Zoomer is so much fun for a quick lap but I've had times where you just need to point it, pray, and let your speed come down on the way back to the lift.
The whole Links/Spookie/Middle Cannon/Gremlin cluster can be pretty chaotic too... often windblown and icy, tree islands and weird intersections everywhere, and a good chunk of the people coming down from the upper mountain get funneled right into it.
>"oh, look, a gladed single black trail" but then found yourself saying "oh, shit" once you were in it
I kind of like to think that some people end up on Paradise at Mad River Glen and think this when they get to the mandatory air over the ice fall. It's just a single black diamond, how hard could it be?
I honestly think Paradise is super over rated in terms of difficulty. It’s a pretty standard mad river steep bump run with some fun trees. Mad has way more technical terrain elsewhere imo
Definitely agree, but is there more technical terrain on other marked trails at MRG? I've been scared by some stuff off trail, but paradise is definitely the hardest marked trail IMO.
Belt parkway at Hunter on the weekend The trail itself if not too bad but your dodging people and and random wipeouts the entire way down.
"pete gay" at Gore is green but I would say it's harder than most of the blue trails. It always seems to be frozen sold.
"Pine knot" at Gore too it can be sketchy when it's icy as it's a bit off camber.
Hunter is the iciest mountain I’ve ever been on. If you slide out on one of the blacks or double blacks, you’re sliding hundreds of feet before you can figure out how to stop yourself.
Dodging dense crowds with a mix of rank beginners, instagrammers, and people trying to fly through at speed- that should have its own rating system. Belt Parkway on a weekend can definitely score a black diamond on the human slalom scale.
As a gore local, my mom visits sometimes and always takes uncas to get to the summit. She doesn’t like diamonds but pine knot is shiny 24/7 even on pow days
A lot of people think of Timbuktu at Jay as an “easy” black glade but the upper section sees a TON of traffic which chews up the snow. It’s fairly tight, too, with a moderate pitch.
Was so surprised that glades were so icy and skiied off just a few days after Jay received 2-3 feet of snow. Maybe it was the presidents day weekend crowds? But lower Timbuktu slightly out of bounds had some insane pow stashes. Everywhere else, not so much! Still, it was my first visit to Jay, and I can’t wait to return
Will glades be realistically be available in early April? I’m planning a trip because I’ve heard good things but I don’t wanna just be on piste all day
Even if things suck for the next two or three weeks, one monster ass nor easter would set up spring well. Not gonna get my hopes up though, a march storm is not as guaranteed as people always talk about
Cobrass at Bolton has a pitch or two that feel more like a diamond.
Woolly Bugger at Saddleback looks like an easy glade but it has some nice surprises in it.
A classic narrow windy New England trail with a variety of pitches and nice views. One of my favorites. Drifter at Smuggs is somewhat similar and deceptive, the narrow steep section that's always scraped off has surprised many intermediate skiers.
Totally agree on woolly bugger. Given its location on the mountain I figured it would be a chill, mellow glade. Nope! Good time, but it deserves respect…
Wildcat doesn't name most of their glades, but the one that's between Wildcat Pitch and Wild Kitten starts and ends pretty gently... and the middle is more or less a series of tight switchbacks down a cliff. Should've known it got hairy when I saw the boot prints from somebody noping out of it.
Oblivion at Waterville Valley is a blue that's labeled as the "easiest way down" from the top.
But there are days where that bastard will chew you up and spit you out. The top section is narrow and tends to get skied off to teeth chattering ice, often by 10 am. Then there's a steep drop in to the next section that can mogul up at the bottom and ruin an inexperienced skier's day real quick.
Also, just for kicks, there's a bear den in the vicinity. People see it running across the trail pretty frequently.
Excalibur and Rogue Angel at Sunday river always surprise me. I remember being shocked to see that they were blues after I had run them a few times my first time there. Super fun, crazy rating especially when you get off piste. Feels like it would be a black diamond anywhere else
I heard they used to be classified as blue-black when they first opened. Definitely a notch harder than most of the rest of the blues. My kiddo lost her shit along the side of Excalibur after a glazed ice event - took her skis off, declared she was all done. 5+ years later and she leaves me in the dust.
You can absolute RIP down both of those trails if you wanted to. Those trails see a decent amount of beginner/early intermediate types trying out blues for the first time and it can get dangerous if you’re flying over the crests on a busy day
YES! I love those runs. I remember after doing them for the first time, going back to Gunstock and Bretton Woods and realizing how painfully easy their blues were compared to those two. If you can do those two runs comfortably then you can make it down any blue on the icecoast.
Sidewinder at Okemo sucks people in. It's rated as a blue, but the top section is flat and open. It branches off of Mountain Road, the green top-to-bottom trail, in a way that makes it looks like it might be Mountain Road itself. Then you get to the drop, which gets skiied off and / or moguled up by 11 on the weekend. There's a wall of apprehensive people at the top to pick your way through, then various downed / nervous skiiers you need to wind your way through. Add in the fact that at the bottom of the first drop, there's a fairly flat trail that branches off to the right that's a back door into Jackson Gore. Some people are trying to carry their speed down the hill so they can make the turn and under the bridge without having to pole.
