Suicide Six, VT 1/30/00

[Benjie]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/30/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Today, I went with the family down to Suicide Six. Never having skied there, and knowing the stats (650 vertical, a couple of double chairs), I wasn't expecting much at all. But I was bowled over by the place! First of all, it's a lovely mountain, with winding trails and open slopes following the contours of the hill, punctuated by glades and islands of hemlocks and giant old maple trees. Second of all, it has a great small ski area feel, with a real village (South Pomfret) at the bottom instead of condos and strip development. And finally, there's some challenging skiing! The mountain is imposingly steep, with 3 or 4 black diamonds spilling right down the face. They had left a lot of terrain ungroomed, and although the trails under the lift are wide, they have plenty of quirky hummocks and drop-offs. And one trail, Back Scratcher, is incredibly steep, perhaps almost as steep as Freefall at Smuggs, though not terribly long - nothing at Suicide Six is very long. Off to the sides, there are narrower and gentler trails, many ungroomed. Around the back is a huge sunny meadow where you can ski down anywhere you like. <BR> <BR>There was just barely enough snow to open all the trails. Obviously there wasn't much of a base before the last storm, because I kept hitting rocks. Still, I'd rather have no base than a base of ice, and their snowmaking capabilities seem limited enough that there wasn't much manmade ice down there. So, the snow was soft, the sun was out, and the mountain was a lot of fun. Definitely worth checking out, as long as there's enough snow and everything's open. I think I read something about 2-for-1 Vermonter days on Tuesdays, and since a midweek ticket is $22 (weekend is $40), that sounds like a pretty good deal.