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Pats' Peak, Jan 15, 2010

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nelsap
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Location:Saratoga Springs, NY

Posted: Jan 18, 2010 - 4:53 PM GMT

Visited Pat's Peak on the way home to Mass. on Jan 15th with Scott, had a great time!

I hadn't skied Pats since 1991, that was way too long to not go back to a ski area for me. Back in 1991 I was a low intermediate skier at best and was usually happen to stay on greens and low blues. This trip gave me the chance to explore Pats again and check out the other trails.

I was very impressed! Pats Peak definitely skis bigger than its 700' of vertical, and has legitimate steeps, fun cruisers, and long beginner runs. It packs a lot of skiing into the hill.

Kris Blomback, General Manager of Pats was very helpful during our visit. We had a great lunch with him and talked about the ski area, the ski industry, and his time up at LSC (he graduated before I attended). After skiing, Kris showed us the snowmaking system, a tour of the base area, maps of the mountain, etc. I can tell Kris enjoys working at Pats and that the ski area is well operated.

While we were riding the Hurricane Triple, I noticed a father and son skiing, and recognized the father at Ted Ede, who I know from skiing over at Crotched and this board! We encountered him a bit later and made some runs. Small world!

Best runs of the day were Cyclone, Twister, and Tornado, all great cruisers.

Was glad to see the Peak Double (a classic Mueller) and the Valley Double (another classic Mueller) operate during our last hour of skiing. These are amongst the best preserved Muellers out there.

Some Pats Facts:

1. The Vortex Double used to operated at a lost area, Norwich University in VT.

2. There used to be a Mueller T-bar paralleling the Peak Double. That was removed over 10 years ago, and the towers were repainted and used as the entrances to the Turbulence Terrain Park.

3. Pats is on Craney Hill. There is a lost area 0.23 miles due south of the top of the Turbulence triple called Craney Hill, which was operated by a ski club. It had a rope tow. This will be added to NELSAP in the future - we have historic photos.

4. There is a lost trail, called West Wind, to the SW of the Twister Trail.

I definitely recommend Pats Peak as a fun ski area - terrain for all abilities and everything meets up at the base.

Jeremy
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Jeremy Davis

roger47
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Posted: Jan 18, 2010 - 6:37 PM GMT

Great trip report, Jeremy. Thanks.

abubob
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Oct 27, 2008
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Location:Bristol, NH

Posted: Jan 18, 2010 - 8:32 PM GMT

Thanks for that Jeremy. I work with a guy that taught at Pats years ago but now he won't travel south to ski. Your report makes me want to try it out though. Nicely done.

210
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Posted: Jan 18, 2010 - 10:38 PM GMT

Pat's Peak was one of my first "up north" trips (being from RI). I went on a junior high school trip and was really impressed (read: scared) with how steep it was from the top. The wide intermediate slope off of the chair on right side of the mountain was where I first learned how to link parallel turns and really get the "flow" of parallel skiing. The pics that you posted brought back long, lost memories.

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