Mont Sutton - March 31, 2017

With the day off work today, and taking advantage of that, Mont Sutton was the choice of destination. I left Sherbrooke at a little after 7 under partly cloudy skies. When I arrived at Sutton for 8:30, it was cloudy and about 2 degrees above zero.

The conditions were a bit more tricky that I was anticipating, as the mild temperatures from yesterday and the freeze from last night made for some hard surfaces. 57/60 trails were announced as open with 2 lifts, Chair 2 the main Quad and Chair 4, the fixed grip Quad were spinning today. The wait in line for either lift was non-existent. The day began on the Sutton iK and the Mohawk to warm up. The Sutton iK was groomed granular on a hard base. The Mohawk, was not groomed but was well covered with some loose granular with the temps being mild at the lower altitude.

The Sutton iK:

The Mohawk:

After a few runs I moved over to Chair 4 and the Dynamique via the Youppi Youppi trail. Coverage here was decent but some places were starting to show some wear. It was icy in places and you had to be aware of that and choose your lines accoringly to avoid them. The Youppi Youppi and Dynamique was not groomed as well and made for some fast skiing. A couple of rides up Chair 4 and then it was Alleghany's for the route back to Chair 2. 

The Youppi Youppi:

The Dynamique:

Alleghany's:

The glades were open and skiable but they were starting to get thin. Pretty much all the snow we received from the last dump we got has pretty much either melted and has been skied off. The last run down was on the Alouette which is a natural snow trail and was thin and bare patches were visible. 

Glade to the right on the way up Chair 2:

The Alouette:

With the conditions as they were, pretty good but tougher that I am used to, my legs were screaming and I "tapped out" by noon. Overall a decent day but I missed the boat after the big dump to ski Sutton the way you should ski it! Knee deep in white gold.

Here are a few more scenes of day: