up the next day

 

[raisingarizona]

Just because it’s hard doesn’t always equate to fun.

 

[Wilhelmson]

What about skiing in the east during a freezing rain storm. Many skiers in the east have done that.
Difficult trails in the east, Rumble woods and DJ's tram line(if its ever open)

This guy is not having his best day in Rumble Woods. The best part is when he toe jams his ski into a tree. But no falls.

 

[dbostedo]

This guy is not having his best day in Rumble Woods. The best part is when he toe jams his ski into a tree. But no falls.

Now that's my kind of tree skiing!

By that, I mean that I also ski trees with lots of stops, mistakes, backing up, handling swoopy parts poorly, getting stuck, etc. I just manage to do it in much easier tree runs!

 

[no edge]

How about the 2-3 ski lengths-wide Poma Line at Pico...not officially on the map. Steep, rocks, oh and they left the cable from the lift on the ground when they removed it so you've got a literal steel "snow snake" to trip on the whole way down!

View attachment 140636

Same spot at "low tide"...that's when things are really hairy!

View attachment 140637

You don't often see rocks that are so perfectly square. Never skied it but would like too

 

[Tonyr4]

This guy is not having his best day in Rumble Woods. The best part is when he toe jams his ski into a tree. But no falls.

That sidecountry run right before Middle Earth is call the poop chutes of all names. Rumble woods is entered off of Rumble itself. My favorite side country run at Sugarbush are the Paradise Chutes which are to the left of Paradise. It's some of the best tree skiing in all of Vermont.

 

[Tonyr4]

We were in exterminator woods at Sugarbush at the end of the season a couple years ago. There was enough snow that i had to duck under the branches. I sked those tight lines horriblt I felt pathetic, but Eagans Woods cheered me up the next day

Speaking of Exterminator woods check this guy out killing it. This is not easy to do at the speed he is skiing it........

Watch "Sugarbush VT Tree Skiing (Exterminator Woods) 1-27-2019" on YouTube

 

[ss20]

You don't often see rocks that are so perfectly square. Never skied it but would like too

They're concrete footings from the old Poma lift!

 

[Wilhelmson]

That sidecountry run right before Middle Earth is call the poop chutes of all names. Rumble woods is entered off of Rumble itself. My favorite side country run at Sugarbush are the Paradise Chutes which are to the left of Paradise. It's some of the best tree skiing in all of Vermont.

We always ski the left of paradise when its open.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Speaking of Exterminator woods check this guy out killing it. This is not easy to do at the speed he is skiing it........

Watch "Sugarbush VT Tree Skiing (Exterminator Woods) 1-27-2019" on YouTube

That's definitely not the way I went. That guy is fast!

 

[John Webb]

This guy is not having his best day in Rumble Woods. The best part is when he toe jams his ski into a tree. But no falls.

Last time ( 30 yrs ago ? ) I skied down Rumble did not go well. About a foot of edgeable snow on each side and very icy with no edge grip in center.
I was doing ok going fast from side to side. Suddenly I hooked an edge and went flying into the woods (Rumble Woods?) at like 30 mph.
Frantically dodging trees best I could- knocking down small ones until I spun out of control and landed head first in a snowbank.

Just before landing I was backwards and the back of the ski boot whacked a tree hard. Hurt like hell and as I was nowhere near any buildings
I rode the Castlerock lift back up to a warming hut at top where I sat for an hour trying to figure out if my leg was broken. Not broken but a bruise
the size of an orange appeared on the back of my leg. Would surely been broken if the tree had not hit the hard plastic boot shell.

I skied,more like limped, to the car but then found when I landed head first in the snow the car keys fell out of my pocket. I was in too much pain
to go back to look for keys. I thought of calling AAA which would have taken hours more pain but tried something first. The hatchback lock was half worn out
so I took a wire lift ticket bail and bent it very roughly to the shape of a key. Fiddled for ten minutes and Viola it worked ! ! I was in the car and got the spare key
out of my toilet kit in a suitcase. Injury healed in two or 3 weeks. Quite scary but lucky I didn't kill myself.

 

[ThomasD]

Really impressed by everyone with the presence of mind to take a picture. In those circumstances my mind is usually tied up questioning the adequacy of my release settings.

Sadly I have only done one of the named runs mentioned here - the Big Couloir at Big Sky. Never done the restricted areas at Sunshine, but have done the chutes on the hike up above the Goat's Eye lift. As others have mentioned, conditions matter and the one time there that I completely misjudged things left me with a lasting desire to avoid anything where a fall poses a serious health risk. My lack of serious injury being a matter of pure luck.