Anyone remember Tenney?

[RhodySkiBum]

Looks like there are plans to rehab and reopen Tenney mountain. (Plymoth, New Hampshire) Any East Coasters remember it?

I used to love it - smaller mountain, but some fun trails - and was a great place to improve my skills
The main lift was really slow, so it was a great mountain on a nice day - on a cold, windy day that lift just seemed reeeally long. LOL

It was also very affordable - hoping they are able to keep it reasonable! (bur upgrade the lift) Actually kinda loved that all the trails were named after flowers - Buttercup, Forget-Me-Not, Tiger Lily, and the more challenging Venus Fly Trap and Snapdragon.

Looking forward to giving it a try next year (hopefully!)


https://www.wmur.com/escape-outside/tenney-mountain-in-plymouth-is-being-resurrected/32840266


https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY

 

[ski diva]

I love to see dead ski areas come back to life. And the smaller areas are great -- less crowded, more affordable, and terrific for families and people just getting started. I've never skied at Tenney; just might have to give it a try.

 

[eclaire]

I've been watching this pretty closely. My folks have a house about a mile up the road and I skied there when I was in college. It's a great little mountain and I hope that the new owners have deep pockets to make this thing happen.

We drove through there last weekend and there's lots of activity. They've drained and done a bunch of repairs to the snowmaking pond and put a new roof on the base lodge. They also ripped out the staircase up to the lodge which was always so treacherous. Hopefully they'll replace it with something that's easier to navigate.

I'm sure the folks who own condo's up there are delighted. Can't wait to check it out this winter!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Somewhere new to ski; awesome. I have liked the facebook page to stay up to date with the news.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I have liked Tenney's facebook page and they post updates frequently. They seem to be working away. Cool to see the progress.

 

[RhodySkiBum]

Their fb page is very active - loving the updates and all the activity.

Cant wait to try it out again next year!

 

[eclaire]

Great article in Powder:
https://www.powder.com/stories/news/tenney-mountains-resurrection/#D72dhAchFg885O6c.97

 

[marzNC]

The journal for New England Ski Industry did a comprehensive 3-part interview with the new owner of Tenney. Michael Bouchard is handling communication via the FB page personally. Fun to listen to his strong Boston/North Shore accent in the video clips. What's happening at Tenney is unique in many ways. Looking forward to watching their progress.

Opening Day target is Dec. 15. Only about a third of the mountain will be open for 2015-16. But considering the neglect the last decade Tenney was open and vandalism in the five years since it closed, it's amazing how much was accomplished in the last six months.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

How I wish the same was true of Saddleback (ME). However, after almost 2 months of those interested being promised information, via a major announcement, it has not come.

Most key employees have sought (and most have found) work elsewhere.

It surely appears that this sizable and wonderful resort (with jaw-dropping development potential) will not open this season.

I foresee a similar fate eventually befalling Sugarloaf as well. Boyne does not own it but holds a long-term lease. Should a future sale result in an owner other than what currently owns two other regional resorts (CNL REIT, ends 12/15/15), I could see Boyne attempting to break that lease and move on.

 

[marzNC]

Another fun video today on Tenny Facebook page. They needed to rebuild a bridge. Found way to use some trees off the property instead of spending money buying new materials. Nice!

* * * 11/11/15
TENNEY - Progress Update

Trillium Bridge / Rebuild

Keeping expenses in check we decided to use as much of the indigenous materials we could find.

The civil engineers were clever and identified 10 large oaks that were damaged and laying around. With the assistance of Mr. Hank Binney's saw mill, the team sawed flats at each end of the logs allowing them to sit properly at each end of the headway supports.

Later, two layers of 2" inch oak rough cut boards will be applied as bridge decking.

This bridge is a much better way of supporting the water flow than placing a 3 or 4 foot pipe. It ensures proper flow without any restrictions.

Great and safe engineering solutions always at TENNEY!
* * *

Hank Binney was the first local hired by the new owners. According to a local news article about the auction in 2010, he started skiing Tenney in the 1960s. What's happening in 2015 is proving him right about what he said back then.

* * * 2010
Hank Binney, 55, has been skiing at Tenney since the late 1960s and is the mountain’s volunteer land ambassador. He said the capital improvements needed to get Tenney Mountain back in business are huge costs, but he has confidence it will happen.

“Somebody will come along and get it going again,” he said. “You’ve got to have a positive attitude.”
* * *

 

[marzNC]

Mike @ TENNEY is great! Here's what he said when someone asked on FB about promoting at a ski show:

"Walking around the show with TENNEY Shirts on but we choose not to burden any of our venders with sharing a booth knowing we would inundated with thousands of questions especially about much of the technology and our strategy over the next few years. Next year we will have a huge marketing splash - this year its all about saving the mountain, lifts, immediate infrastructure and then reacclimatize process back into TENNEY Ski Operations. This poor old Mountain was soon neglected for so long. She was a very broken girl and now we are healing her back to her Olympic glory... But thanks for asking [name snip]!

