Smugglers Notch 2/15 and 2/16

F

frontrange

New member
Despite abysmally low temperatures I enjoyed my first trip to Smuggs. Early morning summit temperatures were -15 to -20F- any wind (or skiing speed for that matter) equalled frostbite. I spent most of my time on Madonna and a little on Sterling. <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1942.jpg" ALT="From the Warming Hut"> Madonna skis every foot of its 2200 ft vertical with the steepest pitch up top. Oh, before I forget- Smuggs No Bull Snow Report has, well, a bit of bull. Most of the double black diamonds were roped off due to thin cover even though the web site showed them open. Being an Ohio skier I wouldn't have hazarded them either way. <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1943.jpg" ALT="Stow from Sterling"> <BR>The top of Madonna gives lets you head south with great view of Stowe or north. You can drop into the face of the mountain on Catwalk and hit any number of blacks- Upper FIS (not the very top which is a double black) had a nice pitch and skiied very well- a few ice patches here and there but nothing that couldn't be avoided. Upper Chillcoot to Guy's Northwest Passage was a great run with packed powder and a lot of nice fast turns. Almost all the upper blues should be able to keep any level skier interested- again- all packed powder made them all great. <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1944.jpg" ALT="Doc Dempseys"> On Sterling my son dragged me down Pipeline- a black that was very narrow and straight down. It was well groomed so other than ice quite doable. I have no complaints- except for the cold- but that kept all lines away on a Presidents Day weekend so whos complaining. <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1945.jpg" ALT="Upper Chillcoot">
 
Seems someone else complained about the snow report as well, it now mentions how to get to the double blacks... <BR> <BR>Freefall has been closed from the top most of the season, but can be accessed from the traverse from the left side of FIS about 100 yards down.. <BR> <BR>Liftline is always opened/closed in sections... (if the area below midstation is open, then i think they consider Upper Liftline open.) You can also cut into upper upper liftline (above catwalk) by traversing accross the upper upper part of FIS.. <BR> <BR>Nice pics... Smuggs is in great shape these days... really no ice to be found..
 
I did see a couple of people on the double blacks- especially the Upper FIS. It took some real rock hopping to miss the cliffs and ice. I've been to Whiteface the last couple of years for my annual pilgrammage to NE skiing. <BR> <BR>Its interesting how different in character two mountains so close can be. They're both big and steep but Smuggs has more ways down and has a better diversity of terrain. Its intermediates and experts tend to be more interesting because they're narrower. Whiteface also has somewhat limited intermediate terrain. Overall it probably has steeper terrain but the trails are generally cut wide enough that us skilled intermediates can ski them (without bumps that is). But I don't think anything in the NE can match the upper blacks at Whiteface for steep and long- you just seem to go down down down. <BR> <BR>Both great areas- Whiteface has a much better lift network but I think I enjoyed the trails better at Smuggs. Whats next? Stow, Jay, Burke. I'd like to do a couple days at each one!
 
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