Mother Nature always has the final say, but if November is any indication of what’s to come, this winter of may be one of the greatest ever for skiers and riders here in the northeast. Sunday River and Killington both opened in mid-October and have been open pretty much ever since.
Other areas have come online one-by-one. In Vermont, Killington, Mount Snow, Sugarbush, Stowe, and Okemo are open as of this writing, Stratton Mountain will open on Nov. 21, while Bromley Mountain, Burke Mountain, Jay Peak, Magic Mountain and Smuggler’s Notch are scheduled to open Friday. Mad River Glen Mad River Glen and Middlebury Snow Bowl will open on Saturday. This is one of the earliest openings in Mad River’s 70 years of operation. Bolton Valley Resort will open for three “bonus days” on Saturday and Dec. 1-2, with plans to open full, seven-day-a-week service for Alpine and cross-country on Dec. 8.
In New Hampshire, Loon Mountain, Bretton Woods and Cranmore opened last week. Wildcat has been open on weekends and reopened on Thanksgiving. Cannon, Pats Peak and Waterville Valley are scheduled to open Friday.
In Maine, Sugarloaf and Sunday River are up and running. Others will follow soon. Almost every ski area in the northeast will be making snow as often as they can for the net few weeks.
My surgeon recently gave me the all-clear to start ramping up my activity level. I celebrated by hiking 5 miles with a light backpack (my definition of light exercise), and, when I took no ill effects from that, a couple of days later spent a morning skiing Sunday River.
They had a lot of trails open and, honestly, conditions were as good as I’ve ever seen so early in the season. Racers had taken over “Monday Morning” and “T2,” but “Right Stuff” and “Lazy River” were in superb condition. Snow guns were blasting all over the eight mountain peaks that make up Sunday River. Conditions are only going to get better. In fact, it’s snowing as I write this.
But my legs were pretty well shot after just six fast top-to-bottom runs. That’s what eight weeks of “taking it easy” does to you. Still, it felt great to be out on the snow making turns, and was a lot more fun than watching from the sidelines as I did on Oct. 19.
Because they had so much terrain open with much more almost ready to go, my sweetheart “Em” and I headed back to Sunday River for Thanksgiving morning.
The early snow and cold conditions could also mean a big year for backcountry activities. Usually the backcountry doesn’t get really good until February, but this year just might be the exception. I hope so.
Skinning in the backcountry requires specialized gear and some skills you don’t learn at most ski areas. If you’d like to “try before you buy,” there are a couple of great places to go.
Ski The Whites and Black Mountain in Jackson have teamed up for a second year to offer an on-site backcountry ski shop with sales and rentals and regular morning ski tours. This is the perfect chance to get your legs under you on the new gear. Black Mountain is a wonderful area that’s overlooked by far too many skiers and riders.
Sugarloaf in Kingfield, Maine, also offers skinning lessons tours in Bracket Basin. They provide all the equipment. While you are up there, don’t miss the new Cat skiing on Burnt Mountain. I got to make a couple of runs in March of last year and it was simply fabulous.
Most of the mountain guide services in New England also offer backcountry ski tours and instruction. Here’s a partial list: Acadia Mountain Guides (acadiamountainguides.com); Chauvin Guides International (chauvinguides.com); EMS Climbing Schools (emsoutdoors.com); International Moutain Climbing Scfool (ime-usa.com/imcs); Killington Mountain Guides: (killingtonmountainguides.com); Mooney Mountain Guides (mooneymountainguides.com); Northeast Mountaineering (nemountaineering.com); Synnott Mountain Guides (newhampshireclimbing.com)
The New Hampshire chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (amc-nh.org) offers a ton of backcountry trips and skill sessions, most of them free. Ditto for the Catamount Trails association in Vermont (catamounttrail.org).
(Tim Jones is the Executive Editor of the online magazine EasternSlopes.com and can be reached at timjones@easternslopes.com)