The Vertical Drop Thread

MarzNC said:
Vertical matters in the northeast. In the southeast, people who don't fly to ski have fun at small mountains with under 100 acres and less than 900 ft vert. ;)

One of the reasons I appreciated Mountain Vertical is that they had a separate category for Southeast and Mid-Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA). Lumping the southeast with East makes little sense. I think of upstate NY as "northeast" together with New England when it comes to skiing. I think of MD, PA, NJ for Mid-Atlantic and most of the ski areas/resorts are in PA.

Snowshoe is the only true destination resort in the southeast. The total vert and True-up Vert are a bit misleading. There is a section on the backside that has two black trails that was probably used to come up with 1480 ft. for both. But most of the main resort is more like 800' vert and Silver Creek is probably around 600' vert.
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I've skied Snowshoe quite a bit and got to step up to defend what they've got. While 70% of the mountain's ski-able acres are 850 feet or less of vertical, Snowshoe's "backside" 1500 foot trails are over 30% of the large resort's ski-able acres. The fact that there is so much terrain back there and only one high speed chair means they are not crowded. They are challenging: the trails are wide but the fall line varies and is tricky. The terrain changes as you drop from 4800 to 3300 feet. The trails get steep and then flatten a bit and then get very steep before narrowing again, all the while the fall line twists as you go, slanting from left to right. From day one, Cup Run was intended to be a downhill racing training run. Shay's Revenge was added about 15 years later and is even steeper. So, If you really want to ski long, expert, leg burning runs with lots of vertical drop, you will love this place. It is a premier ski mountain, better than anything I've ever skied in PA, WV, VA, NJ, NC, or other places to the south. In fact there is nothing like it to the south and southwest until you get to New Mexico. And it attracts skiers from mid-west too. The only places in NY that I like better are Gore and Whiteface.
 
DHA said:
I've skied Snowshoe quite a bit and got to step up to defend what they've got. While 70% of the mountain's ski-able acres are 850 feet or less of vertical, Snowshoe's "backside" 1500 foot trails are over 30% of the large resort's ski-able acres. The fact that there is so much terrain back there and only one high speed chair means they are not crowded. They are challenging: the trails are wide but the fall line varies and is tricky. The terrain changes as you drop from 4800 to 3300 feet. The trails get steep and then flatten a bit and then get very steep before narrowing again, all the while the fall line twists as you go, slanting from left to right. From day one, Cup Run was intended to be a downhill racing training run. Shay's Revenge was added about 15 years later and is even steeper. So, If you really want to ski long, expert, leg burning runs with lots of vertical drop, you will love this place. It is a premier ski mountain, better than anything I've ever skied in PA, WV, VA, NJ, NC, or other places to the south. In fact there is nothing like it to the south and southwest until you get to New Mexico. And it attracts skiers from mid-west too. The only places in NY that I like better are Gore and Whiteface.
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No defense needed. Snowshoe is clearly the only place in the southeast that can be called a destination resort. But someone who hasn't been there and hasn't looked at the trail map might be disappointed if they are the type that likes to ski all over the mountain to find that most trails are relatively short.

It's been a while but I've skied at Snowshoe. Now that Timberline has a high-speed lift to the top, I much prefer the vibe there than the faux village atmosphere of Snowshoe. Not really a fan of upside-down resorts either.

True-up Vert and total vert for Timberline is 980 ft. There are assorted ways down from the top, including a nice long green, a long blue, and trees if you know where to look. For some people driving from DC, Pittsburgh, or Ohio, they'll be heading to Timberline instead of Snowshoe this season. Especially if they didn't go for an Ikon pass.
 
DHA said:
I've skied Snowshoe quite a bit and got to step up to defend what they've got. While 70% of the mountain's ski-able acres are 850 feet or less of vertical, Snowshoe's "backside" 1500 foot trails are over 30% of the large resort's ski-able acres. The fact that there is so much terrain back there and only one high speed chair means they are not crowded. They are challenging: the trails are wide but the fall line varies and is tricky. The terrain changes as you drop from 4800 to 3300 feet. The trails get steep and then flatten a bit and then get very steep before narrowing again, all the while the fall line twists as you go, slanting from left to right. From day one, Cup Run was intended to be a downhill racing training run. Shay's Revenge was added about 15 years later and is even steeper. So, If you really want to ski long, expert, leg burning runs with lots of vertical drop, you will love this place. It is a premier ski mountain, better than anything I've ever skied in PA, WV, VA, NJ, NC, or other places to the south. In fact there is nothing like it to the south and southwest until you get to New Mexico. And it attracts skiers from mid-west too. The only places in NY that I like better are Gore and Whiteface.
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Snowshoe is decent and you made good points, we used to lap the west side, then they added Shays and it has a nice steep section near the end. 1st time going there I spoke to ski school director for free tickets for my girlfriend and I ( on a Saturday) the director got one of his supervisor to give us a free tour including cutting the lifts, these days Ikon made that place a madhouse, I do believe Tmberline might be better these days with more potential in the trees
 
DHA said:
The True-up numbers have Greek Peak at 950. Those of us who work there know its no 950.
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That's what I originally mentioned in the Toggenburg discussion and led to this breakout thread (see the first post). I'm no Greek Peak expert but everyone knows it ain't that much, so I was assuming that if the True-Up people got that wrong about GP, there are likely other inaccuracies.
 
raisingarizona said:
What’s your favorite lifts for hot lapping good verts?
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I don't really know how to answer this. While I do love the Plattekill double and there are certainly people who use it to ski straight down the front, that's not why I like it. I like the bumps on Plunge, the trees on that side, and the side country the most.

I guess the best answer I've got for this is the Burnt Ridge Quad at Gore. It is fast. But the "hot laps" I do are trees, 4 tree runs, each a mile long and 1500 vert.

This is very cool, thanks @jamesdeluxe for encouraging me to break it out.
 
When I was still out east and very young mine were the Plattekill t-bar, the front runner quad, single at MRG and the Madonna double. Other then the FRQ they weren’t fast but still my favorite lifts for lapping.
 
MRG Single and Hunter West are both solid choices. I should have included them in my list too.
 
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