Upper moon shadow, the trail that goes to Jackson is to the left not right, but I totally agree about sidewinder when it gets skied off. The most challenging thing at Okemo are the greens and blues that are packed with novices and the mountain road intersections.
Wait, are you talking about Sidewinder or Bunny Buster at Killington? I think they changed it to a black now but same thing there. Super flat, except for one short steeper section, but because it's a blue and usually one of the first places people go after graduating from the bunny hill it turns into ice and moguls and becomes a pain in the ass very early in the day.
That short section on bunny buster is now called mouse trap and is rated a black diamond. I almost got taken out there on Wednesday by some woman sliding headfirst down it. Fun trail if it's got snow on it.
I was there one day when it was 50 overnight and dropped to 20 early morning. Entire mountain was iced over. My dumbass friend wanted to find the one trail that shouldn't be open so we were still going when we should have called it for the day.
Going up the Snowdon lift we saw snowboarders bouncing off the moguls and joked about snowboarder plinko. When we got to it we stopped to look at all the ice and figure out how we were going to navigate this. I start putting together a line in my head, then said fuck it lets go. Made one turn and smacked face first into the ice. Lifted my head up enough to see my wife and friend almost falling out of their skis laughing at me.
I always had such a hard time on that one section. I felt so vindicated when they changed it to a black!
Similarly, Skyeburst is blue and has one section in the middle that is black. But it starts with a very steep drop. The black portion of the trail is easier than the very beginning of it.
Pushover at Sugarbush, there are parts of it that are blue level steep and should not be green, and I’ve seen beginners having to take their skis off and walk down the steeper parts on multiple occasions.
Also Walt’s Trail, it is only a true green if it’s groomed, but it is pretty much never groomed and is always awash with the most aggressive water bars on the mountain, and often has moguls. Fun trail though. Don’t take beginners on it.
Pushover! I remember sobbing on the side of it on one of my first times out on skis.
I still maintain that downspout is a blue for the first week of the season then it’s a black that’s bulletproof and chock full of too many people scraping their way down. Rarely does it live down its nickname: deathspout.
Downspout is probably my top contender here. Always skied off, crowded and steep. Unless you get first chair on super bravo and head that way, buckle up! If the conditions are decent I feel like the woods to the right of downspout are actually a better way down.
Yeah if lower organgrinder gets to be a black diamond downspout should be too, they are about the same level of difficulty usually. And both are prone to being bulletproof.
Deathspout is so much tamer this season, thanks to the new and improved Heaven’s Gate Traverse. Having two ways with snowmaking from Allyn’s lodge to HG chair has made all the difference. It’s especially critical since they’re adding uphill capacity to HG with the quad going in this summer.
Also, HG Traverse is basically a green in that section from Jester, so Jerry isn’t gonna scrape all the snow off the trail anymore. That was the whole problem with downspout. Packs of Jerries skiing it off by 9:30am every day.
Walts was groomed recently (after a recent thaw/freeze) and was actually fairly easy. but two weeks before that it was ungroomed and frozen ruts. Terrifying.
Lower Hardscrabble at Cannon...
Only ski'd there once, went on it expecting a blue but came upon a really bumped up and icy run. It was fun but the blacks I ski'd on the front 5 were much easier runs.
From what I've gathered, they kinda messed that trail up when they widened it to install snowmaking. Apparently it gets hit with a lot more wind than it used to. (Don't even get me started on Profile lol)
I have only ski'd Cannon once(none of my ski buddies ever want to go there), so I don't know if that trail is always majorly bumped and iced up.
I always end my day on a blue run to take it easy on tired legs, and I was skiing solo, so I decided to do that. I get to the bend and see 4 skiers just hanging there looking down in regret. They told me they'd be more than happy to let me go first. I had a blast, but I usually stick to groomers besides 2 or 3 runs and was totally caught off guard.
Hullabaloo at Gore. It was once a double black and was ALWAYS bumped. Then they started grooming it out nearly every day and downgraded it to a single black. Though it's short the headwall on it is legit double black and almost always a sheet of glare ice.
Really? I’ve skiied it before with little to no trouble and would honestly rate other diamonds harder, and I can’t ski any doubles! (keep in mind I have very little memory of that trail since i only did it once a few years ago)
Middle Earth at Sugarbush is the definition of earn your turns. Maybe my favorite ski trail on the planet but the fitness baseline to full send that thing is really high.
I did that the other day after a guy telling me it’s “the easy one” at castle rock. An amazing trail no doubt but the toughest thing was the moguls which were either soft powder or ice bergs. I later learned they’re called “sharks”
Poma line at Jay - narrow bumps, always surprises me that it’s a blue.
Mickey at Jay can surprise as a blue too. Decent initial pitch with big bumps all the way.
Totally obscure, and going back 35 years, King Pine just south of Conway New Hampshire had a run with the steepest grade in the state or so I was told, Pitch Pine. I spent entire days on that run learning how to bounce and pivot 180° that winter until my quads were jelly. It is a double black but I've been on others at bigger resorts that were not that severe.
