Me and the wife went to Snowshoe Thursday night and stayed until Saturday morning. The wife is expecting our 2nd child so we dropped off the first with grandma and she planned a day of reading and spa treatments while I boarded Friday. They upgraded our room for free from the Panera looking rooms of the Expedition Station to the cozy rooms of Rimfire. First time I've stayed anywhere but Silver Creek and Spruce Lodge and we were pretty impressed. Small details like missing lightbulbs and whatnot but overall it was a great little room.
I got to Cupp about 9:20 and I pretty much had it to myself for the first 2 runs. You could at most see 1 other person on the trail. Snow was really good on Upper Cupp and Shay but the steeper section of Lower Cupp had a few issues. Their grooming is usually some of the best around but there were a few ridges, icy spots, and frozen crud on the middle and skiers left. If you stayed on the right it was phenomenal though. Skied that until about 11:30 and then went in to our room for lunch with the wife.
It started snowing all afternoon, heavy at times. I checked out the new trails at Widowmaker. The furthest one (don't remember if it was Camp 99 or Sawmill) was pretty good. The glades were do-able but not if you liked your board. The runout was a bit long with the fresh snow though and it was all I could do to make it to the lift without unstrapping. The one between that trail and Widowmaker was incredible though. Almost like a mini Cupp Run with a good consistent pitch, incredible snow, and very little in the way of a runout at the bottom. The best slope on the Basin side hands down. I was very impressed with it.
I ran those trails for some time and then headed across the mountain to catch the bus to Silver Creek. I wanted to hit the Blacks over there before they closed at 4:30. Flying Eagle and Bear Claw were both great and the snow was really starting to pile up at that point. You could find great snow all over those trails. I did those until they closed and then hit all of the rest of the trails at Silver Creek. They all had great snow, you could find great stashes on the edges, and their pitch is pretty consistent compared to most of the Basin. Headed back to the condo at about 6:30. All in all, a great day.
Food:
We ate at Foxfire the night we arrived. I just love this place. Really good food and a good atmosphere. Fried pickles, the only way to eat a pickle.
I made reservations at Embers Friday night based on some rave reviews. I'm sure its great for some people but i just wasn't impressed. The place looks like a cross between Panera (I know, second reference) and 60's James Bond styling. Call me old fashioned but I prefer Cracker Barrel's fireplace to 3 HD TV's with a fireplace showing. The cotton candy machine was only 8 feet away from our table and a bit loud. I'll give them credit for being different though. The food, We got some steak kabobs for appitizers. They cooked them on a rock at our table which was cool. Unfortunately, they tasted exactly like the steak chunks that the Weston "Steer Steak House Buffet" we ate at on Sunday had on the buffet table. I got a seafood Stir fry that was good but not amazing by any means. She got the Rotisserie Chicken which was really good. Overall, I'm glad we tried it but I doubt we'd go back.
One last note, 2 people were under the Western Express Lift for over an hour looking for their keys. They had hiked from the mid station back down about half of the steep part. Back and forth asking if anyone on the lift could see a hole where keys could have dropped. Man, you talk about a bad morning. At first you wanted to laugh and point but by the 3rd trip or so over them you just wanted to go help them find their keys. (Not enough to actually go do it though)
I did look dilegently from the lift though.
