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Stratton Mountain Resort
Stratton Mountain Resort
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Submitted on December 9, 2018 by rocket21 (1408 Rating1408)
Session SessionFull Day
Lift Ticket Ticket TypeIkon Pass
Lift Lines Lift Lines1 to 2 minutes
Snow Trail Conditions45% open; Loose Granular, Frozen Granular
Glades GladesI recollect seeing Why Not open, but the dust on crust conditions did not look inviting.
Moguls MogulsUpper Downeaster
Terrain Park Terrain Park(s)Tyrolienne
Run of the Day Run of the DaySuntanner
Food and Beverage Food and BeverageBase lodge was super crowded; hard to find a space. Chicken tenders and fries were around $13 before tax, but good.
Comments CommentsApart from lower mountain novice terrain, not great conditions today. Sun Bowl not yet open, so day skiers have to park at the distant lots and take a shuttle or walk a fair distance.

Of the upper mountain pods, Snow Bowl was the best, but limited with an overcrowded, icy entrance (through the wind fence) and exit (Interstate). Mikes Way and East/West Meadow were decent, as was Upper Slalom Glade. Upper Spruce was firm, but edgable. Get My Drift was very icy. Nothing below Interstate is open, but snow has been made and pushed out; presumably will remain closed until lift construction is complete later this month.

Upper main mountain was inconsistent at best. Upper Standard is closed/no snowmaking yet. Frank's Falline was closed for racing. Upper Tamarack was quickly scraped down to ice/boilerplate (and Big D was dangerously icy). Grizzly Bear was closed. Polar Bear was scraped in places and loaded with race teams. Black Bear was scraped. Very icy in places approaching the Ursa lift terminal, including Grizzly Access (lower tree island part not open). Annoyingly, they were scanning passes on this lift every run (even though you can't technically get here without riding a lift, or I guess if you skin up), backing things up at times.

Shooting Star was running, but very few skiers on it, as there was not much point. Upper Middlebrook was dangerously icy, was there was very little to sink an edge into on the steeps and turns. Survival skiing, especially avoiding others caught by surprise. Did not venture onto Upper Downeaster (steep bumps with some thin cover, did not look appealing). Only other way down to this lift was Sun Bowl Express, which is fine but short; could be combined with Way Home, which was also fine, but emptied onto the scraped portion of Black Bear.

Snowmaking in progress in some places on Sun Bowl.

Lower main mountain, Yodeller was nice. Suntanner was fantastic wall to wall loose granular (no park set up yet). Beeline is closed with huge whales on it. Lower Standard/Old Smoothie/East Byrnes Side were all decent.

I think all of the Tamarack complex was open; good conditions. Took three runs down here and would have done more, if not for the slow lift.

Lift lines were a few minutes long, but a bit hectic due to the old fashioned ticket scanning, as well as the constant confusion of trying to get 6 people in (and out of) a chair (quads are much easier!). Gondola line was down the steps due to the weather. Lifts looking tired with chipping paint.

Cold day that started with some blue sky and ended with some blue sky, but the upper mountain tended to be in the clouds with occasional stiff wind. Trails were pretty crowded around 10 AM; witnessed at least one nasty collision (aggressive snowboarder blindsiding a little kid on skis). Heard from regulars that this was 'empty'...can't imagine skiing here when it's 'busy!'
Link URLhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BrLTycSFC5D/
Rating Report Rating3 Rating3

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