Ride Delaware ?

With the gun show they put on to open Main Street, they could have the whole mountain open by the 15th...

Great trip report. Snow looks deep. It’s impressive what that system can put out at near optimal temps. There might be a slight warmup coming, but after seeing that, there’s no reason to worry...

It’s insane up north right now. They are breaking all sorts of records for November snowfall. Sugarbush is already at 60”. Most of the snow that has fallen this season has been the heavy wet base building snow that resorts dream of early this season. It was a little thin in spots on the natural stuff when I left, but I’m sure it looks like mid winter now. They have 18” from this storm already with the upslope machine turning on this morning. Still dumping at elevation. All of Lincoln Peak could be open if they opened the North Lynx side, but it looks like they are delaying that because there isn’t enough snow to groom it out for beginners, and there just isn’t enough staff or demand this early. I’m told that Castlerock is only open to hiking on the Long Trail because lifties are at a premium right now. Let’s hope this keeps up. Could be an epic season.

I always liked Tanner. He was one of the first freestyle superstars. He’s got to be close to ancient now...

I also stayed at the Delaware Court Motel about 9 years ago, and it was rough. Plywood under the old floppy mattresses, worn carpet, and peeling wallpaper. They were in the process of an ownership change then, so I do believe there have been some updates since then. At $50 a night, it was worth the risk. I’d read the reviews first...

They definitely disappointed, but I’ve got to imagine that it is still the earliest they have opened in quite awhile. I don’t remember a November opening for alpine for as long as I’ve been snowboarding...

Blue would have the whole mountain open if they could have blown that much snow...

Any day on snow is a good day. Sounds like everyone is enjoying the early season cold weather. It’s plain old frigid in VT, with it warming just enough to rain tomorrow...

They are grooming Main Street this morning on the cam. Doesn’t look crazy busy yet on Vista...

I’m no expert on their snowmaking system, but considering they continued to make snow on Main Street while Vista was down, I would say they are separate lines.

Rode at the Bush today. We opened up to the top today. There’s been a ton of natural snow already this season, so most of the mountain off Heaven’s Gate is open. I got to hit first tracks on Birdland. The snow was dense, but I didn’t hit anything. It’s always great painting on a blank canvas. It got frigid later in the day, and lots of stuff got snirty, but to be on the natural terrain this early is unheard of.

I wonder if that’s on a separate line than Main Street/Come Around or if it is all connected? They could possibly still open without Vista if that line doesn’t shut down the others off the top...

They are basically starting from scratch on both Main Street and Vista. I don’t see why Main Street can’t open at the same time.

It’s snowing up here too, but it’s mostly a southern storm. We probably picked up 2” and should get some more tomorrow. The natural stuff really needs it. Our snowmaking just doesn’t have the power to keep up with the other big resorts without natural...

Didn’t GSS tell me there was no way they opened with just the Vista lift? That they would surely open with Main Street as well? They could still surprise...

As stated before, it all depends on their mindset. If they want to open just for the sake of opening, they could lay down enough snow to open on Friday. The question is whether they want to stockpile, open to stay open, or open just to close and sacrifice thousands of $$$ on snowmaking for one weekend. I feel confident they will open, but I would only think Friday is in the cards if they think Saturday/Sunday is a wash. However, that same mindset could lead to them stockpiling and waiting until a later date.

Sugarbush passes. One is a dependent pass and one is her employee pass...

Sugarbush is ok. They have gone with a different opening strategy the past two seasons and it has really turned thing upside down in terms of expansion. It used to be that early season snowmaking was concentrated on Jester and Downspout, which would allow for uploading and downloading on Bravo if necessary. They would then add Organgrinder and Ripcord if temps only allowed for snowmaking up top, then they would make the t2b route lower Downspout, Lower Jester, Coffee Run. The problem with that, was that then traffic had to go over Downspout twice as much (from Bravo to HG, then from the top back to HG, or past it down to the base), so the relative steepness and traffic would create an icy chute early in the day. Now they have decided to blow on Jester/Downspout only if temperatures allow snowmaking at only elevation. So, when they have temperatures down low, they concentrate on Snowball/Spring Fling. It’s wider and you only have traffic going down it once, so it degrades slower. Unfortunately, they got base temps the same time as elevation temps this year, so Jester and Downspout weren’t ready. They had Jester and Valley House Traverse (connector for t2b from HG terrain) ready, but not Downspout because we just don’t have enough capacity. Since we only have the Valley House available, we had Snowball/Spring Fling ready, and with our aggressive opening strategy, they opened all natural terrain off that lift as well. Unfortunately, they had the busiest opening day ever, and that stuff is all really beat up. So, Snowball/Spring Fling is good with low traffic, but the natural stuff is pretty snirty. On the flip side, the Swiss women’s national team is coming tomorrow to train, so we will get to watch some cool runs!

My wife does the same thing. She ended up getting two passes this year, so she’s got one in each mitten. I’ll make a trip to Bell on my way to the Bush or home from the Bush at some point this season.

They could have a much larger chunk of the mountain open by then. I would be surprised if Blue didn’t open for the weekend. At the very least, Saturday, even with the crappier weather. Camelback is always a tossup. Montage will probably be open... At least the top half.

I do believe that they had a couple fir trees planted there to block it as well... You could have still skied through them.

Who knows... After Tuesday through Thursday snowmaking, half of BB could be open.

The forecast looks rough for Blue. Looks like BB and Montage. We (I say we because it’s been going on since I primarily rode in PA) have been repeatedly burnt by Camelback, so I’m not wasting any hope on them.

That has to be one of their earliest openings in years...

Glad to hear you guys had a baller opening day. Sounds like it was way better than being behind a desk dealing with large chunks of stone...