1. A
day Profiles of six Sugarbushers.
by Laura Friedland
Ella Switzer, 10
Blazers Program
Ella Switzer is a five-year Blazers veteran to the core and can
hit the Mall (a black diamond trail with wall-to-wall moguls)
top to bottom as her last run of the day. While the boys are busy
dipping their Cheetos in hot chocolate, Ella is plotting her next
run through the stashes-not-to-be-named off Heaven’s Gate.
Ella always sports a mountaineering backpack filled with the
typical necessities (a CamelBak with water and protein snacks)—
but what else is inside may surprise you. Ella has type 1 diabetes,
and her backpack houses a monitor that continuously tracks her
glucose level and transmits the data to her parents wherever
they are across the mountain (thanks to the Switzers’ innovation
of using a mitten and a disposable hand warmer to protect
the monitor in cold weather). She has competed in the Junior
Castlerock Extreme event for three years, placing in the top three
of her age category each time
wintertime
at Sugarbush
in the life
Thomas Sullivan, 14
Diamond Dogs Freestyle Team
Thomas Sullivan loves skiing more than anything else. He’s been known to
catch first chair on powder days (think the Valentine’s Day storm of 2014)
and enjoys getting inverted with the Sugarbush Diamond Dogs Freestyle
Team on weekends. Thomas is one of four children and has grown up on
the unadulterated terrain of Castlerock and the challenges of skinning
up Lincoln Peak with his father, Mark. His habit of loading the car with
the family’s gear every morning (that’s six sets of skis) is a testament
to Thomas’s kindhearted and diligent spirit. If you want to catch Thomas
après ski at his ski home in Warren, you’d better watch your head on the
way in. He’s been known to build big kickers over the driveway.
6:00 AM: Rise and shine to freshly waxed skis and gear laid out the night
before. Get dressed, eat a bagel with cream cheese, and load the car
for a special skin up Lincoln Peak with Dad. Endure a way-too-long ten-
minute commute to Lincoln Peak. Feel the adrenaline rush from seeing an
entire mountain covered in fresh snow with only two cars in the parking lot.
Skin up Racer's Edge to Lower Snowball just in time to catch the sunrise
at the top of the Mall. Power through a serving of untouched powder on the
way down. Hop in line for first chair up Super Bravo.
8:45 AM: Take the Mad Bus to Mt. Ellen and meet the Diamond Dogs at
the yurt. Ride GMX to the top for a “warm-up” on the steeps of FIS. Lap
Sugarbush Parks until coach says it’s time for lunch.
12:00 PM: Stop at the base lodge
to hunt for macaroni and cheese.
Assemble lunch transportation method
(tin foil) for traverse to yurt to eat
with the team.
1:00 PM: Hit the biggest jumps of the
day once everyone’s legs are warmed
up. Ski Sugarbush Parks until close.
4:00 PM: On the Mad Bus ride home,
brainstorm ideas for the new backyard
jump setup. Launch over the road via
kicker jump for the first time and show
Dad.

2. Joe Foster, by a stroke of serendipity, was gifted a plot of land in
Warren, where he and two friends built the “Sugarden,” a secret
oasis featuring a sizable tipi warmed by a Vermont woodstove.
Prayer flags, tiki torches, and a sled track requiring the use of a
helmet adorn the site, along with two propane tanks powering a
hanging lantern and a Coleman dual burner that can cook meals
for twenty people. Many For20s passholders often think they are
living the dream—but Joe might really be living it at the Sugarden.
Twenty-nine Sugarbush season passes (twenty for Mt. Ellen only),
sixteen years of motherhood, and five energetic children: if you
were to quantify Liz Harris’s life experiences, these stats would
just scratch the surface. Nesting locally in Moretown as a family of
seven—including Liz’s husband, Dan, and kids, Isabella (16), Mary
(15), Eloise (11), Hazel (9), and Peter (7)—this family calls Mt. Ellen
their true home. Also known as “North,” Mt. Ellen is the Harrises’
playground, where the kids roam free, the lifties know them all by
name, and the snow is, well … better, according to Liz. When she’s
not chasing her own family, Liz chases the powder as a coach with
the Green Mountain Valley School ski team, along with her other
career, painting colorfully creative animal portraits (ehfreshie.com).
1:00 AM: Arrive atSugarden parking spotand unload beer,
food, and necessities onto sled. Skin fifteen minutes to the
tipi with thirty pounds of supplies in tow. Cry the official
“OoOoop” call to announce arrival, and hear an “OoOoop”
in return, signifying thatfriends have already arrived.
Crack a beer while catching up with Rosie and Andy, who are
already nestled in their sleeping bags.
