My job once again afforded me the chance to travel to New Hampshire... so I took advantage and skied January 20th and 21st. There was some new snow the night of the 19th, which really refreshed things and made conditions much better than they apparently (per reports, not experience) had been.
And each season I have a goal to ski at 2 new places, and I haven't skied NH much, so I picked a couple of new-to-me places. @Tony S came out and we skied Loon on Friday, and Wildcat on Saturday, and had a great time. Some good and bad groomers, short and long lift lines, grey and bluebird skies, soft and sketchy conditions, and even a little bit of unexpected skinning sans skins - it was all good.
I stayed in North Conway, and drove across Kancamagus highway to get to Loon. It was a beautiful drive, though I once again failed to see a moose in New England. *sigh*
I was on my SkiTalk Siderals (Blossom Whiteouts) that were great as usual
Chair Selfie at Loon
We got some snow during the day at Loon too... @Tony S here in some bumps and grass, which skied OK. We also skied some groomers that were surprisingly lumpy/bumpy, even first thing in the morning. I was not impressed at all with the Loon grooming crew.
The Kancamagus 8 lift... it's a chair, but has a terminal building that they must have to push snow into so you can ski to the chair like normal... very unusual setup.
The 8 person chairs are very nice, with their individual seats, especially when it's not a full chair.
Tony eyeing up some bumps... they were nice in places, but also icy and scratchy in places. The new snow didn't adhere so well.
Pano view at the top of Loon
The next day we decided to hit Wildcat. They'd reported a couple more inches than Loon, and actually seemed like they got quite a bit more. And it was a bluebird day, so the views were spectacular! Best I've seen in New England of all the places I've been (which is now Okemo, Mt. Snow, Stratton, Sugarbush, MRG, Killington, Stowe, Sunapee, Pat's Peak, Loon, Wildcat, and Sunday River).
The view off the back of Wildcat in the morning
Pretty good elevation at Wildcat (though not as high as Timberline, WV back home
)
The Mount Washington view... first I've ever seen it, including Tuckerman's Ravine of course
Since it was Saturday, the main lift tended to have a big line... it was about 20 minutes at its worst, but not always that bad. We only rode it a few times, and rode the other two lifts more, where there was very little to no lift line
Another pano of the great view
The snow was great, so we skied a lot of bumps and random chopped up runs. Skied like they got maybe 6" on some runs, and the groomers were very nice. But we also found some sketchy stuff. I didn't want to ski this run, but Tony begged and pleaded, and promised me it would be fine. It wasn't fine. But not too much damage done.
Some bumps in the sun... the afternoon runs were great.
You may wonder why some people in line are facing me... that's because the singles line wrapped back and forth before approaching the terminal! The joy of Saturday skiing.
They left some whales on some runs that had bumps formed on them. Lots of fun!
We even found some trees! This top section of the glade was good for a few turns, but after the roll-over there were creeks and gullies and we bailed.
Forest view - those clouds really just hung out there all day
Late in the day we went to look for another glade on the trail map... this involved going down a cat track that didn't have any tracks on it. I didn't really want to do it, but Tony just about pushed me down the cat track and told me I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't check it out (something about the Ministry of Bad Ideas may have been mentioned)... Of course, the glade was not skiable for me, and the middle of the cat track was a low point, so we had to hoof it out in the fresh snow. It was terrible. And I told Tony that I'd make sure to embellish the hell out of it and blame everything on him whether it was true or not!
Looking back at where we came from
Tony breaking trail (as punishment) to get us out
All in all it was a terrific couple of days of skiing! I skied about 41K vertical, and was tired each day in a very good way!
And each season I have a goal to ski at 2 new places, and I haven't skied NH much, so I picked a couple of new-to-me places. @Tony S came out and we skied Loon on Friday, and Wildcat on Saturday, and had a great time. Some good and bad groomers, short and long lift lines, grey and bluebird skies, soft and sketchy conditions, and even a little bit of unexpected skinning sans skins - it was all good.
I stayed in North Conway, and drove across Kancamagus highway to get to Loon. It was a beautiful drive, though I once again failed to see a moose in New England. *sigh*
I was on my SkiTalk Siderals (Blossom Whiteouts) that were great as usual
Chair Selfie at Loon
We got some snow during the day at Loon too... @Tony S here in some bumps and grass, which skied OK. We also skied some groomers that were surprisingly lumpy/bumpy, even first thing in the morning. I was not impressed at all with the Loon grooming crew.
The Kancamagus 8 lift... it's a chair, but has a terminal building that they must have to push snow into so you can ski to the chair like normal... very unusual setup.
The 8 person chairs are very nice, with their individual seats, especially when it's not a full chair.
Tony eyeing up some bumps... they were nice in places, but also icy and scratchy in places. The new snow didn't adhere so well.
Pano view at the top of Loon
The next day we decided to hit Wildcat. They'd reported a couple more inches than Loon, and actually seemed like they got quite a bit more. And it was a bluebird day, so the views were spectacular! Best I've seen in New England of all the places I've been (which is now Okemo, Mt. Snow, Stratton, Sugarbush, MRG, Killington, Stowe, Sunapee, Pat's Peak, Loon, Wildcat, and Sunday River).
The view off the back of Wildcat in the morning
Pretty good elevation at Wildcat (though not as high as Timberline, WV back home
)The Mount Washington view... first I've ever seen it, including Tuckerman's Ravine of course
Since it was Saturday, the main lift tended to have a big line... it was about 20 minutes at its worst, but not always that bad. We only rode it a few times, and rode the other two lifts more, where there was very little to no lift line
Another pano of the great view
The snow was great, so we skied a lot of bumps and random chopped up runs. Skied like they got maybe 6" on some runs, and the groomers were very nice. But we also found some sketchy stuff. I didn't want to ski this run, but Tony begged and pleaded, and promised me it would be fine. It wasn't fine. But not too much damage done.
Some bumps in the sun... the afternoon runs were great.
You may wonder why some people in line are facing me... that's because the singles line wrapped back and forth before approaching the terminal! The joy of Saturday skiing.
They left some whales on some runs that had bumps formed on them. Lots of fun!
We even found some trees! This top section of the glade was good for a few turns, but after the roll-over there were creeks and gullies and we bailed.
Forest view - those clouds really just hung out there all day
Late in the day we went to look for another glade on the trail map... this involved going down a cat track that didn't have any tracks on it. I didn't really want to do it, but Tony just about pushed me down the cat track and told me I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't check it out (something about the Ministry of Bad Ideas may have been mentioned)... Of course, the glade was not skiable for me, and the middle of the cat track was a low point, so we had to hoof it out in the fresh snow. It was terrible. And I told Tony that I'd make sure to embellish the hell out of it and blame everything on him whether it was true or not!
Looking back at where we came from
Tony breaking trail (as punishment) to get us out
All in all it was a terrific couple of days of skiing! I skied about 41K vertical, and was tired each day in a very good way!
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