Serafina
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Just finished a short ski safari with Mr. S. where we decided to take in some of the smaller vintage resorts in the region. For reference, my general difficulty ranking for the NE areas I have much experience with is (from easiest to most difficult):
Wachusett, Bretton Woods, Okemo (greens only), Stowe (Mt. Mansfield greens only)
Butternut, Stratton
Jiminy Peak, Okemo (main face blues and blacks), Bromley
Mount Snow, Loon
Berkshire East, Sugarbush, Attitash, Waterville Valley, Okemo (Jackson Gore blues and blacks)
Stowe (Mt. Mansfield blues and blacks)
First up Suicide Six, oldest continuously operating ski area in the US. It's not a large area, and doesn't have a lot of vert, but it is packed with charm and the views from the summit are terrific. These runs are FUN. The blacks are pretty standard small New England ski area fare, just simple steep pitches right down the face. One big one for racing, one big one for bumps. Not bad, and doable for strong intermediates, but where this resort blows it out of the water is on the blues that descend through the woods. Parking is easy and free.
Base amentities are much better than you usually get with a ski area of this size, particularly the pub, which has a small but excellent selection of drafts, and a shockingly large and sophisticated food menu. The vibe is mellow, most of the people skiing are locals, and all of them seem very happy to have skiers in from out of the region and go out of their way to be helpful.
Relative difficulty: very similar to Jiminy Peak, in terms of trail layout and difficulty level across the board. Good place to take the kids, good place to ski if you have widely varying levels of skier ability in your party but want to all ride the lifts together. Blacks generally do-able by brave high-end intermediates. Greens have enough challenge to be interesting to more advanced skiers, but should not be frightening to novices.
Next up was supposed to be Attitash...but the summit lift is apparently DOA, and there have been some infrastructure problems at the base. The ski-in-ski-out hotel is located at the Bear Peak base and was recently taken over by the timeshare organization in a "messy divorce" from parent company Peak Resorts. We stayed there and while the rates were very reasonable, the hotel is currently missing quite a few amenities. Because of the lack of access to a major part of the mountain, we passed on skiing Attitash and visited Wildcat instead.
Attitash base amenities are mediocre, and parking is somewhat inconvenient. The local town consists of a strip of restaurants serving of mediocre food at premium prices. Jackson is nearby, however, and it extremely charming and offers a wide range of good dining and other outdoor activities. Also, there are several other ski areas within a 30 minute very scenic drive.
Relative difficulty rating: (Based on prior experience with the area), it's a bit more challenging than Berkshire East, but otherwise very similar. Trails are the classic New England experience: narrow, steep, prone to icing and wind scouring. To pass across peaks, you either need very solid technical skills, or be prepared to hike. Not much true novice territory, and a big jump between the difficulty of the greens and the difficulty of the blues. Blacks are not really suitable for high-end intermediates.
Wildcat. The summit lift is extremely fast, and the lift towers are low, low low, which they need to be, since Mount Washington is directly across the street. And when the skis are clear - which they were when we visited - there is nothing in New England to compare. The mountain has a reputation for difficulty. The resort's website makes some implausible claims about the friendliness to novices of the green cruiser from the summit. What I wonder, for the novices over the age of, say, 16, is 1) how many of them needed a change of underwear by the time they got to the base, and 2) how many of them ever took a second ski run, anywhere. This green would be a double-black diamond at Butternut, Wachusett, or Bretton Woods. I would not recommend this run to anyone with kids that ski at a level where you need to keep an eye on them. Start with a very narrow cat track, wide enough to safely accommodate no more than 2 skiers side-by-side. Now add numerous short but steep pitches that drop you directly into strongly banked hard turns. And pepper it with double fall lines (on a 10' wide run), and dish out the surface in the run so that it feels like a quarter pipe, and add a precipitous drop on one side. The entire run is not like this, but a great deal of it is, and those sections are not avoidable. Trails are not always marked well, which is a real problem given that a wrong turn will be a real catastrophe for low-level skiers. Wildcat blues are comparable in difficulty to Mount Mansfield (Stowe). There is a mid-mountain lift that runs on the weekends only and serves blue terrain that is suitable for big fast turns. There is also a separate (very slow) lift to the side that serves a large chunk of true "green" terrain that should be comfortably navigable by true novices, yet offers optional lines that are steep enough to rip out some big turns and build up a bit of speed. This area, on the day I was there, was mainly being used by advanced skiers who want to rip GS turns, as the mid-mountain lift wasn't running on the weekday. Mixed-skill groups that want to ride the lift together should be able to do so off the mid-mountain lift, but even the novice run from that lift really needs low-intermediate-grade skills.