6:00 AM: Awake to lightsnowflakes falling and step up to
make breakfast. Dubbed “Champion Badass of the Day.”
Forgotwater, butAndy’s broughtenough for everyone.
(#TipiProvides.) Cook the usual two pounds of bacon, and
make coffee. Collectively devour “the mess”-peppers,
onions, eggs, cheese, and crumbled bacon. Skin to the car,
pop one bootoff, and drive to Sugarbush.
8:30 AM: Ski straightto the goods off of Heaven’s Gate. Rip
a few runs on Castlerock and adventure into the woods.
12:00 PM: Pull outa smashed PB&J from backpack and eat
lunch on the lift. Send work emails between runs.
3:30 PM: Catch North Lynx in time for a final Slide Brook
run, then take the Mad Bus back to the base. Go to the
Wünderbar for drinks until late-nightmusic starts at
Castlerock Pub.
Joe Foster, 26
For20s Passholder
6:30 AM: Wake up first. Pack the youngest kids’ ski bags.
Prepare five egg burritos for the kids and wrap them up to
go. Walk Georgia (the pup), wake up the kids, and sort out
who’s coming to the mountain.
7:40 AM: Yell, “I’M LEAVING AT 8! IF YOU’RE NOT IN T HE CAR,
DAD WILL TAKE YOU LAT ER!”
8:30 AM: Drop the kids and skis off at the Mt. Ellen base
lodge loop. Park the car, and run back up the hill to meet
GMVS team.
12:00 PM: Remind team that “there’s still fresh powder
somewhere and we gotta find it.”
1:00 PM: Meet oldest daughter, Izzy (who also coaches for
GMVS), after classes wrap up and drive home for lunch.
Work on latest chicken portrait painting until kids return.
4:00 PM: Remind the kids to wear an extra jacket as they
run in and out the door to build jumps; kids refuse because
they’re playing too hard to be cold.
Liz Harris, 38
Mt. Ellen Passholder
courtesyofjoefoster

3. Robert Forenza captures the heart and soul of Sugarbush, knows (and
probably first discovered) the best secret stashes, cliffs, and woods
lines on the mountain, and believes in the power of powder to bring
a diverse group of people together. He first set foot at Sugarbush
in 1958 when he was three years old and grew up skiing it with the
likes of Stein Eriksen, the Murphy family, and John Egan. Since then,
Robert and his friends have adjusted the phrase “No friends on a
powder day” to “No Forenzas on a powder day” and christened the
large face near Castlerock “The Church.”
20 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE
6:00 AM: Wake up with an egg, English muffin,
and cup of coffee. Sit down for morning
stretches in the living room. Drive to the
mountain via Rolston Road (arguably the most
treacherous road in the Mad River Valley).
8:00 AM: Catch the Gate House chair. Ski
down Push Over and make a note to warn
students about rough section on the right.
9:45 AM: Greet two beginner women at lesson
lineup and ease them onto Push Over for the
first run of the day. Ensure that the group is
comfortable before taking on the challenge of
Sleeper for the first time.
12:00 PM: Order a salad in Valley House for
lunch. Return to the Gate House lift for
afternoon lineup.
3:45 PM: Drive home and take a hot shower.
Cook a special fish recipe from Martha’s
Vineyard for dinner with wife, Kate.
Laura Friedland is a recent graduate of the University of Vermont who served as Sugarbush’s social media guru before moving west.
6:00 AM: Wake up with a full pot of coffee and
thoughts of powder.
7:30 AM: Congregate with eight friends in Gate
House Lodge before setting out for Super
Bravo. Ski Heaven’s Gate to Paradise and woods
stashes.
11:00 AM: Break for water in Gate House for ten
minutes, then bundle up for more runs.
1:00 PM: Dig into pockets for a lunch on the
go of dried fruit and granola. Stop inside Gate
House for a water break; some stragglers stay
behind.
3:45 PM: Run into original eight at the top of
Snowball and finish the day with a run in Race
Course Woods.
4:00 PM: Ski straight to Castlerock Pub for
après beers. Meet friends in town for a hearty
homemade dinner and share stories of the day.
Richard Jones, 79
Ski & Ride School Instructor
Chances are, seventy-nine-year-old Richard Jones skis more days
a season than almost anyone else on the mountain, capping the
2014–15 season with 146 days on snow. When he’s not conquering
his favorite trail under the Castlerock Double, he’s testing out
the terrain on Push Over for his beginner-level ski class. In his
forty-five years at Sugarbush, Richard has worked as an events
ambassador, a media guide, and, for the past nine years, a ski
instructor. Richard is one of the famous few responsible for making
Slide Brook accessible through the trails he helped cut.
Robert Forenza, 60
All Mountain 7 Passholder