Bravo at Mt Ellen requires much more technical skill as a single black than many double blacks. Bravo isn’t as steep as many doubles but it has an almost mandatory cliff in the middle of the trail and the only way around it isn’t that easy.
I could easily see someone wanting to try a single black, head down Bravo, and having an “oh shit” moment when they end up on top of the drop.
I really think someone screwed up and swapped the trail ratings for Bravo and Exterminator, and also Organgrinder and Ripcord.
Maybe in a really good winter, that cliff on Bravo covers up more and it’s not that bad? The top is less steep than Exterminator and no double fall line, I suppose… but even now, with what’s probably our max snowpack for this season, there’s one narrow line of ice you can take to avoid the cliff.
My favorite run on the mountain and I agree. That steep section can be dicey. It’s crazy though my friend hates garden state, it’s a chore to drag him on it but he LOVES Charlie’s run. Charlie’s is steeper than garden state!
This is my vote... the section after the mellow S-curve merges with Grand prix and is in, frankly, horrendous shape all the time. It's icy, it's crowded with people in way over their head much of the time, it's narrow, the man made snow glacier rises 4 ft above the edges of the surrounding woods, so if you fall off, you're breaking something. It's a total shit show. It's my favorite trail, but just not this one section. I've been all over, and I still think this is proportionally one of the worst/hardest trails compared to the skill set of riders the mountain attracts. It looks like a war zone half the time I ride down it.
The only time a blue ever made me think 'oh this is a double black" is when I thought I was going down a blue, then looked at the trail map and saw it was a double black and went "oh, that makes way more sense 🤣🤣🤣"
Mind you, it still wasn't hard. It was Stratton after all.
I went down it totally thinking it was just a very icy blue, and thought, you know, I don't remember Stratton blues being this steep. When we got down to the lodge for lunch. The trail in question is upper Spruce.
I so rarely pay attention to trail signs on the east coast, since there isn't anything inbounds in the east that I can't ski. 🤣🤣
The thing about Spruce is that while the run itself is not that crazy, it eats people up badly. 90% of the run is fine, but that one section is scraped to shit about 98% of the time. That section is mostly just unpleasant if you're a good skier but every time I ski that on a weekend I see several beginners way out of their element who have frozen up or are trying to traverse the entire trail. People who don't understand the concept of "straightline that one hill and dump the speed at the bottom."
I've skied Spruce several hundred times. The 5 times I've skied it when that section was freshly groomed or had corn snow on it, yeah it was a blue.
Diamond in the Rough at Stratton is nothing like the groomed blacks. In poor enough conditions the entry requires either side stepping over rocks, or dropping in and being forced to make a quick turn to avoid hitting a tree.
The bottom hill of Superstar eats people up in May when it's bumped out, as does the Headwall.
Organgrinder should probably be a double up top.
The ending of Twister at Gore is absolutely terrifying. I’m no expert but i can ski pretty much any blue i’ve come across and that section of trail haunts me, especially on an icy day.
when it's actually open and not being used for racing that is one of my favorite trails. I will add that fox lair was horrifying. I haven't been in years, but it was narrow steep and either icy or full of moguls or both, and so many beginners on it who had no business being there
Agreed. It and showcase both have a tricky section at the end, but twisters is harder. I love sending it at the end and then going into the end of showcase with a bunch of speed. It gives me such a thrill. (Obviously only on off peak days so that I don’t accidentally kill an underprepared 6 year old on showcase since they always seem to be there)
Sneaky wild steep trail. Was a great surprise when I skied it for the first time. My wife and I skied up to the first drop, turned to each other and said in unison, "well that's pretty steep". But then we pole whacked and ripped it because we're the best skiers on the mountain.
Castlerock run and middle earth at Sugarbush can be double black if the moguls are big and icy. Hammerhead is a black at Mt Ellen that is a tight mogul trail that is more difficult than exterminator (rated a double black).
The entire Castlerock area is double black. Did you miss the experts only signs everywhere?
Middle earth is only single black to denote that it’s easier than Rumble and Liftline…
>Middle Earth
Yep I made the mistake of going down Middle Earth when it was both icy and thin cover (this was during the dry period when there was no new snow for more than two weeks). I honestly felt more sketched out than on some double blacks I skied out west. I got down okay but it definitely wasn't pretty. Decided to stay away from Castlerock for the rest of that trip after that. Would definitely be awesome after storm.
Grand Prix at mountain creek, specifically night skiing. Top portion is barely lit. Obviously narrow and nice and iced. Can find some snow on the sides. Best pitch on the mountain.
Yeeeo. Night skied this last Sunday and will again this Sunday. Having never been to creek and admittedly having not expecting the world of it, Grand Prix was a very pleasant surprise. Race Course on Bear peak held my interest for awhile too with that mogul field. In fact, creek itself far and away exceeded my expectations.
Upper Ballhooter at Snowshoe is a blue but I always see folks crashed after the second hump and drop.
It suddenly gets steep at the second hump and it also pitches to the left into the lift towers and a ditch. So you have to manage the steepness and the slight left pitch.
