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New England ski safari

NewEnglandSkier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Rather than doing an early March western trip this year, I decided to do a long weekend in New England. My original idea was to try to make it to Sunday River for the weekend and for the Monday of Diva East---but since all my New England trips are planned spur of the moment, there was no lodging left anywhere near Sunday River so that need up not being a viable option.
None of the places I ended up at were new to me, but it was fun to ski at a different place each day.

Saturday
I spent Saturday at Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire. Sunapee is more of a ski area rather than a ski resort and it's not that large. When I was first starting out as a beginner, I enjoyed Mount Sunapee as they have a whole small peak that is separate from the rest of the mountain dedicated to beginners. It's a good layout in that people starting out don't have to worry about more experienced people bombing by them.
Sunapee was moderately busy on Saturday and the conditions were mostly hard pack and some ice. They had a couple inches of snow on Friday but not enough to make an impact. It was fairly cloudy much of the day, which was too bad as I didn't take any photos of the nice views of Lake Sunapee in the distance, as you couldn't see it! The mountain was about 95% open with the exception of the trails that rely on natural snow. I stuck to groomers all day, as the snow was quite firm. One of my favorite trails at Sunapee is Eggbeater. It is fairly short but it's a fun pitch.
After spending the day at Sunapee, I then continued my journey north to the Killington area. I had to drop my new skis (yes another new pair--I broke down and bought Elan Ripstick 94s since I love them so much) off at Northern Skiworks on the Killington Access Rd to have the bindings mounted. Next I continued on to my hotel in Rutland, VT. I stayed at the Hampton Inn. This is one of the hotels in that area that I like quite a bit. The rooms are in good condition and there is plenty of parking. It's within 15 minutes drive of restaurants in Rutland, a number of which are quite good. Dinner tonight was at a "new to me" restaurant---The Palms. This is one of those restaurants that has been there a long time/has a local following and does not look like much from the outside. It is located on Strongs Ave and features Italian food. I tried the garlic bread, veal parmigiana and the tollhouse pie. Portion size was large and I enjoyed it all--service was friendly but not the most professional/ a bit scattered.

Sunday
Today I skied at Pico, using one of the 7 days on my Ikon pass. With Ikon you get 7 days combined at Pico and Killington (5 days on the Ikon base). Pico opens at 8:30am on weekends which is a bit later than some places. Conditions at Pico were so much better than the day prior at Sunapee. I think they just got a bit more snow. I started out on my new Elan Ripsticks since they were brand new and I wanted to try them out. They did great! I skied them on the lovely soft groomers, some ungroomed stuff and in the baby terrain park. I stayed on the Ripsticks most of the day but then switched to the Blizzard Sheeva 9 for the last hour or so just to do a head to head comparison, as when I demoed the skis I didn't ski them on the same day. My initial impression when demoing was that the Sheeva was stiffer than the Ripstick and would bite better on hardpack (found some on B slope!)--I was correct in that assumption and also that the metal in the Sheeva was better at absorbing imperfections in the snow but that the Ripstick was more light/nimble in bumps and fun in powder (not that there was deep powder that day). Now I have to decide which of these 2 fun skis will come with me to Utah at the end of the month.
Got a nice picture of the view from the top of Pico looking toward 49er.
IMG_1671 copy.jpg

The whole mountain was skiing beautifully and it got less busy around 1:30pm when people stared leaving to drive home from a weekend away. It was pretty empty by the time I quit at 3:30pm. Usually I'm one of the people leaving at 2:30pm so it was nice to get the benefit of an empty mountain!
Tonight I had dinner at one of NewEnglandSkier's top dining picks for the Killington/Rutland area: Table 24. I have loved this restaurant for years now---I was there before they got really popular. Don't even think about going on a Saturday night without a reservation nowadays. It was Sunday and they were still doing a very good business and were quite full when I left. I have never had a meal there I haven't liked--some of my favorite items are cornbread, beer cheese spread and skillet cookie sundae. Tonight I chose the stuffed chicken and the chocolate cake, both of which were winners.

Monday
I left it up in the air where I would ski today. I was considering Mad River Glen (I have never been and want to try it), Sugarbush and Killington. I ended up doing Killington (day 2 used up on Ikon pass). I stayed at Killington simply because it was s shorter drive and I liked the idea of getting to ski there when it wouldn't be a crowded weekend day. Had to stop at Sugar and Spice for pancakes on the way of course.
Killington opens at 9am on weekdays and it had snowed about an inch overnight. Today I brought out the Sheeva 9s. It was really nice to ski on a Monday and have a pretty empty mountain. I even ventured over to Bear Mountain which I usually avoid like the plague on weekends as it is simply too busy over there for my taste. Today it was basically empty so it was nice to get to ski a different area. I wish I could ski Mondays more often--there were way fewer crazies out there.
Below was the view from the top of Skye Peak gondola. There was another ski area in the distance (between the 2 pines) but I'm not sure which one . . . Okemo maybe ????
IMG_1676 copy.jpg

One of my favorite areas to ski is off the Northridge quad. I like the run Ridge Run as it is usually a bump run (unless they decide to groom it) but it's not super steep. When the bumps there are good, they are really fun--of course I've also seen it which terrible ice in the troughs, but today was one of the good days.

Some other easy bumps at Killington are on Low Road. A new thing this year is that on Full House which is really flat especially at the top they have some bumps on the really flat terrain which I think is great because it takes the pitch out of the equation for people just starting out in bumps.
Another new thing this year is that they have expanded the baby terrain park over on Ramshead. It has more features and is located on all the sections of Easy Street not just the final last section. They have more jumps and about the same number of boxes and rails. I always have fun in the little terrain park so I enjoyed the expansion.


It was really fun to be able to ski in New England during a weekday. I'll have to try to do it again sometime--usually I reserve my time off for western trips so this was a fun change of pace.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Aha! Another pair of new skis? Your mother mentioned something about that and thanked me for taking a pair off your hands :rotf:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
It was really fun to be able to ski in New England during a weekday. I'll have to try to do it again sometime--usually I reserve my time off for western trips so this was a fun change of pace.
Yep, skiing midweek is lots of fun pretty much anywhere. Especially when can be flexible about exactly where to stay and where to ski. Only downside is when some lifts aren't open but usually can access more than enough terrain. Being flexible last winter was how I ended up discovering Waterville Valley.

MRG is worth a look, especially if can get there a day or two after a good snowstorm. I had a nice time staying at the Mad River Barn to ski both MRG and Sugarbush. Includes a really good hot breakfast. I ate dinner there too and that was very good as well.
 

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