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Hardest trail in the east?

post #1 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:02pm
Thread Starter 
I've haven't been everywhere in the north east so I'd like the boards opinion on hardest trails. Devil's Fiddle is one of my favorites at Killington.
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post #2 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:23pm
I don't know about the hardest, but Ovation at Killington is the steepest, IMO. Not that hard though, just 45+ degrees.
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post #3 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:28pm
Have you seen the new Tram Trail at Cannon. It's steep, narrow and had loads of obstacles such as rocks...no snowmaking...no grooming.
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post #4 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:33pm
In the east on a trail map : Paradise at MRG
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post #5 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:33pm
Impossible to answer from my limited (compared to some on this forum) world of NE skiing. There's no marked trail that I've found in the East - NY, VT & PA in my book - that's really hard to ski down. No mandatory skier+ height drops followed by relatively narrow chutes, etc. Since that's my exerience, I'd have to say that the "hardest trail" depends entirely on the conditions. I know you want a name, but it just doesn't exist.
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post #6 of 498
9/26/05 at 2:57pm
Well, I think a big determining factor is groomed vs. ungroomed. Ungroomed is inherently more difficult and starts to get fuzzy between what is identified as a named trail and what is backcountry. A few nominations in random order based in part on personal experience and part on hearsay/reputation. These are all lift-served:

Routinely groomed: Outer Limits, Ovation, Cascade and other runs in Canyons section@Killington, Castlerock section@Sugarbush (do they groom these runs?), the front four@Stowe

Normally ungroomed, but ID'd on trail maps: Slides@Whiteface, Devils Fiddle@Killington (does Killington blow snow on this anymore?), Cannon tram runs, Jay Peak chutes/backcountry, aforementioned Paradise and other terrain@MRG, Wizard, etc.@Magic Mtn (occasional grooming/snowmaking?), some steep glades at Smuggs, top part of Sugarloaf, esp when windblown&boilerplate.

What did I miss? Any lift served real tough stuff in Eastern Canada?
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post #7 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 
I was thinking groomed, but all input is welcome. Conditions are everthing though. I skied stuff in whistler that made me nervous to look down at, and I'm no pro. It's just the conditions allowed me to be aggressive!
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post #8 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:28pm
If you see a fish through the surface, thats about as hard as it gets---'ceptin for rocks!
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post #9 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by goldsbar
Impossible to answer from my limited (compared to some on this forum) world of NE skiing. There's no marked trail that I've found in the East - NY, VT & PA in my book - that's really hard to ski down. No mandatory skier+ height drops followed by relatively narrow chutes, etc. Since that's my exerience, I'd have to say that the "hardest trail" depends entirely on the conditions. I know you want a name, but it just doesn't exist.
Apparently you have not skied at Mad River. Paradise was mentioned and it fits the bill, steep ice waterfalls and chutes going off in all different directions. All you need to know about paradise is in the first 20 feet, a narrow super steep mine shaft leading to a 12 foot Ice waterfall that is a mandatory drop. Paradise while fun is pretty tame compared to the stuff that you begin to know and learn being a local at this mountain. Trees to tight to ski unless the powder slows you down or Chutes that require ledge to ledge acrobatics in tight trees. I have skied stuff there that has made me want to click my heels togethor and say, "Theres no place like home, theres no place like home."

Simply put ski at Mad river a few times then ski somewhere else and you will immediately realize not only how tough their skiing is but how much better a skier it has made you. There is other fun expert terrain in the east, Killington, Julio, The new glades at Bear, Redline at Magic, Chutes at jay, Castlerock at Sugarbush, tramline at Cannon. However none of that terrain has made me question my mortality the way I have at mrg, the bumper sticker is not just a gimmick.

Alfonse
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post #10 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:52pm
Definately Paradise...MRG. Most of the expert trails on that mountain in fact could be on the list.....
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post #11 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:53pm
The bumper sticker has also been used in court by their defense attorneys.
Mad River Glen
Ski it IF you can.
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post #12 of 498
9/26/05 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamesj
Routinely groomed: Outer Limits, Ovation, Cascade and other runs in Canyons section@Killington, Castlerock section@Sugarbush (do they groom these runs?), the front four@Stowe

Normally ungroomed, but ID'd on trail maps: Slides@Whiteface, Devils Fiddle@Killington (does Killington blow snow on this anymore?), Cannon tram runs, Jay Peak chutes/backcountry, aforementioned Paradise and other terrain@MRG, Wizard, etc.@Magic Mtn (occasional grooming/snowmaking?), some steep glades at Smuggs, top part of Sugarloaf, esp when windblown&boilerplate.
As far as I know

Castle Rock is not groomed, Killington has started blowing snow on Devils Fiddle since they made all those terrain park trails at Bear and started heavily grooming Outer Limits.
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post #13 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by doublediamond223
I don't know about the hardest, but Ovation at Killington is the steepest, IMO. Not that hard though, just 45+ degrees.

Uh, not exactly. 45+ percent maybe, but NOT 45+ degrees (24 degrees, actually):



Not being one to ever back away from a numbers game here are the numbers for the rest of the runs named above:

Paradise - 32.5 degrees http://www.snowjournal.com/images/ga...21b323_med.jpg

Tramline - 28.1 degrees
http://www.snowjournal.com/images/ga...1b9e2b_med.jpg

Another mentioned steep Eastern run is White Nitro - 29.5 degrees
http://www.snowjournal.com/images/ga...95aab4_med.jpg

Just thought it would be interesting to compare.

