WHERE ARE the narrow trails in NH & VT???

billski · Feb 19, 2003

Looking for tips... I'm pretty tired of the wide boulevard trails. Where have all the "old-time", narrow, winding alpine trails in New England? Doesn't have to be a black. Blues can be fun too when narrow enough. VT and NH of greatest interest.. Thanks!

jtdcg · Feb 28, 2003

Cannon Mtn NH Wildcat NH Burke Mtn VT some at Jay Peak VT

Matt Duffy · Mar 30, 2003

Bill, Goat at Stowe. Robin's Run at Smugglers' Notch - actually, most trails at Smugglers'. Most trails at Mad River Glen. Polecat at Wildcat. The whole Castle Rock region of Sugarbush(really!). Most trails at Magic Mountain.... There surely are many more, but my brain hurts. (I'm purely going on memory - I haven't skied in the East in over a year...)

Tony Crocker · Mar 30, 2003

As the western skier who just had his first mid-season trip east, I am as surprised by this comment as the one about moguls. I saw more moguls and more narrow trails in 3 days in Vermont than I ever see out here. Admittedly I chose the 3 areas (Stowe, Mad River, Jay) for their distinctive historical New England character. Mad River is clearly the paragon of trail design on both counts, with the caveat that cooperation from the weather is necessary to enjoy skiing when the entire area is designed that way. Fortunately the T-shirt weather on March 17 was ideal from my perspective. At Stowe Goat was the narrowest trail of that length which I can recall skiing anywhere. The woods skiing I saw at Stowe off both Chin Clip and Starr were really narrow cleared paths without as much brush as most other wooded areas. The off-trail areas accessible from the double at Mad River looked like good natural glading but had rotten snow on the heat wave day I was there. Jay had plenty of interesting natural terrain too, but unfortunately I had to stay out of it due to the freezing after the aforementioned heat wave.

Frankontour · May 29, 2003

Now that we're in the liftlines for the big discussion, it's fun to see this one, cause it's some trails that I really like ! I just did few areas in VT, but MRG is effectively a super nice one for that. There is just few wide trails (generally under chairlifts) and you have narrow trails of each levels. I don't have super good experiences at Jay, but I remember Northwest Passage was a long interesting narrow trail. Burke : few good ones, that's true (will particularly remember the "Lew's Leap" which is short but steep and cool. And there is effectively few nice narrow ones at Smuggs. In Quebec, many mountains have doubled the size of trails, in the last years and we lost a big lot of nice narrow trails unfortunately. There is still some good ones, especially in the townships. Mt Glen is probably #1 place to go for that. It's where are located my 3 best beginner rated trails. Wood Chopper / Connexion / Wheeler. They would probably be some blue runs in other mountains and they're super nice, long, narrow, twisty ± easy trails. Wood Chopper, my best one is near my top 100 of best trails (on about 1000). There is also many tougher nice lines, like the famous Peg's Legs and some good narrow super special lines in 2 of the 3 glades (#30 and 32). They tell they have 32 trails, but in fact, it's more 15, with many many passes between the trails. Most of them are short and boring, but there is few really excellent, like #14 and #15. Mt Shefford is the other nice place to go for that. Ok, it's just some t-bars, that's true, but damn it worth a tour to the summit !!!! There is some wider trail, like #0,2,4,6,10,11 (although #0 is one of the best powder trail I know), but all the other trails are narrow, on natural terrain. There is some nice wild glades, especially #12 and 14 and there is one of the craziest off-piste I've ever taken in the huge zone between #7 and 8. Oh... #7 is another super classic moguls trails like we just find in the townships and New England. Of course, Sutton have some nice narrow terrain, but not so much really... it's something wild & sweet. Few good narrow lines. At Orford, there is of course some of the best I ever skied, like Contour of course + Chevreuil (God on earth) + Petit Canyon + Rochers Jumeaux / Express + the glades which are generally enough narrow. There is some interesting intermediate mogul runs on Mt Alfred Desrochers, like Cascade + Ookpic and they're enough narrow and far from boulevards. I prefer not to talk of Bromont and Owl's Head, as they have a reputation to destroy the narrow trails, but they still have limited narrow terrain. In the Laurentians, of course, the place is Alta, where most of the terrain is narrow and you won't find groomed boulevards there (do they have a groomer, yet ?) lol no, they have one, but they just groom few beginner trails. Note to the Superspeed which is one my best "real" trail in the north of Montreal (not counting CBC which is more an off-piste than a real trail) So, in general, there is some really great narrow trails in the Townships !!

Admin · May 30, 2003

Don't write off Bromont so quickly, at least not before sampling their new terrain on the east side. They're trying to create a pod of skiing with a remarkably different character than that of the rest of the mountain, and in my opinion, they've succeeded.

Frankontour · May 30, 2003

I skied the upper part of the new side, last season (Bromont) and Ok, it's true they have some narrow terrain (every trail except Philadelphia). I admit to be eager to see the lower mountain, but with the HUGE crowds, now, I don't think I'm gonna ski this place in the next years. Anyway, they just destroyed one of my best trails there, last year (Boucherville + Varennes). I'm sure they destroyed the natural canyon, now that the "Varennes" is a beginner lighted trail (unless an expert one). I'm not going to pay them for destroying the nice trails !!! oh no ! Hmm... This is the list of the nice narrow trails that have been destroyed (became wider), in the last years in the mountains I went... this is one of the thing I hate the most in ski. Mt Olympia : Baqueira Beret St-Moritz Tignes Competition (my ex-#2 best trail ever) Mt Avila : Bobcat (Express Ouest) Piedmont (this summer) Mt Tremblant : Grand-Prix Standard (biere-en-bas) Ropetow (I really don't talk here of all the trails that were interesting and that they're not anymore, cause the list would be too long) Mt St-Sauveur : Chute Grand-Elan Cote 69 (Epervier) (Sawmill + Old Shawbridge trail) = (Silver Park) Mt Orford : Contour (I still don't take that one... even it's just the natural halfpipe which is now wide, compared to the super narrow couloir in the good years !) Mt Blanc : (ishhh) Boulevard (lower) (this one was so goooooood) Max (upper this year) Chute (now lower Slalom Geant) Tigre (£¢¤@£¢) Garceau : Both Chiquita & Abrupte are now groomed since this year... both were in my top 5 best trails, when I was young. What a plunge into hell. Owl's Head : Fleur de Lys (what a nice one it was) Standard Upper Standard Lower Crossover Cindy's Slip Lake View (ex in my top 5 best trails ever) Couloir (was also on my top perfect trails) Belle Neige : Avalanche Bromont : Varennes (ex nice one, with the Boucherville) Boucherville la Réserve : Chute Libre (is it really a bad thing here ?) Le Massif : La "42" La "42" La "42" (this value 3 blames) l'Ancienne upper and lower (6,21,3,11 / 25,15,21) (I let you find the "secret" meaning of those numbers !) L'Avalanche : Sous-bois "C" (the "new" trail) The list is not so long, cause it's just the trails were they all destroyed, but there is also dozens and dozens of trails which are now really less interesting than in the past <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="

"><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="

"> viva Mad River Glen, Shefford and Alta for their wild natural mentality !!

WHERE ARE the narrow trails in NH & VT???

billski

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jtdcg

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Matt Duffy

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Tony Crocker

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Frankontour

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Admin

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Frankontour

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