Smuggs 1/11/07

[Smuggs#1Poacher]

Ah yes, your old cronie from St. Mikes...I know that guy...quite a character. As for sterling, they are planning on putting in a new chair this coming summer...supposedly keeping the uphill capacity nearly the same...I like the idea of the ball snapper sign...might have to make that happen again. As for a diffrent chair on madonna, i hope it never happens...too many gapers would think they could go up there...

 

[ono]

i'd enjoy seeing that sign regain its rightful place on the mountain.

why has smuggs started putting so many good stashes on the map (who the hell decided to name that run "shakedown" anyway? that shoulda stayed finders keepers, among others)

a high speed detachable double chair on sterling would be ok, i guess. do fast laps into the back bowls. 25,000 vertical ft all back bowls...

does anyone know that boulder/cave that people made into a chill spot off of a cruiser on sterling (i think a trail may drop into the notch from it) skiers far left on the edge of the resort coming down sterling? what's that thing called? it's like a stone hut or something...

 

[yak]

Yeah, I was surprised to see Shakedown show up on a map. And what they did to Robbins Run sucked too. It used to be a secret, and it used to spill straight out onto lower Drifter.

Good on Ya if you can get another Ball Snapper sign up! I never saw the stone hut you mentioned. It wasn't generally a popular area to ski on Sterling. But I was in the igloo off Chilcoot last March. We watched the roof collapse as it was being repaired.

 

[JJA]

Smuggs was my old stomping ground when I was at St Mikes in the late 70's. Other than a few new trails and a couple of new lifts, it hasn't changed much. In fact, one of my college cronies is running the patrol there now.

Does anyone remember the trail "Ball Snapper" ? Locals used to put up a sign every year, and management would take it down, only to have it replaced again. (It's the little bailout chute that goes to the left above the big rock under the Sterling lift). I remember jumping the rock when we used to have our Winter Weekend at Smuggs - maybe something to do with the kegs of beer at the base of Sterling and the "beer races".

And one of the best double fall lines on the mt is on Sterling - Black Bear.

I remember Ball Snapper, i just used it as the subject in an email to an old ski racing buddy, as a joke obviously.

I skied at smuggs every weekend (and during the week often) for about 12 years straight, from when i started racing there at 6 years old until i was 18. The terrain is great and the backcountry is easily accessible (and now more crowded than ever), but if you can only go on the weekends, don't even bother unless there is good snow and you aren't concerned about the amount of skiing you get in. Otherwise, you're much better off at jay, stowe or sugarbush on the weekends where you can actually ski instead of wait in line. I do miss skiing at a place where I know the mountain so well, knowing almost every stash in the woods...oh well...

 

[Southern freshies]

I've been skiing Smuggs for 35 years and just can't get away from the mountain. Both Madonna 1 and Sterling lifts are still the same as when I started. First time I skied the Madonna lift line was in April after a 3foot dump we were nuts as we literally rolled down the face. There's double fall lines both along this trail and on a number of other trails in the area. I now live in North Carolina and could just as easily go out west but there is something about this mountain that brings me and our family back every year. If you like steeps and the conditions are right you can find no better mountain in the east.

 

[Patrick]

I now live in North Carolina and could just as easily go out west but there is something about this mountain that brings me and our family back every year.

I hope that Tony will read this... :wink:

 

[Tony Crocker]

I did, but if he has to buy an air ticket in advance to ski Smuggs he's going to be disappointed a lot more often than when he lived within drive distance.