One of the videos today was of the pond where snowmaking water comes from. There was a full rainbow and Mike kept going back to that instead of showing the pond, much to the amusement of Hank. The banter between the two is fun to listen to.

 

[marzNC]

The Plymouth ski community is having quite a year. There will be a local fundraiser on Nov. 16 for the Plymouth High School ski jump. An Olympic ski jumper who lives in Park City will be visiting relatives and is the guest speaker. Apparently Sarah Hendrickson used to jump at the Plymouth High School ski jump. The old one was deemed unsafe recently and had to be torn down. The community managed to raise over $40,000 for the new jump since early Sept. Construction has already started on the new jump. The goal is $80,000. Quite a few local business contributed to the GoFundMe campaign. Great to see such solid support!

The Plymouth High School Ski Team is going to practice at Tenney. That means Tenney will be open on weekdays as well as weekends. After Tenney closed in 2010, the team had to drive (an hour?) much farther to practice.

 

[elemmac]

I've been hearing all about the re-opening, but hadn't sat down and read the whole story until yesterday. It's incredible that the community could have that much affect on the owner to take on such an epic project. My favorite description was from an article on newhampshire.com:

"Michael and Kim Bouchard’s new company, Tenney Mountain Development Group, LLC, bought the 890-acre resort a year ago, having initially planned to move their water reclamation business to the grounds. But they quickly learned of the 45-year-old resort’s history and its place in the community.

In fact, Michael and Kim Bouchard don’t even know how to ski.

“We hope to be graduates of our new ski school,” said Michael Bouchard"​

Really shows something that I've always loved about the ski community, no matter how big or small your home mountain is, there's something incredibly special about it.

 

[marzNC]

Plymouth and the homeowners at Tenney got very lucky that Mike Bouchard bought the place. Hopefully will provide a model for what can be done with hard work and an eye for the basics for the first season, as opposed to spending money on frills too soon.

 

[marzNC]

While the warm weather is making it hard to know when NH ski areas can open, it's been helpful to folks at Tenney who still have a lot of work to do in order to be ready for inspections needed before a mid-Dec opening day can happen.

On Nov. 18, the videos are of painting the lift base for Eclipse and starting work on wiring. Nov. 19 the wiring work continued.

The fundraiser on Nov. 16 for the Plymouth High School ski jump raised about $10,000. Apparently construction of the new jump will be completed soon. Actually will have two jumps in the same space as the old jump that had to be demolished in Oct. due to safety issues. Untreated wood can only last so long and it was built in 1979.

 

[TeleChica]

Great news about Tenny. I skied there once when I was learning and loved the old-school feel of the trails.

Really, really bummed to hear that Saddleback is still shuttered. I feel very lucky that my SO and I had such an incredible powder ski day there last season. We had a great trip to Maine, and I hope to get back up there soon.

 

[marzNC]

The Tenney Facebook page has reached 6000 likes. #6000 got a couple free lift tickets. Seems like a month ago there were about 2000 likes. The next target is 7000. If that happens before the end of the year, Tenney will host a free day!

Posted on https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY 11/26/15

TENNEY - 6000 fan likes

Congratulations to Patrice McArthur, our 6000 member... And the receiver of 2 sets of weekend lift tickets!

So let's see if we can break 7000 likes by years end and if we do - Mike @ TENNEY will host a free ski day for all! (We'll have a poll to select which day works best for all)!!!

Now help support TENNEY and spread the good word and thank you all for your community commitment and all your support!

 

[marzNC]

More work going on in the dark around Tenney this week. Load testing for the Eclipse lift happening on Dec. 3!

The FB Post on Nov. 30 with a local article about growing up at Tenney before the days of snow guns and cell phones has some good stories from parents who grew up at Tenney and can't wait to take their kids there.

 

[marzNC]

Yippee! Tenner did the load test for the chairlift on Dec. 4 and passed. Several videos on the Tenney FB page of the actual testing. CEO Mike is something else, his first FB post was at 4:27am. The load test involved putting boxes on each chair, 18"x18x24", filled with water, with total weight per chair about 614.5 pounds. 58 chairs simulating total weight of 32,500 pounds.

FB Post 12/04/15
TENNEY - Progress Update

Today TENNEY Mountain awakens as a proud member of the ski community once again.

The first of 4 lifts (Eclipse) has been re-registered and fully inspected by the NH Department of Safety, Tramway and Amusement Rides Division.

It's been a long 4.5 years in the making and a very rough and bumpy summer,,, setbacks that almost destroyed our dreams BUT tonight, we have met a very significant milestone and that is, we - TENNEY Mountain, is now off the list of Defunctional / Abandoned Ski Mountains!

And we are all very proud and appreciative of all the support you have given us to get here!

Congratulations to all of us for such an awesome TEAM effort and thank you for making us ALWAYS feel like a part of this community.

Now get ready to hit the slopes of TENNEY, and be a part of history in the making...

 

[marzNC]

A Boston ski club invited Mike Bouchard to their monthly meeting. Someone posted a video of the Q&A session.