Smuggler's Notch trip report (long)

[NJSkiFamily]

Here's our long trip report from Smuggler's.....

 

We spent Christmas break at Smuggs. There was decent snow coverage but the base isn?t very deep. Northern Vermont has gotten a fair amount of snow but not consistently cold temps so all the mountain creeks and streams haven?t froze. So anytime the temps warm up the snow melts quickly. And Smuggs doesn?t have the greatest snowmaking capacity so they were just trying to keep up with what melts. They hadn?t even blown any snow to cut the superpipe. The family race course was not set up, either.

 

But there was enough open to make everyone happy. Okay, the double blacks weren?t open but there was plenty of ungroomed blacks and glades open to satisfy the experts.

 

My husband gets the courage award for not letting the flu and having a fever stop him from skiing. He said he was fine so long as he kept moving on the slopes. It was stopping to eat that was the problem. We?d return to the condo at the end of the day and he?s just crash until the next morning.

 

Skied for 4 days and each day was drastically different. Day 1 was typical December day with temps just below freezing, sunshine and good hardpack snow. The more heavily traveled trails iced up by the end of the day.

 

Day 2 had the temps warm up and the forecast was for steady rain by mid-day. That kept the majority of guests indoors and the mountain was a ghost town. The warm temps made for terrific spring-like conditions and softened all the icy parts. The rain held off until dinnertime. It was a terrific day.

 

There was a steady rain beginning around dinnertime but it changed to snow around 10pm. It snowed for about 15 hours and we got about 7 inches. Of course with the cold temps, all the slush on the mountain froze. And it looked like the mountain was groomed before everything froze because you could see the frozen tracks on the ground.

 

So day 3 was cold, windy and snowy. The entire mountain was basically a sheet of ice as the wind blew all the fresh snow off the trails. The glades and ungroomed trails held up better.

 

Day 4 saw colder temps and the groomed trails were better. The snow was really scraped off the glades and ungroomed trails so it was better to stay on the groomers.

 

We took lessons each day and had terrific instructors. Yes, they remembered me from that freak accident I was in last year (someone in my lesson class lost control and skied into me so hard I was knocked unconscious). I wanted to improve my turns and both my instructors borrowed ideas from the race team which worked really well for me. My husband?s class spent all their time on the bumps and glades. My kids? class had a wild time skiing everything the mountain had to offer: steeps, bumps, jumps and glades. The instructor had his 10 year old son with him equipped with a radio so the son could ski down the trail and stop to radio his dad to send the class down while the dad stayed behind to watch everyone?s technique. He taught everyone how ski the jumps and do 360s on the ground.

 

Very interesting how kids ski differently than adults. My son would not complete his turns and couldn?t control his speed. My daughter would not keep her hands in front of her. Kids also tend to keep their bodies too stiff and if you tell them they need to flex at the knees they instead bend at the waist.

 

And just like us adults, kids get too far into the back seat as well.

 

We had a great time even with the changing conditions and my husband?s flu. We were bummed that the family races weren?t running but we accomplished what we wanted to learn. It certainly didn?t feel like Christmas week as the crowds were small and lift lines were minimal.

 

Things new at Smuggs this year??airboarding for those 13 and older. Snow walking classes for people who want to hike the trails. Freestyle group lessons in the terrain parks.

 

One piece of news I?ll pass on??.this summer Smuggs will break out the TNT and blast the top part of Upper Rumrummer and make it wider. That trail is waaaay too narrow at the top for the amount of traffic it gets.

[romemadman]

what is air boarding??

 

glad u ahd a good time

 

when i went up 2 years ago they got about 5inches of snow but they always seem to groom it out from what i have heard

that was in early march too

[NJSkiFamily]

what is air boarding??

 

 

From the pictures it looks like inflatable boogie boards that you ride on your stomach. So maybe you can control your direction like a sled. I've never heard of it before. Its only offered at night after the slopes are closed.

 

Thanks for the report. Did you hit up Doc Dempseys? The runs at Smuggs definitely have alot of charecter. Pretty much the opposite of Okemo. Isn't it fun to write about skiing???

Keep it Steezy in Jersey...

 

My kids did the lower part of Doc Dempsey's with their group class. I never have because the only way to get there is taking the Upper FIS trail and I always thought I wasn't good enough to ski it.

 

But I tried skiing Upper FIS this last time and was so happy I made it down in one piece that I flat out forgot about Doc Dempsey's.

 

But I won't forget next time.

 

Can you tell me what exactly "steezy" means. I'm way behind on my lingo and I'm sure there are others reading this who also want to know.

[NJSkiFamily]

Doug,

 

While we were there the trails under the Madonna 1 lift weren't open (including Freefall). They are now. The trails under the Sterling lift were open and its fun to watch people go down those trails. One time I was riding up with my instructor and we would critique the skiers going down. It always gives me heart attacks watching the boarders try to make their way down those steep bumps.

 

I know what you mean about seeing the different colored ice waterfalls.

 

We'll be back at Smuggs in February and I so want to ski Doc Dempsey's.

 

Can you describe what a "snow fence" is at the top of Sterling? Is this right when you get off the lift?