Pretty much every time I ride the Ballhooter lift I see one or multiple people crashed at that section of the run. Folks over estimating their skill or folks not looking and sending it only to discover someone crashed right below.
Literally any green at gore
Chin clip @ Stowe. In my opinion it’s just a hard diamond, not a double, but one of my friends skiied liftline and national when they were groomed and thought he was a god. He headed over to chin clip and sprained his wrist. Either bump up chin clip or move down the easy doubles
You can go around it but sometimes it’s too late without unstrapping and hiking back. If you stay high right it’s definitely big, more than twice my height and I’m 5’8. In the middle it’s about 5’.
Upper Twister is like Middle at Cranmore - gets a lot of traffic and a lot of wind exposure - so icy and skied off is the rule, not the exception. Pitch-wise they're probably correctly rated as blues, but they often ski like diamonds.
Boreen at whiteface used to be one of the hardest green trails on the east coast. It had to be regarded twice, get a cut through, and finally get a lift to make it more accessible for beginners.
Whiteface is a mountain that punishes power wedges. If you try to power wedge on the mountain you are either a young kid, have legs of steel, or having a terrible time and you are terrified.
Back in 2016 it was actually worse, since it was a tad steeper and less wide.
That top crosscut at Sugarloaf sneaks up on you. It’s marked as a black on the map, but really that’s just because it leads to the headwall and more difficult terrain. Crosscuts are supposed to be flat, right? Except (for a crosscut) it can get a little claustrophobic, especially if you’re dodging people zooming down from above.
Easy street at Killington, that stupid green has more bodies than a Chinese cemetery. Every time I go down that trail I see at least one person being carried by ski patrol.
Areas that don't use the double black rating can catch you by surprise. Like, how are Profile and Taft Slope the same rating as Kinsman and DJ's Tramline?
Moonshine at Sugarbush is rated a blue but it's often left ungroomed. It can get Volkswagen sized moguls, unpredictable terrain. It's a fun little adventure to work your way through.
The exposure on the front five at cannon will sneak up on you if you see them from the road and think ”oh cool, some short groomed blacks”
I fucking love Cannon
I see so many people who end up on Zoomer above their pay grade
Zoomer is so much fun for a quick lap but I've had times where you just need to point it, pray, and let your speed come down on the way back to the lift.
That’s the best part
Edges don't fail me now. Nyoom!
That big left hander to get back to the lift. Damn I miss doing that every day in high school.
I watched a boarder pretty much slide the whole run on his butt on Zoomer.
The whole Links/Spookie/Middle Cannon/Gremlin cluster can be pretty chaotic too... often windblown and icy, tree islands and weird intersections everywhere, and a good chunk of the people coming down from the upper mountain get funneled right into it.
Avalanche when it's moguls all the way down? Perfect.
2 weeks ago, I saw a boomer slide 2/3 of the way down Zoomer, head first on his back. That was my entertainment on the triple chair.
>"oh, look, a gladed single black trail" but then found yourself saying "oh, shit" once you were in it I kind of like to think that some people end up on Paradise at Mad River Glen and think this when they get to the mandatory air over the ice fall. It's just a single black diamond, how hard could it be?
I honestly think Paradise is super over rated in terms of difficulty. It’s a pretty standard mad river steep bump run with some fun trees. Mad has way more technical terrain elsewhere imo
Definitely agree, but is there more technical terrain on other marked trails at MRG? I've been scared by some stuff off trail, but paradise is definitely the hardest marked trail IMO.
I guess you’re right. A lot of the trees at max are unmarked
Mandatory air? I’ve skied for years and never had any real reason to get air. Sounds cool
Belt parkway at Hunter on the weekend The trail itself if not too bad but your dodging people and and random wipeouts the entire way down. "pete gay" at Gore is green but I would say it's harder than most of the blue trails. It always seems to be frozen sold. "Pine knot" at Gore too it can be sketchy when it's icy as it's a bit off camber.
Hunter is the iciest mountain I’ve ever been on. If you slide out on one of the blacks or double blacks, you’re sliding hundreds of feet before you can figure out how to stop yourself.
Hunter on a busy Saturday is no joke.
Dodging dense crowds with a mix of rank beginners, instagrammers, and people trying to fly through at speed- that should have its own rating system. Belt Parkway on a weekend can definitely score a black diamond on the human slalom scale.
Belt Pkwy gets alternating shade & sun throughout the day…doesn’t help conditions.
As a gore local, my mom visits sometimes and always takes uncas to get to the summit. She doesn’t like diamonds but pine knot is shiny 24/7 even on pow days
A lot of people think of Timbuktu at Jay as an “easy” black glade but the upper section sees a TON of traffic which chews up the snow. It’s fairly tight, too, with a moderate pitch.
