Will it ever get warm again? Since Sunday we haven’t seen temps break 20 degrees at the base or 10 degrees at the summit. Some would say that’s winter as it should be, and who am I as someone who’s lived here for the last 30+ years to disagree to them! But for those of you wishing for some slightly warmer temps, you’ll need to look towards Sunday. Saturday should see a range from 10-20 degrees with partial sun and the potential for snow showers but Sunday welcomes in temps between 20-31 degrees. The cold thus far has made for some great packed pow conditions, especially up high, and that should remain the case in the coming days. We’ve already surpassed our January snowfall total with 57″ so far this month. We still have a week to go.
We’re coming off a fun MLK Weekend, and the busiest weekend of the year so far. While Saturday didn’t start off quite how we would have liked with several wind holds in place for the first half of the day, we were eventually able to get lifts spinning to both summits by the afternoon. At Sugarbush, anytime we get winds coming out of the west, that tends to be potentially problematic based on the orientation of our lift lines. Usually when we see winds forecasted into the 40+ MPH range, which is what we had on Saturday with gusts up to 50 MPH, that’s when we start to run into wind holds.
It can always be a bit difficult to understand as a skier why a lift is on wind hold when the winds are mostly focused at the upper elevations, but rest assured, even if it didn’t feel too windy at the base it was quite windy at the summit. Here’s a shot of Heaven’s Gate when it was on wind hold that morning.
When a lift goes on wind hold, our operations team perform wind checks every 30 minutes in the hopes of getting lifts open. Now we’ve talked about how the new Heaven’s Gate Quad better withstands wind for a variety of reasons and that’s absolutely true. But as you can see these winds were so strong that even those heavy chairs with slatted seat backs were getting blown around. As the wind died down though we were able to get Heaven’s Gate open first, followed by GMX and then Summit.
Sunday was a different story with calmer winds. Things ran smoothly and made for a great day on the hill. Monday saw temps particularly cold though there were still plenty of enthusiastic skiers and riders making turns. Overall it was a great weekend and it’s always great to see so many of you enjoying the mountain from opening bell to the encore song of the late night band.
Charitable Initiative

We had a slew of awesome events all weekend long, and I want to call attention to one initiative we’re particularly proud of. As part of our efforts to celebrate MLK Weekend more meaningfully, this year we gave Ikon Base Pass holders, who are typically restricted from skiing on the Saturday and Sunday of MLK Weekend, the opportunity to unlock their pass with a $99 donation to the Burlington-based Association of Africans Living in Vermont. The AALV helps new Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services. What originally started as a way for the small African community in Vermont to get together for social events eventually transformed into a social services agency dedicated to serving not just Africans but all refugees in the state.
Sugarbush and the AALV have had a close relationship for the last several years through the Share Winter Foundation, a non-profit grantmaking organization that provides resources, advocacy, and community support for youth learn-to-ski and -snowboard programs, mainly those that serve kids that may otherwise be denied access to the sport. We felt they were the perfect partner for this initiative.
All in all, we ended up raising an incredible $29,799 for the AALV! They are so deeply grateful for the donation, and we are so appreciative of everyone who participated in this great initiative. Thank you!
Castlerock
The next big piece of exciting news is that the Castlerock Double officially began spinning today. Early reports from guests say that the trail system is skiing great, and we expect the lift to spin daily as long as conditions allow. The couple inches of snow we received overnight has helped refresh a lot of that mountain, and certainly that terrain in particular. Lift maintenance will now turn their attention towards the Slide Brook Express Quad.
Snowmaking

The cold weather has allowed the snowmaking team to continue cranking through its schedule as outlined in last week’s blog. The most recent focus has been building up the base on spring trails including Stein’s, Downspout, and Coffee Run. Right now we’re finishing up Birdland before moving onto a final refresh of Snowball, Spring Fling, Gondolier, and Ripcord.
Parks
Our Parks crew has come a long way since last week, now boasting over 100 features between Riemergasse, Sugar Run, and Sugarbear Forest. That team continues to lead the way in innovating interesting features and layouts for east coast parks. Come a little later this season, they’ll be hosting some sweet events there as well.
Conditions remain great, with 100% of our terrain open and lift accessible now. These next few weekends can often be some of our less busy ones and a great time to get out and enjoy the slopes ahead of Presidents Week. Come on out, and don’t forget to track your vertical as we continue our Descent To Rise Above push.
See you on the mountain.