Which New England ski area has the most interesting blue square terrain?

IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
in NELSAP Forum Posts: 1,838
By interesting, I mean the most varied paths down the mountain, both narrow classic New England-style trails and wide open cruisers. Also, terrain that easily blurs the line between intermediate and expert.

The only place I skied like this would be Mt. Snow. I imagine several of the resorts further north and in New Hampshire and Maine would be even more so a blue square nirvana.

IBRAKE
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Comments

  • hrstrat57hrstrat57
    Posts: 53
    Sugarbush has some amazing cruisers....on both mountains.

    Okemo is blue square city and the Solitude area is decent....

    Nothing wrong with Mt Snow for cruisers and the black cruisers on North Face can be handled by most good intermediates in good conditons

    I like to save dough at some of the lower priced areas like Berkshire East which has nice cruising runs when 100% open IMHO.
  • joshua_segaljoshua_segal
    Posts: 5,252
    You'd be hard pressed to find any large mountain that doesn't have great intermediate cruisers.  If you are talking about "scenically special", I think Kokomo at Jay Peak with the islands of trees mixed in is pretty good and different.  I'm sure we had a thread on this on SJ1.0, but I couldn't find it.
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    edited May 2015 Posts: 5,952
    I find that Quechee has an amazing variety of cruisers and most are intermediate. They all have a constant pitch and they range from wide and straight, to narrow and twisty, to open glades.image

    image
    - Sam
  • bmwskierbmwskier
    Posts: 1,032
    Granted I am parochial about this but skiing Upper Jester at Lincoln Peak is by far, my favorite cruiser to hit. It's my warm up run after trail checks-- Upper Jester to Upper Snowball, Lower Snowball and down Spring Fling. Views are especially beautiful first thing in the morning. 
    "Making ski films is being irresponsible with other people's money, in a responsible sort of way..." <div>Greg Stump</div>
  • BetsyBetsy
    Posts: 173
    Middlebury Snow Bowl. Burke.
    Location: Addison County, VT
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    I have wanted to ski Lincoln Peak since I was 14. The views must be incredible, especially on a very cold winter morning with no humidity in the air.

    IBRAKE
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    I'd also add that Whaleback has great intermediate terrain including fun, narrow, ungroomed ones!
    - Sam
  • abubobabubob
    Posts: 813
    Burke
    http://tee.pub/lic/SkiClassicNH
  • hrstrat57hrstrat57
    Posts: 53
    bmwskier said:

    Granted I am parochial about this but skiing Upper Jester at Lincoln Peak is by far, my favorite cruiser to hit. It's my warm up run after trail checks-- Upper Jester to Upper Snowball, Lower Snowball and down Spring Fling. Views are especially beautiful first thing in the morning. 

    Yep that is what I had in mind with my first comment. Only downfall is you can find yourself going way too fast before you are properly warmed up! Stopping and looking at the view is a good choice probably first time down at 8 AM....
  • mapnutmapnut
    Posts: 1,035
    IBRAKEFORTBARS said:

    I have wanted to ski Lincoln Peak since I was 14. The views must be incredible, especially on a very cold winter morning with no humidity in the air.

    IBRAKE



    My only day ever at Sugarbush was like that, especially since the big semicircle of peaks was all blasted white with about 4 feet of fresh snow. The downside was that every expert trail had massive moguls top to bottom. So I sensibly skipped Castlerock. But all the blue cruisers were beautifully groomed.

    "Follies" from the top of Whiteface skis very much like Jester.

  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    I have great memories skiing Whiteface. It's a true summit-to-base intermediate run for all glorious 3,200+ vertical feet.
  • z1000307470z1000307470
    Posts: 525
    Not New England - Gore Mountain has some of the best variety of intermediate terrain in the East.
  • orangegondolaorangegondola
    Posts: 99
    Its often not thought of in this light but Magic has some really fun Blues.
    <a href="http://www.chairlift.org">www.chairlift.org</a>;
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    orangegondola said:

    Its often not thought of in this light but Magic has some really fun Blues.

    I recall others on SJ 1.0 referring to Magic as MRG south!

    Or something like that. I imagine the blue trails there have plenty of challenge.

    IBRAKE
  • sugarloafsugarloaf
    Posts: 1,816
    I'd vote for Butternut, I like skiing Applejack, especially with snowmaking whales. Most of the mountain is intermediate in nature and they take very good care of their snow quality.
    <p abp="321"><strong abp="322">Ski Conditions Report: A detailed report describing the snow conditions on the mountain the day of your visit. Skiers should become familiar with the following snow surface descriptions: Ice: Packed Powder, Slush: Packed Powder, Frozen Granular: Packed Powder , Packed Powder - A thin covering of snow over bare earth.</strong></p>
  • JimKJimK
    edited May 2015 Posts: 861
    I think Wildcat is a tremendous place for upper intermediates.  The blues are kind of hard and the blacks are kind of easy. Even the greens like Polecat are pretty interesting for better skiers and the White Mtns scenery from all runs is exceptional on a clear day.  Was going to display some photos as evidence, but I don't have access to my extensive galleries from SJ 1.0 anymore :((
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    JimK said:

    I think Wildcat is a tremendous place for upper intermediates.  The blues are kind of hard and the blacks are kind of easy. Even the greens like Polecat are pretty interesting for better skiers and the White Mtns scenery from all runs is exceptional on a clear day.  Was going to display some photos as evidence, but I don't have access to my extensive galleries from SJ 1.0 anymore :((

    The view of Mt Washington from Wildcat must be incredible. I wondered what the blue square and black diamond runs at Wildcat were like.

    IBRAKE
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    JimK said:

    I think Wildcat is a tremendous place for upper intermediates.  The blues are kind of hard and the blacks are kind of easy. Even the greens like Polecat are pretty interesting for better skiers and the White Mtns scenery from all runs is exceptional on a clear day.  Was going to display some photos as evidence, but I don't have access to my extensive galleries from SJ 1.0 anymore :((

    I'd agree that Wildcat really is a great intermediate mountain!
    - Sam
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    From what I can tell the trails follow the mountains natural contour and are both winding and narrow. Is true that sure makes for a great downhill experience!
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    IBRAKEFORTBARS said:

    From what I can tell the trails follow the mountains natural contour and are both winding and narrow. Is true that sure makes for a great downhill experience!

    It really does! Except for the few times when it get crowded. Another great mountain in that area is Black, NH which also has amazing intermediate terrain!
    - Sam
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    Black Mt looks old skool but in a really good way. Gotta love the double chair with the lattice towers!
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    IBRAKEFORTBARS said:

    Black Mt looks old skool but in a really good way. Gotta love the double chair with the lattice towers!

    It really is a great lift! Let's hope they can get it running again after the chair incident this year.
    - Sam
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    NewEnglandSkier13 said:

    IBRAKEFORTBARS said:

    Black Mt looks old skool but in a really good way. Gotta love the double chair with the lattice towers!

    It really is a great lift! Let's hope they can get it running again after the chair incident this year.</blockquote

    What happened?

  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    A chair fell off during loading and it was found that most chairs did not pass inspection. We had a thread on it, but it is lost for now. Let's hope they get it back up and running!
    - Sam
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    Yowch. Hopefully no one was hurt! What brand chair is it?
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    Posts: 5,952
    Mueller with Riblet chairs
    - Sam
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    Riblet chairs? With the grip inserted into the cable? Those don't really fall off unless the metal itself snapped.
  • JimKJimK
    edited May 2015 Posts: 861
    Photo of main chair at Black NH:

    image
    I really liked Black Mtn, NH, very fun old school vibe, cheap, low crowds.  How can you not love a place that has a corral full of horses at the base? ;))  I mentioned it in the other thread about lacking intermediate terrain because in my one day there I went away with the impression that had mostly either pretty tough or pretty easy terrain.  But I have only one day and it was a while ago.  I defer to others who've been there more often to comment on the merits of it's blue square terrain.
  • IBRAKEFORTBARSIBRAKEFORTBARS
    Posts: 1,838
    I looked at a Bromley trail map and there's summit to base intermediate skiing. Anyone skied it? What's it's challenge and character like?
  • NewEnglandSkier13NewEnglandSkier13
    edited May 2015 Posts: 5,952
    IBRAKEFORTBARS said:

    Riblet chairs? With the grip inserted into the cable? Those don't really fall off unless the metal itself snapped.

    Correct, it wasn't the grip, it was part of the hanger arm.
    - Sam
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