Family Mountains

I grew up skiing at Mtn's that my parents would drop me off at nine on Saturday go to work and come back at four. If I didn't have enough money for a soda, the person at the cash register would smile and say "pay me later". What happened to the days where kids were free to explore and parents were free to ditch the kids?

[teachski]

Those days are gone unfortunately. There are some parents that do let their kids off at some of the smaller areas and that kind of warmth and frinedliness prevails, but the larger the area the more impersonal it is. I know that this still happens at Ski Ward and Pine Ridge (in Central MA), but I doubt it happens much if at all at Wachusett.

Times are different. I can remember as a youth walking up to the center of town alone to meet friends when I was just 7 or 8. I live on a heavily traveled road with no sidewalks(I bought the house I grew up in). I live in what is considered a safe town, but this would not happen today.

I worked in NZ for a while teaching skiing and snowboarding and a lot of the mtn's there are "Club field". It is leased land that local members run and operate, mostly rope tows but the skiing is great and the atmosphere is the best. Then again they have socialized healthcare so you don't get the same number of lawsuits. Just think how much cheaper it would be to ski if resorts weren't always worried about getting sued.

[Starter Jackets Rule!]

I coach at a little Put-Put hill down here in Joisey.
parents are allways droping off thier kids to go ski/ride.
the coaches and teaching staff allways keeps an eye out for the little ones.
on weekends there is allmost never a lift line(I wonder how the owner makes any money) and every one gets along great.
(that is one of the reasons I prefer working at Hidden Valley,Nj VS. Mtn Creek)
Ps i will be up at MRG this wed-fri.
happy trails, paul/srj!

[Joshua B]

I don't ski Wachusett anymore, but I'd bet lots of the teens skiing there are dropped off and picked up by their folks. I know it's common at Nashoba too. What what age group were you talking about?

[teachski]

I'd say there aren't many under 14 that are dropped off, not like there used to be anyhow.

[skican]

I drop my son off at Nashoba Valley on Tuesdays. He is 14 and he loves it there. I also live right down the street, but there seems to be alot of parents dropping their kids off for after school runs. I have also run him down a couple of weekend nights to ski. FYI

The world is a changing place. When we ski bigger areas they all have walkie talkies. When I can't find them right away I do begin to panic. Crazy darn world!

[Joshua B]

Skican, are there certain nights of the week that are the least crowded at Nashoba? I want to check it out again (since I too live very close), but I got a bad impression of the place when I went last time due to race courses set up on literally half the main trails.

[skican]

It's a very small mountain. When there are races, and I think it's somewhat often, you don't have much more mountain to move to. We never ski there on a weekend day (very crowed), but nights are alot of fun! Hardly anyone there, which is exactly how I like it. Have you tried night skiing there? Plus if we adults get cold there is always the Overlook for a nice frosty beer while the kids are getting in their last runs! We are Cannon Mountain addicts. "Look kids, the Old Man of the Mountain" to which they always replied, "yea yea mum, we see it". Bet they took a better look now! I think you ski there don't you?

That's where we are on the weekends and if we can get away it's the Loaf!

[Joshua B]

Yeah I want to get back there on a weeknight, but when I was there on a Thursday night last month, it was as you mentioned when there are races--although this was just race training.

Oh yes, I usually ski Cannon about once a year.