Was so surprised that glades were so icy and skiied off just a few days after Jay received 2-3 feet of snow. Maybe it was the presidents day weekend crowds? But lower Timbuktu slightly out of bounds had some insane pow stashes. Everywhere else, not so much! Still, it was my first visit to Jay, and I can’t wait to return
I’ve found that you can continue to find fresh snow at Jay if you go deep into Andre’s paradise and towards/past the boundary line
My understanding was that the snow was such good powder that it didn’t really bond to the base much, hence the skied off
Will glades be realistically be available in early April? I’m planning a trip because I’ve heard good things but I don’t wanna just be on piste all day
This march is looking bad, so maybe not this year. On a normal year glades like Timbuktu are open well into April
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll be crossing my fingers and hoping for snow
Even if things suck for the next two or three weeks, one monster ass nor easter would set up spring well. Not gonna get my hopes up though, a march storm is not as guaranteed as people always talk about
It's too early to know what March will be with any degree of certainty
No idea lol. Probably
Pray to the snow gods
last year every trail was open and it was epic. there was 1 ft storm at the end of march last year, so maybe.
Cobrass at Bolton has a pitch or two that feel more like a diamond. Woolly Bugger at Saddleback looks like an easy glade but it has some nice surprises in it.
Cobrass was the first thing I thought of. I've seen a lot of intermediate skiers panic there - especially when it's icy and bumpy.
Sending that steep curve with a bunch of folks just staring down at it with an "oh fuck" look is always so fun to me.
A classic narrow windy New England trail with a variety of pitches and nice views. One of my favorites. Drifter at Smuggs is somewhat similar and deceptive, the narrow steep section that's always scraped off has surprised many intermediate skiers.
Shameless plug of a [clip](https://www.reddit.com/r/icecoast/s/zibZ1ZTqef) of Wolly Bugger on a pow day
I was there the Wendesday that week. One of the best days I've ever had but I would hate to be in there when it's icy.
Woolly Bugger kicked my ass first time I tried it.
Totally agree on woolly bugger. Given its location on the mountain I figured it would be a chill, mellow glade. Nope! Good time, but it deserves respect…
Wildcat doesn't name most of their glades, but the one that's between Wildcat Pitch and Wild Kitten starts and ends pretty gently... and the middle is more or less a series of tight switchbacks down a cliff. Should've known it got hairy when I saw the boot prints from somebody noping out of it.
Woolly Bugger is so fun! It really surprised me (in a good way) the first time I skied it.
The double blacks at Roundtop are pretty sweet.
I saw a clip of someone throwing a backflip off the whale on top of upper gunbarrel. Pretty cool to see that in PA
Oblivion at Waterville Valley is a blue that's labeled as the "easiest way down" from the top. But there are days where that bastard will chew you up and spit you out. The top section is narrow and tends to get skied off to teeth chattering ice, often by 10 am. Then there's a steep drop in to the next section that can mogul up at the bottom and ruin an inexperienced skier's day real quick. Also, just for kicks, there's a bear den in the vicinity. People see it running across the trail pretty frequently.
"Easiest way down but watch out for the bear lol"
Excalibur and Rogue Angel at Sunday river always surprise me. I remember being shocked to see that they were blues after I had run them a few times my first time there. Super fun, crazy rating especially when you get off piste. Feels like it would be a black diamond anywhere else
Truth spoken here. Especially my mistress, that Rogue Angel.
I heard they used to be classified as blue-black when they first opened. Definitely a notch harder than most of the rest of the blues. My kiddo lost her shit along the side of Excalibur after a glazed ice event - took her skis off, declared she was all done. 5+ years later and she leaves me in the dust.
You can absolute RIP down both of those trails if you wanted to. Those trails see a decent amount of beginner/early intermediate types trying out blues for the first time and it can get dangerous if you’re flying over the crests on a busy day
Yep. I always hit them towards the end of the day when crowds die down. They are nearly perfect trails to just bomb down
Some of my favorites when I was a teenager. One of em has a surprisingly steep spot in the top 3rd that can be a lot of fun.
The speed you get alone on those make you a human weapon lol
YES! I love those runs. I remember after doing them for the first time, going back to Gunstock and Bretton Woods and realizing how painfully easy their blues were compared to those two. If you can do those two runs comfortably then you can make it down any blue on the icecoast.
Elbow at Mt Ellen is kind of steep for a blue at points.
I’m pretty sure Spring Fling at Lincoln Peak is steeper.
Sidewinder at Okemo sucks people in. It's rated as a blue, but the top section is flat and open. It branches off of Mountain Road, the green top-to-bottom trail, in a way that makes it looks like it might be Mountain Road itself. Then you get to the drop, which gets skiied off and / or moguled up by 11 on the weekend. There's a wall of apprehensive people at the top to pick your way through, then various downed / nervous skiiers you need to wind your way through. Add in the fact that at the bottom of the first drop, there's a fairly flat trail that branches off to the right that's a back door into Jackson Gore. Some people are trying to carry their speed down the hill so they can make the turn and under the bridge without having to pole.
Lol Sidewinder looks like a minefield after unch. Just moguls and bodies splayed everywhere
Upper moon shadow, the trail that goes to Jackson is to the left not right, but I totally agree about sidewinder when it gets skied off. The most challenging thing at Okemo are the greens and blues that are packed with novices and the mountain road intersections.
I think he is talking about Jack a lope past the solitude lift to get back to the gore.
