A benevolent fellow wanderer and ambassador of good will sent me an offer I couldn’t refuse. A chance to knock another mountain off The List; the third in a week’s time. The price was right (it could in no way be wrong!) and provided me the impetus to snag my third three day weekend in a row.
I was startled by the complete lack of snow in the northern Lakes Region right up through the Mount Washington Valley. The mountains suggested the month was only November; but the bitter cold suggested otherwise. Without the benefit of much natural snow–just fifteen inches year to date–Cranmore is currently relying entirely on man made snow. Without snow making, Cranmore would be completely brown.
And Cranmore was indeed blowing away today. But they are focusing on the mountain’s main routes, most of which are still not completely edge to edge; some trails were only two or three cat passes wide. Where the snow guns were blowing, the snow was soft and skied well. Other areas varied from very firm hard pack to frozen granular to loose frozen moth balls to scraped and slick frozen base. Knowing it was a discount day and conditions would not be at their best, I arrived early and left before things got too crowded. Cranmore needs natural snow badly both to freshen up open trails and to begin terrain expansion.
That said, Cranmore is doing well with what they have (or don’t have: not even an inch of natural snow base). From the summit of the wonderfully named Skimobile Express, there were somewhere between a half dozen to a dozen ways down the mountain (depending if you are counting unique runs or routes). Essentially all beginner terrain was open and nearly all of the groomed black diamond terrain was open. I was delighted to find that with exception of the Slopes (North, South, and East), all of Cranmore’s trails are fairly narrow and–excepting trails on the main face–generally curvy.
Cranmore only disappoints in how it skis. Despite the 1200′ vertical drop and high speed quad, I felt like I was on a smaller mountain. Nearby Black Mountain (1100′) and Mount Abram (1150′) both ski significantly larger than Cranmore though neither have the snow making powder to have even half as much terrain open as Cranmore does in this lean snow year. And Balsams–dropping 200′ less than Cranmore–was much more interesting and lively despite significantly less pitch. Cranmore is steeper than its shorter mid-sized competition but not nearly as fun or interesting.
Despite its awesome history and once premier destination status, Cranmore is more a mountain for families than for hucksters. Which is fine. My expectations were low going in and I was not disappointed. I confirmed my prejudice that there is a reason I had always overlooked Cranmore. But as noted last week, part of the reason for such explorations are to ensure I have not erred in my prejudgments.
Now back to your regularly scheduled powder chasing content. 🙂
4 thoughts on “A Cranmore Quickie”
I was there with our club (sorry I didn’t see you, but I was pretty tied up as we had quite a large gathering.
I couldn’t agree more with Steve on conditions. We skied Bretton Woods the following day and it was significantly more snow-covered (no surprise).
Cranmore is a great place for beginners and intermediates and anyone who just wants to take it easier. It’s actually an easier mountain to ski than Bretton Woods, both lacking in steeps in narrows.
Cranmore developed at a historic time where people were taking the train from the city, staying for a week. The mountain had a strategic advantage of being literally in the village of North Conway. Thus, a focus on the genteel crowd was in order. Drive through the late-1800s side streets and the size of the homes, lodges and hotels, lodges and hotels is striking. Forget Route 16, that has no representation of what North Conway used to be, save for a couple blocks surrounding the train station.
I believe the mountain trail system was originally designed to specifically address the aforementioned crowd.
Lucky for me, I had a lot of apres-ski to do and the skiing almost became secondary. That made the lack of snow tolerable. We skied from opening bell to about 1:30, when things became too scratchy.
Thanks for the report.
I looked for ya billski but couldn’t find you and figured you were busy with other club members. Bummer we couldn’t meet up but I figured you had a very busy.
I certainly don’t do Cranmore justice in my report from a historic perspective nor from the perspective of Joe Average skier. Thanks for writing up that comment with additional details.
I most enjoyed the historic aspects of the mountain… a high speed lift named after the Skimobile, a trail named Skimeister, the Slopes, the former ski railroad connection, etc. On the surface, the place looks very modern but there is a lot of history there. You need to look, though. It is not readily apparent due to all the improvements that have been done.
We went to Cranmore last weekend, just two weeks after a week long trip to stowe.
While Stowe has more advanced terrain the conditions at each mountain were similar.
However the guest service and ability to communicate with staff and ski school for our child was light years ahead of any other resort in the east! My wife and I have skied Cranmore for almost 20 years and now our 4 year old loves it! If everyone is honest with themselves this mountain has so much more to offer than any mountain in the east. The new owners are doing a great job!! Ski Ya Later!!!!
I was tempted to spam the above comment due to the line “If everyone is honest with themselves this mountain has so much more to offer than any mountain in the east.” I am all for different strokes for different folks and every mountain in the world has some great qualities that makes it the best mountain for the right individual, group, or family. But calling Cranmore a mountain that offers more than any mountain in the east reads like marketing spam (I get a surprising amount of it from Ski Resort Marketing firms…). I have allowed the comment and will let the readers decide for themselves.
Cranmore certainly takes care of families and does a great job catering towards their target marketing and running a good show. Definitely the right mountain for the right individual/group/family.