Base amenities are fairly rustic, but there's a decent pub on the top floor of the lodge with a small selection of local craft beers and a respectable menu with decent vegetarian options. Parking is a breeze, and the views, again, are incomparable.
Relative difficulty rating: at least as hard as Stowe, possibly more so. Stowe has true novice terrain from the top. Blues and blacks are directly comparable to Mount Mansfield.
Crotched was the last stop. The runs are wide for New England, including the blacks. The express to the summit is quick, the other lifts are extremely slow. The runs are fun and well laid-out to take maximal advantage of the mountain's terrain. Many glades, at all difficulty levels, and the trail map codes them for difficulty. Terrain parks are not obtrusive. All runs lead to the same base area and trails are well marked. There's a good amount of diversity in the terrain, and technically, a mixed group would be able to continue riding the lifts together and just breaking up for the runs, or for portions of the runs. Seems to be a very good mountain for adventurous kids. The mountain has a very similar vibe to Berkshire East - mostly locals, minimal lodging in the immediate vicinity. We were there in the morning, but I would expect that in the afternoons the lot would be full of school buses and the local ski teams would be out tearing it up. Parking was a breeze. The base has basic amenities including an unusually large rental shop for an area of this size. There is an adaptive skiing program. A good place to ski if you happen to be in the neighborhood like we were, but not a vacation destination at all.
Relative difficulty rating: Greens are more challenging than Okemo, less challenging than Berkshire East, pretty much on a par with Mount Snow. Blues and blacks are very similar to Mount Snow or Loon (more challenging than Okemo's main face, but slightly easier than Okemo's Jackson Gore blues and blacks).
Wachusett, Bretton Woods, Okemo (greens only), Stowe (Mt. Mansfield greens only)
Butternut, Stratton
Jiminy Peak, Okemo (main face blues and blacks), Bromley
Mount Snow, Loon
Berkshire East, Sugarbush, Attitash, Waterville Valley, Okemo (Jackson Gore blues and blacks)
Stowe (Mt. Mansfield blues and blacks)
First up Suicide Six, oldest continuously operating ski area in the US. It's not a large area, and doesn't have a lot of vert, but it is packed with charm and the views from the summit are terrific. These runs are FUN. The blacks are pretty standard small New England ski area fare, just simple steep pitches right down the face. One big one for racing, one big one for bumps. Not bad, and doable for strong intermediates, but where this resort blows it out of the water is on the blues that descend through the woods. Parking is easy and free.
Base amentities are much better than you usually get with a ski area of this size, particularly the pub, which has a small but excellent selection of drafts, and a shockingly large and sophisticated food menu. The vibe is mellow, most of the people skiing are locals, and all of them seem very happy to have skiers in from out of the region and go out of their way to be helpful.
Relative difficulty: very similar to Jiminy Peak, in terms of trail layout and difficulty level across the board. Good place to take the kids, good place to ski if you have widely varying levels of skier ability in your party but want to all ride the lifts together. Blacks generally do-able by brave high-end intermediates. Greens have enough challenge to be interesting to more advanced skiers, but should not be frightening to novices.
Next up was supposed to be Attitash...but the summit lift is apparently DOA, and there have been some infrastructure problems at the base. The ski-in-ski-out hotel is located at the Bear Peak base and was recently taken over by the timeshare organization in a "messy divorce" from parent company Peak Resorts. We stayed there and while the rates were very reasonable, the hotel is currently missing quite a few amenities. Because of the lack of access to a major part of the mountain, we passed on skiing Attitash and visited Wildcat instead.
