Smuggler's Notch Help

Face4Me wrote

The friends we were meeting are not the "best" skiers, and since we were their guests, and they got us free lift tickets, I didn't feel right about "ditching" them (even on a powder day)

Wow, yes, that would be awkward, but, you know, it's a new mountain, and, hey, you took a wrong turn back there, didn't know where you were, and, I don't know, lost you guys, but, man, the powder was awesome in the trees over on whatyoucallit trail. Awesome.

Just make sure you have a hookup place/time for lunch/apres before you get on the lift. And, turn the phone/radio off. All will be forgiven after the first beer.

Benny Profane wrote

Wow, yes, that would be awkward, but, you know, it's a new mountain, and, hey, you took a wrong turn back there, didn't know where you were, and, I don't know, lost you guys, but, man, the powder was awesome in the trees over on whatyoucallit trail. Awesome.

Just make sure you have a hookup place/time for lunch/apres before you get on the lift. And, turn the phone/radio off. All will be forgiven after the first beer.

Benny you are funny like a clown. Get well bro.

Harvey44 wrote

Benny you are funny like a clown. Get well bro.

Thanks, Harv. This sucks, sitting around another weekend.

Hey, if you think I'm bad, you should meet my best ski buddy, who is floating around the Rockies right now. He once left me standing there with his ex wife, scared and crying in the wind and snow at the top of Alta, to go get some. Yes, i said, ex wife. I mean, I've been known to blow a lot of stuff off for fresh, but even I stayed there to nurse her down.

campgottagopee wrote

Glad you had a good time. Too bad you couldn't get into the good stuff. Being a WF skier I can see why you would think it's an itermediate mountain, but with snow it ain't. As for the steep stuff being short, well, if you can take the headwall on liftline or freefall in one or two turns you are an ANIMAL!!!

The intermediate comment was directed only at the trail system, the glades that we skied were great, and to address ML242's comment, I know that we didn't really get to ski it "properly". I really wanted to ski Robin's Run, for example, cause it looked great, but that wasn't an option with our "hosts".

Liftline & Freefall were mostly bare rock. There were some pockets of snow here & there on them, and there were some track, but even if I had been alone, I wouldn't have tried to ski them ... way too sketchy as far as snow cover. Same for the headwall on Upper F.I.S.

The one or two turns reference was to the limited black trails that I got to ski, Hangman's Drop and Upper Pipeline for example.

Also, I DID say that my opinion was based on going there without fresh snow & good conditions. If I compare a similar kind of day to Whiteface, I can still ski Skyward, Mt. Run, Wilderness, Upper Mac, Hoyt's High (now that there's snowmaking on it), and a few others and have a pretty good time without getting bored. I think that at Smuggs, if I was limited to just skiing the trails, I'd be pretty bored. EDIT: From what I could tell, it didn't look like there was any snowmaking on the really tough stuff at the top of Madonna. Are those trails normally open, or does it only get open occasionally, like the Slides at Whiteface?

The same would be true if I was at Whiteface on a wind-hold day, and could only get as high as the top of the Face Lift. I'd call it a day pretty quick in that situation too ... in fact, I always do. If I can't at least get to the top of Mt. Run, then I'd be bored at the Face too.

P.S.: Definitely not trying to "Troll" ... not my style, and certainly not interested in doing so.

No worries here bro. I knew what you meant, that's why I said as a WF skier I can see why the "trails" would seem intermediate. As soon as you put good snow into the equation the mountain totally changes, I think you could tell that.

You're spot on about the top of Madonna, that stuff is pretty gnarly and is only open a few times throughout the year. In fact, out of the 4 years I lives there i think I was able to hit Liftline shack to shack, or T2B (from sallies alley), only a handful of times. I knew your 2 turn comment wasn't about liftline or freefall cause that would just be silly, in fact, I wouldn't have even believed you

Docs was always one of my fav runs there----Robins Run and the Black Hole weren't even on the map when I was there. It was skied, but it was tabo, well, kind of.  The Birthday Bowls are really where it's at there---wicked fun stuff in the hardwoods.

You're coming up to the Face next weekend right?

I'd like to meet up with you. Maybe I'll spot you with SJ!!! If I can keep up, maybe I'll take a couple of runs with you guys.

Otherwise, maybe in the bar afterwards!!!

Yup, we'll be there and def should hook up for some turns and beerz.

I'll be taking it easy on the skis (bad knee and all), but will be hitting Mahogany Ridge hard

campgottagopee wrote

Yup, we'll be there and def should hook up for some turns and beerz.

I'll be taking it easy on the skis (bad knee and all), but will be hitting Mahogany Ridge hard

Yeah!  Campy & Crew weekend!  Hide the women and children in the church!

Noah John wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Yup, we'll be there and def should hook up for some turns and beerz.

I'll be taking it easy on the skis (bad knee and all), but will be hitting Mahogany Ridge hard

Yeah!  Campy & Crew weekend!  Hide the women and children in the church!

 def keep them out of the bowling alley ---- we're gonna go BIG Noah, get ready ---- TJ has me all jazzed up for drunken airbag jumping --- been working on my fakey, no fakey, left handed booger eater for all to see

campgottagopee wrote

Glad you had a good time. Too bad you couldn't get into the good stuff. Being a WF skier I can see why you would think it's an intermediate mountain, but with snow it ain't. As for the steep stuff being short, well, if you can take the headwall on liftline or freefall in one or two turns you are an ANIMAL!!!

Yup. FIS, Freefall, Liftline, Blackhole, Robin's Run... all no joke and feature prolonged steeps with lots of topographical variations.

But tree skiing at Smuggs: off the map is off the hook. Smuggs > Jay for tree skiing, IMO.

But it wasn't all in and you were trailing some intermediates so you couldn't get into the good stuff. You need to get back when the getting is good. Smuggs is a top three in the east all the way. IMO.