This weekend, me and friend (Drew) were looking to go to App for the $5 lift tickets but the warm weather and short window for blowing seems to have kept them from opening this weekend. After reviewing the webcams, slope times and ticket prices, we decided to head to Sugar for a Sat night session. In addition, we needed to stop by Sugar to pick up the chair Drew purchased from the old chair lift. Earlier in the year, Sugar advertised they were selling the chairs individually for $150.00. A little steep, but it will make a great back porch swing and owning a bit of local history is cool, too. Heck we all learned to ride on the mountain. (There are still a bunch of chairs sitting out in the lot. FYI)
Drew borrowed his Dad's truck to pick up the chair.
It is always nice to see the mountains in the distance on 421. Good things to come.
Whenever Drew and I head into Boone we always seem to plan the trip around eating at Black Cat in down town Boone. If you haven't been here before, it is well worth the trip. Great local burrito shop located on N Depot street across from Farmers Ski Shop.
BLACK CAT!! YUM!
We pulled into Sugar around 5:30 on Saturday night and decided to go ahead and try and locate the necessary people to pick up the chair. After bouncing around from person to person, we met with security at the admin office. They double checked Drew's e-receipt and told us to head down to lot 3 to pick any chair we wanted. I was really surprised these chairs were just sitting out in the open with no lock on them or anything. After looking over the chairs and realizing how heavy they were, we just decided to take the one that was on the back of the line. (Almost all of them are in really good shape.)
Drew's new chair.
After picking up the chair we changed and headed to the slopes for the first runs of the season. Based on the weather info Ray supplied on his website, I figured the snow would be soft as his predictions were just above freezing. Yea.... temps were well below freezing, which froze all the moisture from the warm sun earlier. It was a bit slick out.
The slopes were filled with bodies and walkers as I imagine the low ticket prices and early season draw pulled in a lot of new riders. The conditions were not favorable for learning at all. North Ridge/Switchback were the slickest points. The sides had some dust to play with but you had to watch close for bare spots, too.
Even with the slick conditions there was enough coverage for me to break out my new board and bindings. Neversummer Ripsaw and Union Atlas bindings. I had been looking to upgrade my set up for a little while and this fall I finally pulled the trigger when my local shop was running a killer sale. (Thank you Ski & Tennis Station in Winston Salem)
The board is awesome! Fast. Responsive and stable. There were only a couple places on the upper flying mile that had enough soft stuff where I felt comfortable to press it a bit and see what I could do with it. Very much looking forward to getting it on some softer snow and seeing what I can really do with it.
However, even though the board responded well that night, I looked like a newb when I got to the top of the mountain for the first run that night. I strapped in, stood up and went to get up on my toe edge. At that point I either I forgot how to do that or the board didn't respond like I thought it would. Either way, I ended up on my face just a few feet after I stood up. That was fun.
I took my time coming down north ridge and switch back due to the ice and the new set up. Trying to figure everything out. It got better as I made my way down the mountain but at some point along the way, I lost my lift pass. Apparently I had hooked the metal tag through the fabric pull of my zipper instead of the zipper pull itself. I assume when I feel at the top I pulled the tag off.. dont know. Either way, it was very difficult to get another pass even with my receipt and the credit card I purchased it with. Thankfully we had made friends with the security guys earlier when getting the chair lift and they were able to talk administration into issuing me a replacement ticket. I was bit worried I was going to have to buy another pass after only making 1 run.
Back Track: On Friday morning I finally went to the doctor about some foot pain I have been having that reared its ugly head last year in Colorado. Turns out I have Mortons Neuroma in my left foot. He gave me a shot of cortisone on the top of left foot, close to the base of my toes. That was a lot of fun. The shot seemed to help but I still struggled with a little discomfort after a couple hours in the boots. Does anyone else on here have this, too? Anyone found anything that helped?
New lift.... a big plus for Sugar. Moves along at a great pace and speeds up the process so much. A game changer for them for sure! High five to the administration for biting the bullet and making such a costly improvement. However, I have a few issues with it that I believe will end up slowing it down if they are not resolved.
First, the loading zone. Its uphill. There is a low spot at the base and then a decent uphill grade to get to the scanners. That night they didn't have any ropes up to control the lines but when they do I imagine this will cause some issues for newer skiers and boarders as they attempt to shuffle their way up. I foresee a lot of people slipping, sliding and banging skis/boards together in the process. It addition to that slope, you have to climb up a very steep ramp to get on the loading platform. Thankfully it wasn't too slick with the carpet but it made my nervous every time I skated up on to it. A few people did fall getting on in front of us, though. Again, I hope this is resolved with more snow and grading.
Second, the unloading zone. I don't know who though this was going to be ok but they really should reconsider this. I don't mind the steep ramp. They covered it with some really nice rubber/fingered mat thing that really controls speed. Hell, it is almost impossible to unload from the chair early as you need a little snow on it to slide your board/skis on it. The problem is the dirt wall, covered in rocks, that is 20 feet from the base of the ramp. With the snow being so slick, there were always people down at the base of the ramp trying to get up. Just about every time I unloaded I had to dodge people that were down. Thankfully the crowd was thin so it was only Drew and I on the lift together each time. If they were forcing us to load 6 wide, there would have been no where for anyone to go with someone laying down in the exit. (I never saw a lifty at the top come to help or stop the lift that night) In addition to that, the exit area is narrow until you reach the opening at the top of North ridge. I love snowboarding but the number of snowboarders that find it OK to stop anywhere and strap in really gets under my skin. So not only did we have to dodge people that were down at the unloading zone we had to dodge people sitting around just after you made the turn. I can see this being an issue once things start to pick up again. I thought they were planning a side unload on this lift. I guess not. Hopefully they can do something and move some of that dirt and open the exit up a bit. If not, I imagine MLK holiday will be carnage at the top.
Again, the lift is a super improvement over the old one. I don't want to sound like that guy that always complains and never has anything good to say. I am seriously impressed with how smooth and fast the new lift is. We were able to make so many more runs that night due to the speed of that lift. I just think there are a few final details that need to be worked out with it to really take advantage of their new found efficiency.
We called it a night after making a dozen runs or so and 3 or 4 top-to-bottom runs with out stopping. (I really need to focus more on leg endurance before we had to Utah. FEEL THE BURN!!)
Drew just picked up a new Jeep earlier in the week and he needed my help moving all the old racks from his old jeep to his new one. Figuring it was going to be a late night we picked up a couple drinks to make sure we could make the drive home and complete the work.
Haven't had a SURGE in years!! 56g of sugar was enough to make the drive home very easy.
However, you can't possibly finish the first turns with out some celebration.
Racks on! Looks awesome!
Hot tub time! Perfect to relieve the sore legs after the first session. Seriously need to get the legs back in shape before heading west. After the first run that night we both were wondering where our ski legs went from last year. haha.
Overall a great night considering the weather we have had lately. Looking forward to more turns in the future!
