Ascutney - any reports this season?

N

NeedhamSkier

New member
Thinking of using my free Warren Miller ticket to Ascutney on Monday, taking a day off work to catch the storm. Hopefully a relatively easy day-trip from Boston - highway most of the way, right? But has anybody skied there yet this season? Not sure how much snowmaking they have there to build a base, and want to make sure there is something other than rocks under all that powder... (right?)

Stratton is the other alternative for a free ticket, but I've skied there plenty and was thinking that Ascutney would be quieter and maybe more interesting

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
 
I can only give you the lowdown on Ascutney from a few years ago - before I stopped going to Ascutney becuase of their lack of natrual snow and their lack of resources in snowmaking & grooming. Not a good combo, obviously.

But if you're ever gonna go there, might as well be this Monday - or at least assuming they get at least 18" from this coming storm. No, a lot of stuff still won't be open, but it really is a good ski hill in a good snow year.

The terrain smaller but probably more interesting than Stratton. but Stratton will have more trails early season.

During the epic winter of '01, I played hooky for a morning and hit Ascutney. I was lost in the "Dark Side" woods at 1:00, thinking, "I'm supposed to be at my desk right now!"
 
That's my concern, that if they haven't invested in grooming before the storm, then an otherwise great day with some good new snow can be spoilt. I don't get to ski enough days to just give it a try and hope for the best.

We took the family to try Ragged Mountain for a day last season - despite a good snowfall the day before, the trails were still in really bad condition with grass showing through in between the bumps (and this was in early March...), and ice in other places. They were having all sorts of financial problems last year (we found out later) and it showed in the state of the trails. Stratton is okay, but I figure there's a very small chance of any freshies there, with maybe more at Ascutney. Tough call...

Thanks for the input.
 
YOu should burn up your Smuggs mid-week. THat place is like almost 100% and they've got sweet trails.
Ascutney is a sick mountian with enough snow. But i haven't checked it out yet this year. I know that they have really good steep terrain, but it's very rocky,, so they need a big dump to cover everything.
I'd use the smugs ticket, if you're hedging bets.
 
I think Smuggs would definitely be a good call, but unfortunately this is a day-trip from Boston, so it'll need to be a bit closer to home.
 
I vote for Smuggs also. Northern Vermont's edge in natural snow so far this season over the areas farther south is about 75% vs. the historical average of 25-50%. Reading FTO reports from Okemo and Killington vs. Jay and Stowe over the past week or so reinforces the point.
 
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