SKIING WHALES AT SUGARBUSH RESORT IN VERMONT

I’ve spent the last two days whale watching. Yesterday, I was whale watching at Whiteface Ski Area in northern New York. Today, I was in Vermont at Sugarbush Resort. The whales this afternoon were big and icy at times, but overall they were pretty friendly and gave me no troubles. Whales can be a mixed bag. You never know what their mood will be like on any given day!

For those who may not know, a whale is simply a large pile of man-made snow. When I say large, I mean very large. They may very well be 20 feet tall at their highest point. Whales can provide some interesting skiing. The snow can be good, but it can also be icy and even sticky. (Yes, that text you just read was copy and pasted from yesterday’s blog post, but there are people out there who have never heard the terminology before.)

I have an Ikon Base Pass this year and I got it primarily so I could ski Sugarbush as much as I wanted, as Sugarbush is unlimited on the pass. I really like Sugarbush and had planned to visit the mountain earlier in December, but Sugarbush hasn’t really had enough terrain open to warrant driving there. They had water issues earlier this month, as a result of drought, and that really impacted snowmaking so they’ve been slower to open terrain than normal. It is what it is. I went there knowing that and had a good time skiing.

I got to the mountain at 1:45 PM. Sugarbush had 28 trails open today at Lincoln Peak. Five of them were groomed. Some of the natural snow trails had very thin cover. They were spinning the Gate House Express Quad, the Super Bravo Express Quad and a magic carpet today. Gate House is really more for beginner and intermediate skiers, while Super Bravo offers more variety for everyone. However, with limited terrain today, Super Bravo really was for advanced skiers.

It was mild, so temperatures were above freezing. The snow was soft and playful in spots, but firm in others, especially around the whales off Super Bravo. Gate House really only had one way down that didn’t require you to cut through the beginner area. It was fine. Just a blue cruiser. They had the lift line open, but cover was very thin. I only saw two people ski it.

Super Bravo had a bit more variety. Spring Fling was open and covered in big whales and bumps. They also had The Mall, Moonshine and Lixi’s Twist open. I skied Moonshine and Lixi’s Twist. Coverage on both of those runs was fantastic at the top, but they both became thin as you went down. Really, you were best to stick to Spring Fling and its whales and bumps, so that’s what I did.

Like I said, I really like Sugarbush and would normally recommend you go there, but given what’s open right now I think it’s worth going somewhere else or saving your money and coming another time. They will be opening Mount Ellen this weekend and they’ll soon start opening terrain higher up on Lincoln Peak. It will get better quickly, but I’d check the conditions report and have a good idea of what’s open before committing to going there. I’ll be going back once the Heaven’s Gate lift opens.

Talk to you tomorrow,

- Lincoln