New Hampshire 2025

[indiggio]

1/21/2025
The wife’s another year older and time for another birthday “week” ski trip up to NH, specifically for the World Cup mogul competition at Waterville, but also hit some Indy mountains too.

Out of the house at 6am and into the freezer, big time!  Decided to stop at Catamount on the way up as I’ve never been.  The lowest temp along the ride there was -1, but bounced anywhere from there to the teens.

Rolled into Catamount just after 9am, booted up, hit up the counter to get a pass using the Indy and out to the freezer.

Looking up the mountain, only 1 of the 3 expert runs, Ripper, has snow on it.  The other runs on looker’s right were open and they were blowing on the blues far looker’s left.   

The mountain is basically beginners on looker’s left and the more fun stuff on looker’s right off the Ridge Quad.  Unfortunately that quad is a donkey, so it’s slow up and quick down.  The place is similar to Blue but much more spread out and slower lifts.

Ran down the blues which has some nice, soft freshly blown and groomed snow that was fast and edgeable, with a few slick spots in the center.

Did a run down Ripper that was quite dark and lots of marbles, but it’s got some giddy-up and a nice roller at the bottom for some good air if not absorbed.

Hit up the bar for a beer with the wife and headed off 

Brats at One Love brewery…

[trackbiker]

Thanks for the report. I'll be there in three weeks. The Schaefers have made some nice improvements since they bought it several years ago. They put a HSQ in at Berkshire East last year. I'm sure they have one in the plans eventually for Catamount.

Black Mountain, NH was bought by Indy Pass and they totally redid the snowmaking there. You might want to check it out if you have the time.

The Woodstock Inn Brewery has some good micros. Better than Love's for food and beer IMHO.

[Icecoast]

I really enjoyed catamount, Berkshire East, and even little Bosquet. What the Schaefers have done to those places is impressive.

But I still cannot get down with how they clear cut both catamount and bosquet and never replanted. Its like the Anti-Elk.

[indiggio]

1/22/2025

Well, the original plan was to head over to Mt. Abram today, but then I looked at when they open to determine when we needed to leave and discovered that the mountain is t open today!

Change the plan, as other Blue bumpers are headed to Ragged Mountain, which I had planned to hit on the way home.

Got into the car at 7:15 to -9 and headed South towards Ragged.  The temp ranged between -12 and -10 all the way down.

Arrived at the mountain about 8:45 and froze my fingers hitting up in the lot.  A short walk to guest services to get my $5 card and back out to the frigid cold.

The Spear Mt express was the only lift running at the open, so up I went.  After a pic or two, down Flying Yankee on a pristine, Deer Valley-esque groomer.  Snow was truly packed talcum powder groomed to perfection on a rolling, winding, fairly steep run where they run their races.  So much fun!!

Next I took Cardigan and Turnpike just to sample what the masses run and it was another gorgeously groomed packed powder run with lots of huge rollers for kicks.

Finally took a run down the liftline on Showboat and Showoff which was again glorious packed powder on a fairly steep run.

The other Blue bumpers showed up and we repeated the above runs because the Summit Six was having issues.  After a lunch break, they got the Six running and we took runs down the trails off skier’r right.  The most fun was Raggae Glades, the only open woods.  This place really deserves a repeat when all the trees are in play.  They place is loaded with tree runs, none of which were open due to lack of snow.

Ended the day with a few beers up in the lounge and the over to Woodstock brewery for dinner.  Definitely recommended but it does get crowded!

Meatloaf Horseshoe!

 

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

I’d say the advantages Cat has over Blue are singnificantly more glades and steeper double blacks. The lifts are less good. A bit far for what it is though as you can get to the Catskills as easily from here and I like places there better.

[saltyant]

1 hour ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

I’d say the advantages Cat has over Blue are singnificantly more glades and steeper double blacks. The lifts are less good. A bit far for what it is though as you can get to the Catskills as easily from here and I like places there better.

@GrilledSteezeSandwichdo you want to go to Catamount and the Catskills with me, Ski2Live, VTMark, and Matt Edge to ski the glades and steeper double blacks?? 

Edited January 23 by saltyant

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

23 minutes ago, saltyant said:

@GrilledSteezeSandwichdo you want to go to Catamount and the Catskills with me, Ski2Live, VTMark, and Matt Edge to ski the glades and steeper double blacks?? 

Sure as long as everybody keeps their peckers in their pants 

[indiggio]

1/23/2025

Up at the usual 0 dark thirty and made ready for an hour or so drive over to Black Mountain.  Over hill and Dale, passing by the amount Washington resort and Attitash and finally ending up at Black, a tiny podunk family ski area that exudes the original charm of skiing.

