The magic of small resorts

[miatamarty]

I've been skiing at Bachelor this year a lot because my pass was so cheap. The one advantage of being a geezer. Today was the first sunny day in forever but not at Bachelor. My old eyes don't deal with flat light no matter what goggle lens I use. There is a small resort about the same distance from my house as Bachelor. It's called Warner Canyon Ski Area. The weather reports said mostly sunny. Time for a new adventure. One fixed triple chair with 800 vertical of surprising variety. Steep to mellow. I skied for 6 hour because the chair was slow. The snow was very good groomers and a lot of untracked powder for the first few hours. Got there at 10:00. The sun was out. I was in heaven. My ticket was $20. But the best part was the ambiance. It was so quiet. The day lodge was a huge room with a gigantic pot belly stove that any and everybody could shovel in wood. Great big over stuffed couches. Lots of wooden tables. Maybe 40 cars in the parking lot. Dogs running around. BBQ's going. Lots of kids just skiing with their friends. I was so surprised that this turned out to be one of if not the best day of the season. Got home with cheek cramps because I was smiling so big on the way home. Sometimes you just don't need all the glitz and glamor.

 

[dan ross]

Love small and medium size mountains, Grew up skiing on what they call “ feeder hills”. I ski to be in the mountains in winter, not Rodeo drive with Chairlifts. As a city dweller, I just have to drive 3 miles to get to epicenter of conspicuous consumption which I avoid at all costs. I ski , in part, to get away from that , I want the sound of a light breeze moving through the trees, the crunch of boots in snow. Simple as that sounds, thats magic for me.

 

[1Turn2Many]

Funny, I shared a chair today with a girl who said Warner Canyon was her home hill. I’d never heard of it before. Sounds nice.

 

[dan ross]

My local area growing up, 35 trails- 6 at them at the time with lighting for night skiing, provided gym class for the local elementary -middle school 3 times a week. Free. Noon to 3:30. Rentals and lessons included , bring your own lunch.

 

[Philpug]

Hmm, the title is "The Magic of small resorts" I immediately thought of Magic Mountain and as the "Cadillac of small resorts" , which some say it is. With that being said, we too have come to appreciate smaller ski areas over ski resorts.

 

[no edge]

I hear it's known for Wolfe studies.

 

[Dr.T]

Spent yesterday skiing at Loup Loup in the Okanogan. 1 quad lift, 1240' vertical. Beautiful spring day, We love this little place.....already bought our season's passes for next year.

 

[Spinning Wheel]

I had the good fortune of living 25 minutes away from Nashoba Valley in MA while my son was just leading to ski. It’s a gem of a place - 4 chairlifts and about 250 vertical feet of fun, with a great pub restaurant at the base. In the summer, they turned the snowmaking pond into a beach with a tiki bar and restaurant and it was packed every night.

 

[k2rider]

Totally agree...when it kept snowing (and raining) in February in Prescott and I couldn't mountain bike, I convinced my wife to take off and chase the snow across Utah. One of the places we hit up was Beaver Mountain outside Logan, UT early in March. We had never been there or even heard of it but for a $60 lift ticket, we were game. It proceeded to snow 19" and while the place had older buildings, ancient lifts and few amenities, it was pure heaven. It was also nearly deserted. I rarely ride all day but we took the last lift we could and were still getting 80+% fresh powder on the last run. I live for the trees and this lil' resort did not disappoint. I hope to return next season.

 

[cantunamunch]

, we too have come to appreciate smaller ski areas

Wot, no Boreal / Donner ski ranch / Soda Springs pics?

 

[Paul Lutes]

In all fairness, those three "small" resorts cover a very wide range of conditions: Boreal is generally a zoo, Donner SR is a good fit, and Soda occasionally fails to produce a liftee and shuts down unpredictably (bottom of there barrel kind of thing).

I think we need hard rules about what's a "small" resort.

 

[cantunamunch]

I think we need hard rules about what's a "small" resort.

Setting up a summer bickering thread?

 

[Posaune]

Spent yesterday skiing at Loup Loup in the Okanogan. 1 quad lift, 1240' vertical. Beautiful spring day, We love this little place.....already bought our season's passes for next year.
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I've always wanted to ski the loup. Maybe someday.

 

[drewski]

never skied in Massachusetts, but during covid I did a mid week tour and skied Berkshire East,Catumont and Butternut. Had a great time, no crowds and the senior tickets were a pleasant surprise

 

[wooglin]

I feel like I'm on record about this. Though I object to the term resort.

 

[mikel]

Does Mt. Cain fall into this catagory or would it be considered db?

 

[markojp]

Spent yesterday skiing at Loup Loup in the Okanogan. 1 quad lift, 1240' vertical. Beautiful spring day, We love this little place.....already bought our season's passes for next year.
View attachment 198419

They've had a great season after a dismal one last year. And agreed! Cool little hill! If it were in the upper midwest, it'd have 6-7 chairlifts and be a destination resort.

 

[Shawn]

This spring I've been gravel biking on the Perkiomen Trail outside Philly. About halfway up I noticed that I rode by Spring Mountain, a 400-ish ft hill I only vaguely knew existed. Might take a few runs next season.

 

[JCF]

Catamount. Grew up 5 minutes from there. It was built by the father of my first real girl friend. Skied there once this year and it is a very special place to me. Only wish they got as much snow now as when I was a kid.

 

[Jeff N]

I’ve been on this rant for years, but good small ski areas offer a skiing experience that has so much more quality and value than the increasingly ridiculous mega-resorts. Small ski areas are what is keeping skiing alive by actually making the sport affordable.

Last week for a Spring Break ski trip we went to Sipapu in New Mexico. Paid $200 non-discounted rates for 2 adults and a kid to ski 2 days, so less than a single adult ticket at Fail. Sipapu is like going back in time to skiing in the early 1980’s. Not just the fixed grip lifts (and the now very rare high speed detachable Poma!) but it still has all the narrow cut trails vs. the modern boulevards. Big old lodge down at the bottom with cheap and decent-ish food. Lots of families and church groups. They had a 20” storm the day before we arrived and got 4” fresh overnight. ZERO competition for that powder, even on cleared runs.

While Sipapu is having a great season, it also has great snowmaking and in a typical March has the best spring corn skiing I’ve ever had. The natural snow in the trees melt out leaving just the glaciers blown onto the runs, and the result is excellent drainage of the snowpack-no stickiness or suction, just ridiculously fun ankle deep advanced corn.

Sipapu adult tickets in April? $9 each.

Pajarito is a lot like this too on a larger mountain, but their snowmaking is much more minimal so it can be harder to get reliable conditions.
Hesperus outside Durango. Tough mountain using an ancient Riblet chair. No snowmaking, no grooming on the upper half of the mountain. Mainly a night skiing mountain, and they rope off NONE of the unlit runs- ski it by flashlight or headlamps, or just by moonlight. I remember one of my first times there skiing blind off a 10’ ledge at twilight- good times.
Sunlight is absolutely this. Great mountain that time forgot. Monarch still largely feels like this, but is getting a bit busier than all the rest I have mentioned. Still very sack lunch, plug the crock pot in at the lodge k8 d of vibe.

I travel to and ski these places over and over and over and every year my interest in spending thousands instead of hundreds to go ski the “real resorts” fades more and more. Finding untracked runs at 2:00 PM is an experience worth a lot more than bigger vert or more notorious steeps or the overall acreage.