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Sugarbush Resort
Sugarbush Resort
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Submitted on December 16, 2018 by rocket21 (1380 Rating1380)
Session SessionFull Day
Lift Ticket Ticket TypeIkon Pass
Lift Lines Lift Lines3 to 5 minutes
Snow Trail Conditions60% open; Loose Granular, Frozen Granular
Glades GladesDid not venture in. Lower elevation glades were probably bulletproof, but there was a little bit of powder on top of the crust up high.
Moguls MogulsPretty much everything not groomed was bumped.
Terrain Park Terrain Park(s)Snowball
Run of the Day Run of the DayRipcord
Food and Beverage Food and BeverageGood variety of food at the Gate House Lodge food court.
Comments CommentsFinal weekend of only Sugarbush South - Sugarbush North opens in a few days. Sugarbush South was close to 100% open (snow report claims all trails open, but there were some lower elevation ropes). Upper mountain was decent, but lower mountain areas not so much.

Valley House complex - Snowball to Spring Fling was the only groomed run. Snowball was pretty bad - frozen granular and blue ice with some loose granular to be found on the sides. Heavy skier/boarder traffic too. Never much of a line for the Valley House Quad. Lower Snowball and Spring Road have huge whales waiting to be pushed out, but they were frozen, so not too great to attempt to ski. Steins has seen what looks to be a little bit of snowmaking thus far, but still some grass sticking up. The Mall also looked like rock ski territory.

Gate House complex was pretty bad. Only one groomed trail from the top (Push Over), splitting into two (Lower Pushover or Slowpoke). Lots of boilerplate with some loose granular. Everything else from the top of this lift was ungroomed and covered in bumps with some bare spots, blue ice, and rocks. Noticed a lot of lower level skiers getting caught into this. Guns are lined up to get some more terrain covered. Not much in way of lines, likely due to the conditions.

Village area was good loose granular, no lines. A little thin on the edges.

North Lynx was open with no lines, but no grooming or snowmaking. Occasional ice and bare spots, but generally good coverage. Wall to wall bumps on all trails.

Castlerock trails were open from 10-3 via Lincoln Peak if I recall, but the lift was not running. Did not venture over.

Gadd Peak was a mixed bag. Lift lines were a few minutes long. Birdland was firm, but edgable, as was Murphy's. Downspout was rough pretty quickly, though they did till up enough granular to give you something to turn on between boilerplate patches. Lower Downspout and Lower Jester were very icy by mid afternoon. Lower Organgrinder wasn't too bad.

Best skiing by far was off Heaven's Gate. Trees still caked in snow up high. Jester was pretty nice early on, though it did get scraped by noontime. Organgrinder was fantastic in the morning, but boilerplate and ice was growing by mid afternoon. I didn't head over to the ungroomed Ripcord until the afternoon...best conditions on the mountain. The very top had rocks and larger moguls, so I chose to enter via the Spillsville crossover from Organgrinder. From there down to Bailout was small bumps with loose granular and edgable frozen granular. Very nice.

Ikon Pass is direct to lift here, which is very convenient. Just as convenient, they don't scan tickets at the upper mountain lifts. Friendly employees. Partly sunny to start the day, but cloudy with flat light in the afternoon. Temperatures hovering around freezing down low.
Link URLhttps://www.instagram.com/skinewenglandnet/
Rating Report Rating3 Rating3

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