TR: Beech,Sugar--2 mountains one day

[davidski]

So after all my attempts to time this day around a high country storm there was not much in the way of fresh but he who seeks will find and it turned out to be a fantastic day





Part I, BEECH



Coming into Boone at about 7AM the wind was intense





and it continued to be for most of the morning





some snowloaded drifts but for the most part it was scoured pretty clean









I seriously considered taking a stab at the power line but on my way I wimped out -- anything with exposure was compacted pretty hard







also that's really not a run to try alone --I know excuses, excuses. Anyway I found these trees instead (split my lip pretty good on one of those not so supple little branches)

















PART II, SUGAR



So it was a good morning, the winds were dying down a little, and the sun shining thru a lot as I went for a part two of the day- at Sugar.



Sugar's conditions were considerably better, probably in part from the afternoon softening. First time in a long time I've been with it completely open and I remember now that it's a pretty killer mountain for these parts -- thank God though for the mid-loading option. Friends don't let friends ride the lift from top to bottom (except for refreshments of course)



Crowds were pretty low. The P4's (my beloved battleships) drew a lot of comment









The top was excellent with a lot of soft stuff on the high points and as usual along the edges (I guess people think the trees will actually reach out and grab them, although...)















Someone introduced me to a little tree and gully run just beyond the Tom Terrific sign that was pretty cool but I took no pics







Whoopdedo was great on skiers left (wish we could stretch it a little)--













My "NO PAIN NO JANE" sticker led me to making several runs with a boarder who used to instruct and coach with the free stlye team at Winterpark/mary jane (hey chris if you read this I need those directions to the cliff/ladder hut again)





every time we went up we were eying the top of the liftline --at 4 o'clock and after seeing a second set of tracks it was too much to bear. A great way to end the day although I did leave a little dignity and a snow angel part way down







I guess I better start stopping at Sugar more then every couple of years

[skipanther]

great TR,I would try under the lift if it wasn't for all those pipes,rocks and stumps!I usually ski the left side of Whoop also,the middle usually is scraped away.Where was that set of trees at Beech,was it the big patch between the 2 intermediate runs?

[skipink]

Nice David. With pictures and everything.

[angel]

The snow amounts this year are hard to believe! Who remembers the last time NC had a winter like this one???

[brookbarrel]

Looks like another good day on the snow for you ! As much as I see you venturing out into the trees, perhaps I can get you out into a stash or 2 at the summit next weekend?I'm alway's going solo and never getting any good action pics.

[sirtalkmuch]

Finally somebody hit that liftline. I looked at it a couple weeks ago, but it was still too thin. Plus, there's a big cable that runs down the center of the whole line that didn't look friendly to me, but I guess with all this snow, that's out of play

[jamsandwich]

whoop, boulder and tom were in the best shape i've ever seen them. i got a few videos of my day out there at sugar, first time i've felt confident enough about the lack of ice on whoop to shoot pov video on it with my nicer camera.



it was a fantastic day in the afternoon.

[skipanther]

@angel 210710 wrote:The snow amounts this year are hard to believe! Who remembers the last time NC had a winter like this one???Maybe 93' or back in the 80s,hopefully there are more winters like this to make up for all those mild wimpy winter the past 15 years or so!I'm still not ready for spring,hoping for at least 2 or 3 more snowy weeks!Maybe the last week of March can be warm and sunny,then some April snowshowers after that!

[davidski]

@skipanther 210689 wrote:great TR,I would try under the lift if it wasn't for all those pipes,rocks and stumps!I usually ski the left side of Whoop also,the middle usually is scraped away.Where was that set of trees at Beech,was it the big patch between the 2 intermediate runs?



those trees drop out into the boundary side of WL they were a little more open then most stuff there but with tight and branch choked intervals -- but the snow was incredible

The trees past tom terrific have great spacing, loved that



@sirtalkmuch 210722 wrote:Finally somebody hit that liftline. I looked at it a couple weeks ago, but it was still too thin. Plus, there's a big cable that runs down the center of the whole line that didn't look friendly to me, but I guess with all this snow, that's out of play



its going to be pretty interesting after some melt to look back at some of the stuff that's been hit -- a lot of stuff I never would have comtemplated so didn't even look at too closely. I was warned about the cable although stumps seem more of a concern --tips up!!



@brookbarrel 210715 wrote:Looks like another good day on the snow for you ! As much as I see you venturing out into the trees, perhaps I can get you out into a stash or 2 at the summit next weekend?I'm alway's going solo and never getting any good action pics.



Definately. some of what you've posted I would love to get into-- some of it looks pretty tight for me.

If you look closely you'll see that my turns weren't all so pretty (btw I have a scheme involving Silver Creek)



thanks for the comments. Jamsandwich I look forward to seeing your video

[skipanther]

You had to sneak that under the chair run(Sugar)like a ninja I bet,you know how skipatrol at Sugar are,wonder if they ever lighten up at all?