After four previous days at Sugarbush in my skiing career, I was happy to finally give all the marked terrain at Sugarbush South a legitiment hammering after having eluded me during previous visits for various reasons. Could not have picked a better day short of a big powder day to do it! Certainly the best Spring Corn days rank right up there just below the best of powder days (though in a season like this, today would not even crack my top ten).
Paid the man $46 for a lift ticket and ascended Super Bravo to warm up on Murphy's Glade before heading up to the summit for a run down Paradise and on to Castlerock for a marathon session on the trails offered off the double. I was particularly impressed with the refurbished lift design. The Castlerock Double is rather high speed for a fixed grip chairlift but has its chairs spaced out at a rediculous distance. Good management decision regarding this chairlift, thank goodness ASC never bouched up this gem.
I am going on the record to say that Rumble is the best non-gladed marked trail in the Northeast. Big statement, I know. So the caveat on that statement is I have never skied Smuggs, Whiteface, Gore, or Sugarloaf (since I was rather young). Otherwise, I stand by the remark and was very appreciative of the trail which had it all: Good Pitch, Lots of Curves, Very Narrow, Terrain Features, Tree Options around the Curves, Good Mogul Rhythm despite Narrow Trail, etc. Essentially, a slightly steeper and more turny version of the best untouched leftovers from the CCC days. Beautiful.
Bumps on Castlerock Run were irregular and not so hot. Middle Earth was nice up top than got lame after the third turn, Liftline was a hoot on the steeper sections but a yawn fest where it flattens out. Never took to Sugarbush partially because all of those run outs. Even on the best terrain like the Castlerock trails, one third of every trail is run out. Corn snow all over and I was loving it. Hit each of these once with exception of Rumble which I skied twice.
After lunch, I moved over to the Valley Doulble area and banged down some nice large bumps on Stein's then hit The Mall which had delightful smaller bumps and some occasional zipper lines. Would return here for my last run of the day for some hero bumps after my skiing started to get sloppy on Heaven's Gate, where I moved to next.
Already having hit Paradise (nice trail, probably my second favorite on the mountain after Rumble), I bashed the best bumps lines of the day down Ripcord. Sweet! Really jamming hard on quick rhythm zipper line bumps. Considering I haven't hardly skied any bumps this season, I found the groove quite quickly. Really hard not to when the snow is this nice and soft. Over on Organgrinder, the bumps were just as nice though slightly less regular with Spillsville providing very nice lines as a second option.
So a great Spring day skiing corn and wonderful bumps everywhere. I would put high recommendation on this place for Spring skiing for dedicated bumpers, I was impressed with the amount of excellent bump runs from all the chairs. Never bothered with Lynx as I have skied that area before and it is a pain to get to. Every chair was ski on. It continues to amaze me that families get bundled up to ski busy holiday weekends early season when conditions truly suck and not everything is open. But on a day when many folks were skiing in T-Shirts and camisoles (damn, I love Spring time!) with all terrain open and the snow soft and forgiving, and lets not forget about no lines at any lifts, where is everybody? This is not a sad reflection on the industry that extends seasons by weeks when the snow is good, but rather a poor reflection on skiers that don't have a clue, don't do some simple research, and don't better plan trips for when skiing is cheaper, warmer, better conditions, fully open, and less crowded.