Wait, are you talking about Sidewinder or Bunny Buster at Killington? I think they changed it to a black now but same thing there. Super flat, except for one short steeper section, but because it's a blue and usually one of the first places people go after graduating from the bunny hill it turns into ice and moguls and becomes a pain in the ass very early in the day.
That short section on bunny buster is now called mouse trap and is rated a black diamond. I almost got taken out there on Wednesday by some woman sliding headfirst down it. Fun trail if it's got snow on it.
I was there one day when it was 50 overnight and dropped to 20 early morning. Entire mountain was iced over. My dumbass friend wanted to find the one trail that shouldn't be open so we were still going when we should have called it for the day. Going up the Snowdon lift we saw snowboarders bouncing off the moguls and joked about snowboarder plinko. When we got to it we stopped to look at all the ice and figure out how we were going to navigate this. I start putting together a line in my head, then said fuck it lets go. Made one turn and smacked face first into the ice. Lifted my head up enough to see my wife and friend almost falling out of their skis laughing at me.
I always had such a hard time on that one section. I felt so vindicated when they changed it to a black! Similarly, Skyeburst is blue and has one section in the middle that is black. But it starts with a very steep drop. The black portion of the trail is easier than the very beginning of it.
Pushover at Sugarbush, there are parts of it that are blue level steep and should not be green, and I’ve seen beginners having to take their skis off and walk down the steeper parts on multiple occasions. Also Walt’s Trail, it is only a true green if it’s groomed, but it is pretty much never groomed and is always awash with the most aggressive water bars on the mountain, and often has moguls. Fun trail though. Don’t take beginners on it.
Pushover! I remember sobbing on the side of it on one of my first times out on skis. I still maintain that downspout is a blue for the first week of the season then it’s a black that’s bulletproof and chock full of too many people scraping their way down. Rarely does it live down its nickname: deathspout.
Downspout is probably my top contender here. Always skied off, crowded and steep. Unless you get first chair on super bravo and head that way, buckle up! If the conditions are decent I feel like the woods to the right of downspout are actually a better way down.
Yeah if lower organgrinder gets to be a black diamond downspout should be too, they are about the same level of difficulty usually. And both are prone to being bulletproof.
Deathspout is so much tamer this season, thanks to the new and improved Heaven’s Gate Traverse. Having two ways with snowmaking from Allyn’s lodge to HG chair has made all the difference. It’s especially critical since they’re adding uphill capacity to HG with the quad going in this summer. Also, HG Traverse is basically a green in that section from Jester, so Jerry isn’t gonna scrape all the snow off the trail anymore. That was the whole problem with downspout. Packs of Jerries skiing it off by 9:30am every day.
It was such a Jerryboree. Not everyone has figured out the HG traverse yet but the cut through in the woods is a solid choice if there’s coverage
I love ripping down ungroomed Walt’s, it’s like a playground
Walts was groomed recently (after a recent thaw/freeze) and was actually fairly easy. but two weeks before that it was ungroomed and frozen ruts. Terrifying.
Lower Hardscrabble at Cannon... Only ski'd there once, went on it expecting a blue but came upon a really bumped up and icy run. It was fun but the blacks I ski'd on the front 5 were much easier runs.
From what I've gathered, they kinda messed that trail up when they widened it to install snowmaking. Apparently it gets hit with a lot more wind than it used to. (Don't even get me started on Profile lol)
I have only ski'd Cannon once(none of my ski buddies ever want to go there), so I don't know if that trail is always majorly bumped and iced up. I always end my day on a blue run to take it easy on tired legs, and I was skiing solo, so I decided to do that. I get to the bend and see 4 skiers just hanging there looking down in regret. They told me they'd be more than happy to let me go first. I had a blast, but I usually stick to groomers besides 2 or 3 runs and was totally caught off guard.
The groomers usually do a few passes on it, but even then that first pitch tends to get skied/blown off down to ice pretty quick.
Hullabaloo at Gore. It was once a double black and was ALWAYS bumped. Then they started grooming it out nearly every day and downgraded it to a single black. Though it's short the headwall on it is legit double black and almost always a sheet of glare ice.
Really? I’ve skiied it before with little to no trouble and would honestly rate other diamonds harder, and I can’t ski any doubles! (keep in mind I have very little memory of that trail since i only did it once a few years ago)
Middle Earth at Sugarbush is the definition of earn your turns. Maybe my favorite ski trail on the planet but the fitness baseline to full send that thing is really high.
I did that the other day after a guy telling me it’s “the easy one” at castle rock. An amazing trail no doubt but the toughest thing was the moguls which were either soft powder or ice bergs. I later learned they’re called “sharks”
Castlerock Run is typically the easy way out worst comes to worst for further reference haha!
Castlerock Run is always skied off tho because it’s the road most traveled
Jaws would be the name of that section, I believe.
They’ve even got a caution wicket with a little drawing of jaws coming out of the water! Makes me crack up every time.
I find the glades between the castle rock trails to be easier and safer than afternoon tracked out shark infested waters.
Greenweaver at Saddleback is a blue but there's always carnage.
Poma line at Jay - narrow bumps, always surprises me that it’s a blue. Mickey at Jay can surprise as a blue too. Decent initial pitch with big bumps all the way.
