Jay Silveira
New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 12/20/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR> I had some work to do on Saturday, but I managed to get out for a couple of hours in the afternoon and headed to Sugarbush. I arrived at around 1:30 and could see lots of guns blazing (specifically on Birch Run off North Lynx, and Easy Rider off the Village Double. I took a trip up the Gatehouse Chair and could see some beautiful (poached)tracks on the Waterfall face. Closer inspection revealed that they were nice, but there appeared to be a heavy layer of crust or glaze that kept the riders on top of much of the snow. At the top of the Gatehouse, I looked up at Birch Run, but decided to avoid the guns and headed down <BR>Pushover. Even though it was getting on in the afternoon, the snow on Pushover remained fairly soft since it is a green. I had seen a lot of <BR>untracked (and tracked) snow below the Village Double chair, and had to sample it. It had a few inches of fluff on top, with a heavier base / crust below that. The combination of low slope angle and tricky conditions made it tough, but it was still fun to put down some tracks. I then headed over to the Super Bravo and headed to Downspout. Conditions were as one would expect on Downspout at 1:30 on a Saturday, <BR>icy, icy, icy on most of the trail with the softer snow on the sides. Next I headed up to the top of Heaven's Gate, and hiked up the bit to ski the see what was going on at the summit. There was a breeze, and things were chilly! There were a few guys up there using the jump that has been made on that very upper hike-to portion of Jester (I guess it's Jester, but I dunno). I think Ski Patrol is fine with the jump since it is out of the way of everyone. I found the conditions on Jester to be much better than Downspout. Much more edgeable, maybe due to less traffic. I headed down to the base from there (via Downspout anyway). That finished off my quick tour of Lincoln Peak, but Saturday's trip was most importantly the first day I was able to test out my camcorder on real snow conditions. Sunday was bright and sunny, and I did some more shooting with friends. For more addition information, see that report as well.