 |
MA
|
| |
ME
|
| |
NH
|
| |
VT
|
| |
Register
|
| |
Login
|
 |
|
|
|
> |
 |
Stratton Mountain Resort Sunday, December 8, 2024 | |
Submitted on December 9, 2024 by indyskier29 ( 139) | ||
 |
Session | Full Day |
 |
Ticket Type | Complimentary from Ski Area |
 |
Lift Lines | 3 to 5 minutes |
 |
Trail Conditions | 75% open; Packed Powder, Powder |
 |
Glades | Open with excellent conditions and full coverage. I only skied Eclipse, which I did really enjoy. |
 |
Moguls | Soft packed powder moguls on most of the natural snow trails with some pitch. Nothing crazy but they were super playful. |
 |
Terrain Park(s) | Didn't see any but I wasn't looking, I'm sure they had one somewhere. |
 |
Run of the Day | Rick's Catch 22 |
 |
Food and Beverage | Chili + grilled cheese combo, $19, tasted good and was filling. |
 |
Comments | My first time ever at Stratton and I was blown away by the conditions and amount of open terrain. I arrived around 9:30, garage/lot 1 were full so I parked in lot 2. Rookie mistake - Sun Bowl had tons of parking and no shuttle necessary. That said, the shuttle was easy, no line and dropped me right at the base. The Gondola was on wind hold (shocker), as was Snow Bowl Express, so after about a 10 minute line for Amex I skied down to Ursa, found an even bigger line, and continued onto Sun Bowl. The entire complex was open, with a much shorter liftline and everything on deep natural snow. I skied every run in the area at least once, from Rick's Catch 22 over to Gentle Ben. Rick's had been skied on the least, had a nice pitch and excellent snow with soft bumps - though that could really apply to every trail over there. Just great cruising runs all around, and on natural it felt like the East as it was meant to be skied. I braved the 10-12 minute line and went up Ursa twice before lunch. Took Bear Down the first time, which was great up top but a little dicey on the steeper portions, not bad at all. The "overhauled" lift broke down for about 10-15 minutes my second run up, eventually restarting on auxilary power before breaking down for much longer later on. I braved the strong wind across the summit and took Drifter down, which had some wind blown snow and crust up top and was packed powder (manmade base) otherwise. Kept lapping the Sun bowl for about an hour and a half after lunch - Ursa reopened ~2:15, and the line was gone. Visibility had declined to near-zero by this point up top. I took a few laps on Ursa, skiing Black Bear, Polar Bear, Franks, and Upper Spruce. Polar bear was a little skied off to a manmade base. Frank's was in great shape, and once I got out of the clouds you could really open up on it. Skiers right of Upper Spruce was a contender for run of the day, with great snow and bumps along the trees. Unfortunately, the natural stuff (especially where it was still "chop" and not packed powder) was beginning to get a little crusty and sticky, as light snow early had turned into a weird mix of freezing rain, fog, and sleet. My jacket had a bulletproof crust of ice on it by my last run around 3:15, when I decided to call it quits. Glad I got it while it was good - this week looks like a cluster. |
 |
URL | |
 |
Report Rating | 5
|