Blackwater Ski Area (Proctor Academy, NH): January 21, 2006 (TB's Small Hill Tour)

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: January 21, 2006

Resort or Ski Area: Blackwater Ski Area, Andover, NH

Conditions: Spring Conditions (Corn). 55F and partly cloudy skies.

Trip Report: A year ago, we went to visit our friends who teach at Proctor Academy in Andover, NH. It is a small prep school located in the shadows of Mount Kearsarge (South) and Ragged Mountain, just off of Route 11.

While walking around the campus, I looked across the valley and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be ski trails and a lift, as depicted here on NELSAP.

"What's that over there, Story?" I asked.
"Blackwater. Our private ski area for the race team. I don't ski, but next winter you are welcome to come and ski it. They open for the team and the locals."
"I'm holding you to it," I laughed.

And so when the opportunity came for me to come and visit the school to make a presentation, I made sure to pack my skis.

My friend, Ron S., is a new faculty member of Proctor and a tele skier as well. After lunch in their dining hall and an inquiry with a member of the ski team as to the status of the hill ("the middle trail is open for the public...race training on the race trail"), we headed back to his apartment, changed, got in the car and drove the two minutes to the ski area. We went up Route 11 and took a sidestreet behind the small hamlet to a dirt road. "PROCTOR ACADEMY: BLACKWATER SKI AREA" read a sign pointing left to the narrow driveway, which descended to the Blakwater River, crossed a small bridge and a small swamp before emerging at a parking lot no larger than my apartment. There were four cars in the lot--two were school vans.

At one end of the parking lot was the snowmaking plant—a rented compressor and some equipment. Above the parking lot was the ski jump area on the left, a handle tow, and the main racing trail. The T-bar was just to the right beyond a line of trees. The lodge had recently been renovated and was very welcoming.

Blackwater, owned by a private boarding school, is now a rarity. At one time though, many of New England's high schools, colleges, and universities had their own ski areas for student racing and jumping programs or recreation. My alma mater, Lyndon Institute in Northern Vermont, garnered many state and New England Ski titles in the 1940's and 1950's thanks to active recruitment of Scandavian skiers. A quick look at NELSAP reveals many other schools that had active ski programs and areas that are now dormant including Holderness, The Tilton School, Lyndon State College, Franklin Pierce College, Norwich University, and St. Michael's College. Only Middlebury and Dartmouth Colleges today maintain and operate their own private ski areas for students and for the public. Skiing reigned in New England and its institutes of education until increasing liability insurance costs, especially for ski jumping programs, forced the schools to focus dwindling funds elsewhere.

With the sun in our face, we walked up the slope to the porch of the lodge. We sat on the bench and booted up in the warm sun.

“We talked to Laura, and she said the Middle Trail was open. Mind if we ski?” My friend asked one of the patrollers who was sitting on the porch watching the team train on the racing trail in front of us. He picked up his radio.

“Jim you there?”
“Yes’ah.”
“We’ve got some faculty here who’d like to ski. Can we open the Middle Trail for them?”
“Yep. We’re going to be doing a ski patrol training, but other than that, they’re welcome.”

He put the radio away. “Yep, head ‘on up there. Just watch out for the training,” he said with a smile. The price for a lift ticket was reasonable—a smile and request of the patrol.

After talking with some of the ski coaches, serious skiers I might add, we stepped into our bindings and skied over to the T-bar.

The T-Bar was a vintage Hall T-Bar with a basement drive that could be heard for quite a ways. Though it was an old lift, it had been well maintained as evidenced by a recent coat of paint. The lift attendant, a local teen, smiled and waved us up.

“Ride double?”
“Sure,” Ron said.

So we got a T-bar and began up the slope. We had not been on much more than thirty seconds when I heard a ‘CRRRAAACCCCKKKK’ and felt myself slide back. The bar itself, a piece of oak, had snapped in half leaving me to slide back. I guess I ate too much in the dining hall!

“I’ve got to get off…see you at the top,” I said, as I let go of the pole and skied back down.

“She break?” The liftie asked me.
“Yep. Sorry ‘bout that. Guess I ate too much.”

With that, I grabbed another ride up. The three minute ride was Proctor has spared no expense for their hill—snowmaking lines run up the Middle Trail and Racing Trail as well as up the T-liftline. New HKD towers lined the trails, which were narrow and steep. At the top of the T-Bar (a fast ride I might add), I was greeted with a photo-op before skiing to the top of the Middle Trail—a black diamond trail (second one from the left in THIS PICTURE. I had scouted it out in the fall and saw that it had some good pitch and an interesting fall line. Diving down the first roll onto soft corn snow, I was not disappointed.

