My first Mad River Glen experience featured excellent coverage, great conditions, and beautiful blue skies. This visit greatly expanded my exposure to some of the best terrain in New England. Ski It If You Can, indeed. Shareholder since 2007.
Driving into the parking lot, I was directed where to park by an attendant. Upon opening my car door, I was greeted with friendly and warm conversation despite the frigid cold of the morning. Entering the lodge, I was enthusiastically and happily greeted by several employees. The main floor of the lodge is spacious and contains ample tables and chairs, including wood benches surrounding a red brick fireplace. Downstairs on the bottom floor, I purchased my lift ticket for $32 and quickly became engaged in conversation with Black’s attentive and hospitable staff. I was amazed by their Rental setup which seemed well designed and well staffed. Black’s reputation as a family friendly resort that specializes in beginners and those just learning is well deserved. But I was about to learn that Black has more to offer than just for families and beginners!
Black is a Mountain for everyone. First timers to Experts alike will delight in Black Mountain’s classic, narrow, winding trails. Beginners have two dedicated areas for learning which include a J-Bar servicing a wide open practice slope and a Platter Pull Surface Lift which accesses three charming Green Circles. Even expert skiers would do well to try the Platter Pull lift at least once for the experience! If you have never seen a Platter Pull lift, think T-Bar with a plunger instead of a T. The plunger gets placed between your legs which may lead some self-absorbed skiers to believe it is an extension of their man hood.
Despite recent disappointments with Cannon grooming almost all of their trails flat as a pancake, I could not resist the Two-Fer $40 on Valentine’s Day. There is nothing I would rather be doing on Valentine’s Day than skiing by myself! I am not being facetious, I mean that quite literally and seriously. But my opinions on Hallmark Holidays, their negative effects on mental health and general outlook on life, and binge Holiday consumption are really neither here nor there and do not pertain to this particular report. Feel free to email me; however, if you would like to discuss these topics in depth!
It was a freezing cold day at Cannon on Friday. Temperatures at the summit started at -20 F. Fortunately, the wind was manageable as I unloaded from the High Speed Quad and quickly ducked over to By-Pass. Quickly, I noticed that most trails were groomed to what some skiers might call “perfection.” However; unless I am in the mood for ripping GS turns, any grooming leaves much to be desired. I tracked down to the Front Face and ran laps skiers left to right starting on Gary’s. Gary’s and Rocket featured the so called perfect groom with occasional natural pockets on skiers’ right on Rocket. Not much consistency or fun to be had on those occasional natural snow areas.
Made it up to Haystack in Vermont for the Massachusetts Day $29 deal. Haystack is the often overlooked little sister of Mount Snow and the Bastard Child of American Skiing Company. Despite Haystack being less crowded, having no lift lines, and decent terrain, the mountain has not been as successful as neighboring Mount Snow. Instead of increasing advertising and awareness, ASC simply turned Haystack into a weekend only operation to reduce friendly fire on Mount Snow.
The loss of everyone else becomes my gain! Despite the $29 deal for Massachusetts residents, the mountain remained rather uncrowded. Most lifts were ski on with an occasional one to two minute wait on the POMA Brand Barnstormer servicing the summit and the Hayfever Triple accessing two-thirds of the mountain. The CTEC Brand Witches Triple, servicing Haystack’s expert terrain, closed shortly after the mountain opened due to high winds. This lift would later re-open and was always ski-on. The base lodge was roomy and had adequate seating with a perfect window view of the mountain face.
Jay Peak is one of those New England mountains that has a dedicated and rabid following. They preach to any who will listen about how much snow and powder Jay receives and how great the glades are. If you are looking for big powder in the East and lots of Glades, then Jay Peak is definitely worth the trip! If glades and powder are not your thing, then Jay Peak doesn’t offer enough to justify the drive.
For this trip, I did not yet ski well in powder or glades. Skiers that love powder and glades must have been unhappy on the Monday I journeyed to distant Jay Peak. Jay Peak was groomed everywhere it seemed. Only a couple of choice bump trails were left alone by the groomers, much to my disappointment.
In the morning, I skied lookers right side of the mountain via the Tram and High Speed Quad. The snow was extremely fast, and the groomed snow had occasional thin cover/scrapped sections. Most trails on the right side drop into an extremely flat run out. A great place to practice a tuck for five minutes. Marked on the trail map as a blue square (perhaps because of the occasional patch of trees in the middle of the trail), this run out wore me out rather quickly. The entire bottom half of the mountain is very flat, which unfortunately makes for long flat run outs.