Powdr

PS: I'll do more on request.
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post #14 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:37pm
Conditions have as much to do with it as anything. All things being equal, Paradise is up there, Devils Fiddle and Ovation is steep too.
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post #15 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:42pm
Thread Starter 

powdr !!! Awesome post.

More trails please. Steepest at killington is?? What about steepest at attitash? And sunday river? you the man!
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post #16 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:47pm
Outer Limits is a lot harder than Devil's Fiddle!
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post #17 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:52pm
White Heat at Sunday river. Keep in mind when they say the steepest trail they average it out. Personally at Killington I think the steepest pitch involves Devils Fiddle, but Ovation is close and more sustained. One of the steepest pitches in the east on a trail that amazingly they groom is at Mt Snow, Ripcord. If you fall on that trail I guarantee you will slide to the bottom. Okemo has no steep at all, nor does Stratton(Okeslow, flatton.) Of course everyone marvels at Upper Goat and the top of Starr at Stowe. Got to love the arrow pointing down on the sign for Starr. I have not skied Smuggs but I hear they have some good steeps and trees. As far as groomed Steeps are concerned Killington, Or like Sunday River will be the strongest. Killington Grooms, Double Dipper, and outer limits as well as Superstar pretty regularly. I have heard that Sugarloaf has some excellent expert terrain but have not had the privelidge of skiing it. Also Le Massif is supposed to have some consistent steep pitches in Quebec.

Alfonse
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post #18 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:54pm
Thread Starter 
Not for me last year. Devil was the only trail that gave me trouble.Got a good powder day skied it 20 runs or so, only saw 3 other people on the trail all day. It was awesome. That's the thing with killington,it can be super crowded but you can still find wide open trails!
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post #19 of 498
9/26/05 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 
Attitash has a really steep trail, I forget the name it has three sections though.
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post #20 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:01pm
It's been a while, but I remember that the combination of steepness, ice, bumps and lack of width made Goat the biggest beast in the east.
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post #21 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ski=free
Not for me last year. Devil was the only trail that gave me trouble.Got a good powder day skied it 20 runs or so, only saw 3 other people on the trail all day. It was awesome. That's the thing with killington,it can be super crowded but you can still find wide open trails!
You skied it 20 times because it was easier than Outer Limits. Outer Limits gets a lot more traffic, bigger bumps, harder snow. It's easily the most difficult run at Killington to ski well. Devil wasn't giving you trouble, it was giving you a good time.

Ski Outer Limits twenty times then tell me which is harder.
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post #22 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:17pm
Outer Limits tough yes, fun hardly. At least the day i was there. Paradise the day before was much more fun, and much more interesting.

Josh who skied Outer Limits when it was solid sheet of frozen over spring muck. It sucked really really bad, wasnt scary just plain annoying.
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post #23 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:18pm
I'll echo the message...Paradise @ MRG. I've yet to do them, but the Face Chutes at Jay are good and scary AND plenty steep. A couple of my personal favorites that kick my ass.

Rumble @ Sugarbush
Robin's Run @ Smuggs
Staircase Glade @ Jay
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post #24 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:28pm
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=17... &datum=nad83 extrovert as a Darkhorse maybe?

Powdr what program are you using there? I was wondering if you could get the pitch of the above map.?

The face chutes at Jay are a blast probably the steepest marked run i have skied. Tthe scariest marked run i ever did on the East coast was Chute/Liftline at MRG coming over some of the ledge bands is unnerving to this PA kid especially with no new snow.
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post #25 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:50pm
Rumble At Sugarbush:

The only place I've skied whwere the depth of the rock strewn, ice formed bumps was deeper than the trail was wide.

The result:

3 or us skied it one ( me ) was left without pranged, bent skis! Two Volkl were dusted. One looked like those Alladin Slippers (Tip was cambered up 4 inches).

Unless there is lots of fresh snow don't go there.
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post #26 of 498
9/26/05 at 5:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Powdr
PS: I'll do more on request.
I know these trails are not in the East, but I've always wondered about the opening stretches of Oster at Taos, Dalton's Draw at Snowbird, and Gunsight at Alta. Are you using the free version of Google Earth? If so, I can install same and check it out myself.
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post #27 of 498
9/26/05 at 6:07pm
I recall as a child being tramatized at Smuggs (Madonna). What are some of those steep ones? One, they claim, is a tripple diamond whatever that means.

Conditions are a big factor. One time at Mad River it had rained and made the whole place slick beyond belief. Then it snowed about a quater of an inch. Man, talk about scarry. I couldn't set an edge to save my life. The lady I was skiing with said it was a powder day and didn't miss a beat. I believe that to be the toughest set of conditions I have ever had the good fortune to ski. "It was good though".
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post #28 of 498
9/26/05 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Canyons
It's been a while, but I remember that the combination of steepness, ice, bumps and lack of width made Goat the biggest beast in the east.
Those aren't bumps, those are old VWs, and don't forget the double fall line.
And the sign at the top of Starr use to read "Experts and Terminal Aids Patients Only!"
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post #29 of 498
9/26/05 at 6:26pm
Denton Ski Area in PA claims to have the steepest trail(66%) in the east.
www.skidenton.com
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post #30 of 498
9/26/05 at 6:32pm
JH,
Is that the one right on the south side of US6 out near Coudersport??
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