Powder Ridge CT

They should make it 100% park, it would be so dope.

I know owner /claim but will ask him and get back to this

I'm very intrigued with this place, but I have no clue how they plan on opening this season. From what I've heard they haven't even ordered their snowguns, much less set them up and test them. Who knows how that snowmaking system is going to run after so long. Apparently they've been focusing a lot on the appearance of the place (updating lodge, painting lifts, ect) and hasn't really put too much energy into the actual systems that make a ski area in New England actually run. There's supposed to be 4 parks, but I've heard nothing about their park crew...so I have no clue who's gonna build it. Also haven't heard much on what they even have for features...

For a place that's trying to focus hard on the park scene (but far less than originally expected...first rumors was 100% park, now it's "4 parks", but who knows that that even means, kinda looks like 1 main park with a "pipe" at the bottom of it and two small parks kinda attached to it), they aren't really releasing any information on what they actually plan to do with their park. Not too mention the mandatory helmet rule for EVERYONE on the mountain will probably alienate some people (i.e. New Yorkers with a lot of money who rarely wear helmets).

But hey, the food looks fancy.

I have no problem with a helmet rule, some people will hate it but i wear one 100% of the time so it doesn't affect me, this mountain has been through potential openings like 3 or 4 times? i really don't want to have too high of hopes but at a certain point something has to stick. i feel like there are plenty of kids that ride park around CT, if it is done right it could be successful but all of the points you brought up about proper mechanics and whatnot are a good argument, i'm not sure about any of that, if anyone has any more info on their potential re opening throw it in here

While yes, there are tons of park kids in CT, the bread and butter of money is families and lessons, so to succeed they'll need to make sure that isn't lost (and did your biggest focus is park, you might send some of those people elsewhere). Like I said, they seem to not be as focused on park as they've lead people to believe, if you look at the trail map it's all kinda 1 run (with an option up top of presumably small/medium features vs large features). Also, oddly the "mini park" seems to be at the bottom of the trail...which is kinda weird cause if you want to learn park you'll have to go through the whole thing to get to the features at your ability level.

The guy is successful with Brownstone, so it's definitely possible they'll succeed, but I'm just not sold quite yet and honestly worried that this could hurt the park scene in CT if they do things against current statutes, but we'll see.

I will hopefully be on the park crew, it sounded very promising when I went to the job fair back in August. Communication is at a standstill though, it took 4 emails and multiple posts on their Facebook page to find out when they would be giving calls about jobs.

The original idea sounded like 100% park, but now it just seems like every other mountain. I'm really hoping they hire me so I can help push their parks in the right direction so that they become a desired location for us park rats. They have to potential to create something great.

They seem to be focusing on the race team recently, which in all honestly they should veer away from. Southington has a fantastic race program that is going to be very difficult to top. Southington also has an excellent ski and board school that in my opinion is one of the best around (I have skied there my entire life and my dad has been an instructor than since I was born). I am really hoping the ridge can make a name for themselves and stand out from the other CT resorts.

Good luck man! I hope it works out for you, the way it seems they're going to need all the help they can get park wise. It doesn't really seem like they know too much about the scene, just that it exists heavy in CT. I'm actually hoping this will help us push our parks at Sundown this year, competition is sometimes a good thing, haha.

The reason for the race team push is because racers pay lots of money for programs, I think someone told this guy that and he changed his mind about 100% park, but like you said it's going to be hard to compete in CT for racers, Southington has always been very race oriented and Sundown is offering free Nastar this season. As far as ski school goes, quite frankly almost every mountain in the country is on par with each other (at least to scale) because it's all done through the same programs (The Snow Pros PSIA program is still the leader), it really comes down to what instructor you get on what day.

Saw post on fb about opening with some features? Confirmed??

From what I understand the 29th is a "turning lights back on" party with a rail jam (with rink slush like Sundown's jams). Other than that, they've given zero information about the place publicly.

Was interested in what they might have so I inquired on FB and this is the non-answer I got

Cory Medlar: Kinda excited to try you guys out never been here before, wondering what kind of park setups you will have......I noticed a "Pipe" on the trail map

• Cory Medlar: Looking for more than the generic "Its gonna be great..." response LOL

yeah that definitely doesn't sound promising

http://powderridgepark.com/executive-chef-kevin-cottle-interviewed-about-powder-ridge-plans/

any more word about this? it says on their website that they are going to have something set up this weekend, but they don't seem to be advertising it at all, which makes me wonder. i just want to get my jib on!

sean said friday pm they;ll have snow for a rail jam....

Anyone been here recently?

I'll see what's good on monday

place requires helmets.

guess I'll have to dip into my tax return fund and get a bucket.

hit this place up yesterday and I was actually impressed with what they had. they seemed to be lacking snow for additional features, but that's to be expected in CT.

I can confirm everything said, but there are a few big issues that weren't mentioned. First, though, I have to say that they have fantastic features (which are setup poorly). They have the right idea, but a horrendously inexperienced park crew. Every feature that is made with an actual landing is setup with a short and steep landing, so your leeway with the sweet spot is teeny. The difference between knuckling and landing flat from the jump is like 2 or 3 mph (just an estimate). The two boxes in the main park are beautiful and smooth, but they're 5 ft and connected to the lip, so you need to hit them unbearably slow. The lip for the down-box is so high, that you can't see the box until you're coming up the kicker. The cannon rail has a 5 ft gap to the landing, but if you want to clear it you're going to fast for the rail which is also 5ft and connected to the lip. They have a really nice side-kink metal pipe (about 8-8), but my tips hit the mound of snow next to it somewhat consistently. The down rail in the jib yard has burred pieces everywhere and even after fixing that, it was sticky. The down box next to it is only about a foot and a half to the side, so if you fall between them you're fucked. The down box is also sticky and slanted. The flat-up-flat box is great, but it's also sticky, so hitting it with the right speed sends you launching from the up kink. The flat box is long and beautiful, but also sticky. There's also a wood panel sticking out that screamed danger. The battleship box was fine, but built into the kicker.

yeah you right, but if you're from southern CT you'll manage to find away to get yourself on/over those features. the $ is a bit much, don't forget they do have the $35 ticket from 3-8pm mon-thurs.