Quechee Lakes: April 6, 2007 (Earning the Turns)

[thetrailboss]

Date: April 6, 2007

2006-2007 Trip Report #: 52

Resort: Quechee Lakes

Conditions: WS under a crust. Some snowmaking base left.

Weather: Clouds and some wind. Temps falling into the 30's.

Trip Report: Well, what do you do when you have a workshop at school until 3pm and you can't go skiing on Saturday or Sunday? Take advantage of the longer days and hike up a local ski hill to check it out. On my way home from Burke, I thought about spending an afternoon/evening hiking up a local hill and getting in some turns. Last night, I saw the Quechee Lakes Ski Hill off of Route 4, so I went to scope it out. The place had closed for the season, but the trails were not posted and looked inviting. So I decided to head over there to earn some turns.

I got there at 4:15 or so and was the only one in the ski area portion of the lot. There is a gym for the residents across the road, and folks were going in and out of that building, not really paying attention to me as I geared up for the hike.

Here's the trail map of the mountain:



I began hiking up under the quad chairlift, which was just installed last season. It is a new Doppelmeyer-C Tec Quad and it runs maybe a half mile or so and climbs 650 vertical feet above the valley. The southern exposure makes for soft snow, but is problematic for skiing in seasons when there is not much snow. As I climbed, I noted that the snow had a thin crust, but was soft underneath. I huffed it up under the quad, which was up the moderate fall line. Like places such as Ski Ward, most of the ski slope is an open field with an occasional tree or two. The summit area had several trails that spilled down into the meadow from the quad. As I got to the summit, I noticed that there were some condos and houses at the very top, which made the summiting experience a bit anticlimatic.

By this point, I was pretty warmed up, so I took a break and enjoyed the nice views of Ascutney and the valley below. The first slog up is always the toughest...and the first run down is as well. So I packed up, stepped in, and headed down Stagecoach, turning onto Dewey's Drop, which I had seen from the liftline. It looked nice, with some good pitch. The turns were at best....thanks to the crust on the snow. I did make some nice turns, but the short sticks didn't handle the weird snow so well. There was still a base underneath...machine made, but still there. There a handful of other tracks from skiers and a rider, but the slopes for the most part were untracked. I did scare a couple boarders who were hiking up the hill at one point.

I cut over to Mel's Run and hiked back up the liftline to near the top. The very top was very flat, so I saved the trouble and stopped where the pitch began. Next, and last run, was down Quechee Express to the Face/Plateau. The turns were stubborn....in between it was tough...better than sitting at home and watching the Meatheads of something. I did fall at one point....hit a place where the water had eroded the base. There were some other near misses....and at the bottom I traversed across the slope back to the quad and the car.

An interesting place. I hear that Sunday afternoons are $10. Might be worth checking it out...they have lots of snowmaking line and a new quad. No crowds I hear. Good for an afternoon, but nothing extremely steep. They have done a good job with what they have. For today, it filled the need. Softer snow next time hopefully....