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First Day Reports, 2020

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
:rotf: I mean that is tough to argue with.. he IS saving lives day in and day out so I guess he deserves to sleep in sometimes!
you should have seen his face when he asked “what time do you want to leave tomorrow?” and I conceded to a very reasonable 8am and he STILL looked like I had taken one of our dogs away from him........

Hoping that sugarbush will be open Thursday! I’m a little skeptical because of our upcoming weather (we are getting rain tomorrow too) but no matter what, I’m thinking they’ll be open by Saturday. Snow and colder temps are finally in the forecast.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Very nice day 1 at Crystal today. They really are trying, and have staff everywhere (outside the restrooms counting capacity, arranging people on lifts, seeing who needs help finding the right window for ticket or pass pickup at the base). Lovely weather and very good conditions for early December. Upper mountain lifts were on wind hold in the morning and there were some very long lift lines until the wind died down.

It was beautiful, as you can see, so no problem eating my lunch outside. When a gust of wind blew some snow over me and more specifically, my sandwich, I did realize it's going to be far less comfortable on snowy days with no place to get inside. Except the tent they are still erecting, but it wasn't as big as I expected.

The only sad thing was coming across an accident not too far from the resort road--someone had just hit an elk. She looked so soft and fuzzy lying in the road. Her elk friends were still nearby. :(

1606958056816.png
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I thought it was a little funny they just dragged out the restaurant tables and plopped them in the snow.

20201202_122803.jpg

Our world is topsy turvy right now, but never fear--snowboarders are just as annoying as ever. (Pictured here just sitting in the middle of a run, as they are wont to do.)

20201202_160703.jpg

Or, I forgot to say--the caliber of skier was noticeably better than usual. Needing passes or reservations is likely keeping the more casual skiers out.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Not a true "first hand" report from personal experience, but I think this DCSki article is well worth a read. It's not a post in the DCSki forum, but an article by a Guest Contributor. The writer is a young woman who grew up skiing at Roundtop and Sunday River with her family. Roundtop in PA is close enough for DC/Baltimore folks to do day trips, hence the connection. She's in college in Colorado. She and her parents skied at Eldora on Nov. 27.

Eldora is a ski area owned by Powdr, which also owns and operates Copper. They are both Ikon Partners and using the Powdr parking reservation system. Eldora opened on Nov. 23.

Nov. 29, DCSki article
Firsthand Report: Eldora Mountain
https://www.dcski.com/articles/1631
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I thought it was a little funny they just dragged out the restaurant tables and plopped them in the snow.
That's more or less how the seating is for the on-mountain cafe at Mt. Hood Meadows all the time during late season. The little building is only big enough for the kitchen and staff. Of course, not normally spaced out like that.
 

BMR

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good news: I didn't fall or break anything :thumbsup:
Bad news: the first few runs were stressful with likely very poor form. It appears the skills with which I finished the last season have sadly evaporated over the break :frown:

Mask/goggles situation was also not ideal. I basically had to choose between having goggles on or having a mask on. Having both resulted in severely fogged up goggles. So what I had to do is lift the goggles and put the mask on for the lift. Once on the lift, put the goggles on, lower the mask, ski down, goggles off, mask up... rinse and repeat.

I was also surprised that the resort did not offer any outdoor warmup options. No heaters, no firepits, nothing. No seating even. All of that was removed. The lodges were all converted to sit down restaurants, but we are not comfortable doing that. We had lunch in the car, which was fine actually, the kids enjoyed warming up this way and having differ leftovers while recounting our experiences. You really have to wake up and get there early to get a good parking spot. Otherwise you have to hike in ski boots to your car for a long time. Shuttles are not running, and I am not sure i'd want to take one anyway.

So there we have it... Let's see what the season brings.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Tremblant Dec 5 and 6. Saturday was cloudy and warm. So spring skiing. I rode the gondola up with 1 other person. Windows were open, we both were masked up. By the time I got to the top, my goggles were wet on the inside and then immediately froze. So I was skiing blind for a while. There were (and still are) on 14 runs open. That equates to 4 ways down to mid-station and 1 run out each side. But top to bottom both sides. I didn't venture into the Grand Manitou. Rode chairs either by myself or with 1 other person on the other end.