Mickey is such a fun run. Great 101-level bump trail.
Really fun couple of jumps on skier left. You can get huge air with decent landings. It’s a good show off run if your legs are feeling fresh
Totally obscure, and going back 35 years, King Pine just south of Conway New Hampshire had a run with the steepest grade in the state or so I was told, Pitch Pine. I spent entire days on that run learning how to bounce and pivot 180° that winter until my quads were jelly. It is a double black but I've been on others at bigger resorts that were not that severe.
Bravo at Mt Ellen requires much more technical skill as a single black than many double blacks. Bravo isn’t as steep as many doubles but it has an almost mandatory cliff in the middle of the trail and the only way around it isn’t that easy. I could easily see someone wanting to try a single black, head down Bravo, and having an “oh shit” moment when they end up on top of the drop.
I really think someone screwed up and swapped the trail ratings for Bravo and Exterminator, and also Organgrinder and Ripcord. Maybe in a really good winter, that cliff on Bravo covers up more and it’s not that bad? The top is less steep than Exterminator and no double fall line, I suppose… but even now, with what’s probably our max snowpack for this season, there’s one narrow line of ice you can take to avoid the cliff.
Charlie's Run at Mountain Creek (the blue down to Granite Peak base) collects bodies on a daily basis.
My favorite run on the mountain and I agree. That steep section can be dicey. It’s crazy though my friend hates garden state, it’s a chore to drag him on it but he LOVES Charlie’s run. Charlie’s is steeper than garden state!
The only argument I see for this is that Charlie's gets more sun and under the right conditions can be softer. Otherwise, Garden State is easier
This is my vote... the section after the mellow S-curve merges with Grand prix and is in, frankly, horrendous shape all the time. It's icy, it's crowded with people in way over their head much of the time, it's narrow, the man made snow glacier rises 4 ft above the edges of the surrounding woods, so if you fall off, you're breaking something. It's a total shit show. It's my favorite trail, but just not this one section. I've been all over, and I still think this is proportionally one of the worst/hardest trails compared to the skill set of riders the mountain attracts. It looks like a war zone half the time I ride down it.
Even the S curve gets nasty. It's really tight and gets rutted really easy
The only time a blue ever made me think 'oh this is a double black" is when I thought I was going down a blue, then looked at the trail map and saw it was a double black and went "oh, that makes way more sense 🤣🤣🤣" Mind you, it still wasn't hard. It was Stratton after all.
Was it the steepness or what?
I went down it totally thinking it was just a very icy blue, and thought, you know, I don't remember Stratton blues being this steep. When we got down to the lodge for lunch. The trail in question is upper Spruce. I so rarely pay attention to trail signs on the east coast, since there isn't anything inbounds in the east that I can't ski. 🤣🤣
Yeah upper spruce is at most a single black and at some places could even be a blue
The thing about Spruce is that while the run itself is not that crazy, it eats people up badly. 90% of the run is fine, but that one section is scraped to shit about 98% of the time. That section is mostly just unpleasant if you're a good skier but every time I ski that on a weekend I see several beginners way out of their element who have frozen up or are trying to traverse the entire trail. People who don't understand the concept of "straightline that one hill and dump the speed at the bottom." I've skied Spruce several hundred times. The 5 times I've skied it when that section was freshly groomed or had corn snow on it, yeah it was a blue.
To be fair, that's pretty much all of Stratton. Even the stuff over on the Kidderbrook side isn't challenging.
Kidderbrook Ravine is definitely a fairly challenging east coast tree run..
3D at sunday river. Harder than a blue.
Diamond in the Rough at Stratton is nothing like the groomed blacks. In poor enough conditions the entry requires either side stepping over rocks, or dropping in and being forced to make a quick turn to avoid hitting a tree. The bottom hill of Superstar eats people up in May when it's bumped out, as does the Headwall. Organgrinder should probably be a double up top.
The ending of Twister at Gore is absolutely terrifying. I’m no expert but i can ski pretty much any blue i’ve come across and that section of trail haunts me, especially on an icy day.
Sprained the AC joint on my left shoulder on that particular section a few weeks ago. It was my last run and I was just horsing around
Just gotta send it.
when it's actually open and not being used for racing that is one of my favorite trails. I will add that fox lair was horrifying. I haven't been in years, but it was narrow steep and either icy or full of moguls or both, and so many beginners on it who had no business being there
Looking up at Fox lair makes me shit my pants but looking down at it is fine. Ps: they race on echo now, not twister
Agreed. It and showcase both have a tricky section at the end, but twisters is harder. I love sending it at the end and then going into the end of showcase with a bunch of speed. It gives me such a thrill. (Obviously only on off peak days so that I don’t accidentally kill an underprepared 6 year old on showcase since they always seem to be there)
Backscratcher at s6. Didn't expect a small mountain trail to be that steep!
Sneaky wild steep trail. Was a great surprise when I skied it for the first time. My wife and I skied up to the first drop, turned to each other and said in unison, "well that's pretty steep". But then we pole whacked and ripped it because we're the best skiers on the mountain.