The one triple chair that only goes 2/3 of the way up wasn’t running, but the main double donkey was, so we boarded that towards the peak.  Up through the woods you come upon a mid station when you could drop off to avoid the peak or just hit the little LOSTBO hut where they have music blasting, a deck with fire pit and beach chairs out on the snow, which we found odd until after lunch, when the Sun broke out.   Black is different in that the mountain faces South, and their motto Ski in the Sun became evident.  Every trail was lit up like springtime in the middle of winter.

Up on the peak you could see for miles and miles, Attitash off to the left and Mount Washington on the right.  Unfortunately another mountain that would bee a hoot had it been a good snow year.  They have ample snowmaking, but the real fun runs rely on natural, especially the winding Upper Galloping Goose right under the lift.

We did the tour of open runs, all of which had beautiful, soft, well-groomed snow.  The runs are fast and quite steep and very tight through the woods.  The place was empty and we made fun when a second row of 10 or so cars appeared.

We had to stop in the LOSTBO shack for kicks to see what it had.  A range of snacks hung on the wall, some brats rolling on the hot dog cooker, beer, wine, etc.  we opted for cider and hot chocolate and Tom the tender, a Boston transplant was very willing to tell the tales of Black and its savior Indy who’s committed to keeping the mountain going, but doesn’t want to own the land, where the hopeful co-op takes over.

He also told us from where the LOSTBO name originated that’s all around the mountain.  Evidently Les Otten at one time promised to buy the mountain and make the owners wealthy but backed out at the last minute after having them cut out the expert terrain at the top.  Sitting around pissed at him for backing out the one came up with Les Otten Sucks The Big One and so it stuck.  He also told us of Friday night skin up, party and ski down nights that sounds crazy fun.

The place is tre-cool and a throwback to the old days of skiing and we were all glad to get there.

On the ride back passing the Mount Washington inn, the sun was setting and lighting up the Presidentals, spectacular!

Stopped at Rek-lush brewery on the way back for some dinner

[indiggio]

1/24/2025

The plan was to get down to Waterville around 8am for a 9am open, until i checked my email and found one from Waterville.  For some reason I opened it to find they open at 8am for the comp weekend.  Scrambled around a bit to get going and arrived at 6:49 to some flurries and mostly cloudy skies.

Booted up and made our way up tot eh lodge to get passes and spectator tickets.  Upstairs in the lodge the competitors were booting up and getting ready by hopping on  tables and running around the place.

Slim and I were early, so headed out and lined up, being the only 2 people at the quad.  The clock struck 8 and they rang a bell over the lodge to open the place!  Blue should take note!

Up the quad you get a good view of the course on Lower Bobby’s run, named after Bobby Kennedy who used to ski it.

Took the short run down on just absolutely beautiful packed talcum powder snow, definitely the best snow of the week.  
Up the Sunnyside triple and right back down True Grit that’s steep and fast with some wind blown goodness on the right side.

Back up the triple and took a run down Bobby’s to check out the course.  This run is freaking steep and it’s amazing these bumpers rip down this and then hurl themselves off the jumps.

Met up with the others and made our way down tot eh lodge Psyched that was left ungroomed and had enough natural on it to ski the bumps.  The first round was staring so made our way back to Bobby’s to catch some of the runs.  Standing along the course for any length of time is tough as it’s so steep.

After lunch we decided to check out some woods we saw on the trail map.  Found the entrance that looked a bit sketchy, well, a lot sketchy but we dropped in anyway.  Bad decision!!  It dropped off quick into a minefield of rocks, limbs, logs, sticks…. It was a big effort to make our way out of that mess.

Headed back to the spectator area to watch the semifinals.  Standing there we got cold and I heard “BEER” off in the distance, so headed back down tot eh lodge meet up with the wife in the lounge.  We watched the final runs in the bar.  Two of the US girls took 2nd and 3rd and Nick Page took 2nd in the men’s.

Headed down to the town of Waterville and grabbed some slices of pizza before the ceremonies and came across Wayne Wong.

The legs and body are beat and ready for a break.  Another fun Indy/Mogul comp trip in the books!

[PSUFrankenstein]

Nice reports.  I may hit somewhere in NH next week also 

[indiggio]

18 hours ago, PSUFrankenstein said:

Nice reports.  I may hit somewhere in NH next week also 

Unfortunately it's somewhat low-tide condition-wise up there. 
Waterville definitely had the best and most snow, but even they didn't have everything open.

[PSUFrankenstein]

Thanks for the info, I was thinking Waterville Valley or Cannon if I do NH.  I'd love to get back to Jay Peak instead but we'll see.   NH kinda makes more sense if I'm starting to head back home 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 hours ago, indiggio said:

Unfortunately it's somewhat low-tide condition-wise up there. 
Waterville definitely had the best and most snow, but even they didn't have everything open.

You should have gone to Roundtop 

[Johnny Law]

Wayne Wong, that is a good trip !