Well unfortnately not much. They got rid of the dogleg turn on Upper Cupp and installed the midstation on the Western Territory.

Heres the link: Snowshoe 2008-2009

Hopefully, the ski patrol will use the midtstaion to yank beginners & intermediates from Cupp & Shays and send them back to the top like they use to. That way SS can keep the freaking groomers off Lower Cupp. My hope is that you can also download at the midstation so I can do laps on Lower Shays. That is if they actually open Lower Shays this year.

Yeah that will be pretty sweet, although it may require more work to get to Lower Shays. I usually try to pick up as much speed as possible to ease the effort in trying to make it all the way out there. BTW, I am predicting an earlier than normal opening for Lower Shays this year. This is going to be an AWESOME winter!!

From the link above:

"...This season we'll add a new mid-station to the Western Express Lift. This will allow us to open 26 acres of skiable terrain on Upper Cupp Run and Upper Shay's Revenge earlier in the season. We know our guests love these signature slopes, and we're pleased to be able to let you experience the thrill of 1,500' vertical feet more often this season..."

How does adding a mid station to open upper cupp and shay earlier help me experience the thrill of 1500 vertical feet more often? If anything, this will allow them to open upper cupp, then upper shay instead of pushing to open top to bottom cupp first. Interesting. Don't get me wrong, I think its great that they can open a portion of Cupp and Shay earlier but that "1500 feet more often" claim doesn't really make sense.

As for lapping lower shay, unless they changed the location of the mid station, you would have to really work to get from there to lower shay. Unless of course they don't slow you down at mid station so you get launched back up Shay.

Regardless, I just hope the removal of the dogleg wasn't too dramatic.

Lou,
Next time you are at the Shoe please take pictures of the changes on Cupp Run and the new mid-station. Is the mid-station like the one at Alta...you can only load in the up direction...no getting off at mid-station?
Thanks,
The Colonel

I will definitely, The Colonel.... This string of Gustav/Hanna/Ike wind storms has got me quite busy. However, one of my best friends and condo owner at Summit too is getting married up there in two weeks, so I'll be sure to get up there.

Damn, I liked that dogleg section. In addition to having some character, it filtered out a few bad skiers who couldn't make the turn. I think they're dumbing down the trail a bit.

BTW, Google Earth has some new high res imagery of Snowshoe that is quite good. Big improvement over the previously available imagery. You can actually see the grown in trails that were cut, but never finished, between Cupp and Shays. And it gives a good indication about how they might have modified the dogleg. They could cut one or two corners and make it a big straight section.

I too hope they didn't ruin Upper Cupp by taking out the dogleg...thats the one of the best ski runs in the east and that kink in Upper Cupp was Oh So Sweet when taken at full stride... I know there is alot of skier accidents there, but most have no business on that side of the mountain if they can't ski it.

The Mid station is a welcome addition if they can get Upper Shays and Cupp open sooner. I remember a few years back they had Cupp open by Mid December, the last few years its been after the 1st of Jan before they even started to make snow there, and Lower Shays never even opened last year

Cupp Run. Designed by Jean Claude Killy. "Improved" by McManagement.

I'd love to see an old arial photo of the original Cupp and compare it with now. I think they already went through a major widening when they opened the high speed. I wasn't on it before that so I don't know what it used to be like. I'm sure Mr. Killy already wouldn't have recognized it.

Spent this weekend at Snowshoe attending a friend's wedding. I'll say that the new Soaring Eagle is impressive lodging. The hearth room was amazingly beautiful and well adapted to a wedding ceremony as well as anything else with a bit of class.

The cycling season is coming to an end and although most of the venues were open, there were no lines in the restaurants, thanks heaven. There was a cold mist that evoked the upcoming winter. The high Sunday was 55 degrees, and everywhere they're talking about the month of November as the restaurants take their break before the hopeful Thanksgiving weekend opening.

The resort is preparing for the season and the preparations are quite evident. The most obvious change is in the snowmaking equipment. Snowshoe has contracted with TechnoAlpin, a Bozen, Italy company with offices in Southern Vermont, for the purchase of 15 M-18 machines to automatically blanket the topside and bunny slopes of Snowshoe. These state-of-the-art compressor jet machines are permanently mounted on towers that allow for central control room operation. That will hopefully allow the resort to use its staffing more efficiently and allow better snowmaking elsewhere... Maybe Cupp and Shays?.... I've added the pix of the machines and some of the installation efforts.

[img]http://gallery.mac.com/bottal#100065/IMG_0033[/img]

And what about the changes to Upper Cup and the new midstation.
You promised a report and pictures! Maybe yor next visit.
The Colonel

I hiked down Cupp to see how the dogleg elimination is taking place. Lots of work in there, took two photos and even with the best of Photoshop they're worthless because of the crappy weather. I will definitely take some more next time I'm there in the next three weeks.

Lou, the snowmakers in this picture sure do look like they are going to be doing some damage this year..

I found this article from Onthesnow.com, http://www.onthesnow.com/news/11/a/3298/snowshoe-aims-for-early-season-terrain

According to it, the Cupp mid station will not be in operation after they get the entire run open, because the lift will not detach at the mid station. Looks like it will be a slow ride to the top till the entire run is open. It doesn't make sense not to invest in a detachable mid station like at Alta.

Ditto... anybody?