At the next crest, I stopped to look down. Below us lay the village and the campus of the school. Looming behind it was Ragged Mountain.

We skied back to the T-Bar down the trail—which consisted of three nice pitched sections with two narrow bottlenecks. The pitch was consistent and offered some nice rolls. The middle ‘bottleneck’ had some thin cover spots which had been marked (and we had been advised to ski with care). Had there been more snow, we could have skied around the small knoll in the middle of the trail, but we were forced to stay on the snowmaking section.

On the next ride up, I noticed some of the other trails at the hill. There was at least one or two more on the right as one rode up the lift. Both were closed due to lack of snow which was disappointing considering that the one I could see had some more great rolls and old fashion turns in it.

Next run was down the Middle Trail again. This time we stopped to watch the Ski Patrol Drill and I was to see that the Ski Patrol was none other than a group of Proctor students ranging in ages 16-18. Two adult supervisors were assisting them with a stretcher drill. What a great opportunity and a great learning experience for students! Even if they never work as patrollers after high school, the skills and knowledge they learn while working at the hill will be invaluable.

We took a minute talk to one of Ron’s students on the patrol who was wearing jeans and a T-shirt under a vest.

“A bit too warm for skiing,” she said. We agreed.

We did about five or six more runs down the Middle Trail, the only people besides the ski team and ski patrol on the slopes. The cover was great and the terrain was entertaining.

On our last run, we were stopped at the top of the T-Bar.

“The Middle Trail is closed, but Ski Patrol said you can ski the Race Trail.”
“Thank you. We’ll stay out of the way.”

So we climbed to the top of the Race Trail (the trail on the far left of that photo) and talked with a young racer, who was another one of Ron’s students. After being cleared by his coach on the radio, he blazed down the trail through the gates. We followed enjoying soft corn snow.

This trail was a bit wider and more graded than the Middle Trail, but it still had great pitch and cover thanks to the school’s investment in HKD towers. On one of the turns, we stopped and took it all in. Another one of Ron’s students, who was from Unity, New Hampshire, had just finished her last run and talked with us as the ski team and patrol began taking down the gates. One coach/patroller had his son in a backpack along for the ride.

“He can walk, and I think I can get him on skis soon,” he said to us.

We skied down the trail—avoiding the ski team and patrol who were clearing the slope—and back over to the T-Bar for a photo of our “broken T-Bar” and to thank the lift attendant.

We glissaded back to the lodge and talked with the coaches about skiing and Proctor. I took the opportunity to visit the new ski lodge as seen below in a photo from the Blackwater Website:



The first floor consisted of cubbies, a nice woodstove surrounded by coaches, and several photos and memorabilia from the School’s various ski teams and atheletes. The upstairs loft area consisted of a small snackbar, another fireplace, and some open seating. One of the employees greeted me and pointed to a framed bulletin board.

“That’s one of our skiers. Graduated here a few years ago, and now he’s on his way over.”
“Over where?”
“The Winter Olympics.”

I couldn’t believe it. Much like Cochran’s, this was a small ski area that many would dismiss as abandoned or not worth the visit, but it had a big legacy thanks to its racers.

We talked for a bit about skiing. “Not many places like this anymore—this is real skiing,” I said. He agreed.

I thanked him and went downstairs and out of the lodge.

“Monday night it will be getting cold—that means snowmaking,” said one of the patrollers as we walked to the car. “Hope you come back soon,” he said.

I thanked him and promised that I would.

Pictures coming soon!

[Joshua B]

That's awesome that you got to Blackwater! I can't wait to see pics. Thanks for posting.

[salida]

Black water is really awesome, I used to race train there and its pretty good for that with some nice pitches... definitely an interesting place. Went up earlier this year and its always fun!

[Bob R]

I have driven past it many times. I always wondered if they lets local ski there also. When I was racing as a kid there was a mountain like that in Bellows Falls Vermont. Run by the school/ rec center. They were the coolest places. Best report of the year TB. IMO.

[thetrailboss]

At long last, Pictures are available! Enjoy!

[trackbiker]

Great report and pics! Thanks!

[thetrailboss]

New link to the pics.

[ga2ski]

Great to here that Blackwater is still open. I raced there back in the early 90's. It waould be a great place, if it was is my backyard.