Snow Journal - Serious About Snowsports!

Home

Forums : General Discussion : Trip Reports
Moderated by: Chris

Anonymous posts are not allowed in this forum

Northeast Slopes, VT Jan 10, 2009

Page: 1

Author

Post

nelsap
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 21, 2001
Posts: 3649

Location:Saratoga Springs, NY

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 4:25 PM GMT

As the first day of our ski vacation, hit up NE Slopes. Had always wanted to ski there but never had the chance.

NE Slopes is in the process of upgrading their facilities by adding a refurbished T-bar lift. This lift is mostly a T-bar that was from Stratton, which was moved to Bradford, MA. A few towers are from the Cardigan Mtn School's lift in NH. The lift is not ready yet, but the towers are up, and the ski area hopes to get it operational either later this winter or definitely by next winter.

Lift tickets are cheap, just $14. The two rope tows were in operation. The summit rope tow is extremely, extremely fast. I'm talking somewhere near 1200 ft/min fast - faster than an hsq! You need to have work gloves for this lift. You also need to wear an old parka. The rope goes so fast that if it hits your jacket, it will tear and or melt it. It can also be hard to hold on to the tow, as I found out. You need good upper body strength and I am not in as good shape as I want to be, and had some trouble holding on to the tow. The upcoming T-bar will alleviate these problems. You can imagine that riding a 320' vertical rope tow for about a minute going 1200'/min can be tough.

However, the skiing was just perfect. Most trails were packed, and there are numerous chutes, dips and rolls to keep things interesting. This is classic VT terrain!

The lodge had a small snack bar with burgers from local beef, and was seriously one the better burgers I have had!

The volunteers at NE slopes were extremely friendly, and actually made good conversation with us unpromted. You just don't see that very often at larger ski areas. They really appreciate their customers.

Colin and Genevieve, who had met before at the Hannes Schneider Race, are volunteers and showed us around the base area, lifts, etc.

I recommend that all SJ'ers and NELSAPPErs check out NE Slopes to experience some classic VT skiing!

Jeremy

__________
Attachments:

__________
Jeremy Davis

mapnut
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jul 31, 2002
Posts: 5060

Location:New York City

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 9:49 PM GMT

Can't they slow the rope tow down? Sounds like it goes much faster than the optimum.

jb66
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jun 24, 2004
Posts: 1585

Location:

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 10:25 PM GMT

Looks great- still on my 'must ski' list. Do you know their operating schedule, or how to find out? I will try Googling, but maybe you noticed? Thanks for the pics, and I am off to dig out an old parka and gloves.

newman
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Aug 21, 2008
Posts: 2124

Location:The mighty SKI WARD Shrewsbury MA

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 10:25 PM GMT

Isnt the rope at the Greylock Ski Club fast like that? All the ropes I have ever been on are gone. They were all on bunny hills. They were glove burners at the slow speed! I can only wonder what that one was like. I think Bousquet offered tubing, with a rope tow, its first tubing season. That must of been a sight to see.

nelsap
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 21, 2001
Posts: 3649

Location:Saratoga Springs, NY

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 10:55 PM GMT

Jb66 - their web addy is northeastslopes.org, which has their hours.

The only similar tow left is the one at Greylock - but members can use tow grippers, which is an awesome invention! My arms did not get tired using it there. Wish they were still legal elsewhere (Greylock has an exemption).

JD

__________
Jeremy Davis

jb66
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jun 24, 2004
Posts: 1585

Location:

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 11:33 PM GMT

thanks- linkifiedNE Slopes

jb66
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jun 24, 2004
Posts: 1585

Location:

Posted: Jan 17, 2009 - 11:33 PM GMT

thanks- linkifiedNE Slopes

Bill29
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Dec 19, 2002
Posts: 2414

Location:

Posted: Jan 20, 2009 - 3:31 PM GMT

Sounds like the rope at Word Hill in Shrewsbury, Mass., 50 years ago. It was a slingshot. If you turned just right at the top it would shoot you out in a long, curving turn. I don't you could ski down the slope any faster than that rope got you up.

oldtimer
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Oct 04, 2005
Posts: 70

Location:

Posted: Jan 20, 2009 - 3:43 PM GMT

While short, the rope at the Lyndon Outing Club is very zippy- once you get used to rope tows you like them as fast as possible so you can drop the damned rope and go ski-

Page: 1