Best Cruising Ski Runs (East Coast)

I love uncrowded cruisers. River's comments in the Okemo thread got me thinking.

Two questions:

What makes a great cruiser?

What is your favorite East Coast cruiser? Why?

(OK that's three questions.)

Please name the mountain all you homers. Pics welcome.

Can't decide between Willimgton trail at WF and trail under Burnt ridge chair at Gore. I like long cruisers with a decent pitch where you really cruise fast with long GS turns. I love to do both those trails top to bottom no stops. Leg burner style.

To me, a good cruiser is steep enough to keep the intermediates off - they are a little too unpredictable. A good cruiser allows mo to get some speed to make wonderful turns.  It's wide enough to give some variety. Near enough to a lift to make laps. Not too many intersections to watch for. The snow is consistently good quality.  It's also that intangible quality that leaves a smile on your face.

For NY ski areas, I nominate Wild Air at Gore.  

For VT, I nominate Needles Eye at Killington.

It also needs to be reasonably wide and uncrowded

Parkway and Drapers Drop at Whiteface are my choice for cruising

Lower Antelope at Mad River.  Like a long roller coaster, lots of windy turns, dips, jumps, beautiful scenery, a great workout, uncrowded, what else could you ask for....try skiing it all day....another great cruiser is 20th Hole, also at Mad River, not on the trail map, a small traverse / hike into the woods but then a couple of miles of deep woods cruising .

NYS
Hickory: Ridge Run
Windham: Wiseacres
Plattekill: Ridge Run
Belleayre: Peekamoose

Outside NYS
Burke: East Bowl
MRG: Antelope

Ski2moro summed up the definition. Being a Jay guy, I will give my opinions for that hill. Many great runs at Jay Peak are created by linking several distinct trails into one giant cruiser. All of these assume "non-crowded" and freshly groomed conditions. If crowded, any of these will be a gong show. Here are a few favourites:

1) Full Goat (Goat Goat Goat): Off the top of the Flyer (or Bonnie), take Northway to the Upper Goat. Cruise at speed to Lower Goat, slowing down only for the big zig-zag turns coming into the Taxi Chair intersection. Deke left then right and finish under Taxi Chair to lunch at Stateside Lodge. In icy/crowded conditions this is a horrowshow, especially the top section. Alternately, cut off to Lower Quai and Interstate to the Tram Haus.

2) Vermonter: Off the Tram, get on Tram last so you can get off first, boogie out quickly to get your skis on and be ahead off everybody else. Fly down the Vermonter, holy smokes, you can get some speed up on this run. Big air potential off the lip by the Green Beret intersection. Finish on Montrealer/Northway/First Chute/to either Bonnie or Jet.

3) Ullr's Dream/Kokomo: vastly under-rated, Ullr's is steep and fast at the top and very cruisy to the Kokomo cut-off. Kokomo is mellow and fun, much better runout than the bottom of Ullr's.

In ideal conditions one can attempt to ski these runs in "Full GS" mode, which is only turning to match the curve of the run. I find that we turn more as we get older.

Burnt Ridge, either Echo or Sag are great. Top Ridge with some fresh is a very fine cruise.

ski2moro wrote

To me, a good cruiser is steep enough to keep the intermediates off - they are a little too unpredictable. A good cruiser allows mo to get some speed to make wonderful turns.  It's wide enough to give some variety. Near enough to a lift to make laps. Not too many intersections to watch for. The snow is consistently good quality.  It's also that intangible quality that leaves a smile on your face.

For NY ski areas, I nominate Wild Air at Gore.  

For VT, I nominate Needles Eye at Killington.

Hmm, I disagree on dificulty. Cruisers are likely to be steep blues, but they don't need to be black. I agree on the snow quality and would add aspect to the list. A good cruiser with bad snow is just an icy groom. Where's the feel good in that? A good cruiser should also have full sun for a good chunk of the day, morning or afternoon.

I'd have to go region by region to pick the best, but my fav in the Catskills is Dot Nebel. May it never suffer another race day (when I'm there).