Attitash base amenities are mediocre, and parking is somewhat inconvenient. The local town consists of a strip of restaurants serving of mediocre food at premium prices. Jackson is nearby, however, and it extremely charming and offers a wide range of good dining and other outdoor activities. Also, there are several other ski areas within a 30 minute very scenic drive.
Relative difficulty rating: (Based on prior experience with the area), it's a bit more challenging than Berkshire East, but otherwise very similar. Trails are the classic New England experience: narrow, steep, prone to icing and wind scouring. To pass across peaks, you either need very solid technical skills, or be prepared to hike. Not much true novice territory, and a big jump between the difficulty of the greens and the difficulty of the blues. Blacks are not really suitable for high-end intermediates.
Wildcat. The summit lift is extremely fast, and the lift towers are low, low low, which they need to be, since Mount Washington is directly across the street. And when the skis are clear - which they were when we visited - there is nothing in New England to compare. The mountain has a reputation for difficulty. The resort's website makes some implausible claims about the friendliness to novices of the green cruiser from the summit. What I wonder, for the novices over the age of, say, 16, is 1) how many of them needed a change of underwear by the time they got to the base, and 2) how many of them ever took a second ski run, anywhere. This green would be a double-black diamond at Butternut, Wachusett, or Bretton Woods. I would not recommend this run to anyone with kids that ski at a level where you need to keep an eye on them. Start with a very narrow cat track, wide enough to safely accommodate no more than 2 skiers side-by-side. Now add numerous short but steep pitches that drop you directly into strongly banked hard turns. And pepper it with double fall lines (on a 10' wide run), and dish out the surface in the run so that it feels like a quarter pipe, and add a precipitous drop on one side. The entire run is not like this, but a great deal of it is, and those sections are not avoidable. Trails are not always marked well, which is a real problem given that a wrong turn will be a real catastrophe for low-level skiers. Wildcat blues are comparable in difficulty to Mount Mansfield (Stowe). There is a mid-mountain lift that runs on the weekends only and serves blue terrain that is suitable for big fast turns. There is also a separate (very slow) lift to the side that serves a large chunk of true "green" terrain that should be comfortably navigable by true novices, yet offers optional lines that are steep enough to rip out some big turns and build up a bit of speed. This area, on the day I was there, was mainly being used by advanced skiers who want to rip GS turns, as the mid-mountain lift wasn't running on the weekday. Mixed-skill groups that want to ride the lift together should be able to do so off the mid-mountain lift, but even the novice run from that lift really needs low-intermediate-grade skills.
Base amenities are fairly rustic, but there's a decent pub on the top floor of the lodge with a small selection of local craft beers and a respectable menu with decent vegetarian options. Parking is a breeze, and the views, again, are incomparable.
Relative difficulty rating: at least as hard as Stowe, possibly more so. Stowe has true novice terrain from the top. Blues and blacks are directly comparable to Mount Mansfield.
Crotched was the last stop. The runs are wide for New England, including the blacks. The express to the summit is quick, the other lifts are extremely slow. The runs are fun and well laid-out to take maximal advantage of the mountain's terrain. Many glades, at all difficulty levels, and the trail map codes them for difficulty. Terrain parks are not obtrusive. All runs lead to the same base area and trails are well marked. There's a good amount of diversity in the terrain, and technically, a mixed group would be able to continue riding the lifts together and just breaking up for the runs, or for portions of the runs. Seems to be a very good mountain for adventurous kids. The mountain has a very similar vibe to Berkshire East - mostly locals, minimal lodging in the immediate vicinity. We were there in the morning, but I would expect that in the afternoons the lot would be full of school buses and the local ski teams would be out tearing it up. Parking was a breeze. The base has basic amenities including an unusually large rental shop for an area of this size. There is an adaptive skiing program. A good place to ski if you happen to be in the neighborhood like we were, but not a vacation destination at all.
Relative difficulty rating: Greens are more challenging than Okemo, less challenging than Berkshire East, pretty much on a par with Mount Snow. Blues and blacks are very similar to Mount Snow or Loon (more challenging than Okemo's main face, but slightly easier than Okemo's Jackson Gore blues and blacks).
