NeedhamSkier
New member
Took a day off work to take advantage of the new snow. Eventually settled on Ascutney because I haven’t skied there before and to try and find some good snow after the storm, far enough north to avoid any crust but within reach for a day-trip from Boston. With the $45 lift ticket, Ascutney turned out to be a reasonable call and a great way to avoid the crowds. It also helped that the drive is pretty much all-highway from Boston, with all the new snow on the roads.
The mountain was empty – less than 30 cars in the lot and I would guess at less than 100 people on the mountain all day. Interestingly, about 30 of those were school-kids all the way here for a week’s ski-trip from the UK. They told me that they came for the good instruction, the empty trails (at this time of year) and the better snow conditions (clearly they weren’t here at the same time last year…) No doubt the weak $ also helps, but having lived in Europe, I found it incredible that people would travel 6 hours by plane and then 3 more by bus to spend 5 days at a mountain the size of Ascutney. Quite a marketing coup for Ascutney (or a failure on the part of the Alps resorts, depending how you look at it…)
Anyways, they lucked out this week. Conditions on the trails at the bottom of the hill were just perfect for learning – new snow and smooth, unmarked corduroy all over. On the top half of the mountain it was a different picture and delivered more of what I was looking for. There was about 8 inches of new snow, with absolutely no competition for it due to the minimal skier traffic. The snow was wind-blown and heavy, so I was struggling a little as this was my first day out this season, but better skiers (as many on this board are) could have had a great day with the potential for untracked snow all day with minimal exploration.
As others have pointed out, Ascutney has great terrain. It feels a lot bigger than 1800’ of vertical and the trails have character and variety. There are a few nice-looking glades the trails are not too wide, so I was well-protected from the wind yesterday. That said, it seems a shame that the mountain does not invest much in grooming to make the most of the snow they get. At the top of the mountain there was no evidence of any grooming at all so far this season, even on the easiest trail down. So the base is not protected at all and rocks kept creeping through all over as the day wore on, in contrast to the reports from other VT/NH resorts from the last few days. But despite all that, on a midweek day after a good snowfall later in the season once the base is more established, I would definitely head back there. The lift-ticket is reasonable and it seems that nobody much ig going there, so I think the chances of finding untracked powder throughout the day without venturing into the woods are higher here than almost any other resort within reasonable day-trip distance of Boston. Seems that Ascutney’s reputation for poor snow conditions is catching up with it in terms of skier visits, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t take advantage of the lack of crowds when the conditions are right.
The mountain was empty – less than 30 cars in the lot and I would guess at less than 100 people on the mountain all day. Interestingly, about 30 of those were school-kids all the way here for a week’s ski-trip from the UK. They told me that they came for the good instruction, the empty trails (at this time of year) and the better snow conditions (clearly they weren’t here at the same time last year…) No doubt the weak $ also helps, but having lived in Europe, I found it incredible that people would travel 6 hours by plane and then 3 more by bus to spend 5 days at a mountain the size of Ascutney. Quite a marketing coup for Ascutney (or a failure on the part of the Alps resorts, depending how you look at it…)
Anyways, they lucked out this week. Conditions on the trails at the bottom of the hill were just perfect for learning – new snow and smooth, unmarked corduroy all over. On the top half of the mountain it was a different picture and delivered more of what I was looking for. There was about 8 inches of new snow, with absolutely no competition for it due to the minimal skier traffic. The snow was wind-blown and heavy, so I was struggling a little as this was my first day out this season, but better skiers (as many on this board are) could have had a great day with the potential for untracked snow all day with minimal exploration.
As others have pointed out, Ascutney has great terrain. It feels a lot bigger than 1800’ of vertical and the trails have character and variety. There are a few nice-looking glades the trails are not too wide, so I was well-protected from the wind yesterday. That said, it seems a shame that the mountain does not invest much in grooming to make the most of the snow they get. At the top of the mountain there was no evidence of any grooming at all so far this season, even on the easiest trail down. So the base is not protected at all and rocks kept creeping through all over as the day wore on, in contrast to the reports from other VT/NH resorts from the last few days. But despite all that, on a midweek day after a good snowfall later in the season once the base is more established, I would definitely head back there. The lift-ticket is reasonable and it seems that nobody much ig going there, so I think the chances of finding untracked powder throughout the day without venturing into the woods are higher here than almost any other resort within reasonable day-trip distance of Boston. Seems that Ascutney’s reputation for poor snow conditions is catching up with it in terms of skier visits, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t take advantage of the lack of crowds when the conditions are right.