Sunday - met up with friends, so we could ride together. I had purchased a visor helmet and was eager to try it out. And was it cold, damp and windy. This visor will be good when we don't have to wear a mask, but there is not enough ventilation to keep it clear. This time I did venture into the Grand Manitou. They have a really good set up. You go in through the basement doors by the washrooms. You can then stay at that level or go upstairs. No bags allowed to be left. There was plastic barriers up so you stayed in a lane while walking and they divided off the tables. Cafeteria service was way different. You had to ask someone for the cups for coffee. They also gave you the cream or sugar and stir stick. I didn't order food, so not sure what was going on there. At each table that was a laminated sign that you flipped over when you sat down. When you left someone would come a clean the table and chairs and flip the sign back over that it was clean.

I found mask usage was 99.5%. Just a few kids mostly. Maybe because Sunday was so cold, everyone was masked up anyways. Only saw 1 person with a mask that I didn't think met criteria. The serius mask with the holes and nose open, to me doesn't cut it, but I wasn't close enough to see if they had another one under it.

Pet peeve of the 2 days, was the race teams. Tremblant race teams were all over the place. There was really limited terrain for the number of kids that ski fast. I heard that on Friday they actually had a partial run closed for them. Many people not happy about that. They didn't do it on the weekend. Conditions were man made ice base with loose snow on top. Typical start of the season especially with the warm Saturday and freeze overnight into Sunday.

Crowds were sparse considering this should have been one of the busiest weekends of the year. They usually have the 24 hr race on, but went virtual this year, like so many other things.

Those who were on the Zoom call Friday night, got so see my little condo. It's comfortable, not big, but it's on the mountain. I can go home for lunch which for me was the biggie to keep it this year.

So good 2 days out. If I didn't have the place there, I probably would not have gone. The amount of terrain open vs the 4 1/2 hr drive, and the money for a place to stay....not really a good plan. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks they can blow snow or get some natural.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Good news: I didn't fall or break anything :thumbsup:
Bad news: the first few runs were stressful with likely very poor form. It appears the skills with which I finished the last season have sadly evaporated over the break :frown:

Mask/goggles situation was also not ideal. I basically had to choose between having goggles on or having a mask on. Having both resulted in severely fogged up goggles. So what I had to do is lift the goggles and put the mask on for the lift. Once on the lift, put the goggles on, lower the mask, ski down, goggles off, mask up... rinse and repeat.

So there we have it... Let's see what the season brings.

Search here for the discussion on Abom goggles. I bought them for this reason, and they work perfectly.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
@ski diva - Do you have a first day report now? Truly curious as to how things are up there.

FINALLY got out today. Skied Killington, and it was sooooo good to get out!

So as well all know, things are different this year. Killington has a parking reservation system in place to regulate crowd size. You pull up, show your reservation to an attendant, and park. That was fine. We arrived half an hour before the lift opened, so we got a good spot not far from the lift (no shuttle bus, @ilovepugs ). Then we did what's the new normal: booted up in the car. Seriously, Divas-who-do-that-on-a-regular-basis, I don't understand how -- or why -- you do that instead of booting up in a nice, warm, dry lodge. It is NOT FUN, especially when it's really cold and windy and kind of precipitating little icy pellets, like it was today. I am not a fan.

Anyway, I guess it's because only limited terrain is open and everyone is concentrated into a few trails on the mountain, but there were a heck of a lot of people there, particularly for a Monday. The lifts were pretty backed up early in the day. People were far too close together for my taste and no one was telling them to spread out. It got better later on, but at first it was a bit much and I was a bit freaked out. I will say, however, that everyone was wearing face coverings, so kudos to people playing by the rules.

IMG_2040.jpg

The conditions were pretty good, too. There was some ice but coverage was impressive, especially considering we didn't get the big dump they got in New Hampshire and Maine. It's all pretty much man-made, and it's early season.

