Mt. Slow (snow) skiers??

**Benny Profane** · 10-22-2006, 05:24 PM

How are the trees?

**Dside11-11** · 10-22-2006, 06:30 PM

That place sucks with regular skis, but I heard it's pretty epic on Phantoms.

**Benny Profane** · 10-22-2006, 06:41 PM

hmmmmmm.......tell me more.

**Flexon Phil** · 10-22-2006, 06:53 PM

They are OK, nothing to write home about. Some stuff on the North Face and over in Carinthia, fun trees to play in, nothing real steep.

**schuss** · 10-22-2006, 07:06 PM

Yeah. Not bad when there's no snow in Northern Vermont, but short, flat and only good for just screwing around in.

**BigJay** · 10-22-2006, 08:28 PM

There are trees at Mt. Snow?

Yeah, there really isn't anything to write home about there. There's one descent shot next to ripcord, but it is short.

**laseranimal** · 10-22-2006, 08:54 PM

I've found a couple of nice shots in the north face area, but the only time i'm skiing mount snow is weekdays when schools are closed because of snow so my experiences are biased

**buckethead** · 10-22-2006, 09:00 PM

yea, the place is short on trees...and not much pitchwise. the steepest, ripcord is usually dust on ice...but the place has a homey vibe for an ASC resort, and if you get there for a midweek southern VT dump, it's usually pretty empty. i skiied fresh tracks on the north face till 4:10 last dec 9...and then came back to ski powder bumps the following day...
the place gets packed on weekends...

magic a little further north has some nice gnarly terrain, but they are very natural snow dependent

**dfinn** · 10-22-2006, 09:03 PM

powder bumps, now that's a term I've never heard before.

**buckethead** · 10-22-2006, 09:11 PM

originally posted by dfinn
powder bumps, now that's a term I've never heard before.

well, as opposed to the usual ice bumps...due to the light traffic the day before, the bumps were just forming...and still powdery - hero bumps.

**Benny Profane** · 10-22-2006, 09:27 PM

powder bumps

are you being ironic, or actually serious that that is a new term to you?

**Dexter Rutecki** · 10-22-2006, 10:08 PM

i can show you a few decent tree runs at mt. Snow, they're not all that short by EC standards, and some are pretty fun (mostly North Face, Carinthia seems to get tracked fast and is flat). Actually, the nice thing about Mt. Snow is my favorite shot through the trees seems to get very little traffic...I've had mostly freshies there five or six days after a storm, even following a weekend. Hell, sometimes there are shots on the trails that stay untracked for quite awhile. Most Mt. Snow skiers aren't too determined to find powder.
But the rest of it sucks, unless you're into the park, which is excellent (I know you're all about the park, Benny).

**buckethead** · 10-22-2006, 10:19 PM

originally posted by Dexter Rutecki
Hell, sometimes there are shots on the trails that stay untracked for quite awhile. Most Mt. Snow skiers aren't too determined to find powder.

true that! i remember skiing free fall and chute on the north face last feb...2/3 of the trail was boilerplate...90% of the folks actually preferred to slip+slide on that over hitting the fresh+boot deep snow that had blown into the remaining 2/3. was fine with me - it didn't get tracked out all day

**Benny Profane** · 10-22-2006, 10:21 PM

Thanx, Dex. A possibility of moving to Bennington, so, you know, gotta think about slow.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 10-23-2006, 06:36 AM

Friend of mine lived in Bennington for a few years so I used to go from there quite often. Mt. Snow is actually a pretty decent local option...and the passes are cheap.

**pnut** · 10-23-2006, 09:50 AM

I grew up skiing there.

We cut some cool tree runs on North Face & Sunbrook, find 'em and you'll be skiing powder all day - if it ever snows! They put one on the trail map - "the Plunge" next to Ripcord.

There was also a shot or two if you started to Haystack on the ridgetop trail
and dropped in off of that. But if you drop in the wrong place, it really sux bad.

"Growing up skiing at Mt Snow is like growing up ballin' in the hood"

**K-Stormchaser** · 10-23-2006, 10:03 AM

Ive had a fun day or two jumping from tree run to tree run at Mt Snow. Nice 15-20 footer in the Plunge...totally flat landing...needs 3-4' to land in..and you gotta be first maybe second...

**mrw** · 10-23-2006, 10:13 AM

Did you mount those bad boys yet?

**willywhit** · 10-23-2006, 10:20 AM

my dad is from Bennington. Prospect "Mountain" rocked back in the 70's-
2 T bars !!!
http://www.nelsap.org/vt/prospect.html
it was a big treat to go to Mt Snow or Haystack
who knew.........$450 million Haystack renovation
WILMINGTON- Governor Jim Douglas was on hand Friday for a groundbreaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the Haystack Club, a multi-faceted private residential and vacation resort complex at the former Haystack ski area.