PowderRun wrote

Lower Antelope at Mad River.  Like a long roller coaster, lots of windy turns, dips, jumps, beautiful scenery, a great workout, uncrowded, what else could you ask for....try skiing it all day....another great cruiser is 20th Hole, also at Mad River, not on the trail map, a small traverse / hike into the woods but then a couple of miles of deep woods cruising .

Bumps? Trees?



Snail is a good cruiser. Nice packed pow, always groomed to perfection, and it's a sweet long run. Not a ton of pitch but the character of the trail and corkscrew windyness make up for it by way upping the entertainment factor.

Plus I've snagged cord there in the afternoon on a weekend.


Nice thread.

I skied Antelope and loved it but wouldn't call it a cruiser on the day I was there. It was blue in pitch but continuous irregular bumps and I was definitely tired at the bottom.

To me a cruiser is for laying trenches.  Skis on edge, and I love SBR's description... only forced to make turns to follow the trail. I also like Ml's requirement that it gets some sun.

I think my favorite is Dream Maker at Killington. It does have a short black section (?) but I remember it as a long sweet cruiser. I don't get to ski K enough because I am usually there either very early or very late.

Polecat at Wildcat is awesome, probably my second favorite.

At the North Creek Ski Bowl I like Moxham.

First run of the day...foxlair, Sunway, Quicksilver  Gore
Last Run of the day...Parons to Excelsior or Wilmington  Whiteface
Outside NY  and I haven't been there in a while but the run under the chair at Sugarloaf

Sagamore can be a good cruiser but I prefer it ungroomed

I just would rather not cruise

  In the Cats At Windham Lower Wipeout is fun cruising thru those million dollar houses,  Bottom half of Northface and Plunge at Plattie on hero snow can make you feel like Ted Ligety. Dot Nebel at Bell is great after the race season is over.
   Favorite cruising run at Elk is Kickapoo ,twists and turns then a little wide open skiing  down to the parking lot. With my reconstructed knee degenerating year after year these cruisers help me stay out there longer .  

To me cruisers mean early morning first chair cord. At Greek you can take your pick from Fields, Odyssey or Illiad ---- the all rock early AM when the masses are still sleeping.

At Smuggs, 7AM Milk Run down Chilcoot is soooooooooo fun!!

I say that Echo at Gore is one of the best.  The rest of the stuff on Burnt Ridge and the front side is awesome.

Twister and Echo are my picks. Both are long, have various pitches and numerous turns.

tom

sudsnbumps wrote

First run of the day...foxlair, Sunway, Quicksilver  Gore
Last Run of the day...Parons to Excelsior or Wilmington  Whiteface
Outside NY  and I haven't been there in a while but the run under the chair at Sugarloaf

Sagamore can be a good cruiser but I prefer it ungroomed

I just would rather not cruise

I don't ski Wilmington Trail in the afternoon because it tends to get skied off in the narrows by lunch time.

On a weekday or a non busy weekend I really like to rip big GS turns on Boreen.

Agree is Suds- Foxlair<Sunway<Quicksilver.  Whether it's on the first run or last run it's a great leg burner

WF - Lower Parkway

No Showcase love?
Gore's Cruiser Front Four - Twister, Showcase, Wild Air, Quicksilver
low blue - Tahawaus, Sleeping Bear, Headwaters, Moxham
hard blue - Echo, Sagamore

Hunter  - lots of variations but the main one is Hellgate to Broadway to Kennedy, Way Out

Plattekill - Northface to Lower Northface, Upper Face to Lower Face

Belleayre - Dot Nebel

Stratton - the whole mountain is loaded with cruisers

Sugarbush - Organgrinder to Lower Organgrinder, Spring Fling

Stowe - Perry Merrill, Gondolier, Chin Clip

Twister---to me a cruiser is a slope where one can ski top to bottom without ever checking speed and/or constantly looking for ways to increase speed.   Clean edging top to bottom.