One thing that surprised me, though, was the number of cars in the parking lot from out of state. As you know, Vermont has strict quarantine mandates in place. To be fair, you can't always tell from a license plate where people are living. Many could be holed up in their second homes, riding out the virus for the duration. And yes, others may have done their due diligence and quarantined for the required amount of time. And while I'm not the border patrol, I have strong suspicions that not all of these people are playing by the rules. Then again, as long as they're behaving themselves....... Nonetheless, there were a LOT of cars from MA, CT, NY, and NJ. Just a lot of people, in general -- more than I thought would be there.

But hey, I'm glad I finally got out. This is the latest I've started my skiing in many years, so I have a lot to make up for. Tomorrow I'm skiing Okemo.

IMG_2060.JPG
 
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Christy

Angel Diva
Seriously, Divas-who-do-that-on-a-regular-basis, I don't understand how -- or why -- you do that instead of booting up in a nice, warm, dry lodge.

Because...where I have skied regularly (Crystal, Stevens, Snoqualmie and Whistler) there are no nice spaces to boot up. For example Crystal only has a small cold crowded (on weekends) dank basement locker room. Stevens has an out of the way upstairs room where people leave their stuff but it's super crowded and there's no good place to leave a bag. I don't think Snoqualmie has anything at all. Whistler has nothing at Creekside, I don't think they have anything at Blackcomb; there is a basement locker room at the village gondola that works okay if you don't mind paying $$$ for a locker. These (not Whistler of course) have always been day use areas for Seattle people. They didn't need to have nice facilities. So it's not like, say Sun Valley, which is meant to attract tourists, where you boot up in a beautiful lodge with a fire and there are free cubbies.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Is the Rams Head area open yet? I liked parking there and then moving around the mtn.

No. The only things open are some trails off the Snowdon lift, the North Ridge Quad, the gondola, and the Canyon lift.
 
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Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
FINALLY got out today. Skied Killington, and it was sooooo good to get out!

So as well all know, things are different this year. Killington has a parking reservation system in place to regulate crowd size. You pull up, show your reservation to an attendant, and park. That was fine. We arrived half an hour before the lift opened, so we got a good spot not far from the lift (no shuttle bus, @ilovepugs ). Then we did what's the new normal: booted up in the car. Seriously, Divas-who-do-that-on-a-regular-basis, I don't understand how -- or why -- you do that instead of booting up in a nice, warm, dry lodge. It is NOT FUN, especially when it's really cold and windy and kind of precipitating little icy pellets, like it was today. I am not a fan.

Anyway, I guess it's because only limited terrain is open and everyone is concentrated into a few trails on the mountain, but there were a heck of a lot of people there, particularly for a Monday. The lifts were pretty backed up early in the day. People were far too close together for my taste and no one was telling them to spread out. It got better later on, but at first it was a bit much and I was a bit freaked out. I will say, however, that everyone was wearing face coverings, so kudos to people playing by the rules.



The conditions were pretty good, too. There was some ice but coverage was impressive, especially considering we didn't get the big dump they got in New Hampshire and Maine. It's all pretty much man-made, and it's early season.

One thing that surprised me, though, was the number of cars in the parking lot from out of state. As you know, Vermont has strict quarantine mandates in place. To be fair, you can't always tell from a license plate where people are living. Many could be holed up in their second homes, riding out the virus for the duration. And yes, others may have done their due diligence and quarantined for the required amount of time. And while I'm not the border patrol, I have strong suspicions that not all of these people are playing by the rules. Then again, as long as they're behaving themselves....... Nonetheless, there were a LOT of cars from MA, CT, NY, and NJ. Just a lot of people, in general -- more than I thought would be there.

But hey, I'm glad I finally got out. This is the latest I've started my skiing in many years, so I have a lot to make up for. Tomorrow I'm skiing Okemo.

of course I’m looking forward to the Okemo report even more! Thank you for the update! I’ll watch for this tomorrow!
 

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