Ski Southeast Messageboard

We had a blast at Sugar this weekend. We rode Sugar Friday and Saturday and the high speed loft allowed us to get a ton of runs in. Suprisingly we did not have any lift lines either day and were able to get a ton of runs in! Friday was extremely cold with poor visibility due to the snow guns running full steam all day. The foggy pic is what the mountain looked like the better part of the day Friday. As you can see by the other pic we kept a solid layer of ice on ourselves throughout the day (that pic was taken at 9:45 am). I even managed to get what I believe is some mild frost bite on my wrist! Also could not keep my phone or GoPro to stay on when exposed for more than a few minutes. I'm guessing it was too cold for the batteries as both were fine by the time we got back to the house. Saturday was much more hospitable with clear skies and slightly warmer temps. On Saturday they did NOT run any of the fan guns but had the other guns going. Word from a ski instructor on the lift, who was getting some early morning runs in, was that they were getting low on water and were trying to work out a deal to pump water from some of the golf course ponds to replenish their snowmaking ponds. As you see day 2 was much nicer, but the snow started getting hard and icy in the heavy traffic areas around 245 once the sun dipped over the ridge. All in all a very awesome first trip for me! Hope to see some of you guys next time I get a chance to come up and ride, I'll probably head to Beech next round!

kgw , I laughed. Can you fence a few primitive island pieces that have come my way? fell off a catamaran so to speak.

Aasnider, Appreciate the report but those are some scary pictures, did the creature in the last one snatch people off the chair lift -- or am I tripping?

Did they open any of the blacks at the top -- looks like they made snow on them. I've got to get somewhere this weekend

killglobalwarmingnow wrote:I was expecting the drought to be an issue but that was fast.

Also, I was a pre-med dropout before changing to Polynesian art history, but pretty sure your hand wound is herpes.

Yeah. I was wondering why they were not making any snow on gunthers, any or the blacks, sugar slalom, big red, etc... But if they are low on water I guess that explains it... Also sounds like you have some experience in the herpes department... I'm guessing you may have some personal history there??

Yeah, the real snow made for great skiing on Friday, but the visibility was not so good... They had one gun on Switchback, right before you hit Upper Flying Mile, aimed right in your face with no way to duck under it or go around, so every run that morning had a mandatory goggle cleaning stop It did clear up early afternoon, but they never cut the guns totally off.

Making snow on the guests is why I stay away from Sugar. Make snow at night and allow your patrons a gun free skiing experience.

I Ski wrote:Making snow on the guests is why I stay away from Sugar. Make snow at night and allow your patrons a gun free skiing experience.

I think this is the most complained about thing with skiing/snowboarding here in the Southeast and I think it's dumb. I understand that people don't want to deal with it and yeah it sucks (I had a crazy experience with them this past weekend myself), but it's a necessity. It's just how it is here and people should expect it during the early season at the very least. Their snowmaking time would literally be cut in half if they did this. HALF. That is significant.

That said, there are some occasions where I've thought they could reposition them a little better.

theKENDOG wrote:

I Ski wrote:Making snow on the guests is why I stay away from Sugar. Make snow at night and allow your patrons a gun free skiing experience.

I think this is the most complained about thing with skiing/snowboarding here in the Southeast and I think it's dumb. I understand that people don't want to deal with it and yeah it sucks (I had a crazy experience with them this past weekend myself), but it's a necessity. It's just how it is here and people should expect it during the early season at the very least. Their snowmaking time would literally be cut in half if they did this. HALF. That is significant.

That said, there are some occasions where I've thought they could reposition them a little better.

I have to agree with kendog here... I am by no means complaining about them making snow while they are open. It's almost like complaining that it is dumping powder throughout the day and your upset because there is reduced visibility and you are going to get a little snow on yourself. I fully expected when I went to get blasted and for it to be extremely cold both days, so I dressed appropriately. If anything I would rather go when they are blowing. For one it keeps the fair weather, sunglass wearing, skiers and riders away, which is why I think there were NO lift lines both days. If you are a serious skier or rider in the SE you just need to be happy that you have some snow to ride regardless of conditions. And secondly IMO it keeps everything from getting super hard throughout the day and keeps a fresh layer of snow near the surface, for the most part that is, your heavy traffic areas still get pretty hard in late afternoon. I really can't even give them too much grief about gun placement over the weekend, the one at the intersection of switchback and load off was pretty hard to avoid at times, but the wind had a lot to do with that too. Considering how many guns they had going I thought they were doing good to only blast us completely in one or two spots. I personally kept hitting the little whale that had built up in front of that one (switchback) and the one on the flat part of lower flying mile where the old 1/4 station was. Both gave some pretty good air, but blasted you right in the face with snow if you hit them. We went into the sports shop and bought a pair of ski-gee's each to help keep the build up off our goggles, they worked great and I highly recommend them, $3.50 well spent.

I have actually invested in a Capuchin monkey who has retired from the organ grinding circuit, I keep him in my backpack and he squeegees off my goggles, although when frightened he tends to cover up my eyes and just scream WEEEEEE!!!!!, which is not helpful. Also I have to buy him a full day child lift ticket which seems unfair... why is their not a Capuchin monkey rate at sugar? So unfair.

davidski wrote:I have actually invested in a Capuchin monkey who has retired from the organ grinding circuit, I keep him in my backpack and he squeegees off my goggles, although when frightened he tends to cover up my eyes and just scream WEEEEEE!!!!!, which is not helpful. Also I have to buy him a full day child lift ticket which seems unfair... why is their not a Capuchin monkey rate at sugar? So unfair.

Yeah I used to keep one in my pack too... Her name was Bananas. Then she started hanging out with my PoS neighbor's orangutan and picked up a bad banana habit so she got too big and they wouldn't let me get her a free lifty for being 3 and under... Also it got too annoying that you have to take your pack off while on the lift, she was just too heavy to keep taking on and off.

Aasnider wrote: It's almost like complaining that it is dumping powder throughout the day and your upset because there is reduced visibility and you are going to get a little snow on yourself.

You seriously would not believe how often I have heard people complain because it's snowing and messing up the grooming. I want to smack them, but then I realize at least they won't be snaking my lines.