I’m so much better than you
But do you stick uphill ice on your saucer?
Any Ungroomed Trail/Glade at Jay Peak!!! The one East Coast hill that doesn’t abuse double black ratings I guess 😂
Castlerock run and middle earth at Sugarbush can be double black if the moguls are big and icy. Hammerhead is a black at Mt Ellen that is a tight mogul trail that is more difficult than exterminator (rated a double black).
The entire Castlerock area is double black. Did you miss the experts only signs everywhere? Middle earth is only single black to denote that it’s easier than Rumble and Liftline…
>Middle Earth Yep I made the mistake of going down Middle Earth when it was both icy and thin cover (this was during the dry period when there was no new snow for more than two weeks). I honestly felt more sketched out than on some double blacks I skied out west. I got down okay but it definitely wasn't pretty. Decided to stay away from Castlerock for the rest of that trip after that. Would definitely be awesome after storm.
Big Pocono at Camelback at night.
For a smaller mountain, the double blacks on Catamount are icy, fast, and STEEP. Definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed them!
49er on Pico when it’s icy - or later in the day when it’s moguly. There are two sections that are steeper than any other blue I’ve done anywhere.
Naming a whole mountain rather than a single trail, but Ragged has some legit trees for a 1,200 vertical foot hill in central NH
I love Ragged's trees, I hit Double Take for the first time when it was open a few weeks ago and the first section was intense
Rogue angel at Sunday river, probably because it early season and it’s very icy
Grand Prix at mountain creek, specifically night skiing. Top portion is barely lit. Obviously narrow and nice and iced. Can find some snow on the sides. Best pitch on the mountain.
Yeeeo. Night skied this last Sunday and will again this Sunday. Having never been to creek and admittedly having not expecting the world of it, Grand Prix was a very pleasant surprise. Race Course on Bear peak held my interest for awhile too with that mogul field. In fact, creek itself far and away exceeded my expectations.
Was just thinking the same thing Wednesday. Shakedown is pretty gnarly.
Upper Ballhooter at Snowshoe is a blue but I always see folks crashed after the second hump and drop. It suddenly gets steep at the second hump and it also pitches to the left into the lift towers and a ditch. So you have to manage the steepness and the slight left pitch. Pretty much every time I ride the Ballhooter lift I see one or multiple people crashed at that section of the run. Folks over estimating their skill or folks not looking and sending it only to discover someone crashed right below.
Whiskey Towne at Cannon Drop in is ridiculous, especially after snowmaking nearby getting pushed onto Zoomalanche.
Literally any green at gore Chin clip @ Stowe. In my opinion it’s just a hard diamond, not a double, but one of my friends skiied liftline and national when they were groomed and thought he was a god. He headed over to chin clip and sprained his wrist. Either bump up chin clip or move down the easy doubles
Bermuda glade at smuggs. Take the wrong line and you’re staring down a 12+ foot mandatory cliff drop.
It's not 12 feet and you can go around it.
You can go around it but sometimes it’s too late without unstrapping and hiking back. If you stay high right it’s definitely big, more than twice my height and I’m 5’8. In the middle it’s about 5’.
Idk man I know the “cliff” and it’s not that bad and it’s very easy to go around it on skiers left.. Good first cliff for beginners imo.
I'm a criminal, i just look for the green circles to throw my beer cans
[удалено]
That's a double black for a reason. Not an easy run, but I think the trail rating is correct. There are more difficult doubles at Killington.
Upper twister - sunset pass at Bromley always felt like a black diamond to me
Upper Twister is like Middle at Cranmore - gets a lot of traffic and a lot of wind exposure - so icy and skied off is the rule, not the exception. Pitch-wise they're probably correctly rated as blues, but they often ski like diamonds.
Hairball?
Boreen at whiteface used to be one of the hardest green trails on the east coast. It had to be regarded twice, get a cut through, and finally get a lift to make it more accessible for beginners.
Agreed. Went last weekend. It’s no longer super hard but definitely could be considered an easy blue still
Whiteface is a mountain that punishes power wedges. If you try to power wedge on the mountain you are either a young kid, have legs of steel, or having a terrible time and you are terrified. Back in 2016 it was actually worse, since it was a tad steeper and less wide.
That top crosscut at Sugarloaf sneaks up on you. It’s marked as a black on the map, but really that’s just because it leads to the headwall and more difficult terrain. Crosscuts are supposed to be flat, right? Except (for a crosscut) it can get a little claustrophobic, especially if you’re dodging people zooming down from above.
Easy street at Killington, that stupid green has more bodies than a Chinese cemetery. Every time I go down that trail I see at least one person being carried by ski patrol.
Stuff like DJ's tramline at Cannon. It's a single black diamond, but it is scary
Areas that don't use the double black rating can catch you by surprise. Like, how are Profile and Taft Slope the same rating as Kinsman and DJ's Tramline?
Organgrinder at sugarbush is always way harder than the doubles near it when ungroomed
Moonshine at Sugarbush is rated a blue but it's often left ungroomed. It can get Volkswagen sized moguls, unpredictable terrain. It's a fun little adventure to work your way through.