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Best Small New England Ski Areas

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jgreco
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Sep 19, 2006
Posts: 670

Location:Queensbury, NY

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 9:05 PM GMT

I was wondering if anyone has anyone has any suggestions on small ski areas to visit. I figure if you truely have a local gem, then the last thing you want to do is give away the secret, but if you are pumped to be stoked on your mountain and would like to share, let me know. My buddy and I are trying to devote a few winter trips to some small gems.

My rating for a fun small time area would combine remoteness, uniqueness and EXTREMEness. Any place that has a fun steep trail, 100 ft tree shot things to jump over. We had a blast at Black Mtn of Maine (pre summit lift) and Big Rock. Anything like those places, smaller, larger whatever. Give a yell. Or even any fun closed areas that will grant permission over the phone or something.

Praying for snow or these trips are screwed haha.

jg

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newpylong
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Location:Billerica, MA Enfield, NH

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 9:31 PM GMT

Middlebury snowbowl is fun.

pbolo
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Nov 06, 2005
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Location:CT

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 9:42 PM GMT

Otis Ridge.

They have a nice slalom and knox trail.

great place to learn.

skier90
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Jun 13, 2006
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Location:windham, nh

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 10:13 PM GMT

Pats Peak and Crotched Mountain

maplevalleymaster
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Location:Ludlow, VT

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 10:32 PM GMT

Edited: Sep 19, 2006 - 10:33 PM GMT

Uhh I am not sure if this qualifies, but Mad River Glen is great. It has some terrific steeps and its logo keeps a lot of people away (Mad River Glen, Ski it if you can).

riverc0il
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Location:Ashland, NH

Posted: Sep 19, 2006 - 11:17 PM GMT

black, nh.

mrg is 2k vert, hardly small.

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arik
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Jun 01, 2006
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Location:NYC; Southern VT

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 12:13 AM GMT

Ascutney if there is a lot of snow

mapnut
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Jul 31, 2002
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Location:New York City

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:21 AM GMT

Haven't been to Eaton Mountain, ME in many years, but it was a nicely balanced 500-foot hill with some steeps. Call ahead, I believe they still need natural snow.
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njski
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Location:St. John USVI

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:35 AM GMT

there is a place in southern vermont called Magic Mtn.

I think it has been mentioned once or twice here

sledhaulingmedic
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Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 1:12 PM GMT

At 1500' Vertical, Magic is tough to call "Small".

Dartmouth Skiway

Wilderness

Mount Abrahms

Berkshire East

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joshua segal
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Location:NH

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:09 PM GMT

The title of this thread is ambiguous. How do you define small?

I tend to use the metric of 1000 feet vertical as small. As such, I would find nothing small about Magic, Ascutney, Black (NH or ME), etc.

What's more, there is a significant real estate development at Ascutney, which doesn't even qualify it as small by standards of non-destination resort.

So since "jgreco" asked the question, perhaps he/she can clarify what he/she was looking for.

There was a thread about a year ago, on sub-1000 foot vertical areas that were were in the category of destination resorts. I recall Suicide Six (VT) and Grayrocks (QU) as being two candidates.

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jgreco
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Location:Queensbury, NY

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:29 PM GMT

HE says no limits. backyard rope tow to lifts and lodging, primarily something out of the way, unknown or lesser known. i appreciate any suggestions.

i like the responses. midd snow bowl (the bump) is a great time, mad river is big in my eyes, but whatevs.

tell me why it's so great. like it's traditionally a beginner hill so the few steeps don't get skied/ridden(spruce peak @ stowe 4 years ago and the 40 years before that), or there's a great local-yocal bar across the street, or operations will let you build jumps (black mtn of maine haha). stuff like that.

jg

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powderslut
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Sep 07, 2006
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Location:Vermont, South Central.

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:33 PM GMT

Magic has 1600' of vert. It's the big little ski resort. Acreage wise, it is somewhat small(<150). However, it is big fun.

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joshua segal
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Location:NH

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 2:50 PM GMT

OK, JGreco. I took the safe approach with he/she. I suppose I could have taken the 50-50 guess

Sticking with my metric of under 1000 vertical and noting your address as Bondville, VT, I would guess that you aren't going South to MA and that ME is too far.

My short list:
VT:
Suicide Six
Cochrans
NH:
Whaleback
Crotched
Pats Peak
Dartmouth

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jgreco
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Location:Queensbury, NY

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 6:29 PM GMT

nice joshua. haha, guessing just makes things interesting. "duuuude, i'm a dude, dude!" list looks great.

yeh the ol' bondville address. i may venture down MA way. i used to work down at butternut in breat barrington. so i know the berks pretty well. hoping to check out the mt greylock ski club with permission and snow.

i've never been to magic (just moved to the area this summer). after walking around the trails on weekends and staring at it through my office window every day or every time i drive to londonderry, it is on the top of my list of places to go. looks fun. anyone know what's up with timber ridge? who to call if i wanted to hike it? or drop in from magic? dont ask don't tell?

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benrr
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Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 8:49 PM GMT

Black in NH -- it reminds me of MRG without the single chair (and the terrain it serves).

loafasaur
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Location:East of the Kennebec

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 9:31 PM GMT

Quote:

My rating for a fun small time area would combine remoteness, uniqueness and EXTREMEness.

SADDLEBACK!!!

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loafasaur

loafasaur
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Location:East of the Kennebec

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 9:54 PM GMT

By way of further explanation:

RiverCoil's Saddleback video

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joshua segal
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Location:NH

Posted: Sep 20, 2006 - 10:05 PM GMT

Quote:

Black in NH -- it reminds me of MRG without the single chair (and the terrain it serves).

While the ethos of Black Mt., NH may be MRG, I would suggest that the trails in MRG's Birdland are more exciting and challenging than the most difficult runs at Black.

And please, don't take this as anything negative about Black Mt. When I was at Bretton Woods last May, I said to one of the trail crew: "Too bad there wasn't some steeper terrain open."

He said, "We know how to make snow here. We can't change the mountain contours."

The same hold true for Black!

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Joshua Segal

arik
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Location:NYC; Southern VT

Posted: Sep 21, 2006 - 12:08 AM GMT

Ascutney has a big vert but it's narrow, not that much acrage, and only two lifts. It's relatively small, and it's not owned by a large corporation like Intrawest or ASC. Perhaps medium sized?

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