Stratton Conditions

Not a ton of snow (3-4"?), but it looks white:

We had a nice weekend at Stratton. The open trails were well covered. The blue and green trails had excellent packed powder coverage. The steeper trails had loose snow over 'styrofoam like' hard pack. It was a lot louder on the steeper trails than on the green and blue trails. It was single digits to mid teens all weekend and they were blowing snow on vast swaths of the mountain. Except for the gondola mid-morning, the lifts were ski right on.


At the top - just off the Ursa 6


Excellent conditions on Black Bear

Today was a great day at Stratton. There was at least 6 inches when we got to the mountain at 8. It was about 12F and so windy that the gondola was on hold. It snowed hard until about 11 adding another 4-6". The open trails were perfection all morning. After lunch the snow slowed down and the trails became bumpy, yet the skiing was still great. Despite the wind hold gondola, there were no lines at the open lifts - Am EX, Ursa, Shooting Star, South American. Pick of the day was the upper mountain before 10AM and Shred Wood glades all day.

Saturday- good packed powder conditions on most trails and glades. The high traffic areas were skied off by 1pm. The low angle trails and glades were pretty decent all day.
Sunday-started snowing at around 930. The mountain was empty and conditions improved to excellent by about noon when the snowfall became heavier. It was very windy so parts of some trails were scoured by the wind and other parts were boot top deep. By mid-afternoon it was fresh tracks everwhere. Our tracks were filled ever run. It was a top ten day for me.
Monday-it is still snowing and very windy right now at 7am. It looks like the storm total is 12 to 16 inches.

Monday was one of my best days ever.

There was knee deep blower snow on most of the trails. There was also windblown powder in spots as the wind was a steady 40 mph on mostly the north side of the mountain. It snowed until we left around 3pm. The lower parts did have sun at times, but it was still snowing. Stratton had 4 lifts major lifts operating - AmEx HS6 out of the base, the Tamarack triple out of the base, The Ursa HS6 served the upper mountain and the Sunriser HS6 in the Sun Bowl. We were able to claim fresh tracks and slightly fresh tracks until about 10am. There were still fresh tracks to be had in the woods and in the low access areas of the mountain for most of the day.

This is a series in the Sunbowl Supertrail

Made a strategic MAX Pass decision to ski Stratton yesterday. The trickiest part of going MAX Pass only, is when to use which tickets. My thought was that Stratton would have a nice enough early season snow surface and it would be a good place to ski myself into ski shape on my first day out.

In that regard, Stratton didn't disappoint. The trails that were open had really nice coverage, the surface was fast but not too firm, the sun was out and the place was empty. The Gondola and two other chairs were open and I followed the sun across the mountain. It was a good day 1.

Thanks for the report!

Might head there Saturday.

Agree that the MAX pass only decision definitely calls for strategic use of the early season days at Stratton & Okemo so that I can save the Killington, Gore & Whiteface days for when the skiing gets better.

Stratton has the best early conditions in years. This past weekend included a few inches of snow on Saturday and sunny and cold (-5 at the top) on Sunday. Most of the main face is open and they were blowing snow in the Sunbowl. Conditions were mostly packed powder with some hard pack on the high traffic areas. Every open lift was ski right on except the Gondola. The trails were not crowded.

Packed Powder on Grizzly

I  also hit Statton this past Sunday  had a great time  Skied Okemo on Sat  , enjoyed Stratton way more. Stratton worth another go around , Okemo one and done on the Max pass

Ok, I've never skied Stratton but I will be going soon. Anybody have any local advice to offer? Strategies to maximize the experience there or things to avoid? Can't miss trails? Don't bother trails?

Goto Magic.  

Marcski wrote

Go to Magic.

^^ At least for one day.

go to magic

Ha! I will eventually. Since I bought the max pass, I'm gonna give Stratton

Brownski wrote

  Don't bother trails?

Don't bother worrying about whether or not a trail is green,blue,or black --- the place is flat

Brownski wrote

Ok, I've never skied Stratton but I will be going soon. Anybody have any local advice to offer? Strategies to maximize the experience there or things to avoid? Can't miss trails? Don't bother trails?

Your best bet is to only use the gondola first thing. Most of the time the gondi line will be much longer than anything else on the mountain. It is not worth skiing top to bottom to use the gondola. The main area of Stratton has a clear upper section and lower section. Generally, it will be quicker to ride the American Express HS6 out of the base and then ski to the URSA HS6 to get to the top. The Sunbowl area is a separate section with its own parking and base lodge.

In the main section there are 3 upper lifts. The Ursa HS6 will be the most crowded. However, even with a full corral, the longest I have waited is about 8 minutes. It serves the whole upper mountain. The Shooting Star HS6 serves a handful of runs including some of the "harder" trails and glades. It is never crowded. It is right at the top of the Sunrise HS6 that comes out of the Sun Bowl. The Snowbowl FGQ serves a wide variety of terrain and there is never a line. Sometimes it might be worth riding this lift vs the Ursa if the Ursa is crowded. The Snowbowl chair has the most issues with the wind. It is on the most northernly side of Stratton and is the coldest lift. It has the same vertical (about 1350 feet)as the Ursa.

The lower section is served by the American Express HS6 and a couple of other fixed grip quads. It has about 650 vertical feet of fun and mellow trails. The snow can be excellent on the lower mountain as it is always warmer and less windy than the upper mountain. If you are skiing on a powder day, lots of the lower mountain will be untouched.

The SunBowl has the Sunrise HS6 serving a ton of wide, blue, cruisers. This area is also the warmest area and most wind protected.

A competent intermediate can ski most of the black trails at Stratton. There are a few areas on the black trails that can be dicey if there is a lot of ice from traffic and conditions. The few double diamonds are not that difficult if you regularly ski diamonds. Some fun trails are Frank's Fall Line, Upper Spruce, Upper Slalom Glade, Upper Middlebrooks, Bear Down and World Cup. Tamarack is a great trail, but hit it early as it quickly turns into Ice-arack. Freefall is another fun trail, but it has a loooooong flat run out to the Sun Bowl Base.

There are glades spread all over the mountain and they are lots of fun. They do get skied out, depending on how easy they are to access.

The base areas can be very crowded at lunch. Your best bet is to break for lunch at about 11:15.
Stratton is a lot of fun.

Thanks X. That's just what I was looking for.

campgottagopee wrote

Brownski wrote

  Don't bother trails?

Don't bother worrying about whether or not a trail is green,blue,or black --- the place is flat

Also funny. Thanks bro

I love the fries here.  

We had a great weekend at Stratton. On Saturday, there were many trails ungroomed and bumped up. The snow was excellent. The woods were back, although some of the more popular glades were skied out. Sunday was less crowded and the snow did not get skied down to the base. The Ursa 6 lost its electric motor and will now be running on diesel for the rest of the season. It is much slower.

This shot was from Saturday

We had a great bluebird day today at Stratton. Most of the mountain was firm until 10 to 11. The Sun Bowl and the Kidderbrook areas softened up first, followed by the Ursa area and the base area. The Snowbowl area was firm all day. The trails and lifts were mostly ski right on.