My only previous visit to Whaleback was eleven years ago, the first season Whaleback was closed. I stopped there en route to my first visit to Jay Peak (oh, how my skiing habits have changed since that visit!). I was a young and inexperienced explorer to New England skiing, but I already knew that I wanted to see all that New England had to offer.

Whaleback caught my eye during that drive up Interstate I-89, so I stopped to quickly explore the base of what was then a lost area. I immediately saw the potential for what I experienced today. I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to get back there. And I couldn’t have picked a finer area or a finer day to finish the last New England area on The List. And unlike many other areas that have been crossed off The List, Whaleback will definitely not be a one and done area.

Whaleback’s vertical is a rather modest 700 feet. Whaleback skis WAY bigger than this number would suggest. As seen from the highway, Whaleback doesn’t seem like it offers much terrain (and its trail map doesn’t do it any favors either). But appearances are deceiving at Whaleback — what you see (from the highway and on the map) is just scratching the surface of what you get.

Whaleback was buzzing today. The mountain was hosting the Whaleback Shoot Out, a USSA Eastern Freestyle mogul competition. Tents and chairs were set up at the base of the competition area on Lower Face. Tons of kids and parents created an amazing scene, a very positive local vibe. I could immediately tell this was a special day both for the competitors and their parents and everyone was enjoying the competition and the general festive atmosphere on this fine early spring bluebird afternoon.

I worked the mountain skier’s left to right starting with a pair of ungroomed blue squares, Fluke and Jonah’s Revenge. Both trails dumped out onto another pair of ungroomed blue squares, Davey Jones’ Locker and Leviathan. Both runs were well pitched for blue squares and left completely natural, almost unheard of these days for intermediate terrain.

Continuing to cycle the mountain left to right, I found some really sweet trees in Y.O.O.Y.M. (You’re Out of Your Mind). The glade flowed and bended around a few undulating turns before pitching forth. Nothing too steep but excellent flow and pretty trees.

Next down the line was the short and narrow Belly Up glade which flows perfectly into Jawbone, one of Whaleback’s three front facing double diamond trails. Jawbone is as fine of a natural snow trail as you’ll find at any mountain. Massively undulating, this trail bends right, then left, then right again with excellent pitch and fantastic drops. Charge this one hard, it deserves it and you’re legs will feel it.

Face is the liftline trail that has a steep pitch and weird scraped bumps (above the course). But a better option just a little to the right is Blow Hole, almost a mirror image of Jawbone with more massive undulations, launch opportunities, steep lines, and bumpy natural snow. I couldn’t get enough of these two trails. Charge them hard and air it out.

The eastern side of the mountain is significantly more mellow. On the trail map, there is a weird hodgepodge of trails coming off the summit. But everything makes more sense when actually skiing the trails. Spout is a fantastic ripping cruiser obscured from the highway except for its final pitch. There are a few gladed options on the map over here, amongst the green circle trails, that can all be combined in one run.

But there are more glades than just the ones you can find on the map. Whaleback has taken a page out of other community oriented ski areas and asked its passionate community members to help improve the woods. The results are intriguing but still very much a work in progress. The lack of base didn’t help things but both off map trees I found were not quite ready for prime time. One awesome line was one work day away from being the best tree skiing line in New Hampshire south of Cannon (Ragged, eat your heart out). Another was quite a ways away from being ready.

So what makes Whaleback awesome? How could a ski area that was once closed and is only 700 vertical feet be that good? Whaleback reminds me a LOT of another smaller area that is also awesome: Mount Abram. While Mount Abram does have the vertical advantage, both are community orientated areas with a friendly vibe serviced primarily by a single double chair. Both areas have a massive amount of downhill capacity from their primary chairlift making for empty trails. And both areas have some really nice steep natural old school trails with locally organized woods cutting efforts.

Whaleback has steeper terrain than Abram but Abram has a few more expert options. Abram has better intermediate terrain and has a dedicated beginner chair whereas Whaleback has a steep cut off between beginners and experts with only one major cruising trail. Abram is better fleshed out but I think I might give Whaleback the edge on a powder day when fully open, especially if they can get those two off map trees I found more fully cleared out. Both mountains have kick ass bars, tons of family, and a major sense of community. I wish Whaleback was a little closer to home as I would love to be able to drive a few minutes down the road and get that sense of camaraderie.

Whaleback has billed itself as a year round outdoor sports facility for a wide variety of action sports with a winter focus on freestyle, moguls, and slopestyle. By its nature of being a small mountain focused on youth sports, it is by default a community area. And that heart and soul shines through in a major way. This is a family oriented area right down to the slow double chair having a loading height of only 11″ to accommodate the young kids. But Whaleback has terrain that can be put up against any major mountain in New England. Blow Hole, Face, Jawbone, and Y.O.O.Y.M. are simply fantastic wild rides and well worth the extremely reasonable $40.00 weekend lift ticket price. Put it on your list (you do have a list, right?) and get there.