SugarBlog

Last Saturday I was down in Boston as Lili’s late brother, Billy, was being honored by having a square in Cambridge named after him. Billy was a music aficionado and an incredibly generous person who helped many musicians in the Boston area get their start.

Yes, as hard as it is to fathom, it is still autumn. With the best November turns that anyone can remember, we can be forgiven for thinking it is mid-winter already. One of our long-term guests remarked today that we've had a season's worth of great days in the first 2 weeks. This is maybe a stretch, but the quantity and quality have been remarkable, especially for late fall.

Wednesday was my 13^th day of skiing here at Sugarbush so far this season.  I am really thankful that I got into decent shape before the start of the season or my quads would be on fire.  We have only completed 8% of the season, but what a start it has been!

Our 60^th Anniversary got off to a great start on Friday, November 16^th.  We opened a day early for passholders and in addition to skiing and riding on Snowball and Spring Fling where we had made a ton of snow, we were able to drop the rope on The Mall, Stein’s Run, Lixi’s Twist and Moonshine...

Boom ... the wait is over! We're opening this Friday with Valley House Quad and hoping to greatly expand terrain and lifts for the weekend. Expect ungroomed terrain on Friday, with fresh corduroy planned for Saturday.

Winter was right on time this November, with lots of cold air for good snowmaking. Mother Nature has been adding significant accumulation to the mix too. We've gotten over a foot recently and there is more in the forecast. Opening Day may be a powder day, which is always a great way to kick off the season.

It’s official, thanks to the incredible efforts of our snowmakers and over a foot of snow from Mother Nature, we’ll be opening a day early for Passholder Appreciation Day this Friday, November 16^th...

Do you hear that quiet "sssscccchhhhhhhhhhhh" in the air? Music to your ears, too? Yes, Mother Nature's Helper got fired up last night! It might look like we're making snow, but at the core, that's the sound of fun being made. 

Our early winter kept delivering October snow last week, with decent accumulations at higher elevations. While we are ready to roll right into the cold, November is fickle, the mercury is heading up and we're seeing warm temps to start the month. This has reset the snowmaking countdown, but we're still shooting for a November 17th Opening Day.

While fall is back for a few more days at least, it's time to enjoy the stark beauty of stick season. This is the best time of year for scouting ski and bike terrain, as the vegetation and foliage have settled down and you can see much more widely in the woods.

November has always been my least favorite month of the year. The days are often wet or damp and daylight hours are short. It is no longer light when I get up in the morning and the sun sets before the workday is finished...

The switch from peak foliage to winter can be a gentle slide, like last year, where it stayed warm and sunny into the beginning of November. That is not the progression we are currently experiencing. 

This fall has plunged into cold wet weather quickly, with a couple shots of snow and extended cool temps next week. While not a guarantee, this bodes well for snowmaking starting on-time November 1st and for meeting Opening Day plans for November 17th.

It was great to see so many members of our community at Sugarbush over the Columbus Day weekend. While the weather was not ideal, that did not deter people from enjoying golf and our mountain activities on Saturday and Oktoberfest on Sunday...

Thank you to the entire Sugarbush community for a great weekend of peak foliage, friendly adventures, celebrity celebrations and hearty harvest feasts. Hearing the old stories from some of the original folks who helped get the mountain rolling back in the day was a real highlight.

After many years, Ski Magazine evolved their annual Reader’s Survey. Instead of coming up with rankings  for both western and eastern resorts, they “have gleaned information from the survey data, combined it with the collective expertise of our editors and contributing writers, and focused our resort coverage on answering that singular question:  where should you ski this winter.”  They acknowledge that one size does not fit all and they highlight in their write-ups those categories where each resort scored exceedingly well...

While it is easy to appreciate the beauty of the Mad River Valley, particularly during this most colorful season, sometimes it takes a new perspective to remember just how special this place is. On Tuesday, we hosted a group of writers and photographers from TGR, Outside, Singletracks and others, showing them around the Valley's trails and highlighting a few special spots, like the Mad Taco and a sneak peak at the new Lawson's brewery complex. 

With leaves already changing minute to minute, the equinox falls on this Saturday, officially kicking off autumn in the northern hemisphere. Our most colorful moments are starting. 

We're reveling in one last stretch of summery weather before this week's low temps become our high temps next week. The juxtaposition of seasons is wild, we are still swimming comfortably in the river now and it commonly snows for the first time about month or so from now.

We've been expecting summer's grasp to weaken for a couple weeks, but another heat wave has continued to keep things muggy. That's all changing today, with cooler air moving in right now. From highs in the 90's this week to the distinct possibility of frost on the summits Saturday night, we're ready for the fall zone.