Despite Waterville Valley being the closest major mountain to my home, it is an area I rarely visit. My last trip to Waterville was in late November 2003. I still have yet to take the full measure of Waterville and ski all of its advanced trails. But I know enough about the mountain to know that what you see is what you get — which is why I usually travel the few extra minutes it takes to get to Cannon, where what you see is barely scratching the surface.

Three unique routes were open in addition to one route off the High Country where a slalom training session was taking up half the trail. The “easiest way down” was Upper Bobby’s Run to Old Tecumseh which was ironically the most difficult way down in reality thanks to the effects of traffic funneling. Thinking outside of the box yielded somewhat better conditions.

After skiing all of the available routes except the one serviced by the dreadfully slow High Country Double, I decided that a top to bottom 2000′ vertical run would be fun. Unexpectedly, I found the best snow on the mountain under the High Country double on Scramble. The only skiers riding the High Country were racers in training, so the snow was kept soft, fresh, and loose. A pity I discovered this treasure so late in the day!

Other than turns on Scramble, I made the best of the hard pack and frozen groomer tracks by focusing on technique: balance, finishing my turns, driving forward, and hands in front. And I finally got the new Theory skis to pop the way I wanted them to. A delightful work out session for sure.

Waterville is off to a decent start considering the dearth of natural snow and variable temperatures. Snow makers were hammering Valley Run in anticipation of the big Christmas holiday week. Gun’s were also set to blow on Upper Sel’s which would give them another run off the Quad. Compared to my beloved Cannon, Waterville has significantly more open terrain (at least twice as much) and a respectable amount of elbow room. Lifts were ski on all morning and lift attendants at the Northside Double seemed down right bored.

Thanks to the great golf game of a non-skiing family member, I was offered some comp tickets to Waterville for this season so I’ll be back when it is fully open to take the full measurement that I’ve yet to experience. But for today, what I saw was what I got and that was pretty good all things considered.