Douglas characterized the ambitious project as an important component of the continued economic vitality of southern Vermont. “There’s a limit to what government can do,” Douglas said. “The future is in entrepreneurs like you.”

Bob Foise, one of the Haystack owners, described the ski area as a “jewel that hasn’t been recognized.” For more than a decade, the ski area was owned by Mount Snow. Over the past several years, skier visits to the area declined as American Skiing Corporation concentrated its maintenance and marketing focus on Mount Snow.

Foise said Haystack couldn’t succeed as a regular “daily fee” ski resort, catering to day and weekend ski traffic. Instead, Haystack Club will offer high-end real estate, lodging, and recreation. “Haystack has to become the finest place anybody’s ever seen,” Foise said.

Although Friday’s ceremony marked the “official” beginning of work on the resort, several projects have been under way since the group’s first round of state and local permits was approved. Haystack Club Executive Vice President Bob Rubin says the old Haystack Lower Base Lodge has been torn down, along with several of the smaller buildings nearby.

A four-unit townhome currently under construction will serve as the company’s showcase from which they plan to sell hundreds of additional units. “All four units will be decorated by a different design group,” Rubin says. “People will be able to come and walk through the different models and see quality before they make their selections.” Construction on the additional townhomes will commence as the units are sold, perhaps as soon as 2007.

A renovation of the former Haystack Upper Base Lodge is also under way. The former base lodge will serve as the resort’s youth center. Haystack’s original name for the youth center, “The Zoo,” has been dropped in favor of the “Hayloft.” The amenities at the Hayloft will include an indoor-outdoor pool with a slide, a “trendy” restaurant, a theater, and general seating on the first floor. The top floor will be home to a lounge and juice bar. The interior will be remodeled, and the exterior of the building will be redone to match the other buildings at the resort. “There will be lots of music and bright colors,” Rubin says. “It’s going to be a fun place for kids to be.”

Construction on a gatehouse and welcome center has also started. Located at the base of the mountain, near the snowmaking pond and pump house, the gatehouse will control access to and from the complex.

Rubin says work has already started to procure permits for the second phase of the project. By May 2007, he hopes to have permits in place to begin work on additional real estate projects: a new base lodge, restaurant, and spa complex; a centrally located propane facility; and a mountain operations building.

Overall, the Haystack Club plan calls for a 162-unit hotel, 118 townhomes, an 81-unit condominium complex on the upper mountain area, and an 89-unit condominium complex on the lower mountain. “All of the units will be ski-in/ski-out,” Rubin says.

One of the operational amenities will be a “transfer lift” that will take skiers from the mountain’s lower ski slopes to the main mountain. For valley stalwarts, the lift will be reminiscent of Haystack’s old transfer lift, as well as Mount Snow’s famous “air car” lift that delivered Snow Lake Lodge guests from the inn to the slopes. Although Haystack’s lift won’t include anything like Walt Schoenknecht’s futuristic George Jetson cars, the lift will offer a unique experience. According to the design, the lift will pass through a gap in the main lodge, which will be located adjacent to the Hayloft.

On the mountain, a new “chondola” combination chair lift and gondola will be installed in place of the current quad at the base area. The quad will be relocated to the lower base area and pressed into service as the transfer lift.The “chondola” will offer skiers the choice of riding to the top of the mountain in a 6-passenger chair, or an 8-passenger gondola. Dillon notes that the combination lift will be the only one of its kind in the northeastern United States. The only other “chondola” in the region is in Quebec. “It gives you the option of riding in a chair on the nice, sunny days or, when it’s a little colder, you have the option of the gondola,” Dillon says.

Permits are already in place for a new snowmaking pond and crews will be installing new snowmaking equipment with hopes of opening the slopes in fall 2007. The new equipment will include low-energy, tower-mounted snow guns, which will produce a drier, “more groomable” snow, according to Haystack Club President David Dillon. “We’ll have snowmaking coverage on the entire mountain,” says Dillon.

The resort will be private and closed to the general public, but Wilmington residents will have some limited access to the slopes. Rubin says the resort will be able to sell up to 250 tickets per day to skiers who can produce evidence, such as a driver’s license, that they reside in Wilmington.

On Friday, Foise also pledged that half of the profits from the project will be donated to local charities. The other 50% of profits will go into an employee compensation fund. Dillon said, at this time, there are no projections on the profitability of the venture. “I would think it could be a substantial amount of money,” Dillon says. “He (Foise) has a reputation as a very philanthropic man.”

**Dromond** · 10-23-2006, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by willywhit

The resort will be private and closed to the general public, but Wilmington residents will have some limited access to the slopes. Rubin says the resort will be able to sell up to 250 tickets per day to skiers who can produce evidence, such as a driver’s license, that they reside in Wilmington.

Well that's nice that they let the commoners come play in the courtyard now and again